By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc. / LMMiami.com
- Protestantism began because the Catholic Church was selling indulgences: documents that exculpated the dead and the alive from spending time in hell or purgatory.
- Yup, the Holy Church literally was, and possibly still is, a “salvation retailer”.
- In the 1500s some mid-level religious staff mostly in Northern Europe “protested” this questionable practice.
- Politics kicked in.

Fifty-nine percent of marketers’ digital advertising budgets are currently allocated to digital video, a consistent climb in share since 2016, according to the “Digital Content NewFronts: 2018 Video Ad Spend Study”. Furthering the trend, more than 50 percent of buyers plan to increase digital and mobile video spending in the next 12 months, with the additional spend primarily coming from expanding budgets.
Have you ever set out to add complexity to a problem or project? Probably not. In the history of business, the typical goal is to simplify, focus in, and define problems and solutions to be grasped and broken down into digestible pieces so teams can move forward without becoming paralyzed by the enormity of the task.
Cigna released results from a national survey exploring the impact of loneliness in the United States. The survey, conducted in partnership with market research firm, Ipsos, revealed that most American adults are considered lonely.
TBWA’s cultural insight studio, Backslash, released a report identifying a new modern era of American activism, coined Pan Activism. In a nationwide research study, conducted with strategic brand research consultancy Hall & Partners, it was found that 85 percent of Americans took some form of activism in the past year, such as conversing with those who have differing beliefs or donating to a local business or national tragedy. The findings indicate that modern activism is no longer defined by fringe groups with singular big battles but it is more mass and characterized by small, everyday actions.
Navigating the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) landscape has become difficult. It’s not just the consumer path-to-purchase that’s grown in complexity. The playing field for manufacturers and retailers has evolved as well. Notably, for the first time since 2009, the total number of brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. has declined. As we’ll review a little later, this hasn’t affected all channels to the same extent, but it does highlight the importance of handling product assortment and distribution with utmost efficiency.
The imperative to compete on the basis of customer experience is heightening the job security risks of chief marketing officers who are struggling to keep up with new digitally driven ways to engage, satisfy and enrich the experience of more mobile, savvy and fickle consumers.
How much time do American consumers spend each day with their multimedia devices, tablets, computers, AM/FM radio, TV, or their smartphones? By Pierre Bouvard
Yes, the 72-million strong Millennial generation is coming into their own and are starting to buy stuff. Enamored marketers are salivating (or running scared) at the prospect of serving them. Older marketers, and students of consumerism, remember the defining impact of the last mega-generational cohort, the Baby Boomers; how they shaped consumer trends, created categories of products and services, and generally made or broke one’s business success. By Stephen Palacios, Principal, Ahzul
Univision Communications Inc. (UCI) announced that Liz Blacker has been appointed to SVP of Branded Content Revenue. Effective immediately, Blacker will be based in New York and report to Lisa Valentino, EVP of Revenue Innovation for UCI.
By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc./LMMiami.com
























