Industry News

A recent Digiday article titled, Why Agencies Will Double Down on Strategy, highlights how agencies are increasing their focus on strategy to help clients gain deeper insights into digital opportunities. According to a study conducted by agency-client relationship experts, RSW/US, 76% of agencies now provide strategic services, up from 59 percent in 2009; however, only 16 percent of marketer clients surveyed, say they make use of them. This indicates that there are still hurdles that need to be overcome.

Mashable released a pretty interesting article last week discussing the work the FBI is conducting to build a database of iris scans throughout the U.S. By 2014, tests will take place that leverage cameras throughout the U.S. to track criminals, fugitives, and suspects through eye scans and report their whereabouts in real time. For everyone who gets skittish about ‘Big Brother,’ I’ll pause for your shudders.

On a recent business trip, I thought about all the current advertising mediums across the industry, and how many media professionals who hold ad budgets are in a state of media confusion. While awaiting my flight, I completed a very informal survey. I counted 93 individuals who were awaiting their plane, only two had newspapers and another five people were just sitting there.

According to AdAge, the nation’s 100 biggest advertisers boosted 2011 total U.S. ad spending by 4.8%. The bump in ad spending is attributed largely to digital media including search, video, and social media. The internet is expected to surpass newspapers this year as the nation’s second-largest advertising medium, behind TV. An interesting piece in this article speaks to the increase in both measured media (display advertising, including display ads on social-media sites) and unmeasured media (paid search, online video and mobile ads). Can you measure the so-called “un-measurable” media?

Robert Hof of Forbes recently published an article titled, “Is the Online Ad Industry Too Obsessed with Technology?” which featured panel discussions from a recent Google online advertising event for advertisers, agencies, and publishers. The panelists included industry experts such as Terry Kawaja, CEO of Luma Partners, Omar Tawokol, CEO of BlueKai, Kurt Unkel, President of the digital ad buying unit of VivaKi, and more. The discussions shed light on how technology can be the answer and the problem for marketers.
In reaction to this piece, we tasked our leadership team to answer the same questions. Continue reading to view their responses…

In a comprehensive 2011 IBM study, more than 1,700 chief marketing officers (CMOs) worldwide were interviewed about the current state of the industry. The findings highlighted key challenges, such as the explosion of data, social media, the proliferation of channels and devices, and shifting consumer demographics.

Four out of five CMOs recognized that the market will be highly complex over the next five years; however, fewer than half felt prepared to handle the complexity.
How can marketing professionals positively face and overcome these challenges? Continue on to read about just one example of an agency that continues to succeed…

The opening line, “Well, that didn’t take long,” of a Los Angeles Times article, unknowingly captured the reality that makes up the ever-changing behavioral shifts in the digital space.
The line was in reference to the cascading stock price of Facebook, and Mark Zuckerberg’s brief time on Fortune’s ‘Top 40 Richest’ list. And while the post-IPO struggles of Facebook have been dominating tech news over the past few weeks, the greater story centers around what is causing this drop in perceived company value: consumer movement. In Facebook’s case, consumers are moving to mobile and the company has been slow to respond.

Deutsch LA recently teamed with the 4As on a study that examines the brand health of the ad industry and why people stay or leave. According to the report, “Advertising has freedom-loving people that want to create their own destinies, but a work environment that feels hampered by internal processes.” Additionally, 90% of advertising people see themselves as creative and 73% consider themselves rule breakers. How can the ad industry stay healthy and empower these qualities to help build out-of-the-box, creative, and attention-grabbing campaigns?

On May 30th, the venture capitalist Mary Meeker released her latest “Internet Trends” report. The presentation is packed with fantastic stats and charts that are destined to find their way into marketing decks over the next quarter. The presentation does an amazing job of outlining the state of the internet, as well as highlighting the changes that mobile devices and increased connectivity are having on consumer behavior. With a key focus on mobile, the report outlines the massive opportunity that these devices present for advertisers. The report also makes the case that it will simply take time for advertising dollars to follow the massive number of eyeballs that are increasingly moving “mobile.”