A Contrarian's View of Marketing, Media and Branding
The hype machine around mobile shopping is in high gear as agencies see opportunities to “milk” clients budgets for mobile apps that consumers don’t use or want. It is claimed, for instance, that 79% of smartphone owners use them to shop. Really? Not according to some research from Hall and Partners. Here are some key [...]
In case you missed the Samsung Galaxy III already surpassed the 30-million sales mark since its May release even though Apple is trying to turn the screws on Samsung and ban the phone. In addition nearly 1 in 10 online shoppers used an iPad to browse Black Friday deals, with the tablet overtaking the iPhone as [...]
US shoppers once again took advantage of early promotions this holiday season, driving a 17.4 percent increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day. This increase set the stage for 20.7 percent growth on Black Friday. The biggest surge came from mobile consumers, with sales reaching 16.3 percent, led by the iPad. This data is the result [...]
Google teamed up with market research organization Ipsos OTX to conduct an online survey of 1,500 holiday consumers. What they found was that the borders between online and offline shopping are disappearing. According to the study, 51% of surveyed consumers intend to research a product online and visit the store to buy it; 32% plan on [...]
Capgemini’s new “Digital Shopper Relevancy” research report Studies shopping behavior online. Over the past decade they have surveyed tens of thousands of consumers around the globe as part of our “Consumer Relevancy” and “Future Consumer” research programs. The research helps uncover the many faces of today’s technology- enabled shopper and demonstrates that shoppers are no [...]
I was trying to download a free White Paper yesterday but half way through filling out the lead form I decided it just wasn’t worth it. Research indicates that there is a direct correlation between the amount of information you collect on the lead form and the drop out rate. The more you ask for [...]
Digital marketing is changing rapidly as consumers find new ways to consume digital content, use it to make purchase decisions and marketers try and interrupt them when they just want to connect with friends and family. Your digital marketing strategy has to be fluid to leverage the changing Internet environment. Here are my rules [...]
While the economy is turning the corner, shoppers seem to be staying the course – continuing with the thrifty shopping habits they adopted during the recession. However, increased consumer confidence is having a positive impact on the shopping behaviors of some specific shopper segments. Modest improvements include the stabilization of routine shopping trips following years [...]
According to Forbes native advertising is defined as ad strategies that allow brands to promote their content into the endemic experience of a site in an integrated, non-interruptive way. However, does if native advertising is still advertising will consumers still consume the content to kill time while failing to convert ? With approximately $11 billion [...]
There are no shortcuts when it comes to building a great online branded website. Today’s consumers don’t just question, they challenge and flat out reject the irrelevant, unnecessary, and insulting advertising and marketing that most marketers seem to take for granted. If you try and save money by having a graphics person develop a website [...]
I love the challenge of marketing today because consumers have a wealth of information at their disposal 24/7/365 via the Internet. Over the last 17 years I have worked on some great brands including Sony's Discman, Canon Video products and consumer pharma brands like Cialis. I have learned a lot and continue to apply what I have learned via new learning.
Finally there is the inability of marketers to clearly communicate to senior executives the importance of digital marketing to the brand. Most senior executives don’t have time to keep up on digital marketing trends and you have to be the one to help them sort through the hype and the reality of digital marketing ROI.
There are a lot of people calling on pharma to do more with social media but no pharma company should do anything until they have an in depth understanding of how social media can impact patients healthcare choices. This means basic qualitative research to ask their audienec “why?” and “what do you need?”.
I know that there are some very good people working within the drug industry who are smart, savvy and care about what they do. I also know that talented people would have to have a screw loose to want to work in an industry that casually lays off thousands of people as soon as drug comes of patent. It might help the balance sheet in the short term but strategically it could cripple an...
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