What’s the best word to describe winning the third award in two years for having an awesome workplace?

“It’s humbling. Very humbling,” said Cheryl Ryan, Director of Culture Club, Centro’s human resources group, on the occasion of the company being named Illinois’ Healthiest Employer in the mid-size business category. It was among the five winning companies selected from nearly 110 Illinois-based organizations by Healthiest Employers, LLC.

“And it really is a shared, full-company achievement,” she said. “We have so many champions of health and wellness in this organization. Our employees tell us what they need and we listen and empower them with the resources and support necessary to make it a reality. It’s a collaboration that we’re really proud of.”

Those of you who have visited our office might be forgiven for thinking that “wellness” means stability ball desk chairs, fresh fruit and yoga classes. But members of the Centro family know it goes far beyond just fun goodies.

“As Culture Club works to put together programs and initiatives, we’re constantly looking at a diversity of holistic efforts that will make for the best mind, body and soul,” Cheryl said. “It’s really about creating a better you.”

From employee-led Weight Watchers groups to new initiatives for expanded professional development, almost all of the perks and supports that Centro offers started as an employee idea. And that’s exactly how the Culture Club plans on living up to high standards Centro has been lauded for.

“There’s a little pressure to keep being the best,” said Cheryl, chuckling, “but we’re constantly listening, constantly being innovative and thinking of something new. You can never maintain the status quo and assume the same programs will be meaningful year after year. We’ll definitely be thinking creatively in 2013.”

Visit our careers pages to take a look at our Employee Manifesto, our benefits and perks, and our open positions.

• Mobile display is proving its worth according to eMarketer. As for success metrics, mobile CTR surpasses online advertising norms while engagement with rich media ads have shown significant lift to brand metrics. U.S. advertisers are on track to spend $1.8 billion on mobile display advertising in 2012 and this number is expected to grow in 2013. Read More: Mobile Display Proves Its Worth
• ZenithOptimedia predicts internet advertising will increase its share of the ad market from 18% in 2012 to 23.4% in 2015, while newspapers and magazines will continue to shrink at an average of 1% a year. The agency forecasts internet advertising to overtake newspapers for the first time in 2013, and then exceed the combined total of newspaper and magazine advertising in 2015. Read More: Zenithoptimedia Forecasts 4.1% Growth in Global Adspend in 2013
• Recent research suggests that for ads that are not in-view, the difference in clicks is significant. MediaMind reported that overall, rich media ads boasted .22% CTR. However, for ads that were actually viewable—defined as 50% viewable for at least one second— CTR averaged 0.34%, a 54.5% lift. While viewability is an important factor in success, so are other factors such as engaging and relevant content, appropriate audience targeting, site quality, optimal reach and frequency levels, etc. Read More: Viewability Is Key to Clicks

At 8:45AM on November 1st I arrived at the office, booted up my computer and heard a coworker loudly broadcast “The Starbucks Holiday Cups Are Back!!”

Ah yes, it’s the time of the year when the lines at Starbucks rival those of an Apple Store.  With both a Starbucks cup and iPhone already at hand, I realized that there are few things more integral to my morning routine than my smartphone and a morning cup of coffee (okay, okay…and a shower).

Both are highly personal, very customizable, and it’s hard to imagine a day without them.  Having chosen to focus innovation around all things mobile, Starbucks has managed to capitalize on this insight and now completes over two million mobile transactions per week!  Sure, Starbucks has executed innovative mobile advertising campaigns, but it’s the strategy of making mobile the center of the marketing strategy that sets them apart from the competition.

In 2011, Starbucks updated the functionality of its mobile application (originally launched in 2009) in order to give their customers the ability to pay at the register with their phone.  The process was smooth.   Baristas were well prepared for the experience, and customers simply waived a bar code on their phone’s screen in front of a scanner.  Perhaps more importantly, the process also helped drive sales for Starbucks.  Some have pointed out that the application can make store lines move 10 percent to 20 percent faster during peak hours.

In 2012, Starbucks made additional strides to improve the payment experience by working with outside partners such as Square and Apple (among others).  For example, when Apple released its Passbook application, Starbucks was one of Apple’s first partners.  Using Passbook, customers plug in their favorite Starbucks location(s) and the application automatically recognizes when the customer enters a store.  Rather than digging through your phone’s applications to find the Starbucks app, Passbook gives customers the ability to swipe the home screen (even when locked) and load the barcode for payment.  It’s extremely convenient.

Additionally, Starbucks doubled down on mobile payments by investing $25MM in the mobile startup Square.  The partnership and investment allows Starbucks to save on transaction fees and provides customers the flexibility of being able to pay using the Square application.  Starbucks will utilize its massive retail footprint (launching square across 7,000 locations) to drive a strong return on its $25MM investment and propel Square into the mainstream.

Simply put, Starbucks is preparing for a mobile first future. By testing mobile advertising, developing best-in-class mobile applications and driving innovation within mCommerce, Starbucks is making mobile an integral part of its marketing mix entering 2013.

Advertisers and marketers who don’t invest in or take risks to prepare for the changes that mobile will bring in 2013 have been put on notice.

Read more about how Starbucks is crafting it’s mobile first strategy:

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/starbucks-leans-on-mobile-advertising-to-drive-online-in-store-revenue

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/13858.html

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-23/starbucks-schools-other-retailers-on-mobile-payments

http://www.mobilecommercedaily.com/starbucks-caffeinates-mobile-payments-with-over-2m-mobile-transactions-per-week

http://www.wired.com/business/2012/11/square-launches-at-starbucks/

So many things remind us of the holiday season: The hanging of seasonal ornaments, the plans of travel taken to spend time with loved ones, the wafting scents of pumpkin spice, eggnog and pine. And of course, there’s those chestnuts roasting on an open fire. But there’s something new that lingers about throughout the holidays: It’s the mobile device.

A lot is expected of mobile for the 2012 holiday season. A newly released study by Deloitte reports that the rising trend of mobile commerce is highly noted during the holiday season and becoming increasingly prevalent when shopping year-round.

The Deloitte survey found that seven in 10 mobile phone users plan to use them for holiday shopping this year. The same study shared that smartphone owners will spend 72% more than those without smartphones. Additionally, the survey reported that 62% of these shoppers will use their devices to find store locations while 58% will use them to check and compare product prices.

Another recently released study by research and analytics firm Prosper Mobile Media found that 55.3% of mobile device owners plan to use their smartphones or tablets for holiday shopping this year to research or purchase products, locate stores, or assist with other shopping tasks.

A full 61.9% of those mobile holiday shoppers from the same survey said they would be using their mobile devices primarily for comparison shopping and making mobile commerce purchases.

In both studies, signs point to great engagement opportunities for brands that have made mobile a part of their holiday media plans.

Retailers that have emphasized mobile executions should pat themselves on the back for understanding the growing significance of the space. They can look forward to shoppers regularly engaging with their mobile devices while taking numerous low-funnel purchase actions this holiday season.

There has been a lot of talk in the Streaming Audio space taking place over the last month.  First came the Bloomberg post related to Apple’s potential entrance into the Streaming Audio sector (everyone in unison: “Please, not another Apple post…”) and the implications of its arrival.  And then today came some news around MySpace’s efforts to enter the subscription space.

That being said, I have a theory that whenever a competing product from a mega-corporation labeled a “[Insert Beloved Product]-Killer” is introduced to the public, the only thing truly successful about that launch is the marketing and promotion.  Everything else comes up short.

Some quick examples would be Apple Maps (to compete against Google Maps), Google Places (to compete against Yelp Reviews) and Yelp Deals (to compete against Groupon – 1 of 500+).  MySpace’s history is littered with examples of it trying to quell Facebook’s and Twitter’s momentum with similar product features.

While these are strategic moves, they fall under a category of business decisions I like to refer to as the Me-Toos (as in “Oh, you have [insert service, product or product differentiator]? Me, too.”).

The Me-Toos are a tough place for companies to operate because it automatically sets you up as second to someone else’s lead.  Blackberry’s entrance into touch screens and app stores are great examples of the Me-Toos hard at work.

When the Me-Toos are done by a company we hold with regard, our response is to write the obit for the young competing upstart who’s about to get their lunch handed to them.  When the Me-Toos are a company who appears to be standing on their last leg, our response is to call it a desperate attempt as we start to write the obit on the anticipated failure.  And, outside of the truly desperate attempts, we really have no idea what is going to happen next.  Consumers are a fickle friend.

My take: based off of their history, Apple’s best bet is to make an acquisition (it’s not like they don’t have the money, people!) and then leverage their clout with the record labels to address the royalty issues that have such an impact on companies like Pandora.

MySpace holds the largest catalogue of available music in the US with roughly 50% of its inventory coming from self-publishing and independent artists, so it truly can position itself as a place to ‘hear it first’ compared to its competitors. How this will be received by 12-24 year olds over the coming 12 months will be something to keep an eye on.

The more players in the space, the more innovation is made among the offerings; the more innovation among the offerings, the more likelihood that more consumers find something they like; the more consumers like, the more they will participate and the more this entire segment will grow over the coming months and years.  Best of luck to the Me-Toos!

(iMediaConnection.com) - The media landscape continues to expand on many fronts, causing chaos for those of us who want to make the most of the opportunities to engage and delight consumers on social TV screens, in the now media-rich outdoors, and on the smartphones and tablets found in so many pockets and purses.

The explosion of data being generated from each give and take in these new relationships is leading to an infinite number of ways to find better consumer insights and to optimize campaigns. And I haven’t even begun to touch on the growing number of tools consumers have at their disposal to selectively pick their favorite content — and screen out noise.

At no point in the history of advertising have agencies had so much opportunity to create unique brand-building consumer experiences for their clients. At the same time, the media landscape has never been so large and complex, making it more difficult to strategically design the right building blocks for a successful campaign.

The trick for agencies in the new dawn of advertising is not to let the complex minutiae of digital execution get in the way of funding valuable resources for strategic thinking, an agency’s ultimate value add.

Agencies are invaluable partners for their clients because they know how to find the best consumer insights and create effective brand building ideas. But if they let themselves get distracted by the growing complexity of digital stewardship, then they’ll risk having to shift more and more resources to operations — and jeopardize their value by underinvesting in strategy tools and clients.

Unfortunately, the squeaky wheel always gets the grease. In advertising, the squeaky wheel is the day-to-day execution of campaigns.

This concern is even more worrisome when you consider that in the not-too-distant future all media will become digital. That means more and more spending will be moving into the digital side of the business where, surprisingly, the least amount of automation exists for media stewardship.

Read the remainder of this article on iMedia here.

• ‘Tis the Season! According to comScore, $16.4B has been spent online (16% increase vs. the corresponding days last year). Cyber Monday reached $1.46B in online spending (up 17% vs. a year ago), representing the heaviest online spending day in history and the second day this season (in addition to Black Friday) to surpass $1B in sales. Holiday shoppers are clearly hungry for digital deals. It’s up to marketers to ensure their brand voice is not only heard online, but it must also invoke action. Read More: Cyber Monday Spending Soars to $1.46 Billion, Ranking as Heaviest U.S. Online Spending Day in History
• Why digital media? Findings from a recent Accenture survey found that consumers prefer personalization and they are more likely to purchase from companies who leverage online communications and channels, specifically social media and mobile applications. Additionally, more than half of young adults indicated that they believe prices are higher in-store than online. Read More: Accenture Interactive Survey:  Shoppers Prefer Personalization over Privacy and Final survey results
• The IAB released the top mobile savvy shopping cities. Houston takes the lead with the savviest mobile shoppers followed by Seattle-Tacoma, San Francisco Bay, LA, and New York. The four key data points measured were: 1) ownership of a smart mobile device 2) propensity to be influenced by mobile coupons 3) ownership of a mobile retail application and 4) ownership of a mobile social media app. Read More: Mobile Shoppers: Growing Adoption Shifts Shopping Landscape