Agency

Finding ways to grow sales has never been tougher. Despite obstacles like robust competition, a fragmented media environment and growing piles of data, a handful of companies are still finding growth opportunities within their existing customer bases. In fact, by identifying a category’s ‘Super Consumers’ – those consumers that spend a lot and engage a lot, companies are tailoring their marketing and sales efforts to boost incremental sales—even when category sales are flat.

Population Living in Multi-generational Households Has Doubled Since 1980A record 57 million Americans, or 18.1% of the population of the United States, lived in multi-generational family households in 2012, double the number who lived in such households in 1980.

In 1993, Vernor Vinge, a retired professor of mathematics, computer scientist and award-winning science fiction author, argued that the creation of superhuman artificial intelligence would mark the point at which “the human era will be ended.” This idea, associated in popular thinking with the futurist Ray Kurzweil of 2005’s The Singularity is Near, posits a moment when computing advances to the point that computers become self-directing, direct their activities to making themselves ever more intelligent, and surpass human comprehension or understanding.

Entrepreneurs can help drive the creation of 10 million youth jobs1 across the G20 countries2 if existing barriers to entrepreneurship were lifted, according to new research from Accenture. The study also indicates that while 74 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed by Accenture say they plan to recruit young talent in 2014, many believe that a shortage of people with relevant skills is hindering job creation and growth.

Mega-mergers have been the talk of the media industry for the past year. It started with the biggest video programming distributors in the U.S., Comcast and Time Warner Cable, then AT&T and DirecTV, and we’ve had lots of additional dancing among folks like Charter, Dish, Sprint and T-Mobile.

There are three business reason why we’ve been able to indulge in this creative freedom when marketing to men.

For as long as Americans have been hitting the road, radio and the cars we drive have been closely linked. And now, based on findings from a new major market test, we can connect what consumers listen to on the radio with what they buy at the auto dealer.

Chris Campos – VP, Managing Director of Bravo will departing the agency to join Arnold Worldwide.

This acoustic concert places La Ley among the repertoire of superstars that have participated in “Terra Live Music in Studio” and “Terra Live Music in Concert” with Terra.

Havas PR North America formalizes Havas Conexiones, an agency within an agency that helps brands connect with Hispanics with offices in California, New York and Texas.

Teradata Corp. and Forbes Insights released a new research study for CMOs and other senior marketing decision makers worldwide titled, “Breaking Down Marketing Silos: The Key to Consistently Achieving Customer Satisfaction and Improving Your Bottom Line.”

Experian Consumer Services-Affinity and Univision Communications Inc. announced the launch of a Spanish-language, credit-focused product and online financial resource center for the U.S. Hispanic community.

Consumer Reports introduced Marta Lourdes Tellado as its next President and Chief Executive Officer. 

CVS Caremark announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of Miami-based Navarro Discount Pharmacy, the largest Hispanic-owned drugstore chain in the U.S.

STRATA found in a recent survey of viewers of online videos and TV, younger audiences feel that targeted ads are more intrusive than their older counterparts.

CoreBrand released its second annual report on the most and least respected corporate brands – Brand Respect: The Most and Least Respected Corporate Brands.

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) and online fraud detection firm, White Ops have launched ‘The Marketers’ Coalition’, a joint research initiative to determine the level of bot fraud occurring across the digital advertising industry.

Marketers are feeling the heat when it comes to measuring their efforts. According to a study conducted by VisionEdge Marketing and ITSMA in April 2014, 85% of marketers worldwide said the pressure to measure marketing’s business value and contribution had increased. Just 14% said the level of pressure had stayed the same, and 1% thought it had decreased.

By Gonzalo López Martí@LopezMartiMiami

In the business world -particularly in marketing & advertising- few words are thrown around more profusely and absentmindedly than “strategy”.
A few years back I started an impromptu poll: during business meetings and presentations I’d casually ask clients and/or colleagues to please define “strategy” for me.
Just for the sake of being on the same page semantically.
Some people would fumble.
Others would give me a harsh look, as if I’d asked them a thorny personal question.

The no argument = the U.S. won’t anytime embrace soccer to the depth of other countries.  by Stephen Palacios /  Added Value