Agency

Honestly, there are two critical marketing topics. Get these two right and you have gone a tremendous way in differentiating your brand, organization, or persona in an age of sameness. Yet many organizations and individuals either fail to master these concepts or mistakenly believe they understand them when they really don’t.  By Roderick M. McNealy, ANA Faculty

sociedAD, a new cross-disciplinary agency that offers full-service advertising and public relations capabilities aimed at Hispanic consumers, has been formed by advertising veterans Jorge Moya, who will serve as chief creative officer, and Carla Trum Mercado and Federico Mejer, who are managing directors.

The world of marketing at enterprise companies is both exciting and challenging – there are many decisions to make and options available when it comes to which marketing channels to prioritize, which technology platforms to utilize, and when to hire an agency for support.

Moms are on top of it right now. Recent estimates show that American moms control approximately $2.1 trillion of spending per year, or 85% of household income. Not surprisingly, this is a key demographic for many brands.  

Rather than offering new insights into the depth and magnitude of the transparency issue and offering positive suggestions on how the problem could be resolved, the 4A’s chose to dismiss the recommendations, and essentially called for a preservation of the status quo.

A handful of technology, media, and telecommunications (TMT) companies have come to dominate various aspects of the Internet, including access, search, social networking, on-line shopping, the sharing economy, advertising, and content creation and distribution. These players were able to enter the market with unique offerings or business models, quickly shaking up industry after industry. These disruptors appear to have a stronghold in their chosen markets, but ongoing innovation in the Internet space continues to usher in new businesses that could well end up disrupting the disruptors.

In the age of amplification of social influence through digital channels, brands that remain rooted in the advertising age face an existential threat in the digital age. Social platforms are designed to connect people, not sell products. And brands that embrace people’s stories (not product testimonials) are the ones that successfully drive social engagement.

At the beginning of 2016, marketing professionals made a variety of predictions (link is external) about the future of digital marketing. Some of the most notable forecasts pointed to the increasing importance of data collection, video advertising, virtual reality, and live streaming.

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

• Nothing a Caucasian heterosexual male says or does in 2016 is right.
• A white straight dude could discover the cure for cancer these days and he’d still be frowned upon.
• Sorry folks, it’s the new normal.
• Not too long ago, for some inexplicable reason, women couldn’t vote or attend college.
• Not too long ago there were restaurants in Miami with signs that read “No dogs, no blacks, no Cubans.”
• Fast forward to 2016.

Could Latinos 50+ be turning into one of the most alluring subsegments of the U.S. Hispanic Market? What defines them and what ails them? What makes them a force, armed with disposable income, marketers should contend with moving forward?  Louis Maldonado, of d expósito & Partners, wrote the White Paper: Latinos 50+: A shift in mindset and priorities.

In part one of this two-part series, I addressed the buying power of Latinos and the different segments of this evolving market. I also debunked the myth that Latinos are of meager means. Today, let’s address two more myths about Latinos and their shopping preferences.  By Brenda Storch, Director, Social Media, Epsilon

These are turbulent times for marketers. The digital revolution is transforming the consumption of media. People under 35 watch as much video content as their parents do, but less than half of it is live television. In the United States, more than a third of all video content is now viewed online, much of it on mobile devices. Millennials spend 15 hours a week on their smartphones, and 89 percent check their work email outside of normal working hours. They are likely to trust the views of their peers and social-network connections over those of media professionals.  By Cody Butt / McKinsey & Company.

The pace of change in marketing and the marketplace continues to accelerate. Unicorn companies are challenging long-established brands, and categories are being re-imagined. Upstarts question the safety of ingredients, the integrity of the supply chain, and the sanctity of long-held business models. Consumers have new expectations of brands, with 62 percent saying they refuse to buy a brand if it fails to meet its obligations to society.  By Richard Edelman- President and CEO / Edelman

Delivering on its well-received campaign theme, “Siéntete Seguro™,” created by d expósito & Partners, Amica – a new and already familiar marketer in the U.S. Hispanic Market – is launching a 360°, multi-disciplinary brand repositioning, which now adds Media to the agency’s responsibilities.

Most hotel brands demonstrate stronger brand equity than airline, cruise and online travel service brands, according to The Harris Poll® 2016 EquiTrend® Study.

Gabriel Torres joins Sprint as president of the New England Region. Based in Boston, Mass., he will be responsible for sales strategy, network oversight, customer service, marketing communications and general operations supporting the full portfolio of Sprint products and services from enterprise to consumer.

La Cumbre, a Latino community organization in Rochester, New York, is encouraging all Latino artists in the Upstate New York region to register for La Cumbre’s Latino Artist and Arts Organization Directory, a “go to” resource for the area. 

Survey findings released rom Ogilvy Media Influence’s first-ever global survey of over 200 reporters and editors found that 72 percent of respondents agree that traditional media outlets are the most trusted news sources.

Influencer marketing is rapidly gaining popularity among brand marketers, and according to April 2016 research, nearly three-quarters of US marketers cite ongoing ambassadorships as one of the most effective uses of influencers.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Great minds discuss ideas.” Yet, one of the most frequent complaints we hear from advertising agencies and internal creative teams is that most marketers cannot recognize good creative ideas at their seminal state.  By Roderick M. McNealy, ANA Faculty