Ad attribution is one of the most challenging analytic problems in marketing today. Who saw which ads, and what purchases resulted? It's a sticky challenge, especially in an increasingly multi-screen world. As a result, many advertisers use simplified models for…
“The industry is changing right around us,” Peter Kravilovsky. We’ll be unveiling several new mergers and acquisitions in local media during the week.
At the intersection of national and local marketing, we face an accelerated speed of change, lack of experience talent in interactive, structural changes in the market that challenge traditional marketing practices. The move from push to pull communication is changing who is in control of the messaging. Gregg Stewart, CEO of 3rd Act Marketing began by framing the week’s discussion. The agency, formerly the commander of local marketing, is now just another partner at the table.
The pace of change has disrupted media planning, Stewart said. We need to be “agile,” even if that is an over-used term these days. Now planning must take place in mini-bursts throughout the year rather than all at once at the beginning of the year. We need to do more testing of channels and techniques, throwing out what doesn’t work fast.
Stewart says the talent vacuum is our biggest challenge as an industry. Organizations must understand opportunities to bring talent together for specific projects: Buy experience with a group of star digital talent, but the salaries often are often outsized compared to actual experience. It takes about 18 months to get a return from these investments in human resources, and that’s the current average length of tenure in the industry. Do more training and develop people from scratch, but there the agency has to defend the talent from poachers. Continuous development of talent is essential.
A hybrid model for human resources also can be an asset, as your people spread through the industry. Identify networks of relationships and build on those relationships. This points to the question of whether we are organized correctly as an industry. (We’ll be covering this question at BIA/Kelsey NOW in June). Early efforts to blend digital and traditional made the different media types enemies. Now we need to integrate and train across traditional and digital, especially as we go to mobile.
In the incredibly competitive local advertising marketplaces throughout the U.S., national advertisers are playing a bigger role. National advertisers are increasing their spending in these local markets to target consumers in specific geographic areas. While they still spend on nationwide…
I attended an intriguing breakout session -- "Spreading the Word: Advanced Strategies for Content Distribution" -- at the ad:tech conference today in San Francisco's glistening Moscone Center. The session featured a presentation by Alex from Digitas, who walked the audience through…
Consumers today want to feel like they are recognized and known personally by the stores they shop at and by the brands they buy. For national brands, targeting consumers and reaching that personal level can be a challenge. Many brands,…
BIA/Kelsey, forecasting $52.9 Billion in national local spending by 2017, has unveiled its new Leading in Local: The National Impact conference, which will take place in Atlanta May 7-9. The 2.5 Day event is expected to be the largest gathering…
BIA/Kelsey, forecasting $52.9 Billion in national local spending by 2017, has unveiled its new Leading in Local: The National Impact conference, which will take place in Atlanta May 7-9. The 2.5 Day event is expected to be the largest gathering…
This morning Yodle announced two new features that will be added to the services it provides its clients as part of their online marketing solutions package: online reviews management and photo syndication. "Our goal is for Yodle to be the…
Today at BIA/Kelsey's Leading in Local conference, Hill Holiday EVP and Chief Media Officer Cindy Stockwell gave a street-level view of the opportunities and challenges confronting brands as they seek to localize their advertising/marketing. While there are voluminous channel and…
Verve Mobile's CEO Tom MacIsaac is bullish on local publishers' ability to drive this revenue growth by selling local audiences not just to local advertisers but also to national brands seeking access to local audiences in a trusted context, through…
BIA/Kelsey forecasts digital advertising/marketing to grow to about 25 percent of the local ad spending pie next year. This growth puts companies on the hook to develop integrated marketing strategies that connect the entire purchase funnel to drive revenue, a…
Vocus, a cloud marketing and public relations software provider, is focused on helping SMBs grow their online business with its new marketing dashboard. Business Development Manager Christine Mulquin shared with us that the company is targeting its marketing suite to…
Here’s what we’ve been waiting to announce: Google Offers’ head Nitin Mangtani will join our great list of keynoters at ILM East March 26-28 in Boston. We believe Mangtani’s appearance marks one of the first public debuts of Google Offers,…
Watching free videos on the Web is convenient and entertaining. But most viewers won't say the same about pre-roll video ads. Enter Solve Media. The ad tech company announced the launch of Pre-Roll Insurance today. The new technology prompts viewers…
BIA/Kelsey moderated a panel on "the Out-of-Home User Experience" (click on image for link to streaming video) at MediaPost's Digital Out-of-Home Forum (DOOH) in New York. DOOH is the third-fastest growing ad medium after mobile and online video. Paul Lindstrom,…
Last week I attended Opus Research's Conversational Commerce Conference (a.k.a. "C3). The focus of the discussion was mostly on social media and its impact on marketing and customer care, at both the local and national brand levels. While there is…
There is a lot going on in online media on the East Coast evidenced by the panel on geolocation here at the Internet Summit in Raleigh, North Carolina, sponsored by TechMedia and Southern Capital Ventures. Geolocation continues to be major…
Content remains king on the Internet mainly because there are more ways to produce, connect and interact with content than ever before. According to Rod Smith of IBM, “there are more ways to dig into content than ever before, but…
We keep saying that media darlings like Foursquare and Gowalla will have to evolve beyond the game mechanics and check-ins that have driven their usage. Simply put, these drivers will lose novelty. Among other things, they'll need to develop an…
Ad agencies have never really been a major part of the world of local online advertising. Apart from some geotargeting for their national and regional clients, they haven’t paid much attention to the many opportunities in local (geotarget banners, local…
