The key performance indicators that marketers use most often to track the results of their media investments are rarely the same KPIs that those same marketers consider to be most important. This is a key finding from the ANA Media Leadership Growth Council’s study “Media KPIs That Matter.” In fact, only one KPI is in the top five of both lists.
Continue readingThe Martech Trough of Disillusionment Is a Crowded Space
Among the 21 technologies represented in the Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing 2020, nearly half are mired in the Trough of Disillusionment. They include account-based marketing platforms, AI for marketing, customer data platforms, and personalization engines. There could be a big shift in 2021, however, as most of the tools in the Trough should start making their way to or through the Slope of Enlightenment on their two- to five-year trip to the Plateau of Productivity.
Continue readingCOVID-19’s Impact on Marketing Spending—and the Channel Unlikely to Be Affected
Spending on marketing since the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown began has dropped across nearly every channel. According to a report from Winterberry Group, the predicted reductions in marketing spending for Q2 2020 range from 10 percent to 75 percent.
Continue readingDespite All the Disruption, Media Agencies Still Play a Vital Role
“We’re living in a world of instant satisfaction,” asserts Nicolas Bidon, chief executive officer of WPP’s programmatic media agency, Xaxis. “At the touch of a button, consumers get a solution to their immediate problem. And, even where it’s not that easy to get their needs met now, that’s still what customers want.” The challenge, he notes, is that some industries have a hard time achieving that immediacy because they’re still in the midst of their digital transformation.
Got Feelings? Why It’s Time to Rethink Brand Positioning
Back in 1980, Al Ries and Jack Trout warned marketers that if they didn’t position their brands in consumers’ minds, their competitors would do it for them. That’s still true, but there’s another notable reason for brand positioning: “Whether or not a brand actively tries to spark a feeling, people are going to feel something about them,” says Kai Wright, global consulting partner at Ogilvy, author of Follow the Feeling: Brand Building in a Noisy World, and a stand-room-only speaker at ANA Masters of Marketing. “So, it’s dangerous when brands don’t actively have a strategy that unifies all of their marketing and communications and policies and practices towards one positive thing that everyone is striving towards.”
Latinas Are the New Mainstream Consumer, Driving Triple-Digital Sales Growth
Latinas have been the most talked-about demographic, but for many companies, they’re also hardest to understand, asserts Mónica Gil, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. “Many brands are using outdated data and strategies trying to reach Latinas,” Gil says. “Brands need to see Latinas as they are today, versus using past perceptions.”
Starcom’s Sheehy: Keys to Unlocking Transformation and Growth
No industry is exempt from upheaval of today’s disruptors. That means every organization needs to transform the way they operate — especially how they use data and engage customers — if they are to grow and thrive. “The ecosystems are more complex; the challenges with technology are complex and expensive,” said John Sheehy, Starcom Worldwide’s global brand president. “So, marketers looking to unlock growth should focus on doing fewer things better, faster.”
The Customer Data You Didn’t Know You Needed
That 24-year-old sports enthusiast watching Major League Soccer on Univision and that 65-year-old news junky listening to NPR may not actually be in your target audience. Not everyone in a demographic will be, and that’s OK. There are other types of data that can effectively help you home in on the consumers who could turn out to be your next high-value customer.
Sorrell, Whipple: “Agencies Aren’t Exempt From Change”
Two ad industry titans — Sir Martin Sorrell, executive chairman of S4 Capital, and Brian Whipple, CEO of Accenture Interactive — addressed a packed house at The Drum Arms’ activation at the Cannes Lions festival yesterday (18 June), each weighing in on key issues facing advertising.
Meet the CMO Powering the Growth of Angi Homeservices’ Three Rival Brands
Investors are bullish on Angi Homeservices. The firm has delivered 17.80% earnings per share growth and 35.70% revenue growth over the past five years, according to Auburn Digest. A big driver of that growth: a marketing strategy that repositioned former adversaries — HomeAdvisor, Angie’s List, and Handy, which compete for customers who are looking for contractors they can trust with home improvement projects — giving them a new, common competitor to unite against.
Ginger Conlon 