Agency

The 21st century has been a wild ride so far, and it has only just begun. The speed with which events are unfolding is creating turmoil and confusion, necessitating a step back to see the big picture—the emerging trends behind so many of today’s headlines. This is no idle exercise, but imperative for businesses intent on surviving the next decade and for policymakers struggling to adapt to profound changes in the way we live.

Y&R MIA and Bravo has promoted Victor Amador, Ricardo Lopera and Marlon Zanatti to Creative Directors effective August 1st, 2017

By Gonzalo López Martí – Creative director, etc / LMMiami.com

Imagine you are a CMO at a large company with multiple customer touchpoints.
A big retail bank, for instance.
You develop a great brand narrative, a visually stunning corporate id, an awesome customer experience.
You get the unanimous blessing of the board of directors.
You validate it all with market research: the public will love your value proposition.
In theory, that is.

The communications team at Hyundai Motor America has added Hyundai Brandon Ramirez as the senior group manager of Product Communications.

With the advancements in big data, advertisers know more about consumers than ever before. And yet, they’re still challenged with how to drive the greatest return for their marketing budgets.

A while back I reviewed the Kantar North America event, Fragmentnation, which focused on the increasing diversity of needs, mindset and values in the U.S. population, and noted that brands must prepare for a more diverse future. On reflection they must also prepare for a more fickle future.  by Nigel Hollis

Data from social media analytics and monitoring service Sprout Social revealed that many US internet users believe social media has given them more of a voice to expose unfair treatment from brands and be more critical of them in general.

Organic growth is key to companies’ futures. According to survey results, the best firms follow more than one path to achieve it and also are better at developing the right capabilities to support it.

The report provides detailed data and in-depth insights on mobile apps, which now drive the majority of digital media usage in the U.S.

Media-Nxt is a project of the Center for Digital Media Entrepreneurship at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. It includes a free, annual Media-Nxt Report on the emerging media technology landscape, identifying trends that media professionals should take into account when considering the future of their industry.

A new study conducted by Radius Global Market Research and MorphoTrust USA, part of OT-Morpho, shows the majority of the U.S. public is ready for the traditional plastic driver’s license to go mobile.

Every now in then in your life you need to take some time off and travel along the mystic side of the river trail for whatever reason.  My case, a full knee replacement last week, a TV and an iPhone.  Watching TV with an elevated leg that I was icing aggressively after therapy, I came across a documentary on Starz Network about a 1970s trovador out of Detroit of Mexican decent called Rodriguez that frequented the local dive bars and belted out lyric and tunes that motivated the day that would make Bob Dylan look “more’ than twice.  By Gene Bryan / HispanicAd

I have just reached the 100-day mark in my role leading the 4A’s, and one thing has been made exceedingly clear to me over the past few months: Before we can make true progress, we must address a critical issue. That issue is trust.  By Marla Kaplowitz – 4A’s President and CEO

ANA slide show

Millennials are often the most stereotyped, yet coveted, group for marketers. The second-largest generation group in the U.S. has now “grown up,” and its consumers have disposable incomes. This provides a plethora of opportunities for advertisers and marketers who are so eager to reach them, as Millennials are highly engaged, using multiple platforms for many hours on a daily basis.

The U.S. Hispanic Creative Circle has announced that entries to the 6th USH Idea Awards are now open. Agencies will have until September 15th to submit creative pieces to the festival that will be held at The Colony Theatre in Miami Beach on Thursday, October 12, 2017.

Bill Duggan penned a piece in MediaVillage.com last week continuing the ANA’s attack on ad agencies — this time over production transparency, which is the code name for unethical and possibly illegal bid-rigging activities conducted by some agencies to secure production contracts at favorable rates.  A previous transparency issue, media transparency, was investigated by ANA in 2016, and it confirmed instances of media agencies enriching themselves at client expense through rebates, kickbacks and other “non-transparent” practices, many of them not forbidden by existing contracts.  Duggan summarized ANA’s view about these two transparency issues: “The advertising industry continues to suffer from a transparency crisis, which has broken down trust between advertisers and agencies … the ad agency community now needs to acknowledge and address these issues rather than continuing to issue denials …”  By Michael Farmer

comScore published its Top Ten Burning Issues in Digital report.

Amisha Gandhi, head of influencer marketing at the software giant SAP, wanted to inject more value into the company’s Leonardo Live event centered on digital innovation and transformation. She invited five top influencers to participate in the two-day conference, which took place earlier this summer in Frankfurt, Germany, and attracted 1,500 attendees, including C-level and senior digital executives.  By Matthew Schwartz

There’s no right or wrong way to snack, but there’s little doubt that Americans are growing increasingly health conscious as they reach for a bite in between meals—or in place of one. And as consumers’ hunger for healthful options rises, it’s important for retailers and manufacturers to stay on top of consumption trends in the produce aisle.