Ideas to share

ChatGPT – Still a ways to go

Everyone, especially marketers, should be testing new AI solutions to maximize efficiencies in delivering better product experience, development, and marketing content. ChatGPT was launched in November and is now the most talked about new AI tool. Ryan Reynolds has even claimed to develop a TV ad with it.  Compared to other AI tools that may focus on writing, video or coding, ChatGPT attempts to take any prompt and deliver a complete solution.  Although the results are pretty impressive, there is a high error rate and quality variance depending on your query.  The attached article from Fast Company provides a good summary.  It’s promising but has a ways to go to be a go-to tool for marketers.

Click here to read the full story.

Read more →

Toxic cultures: Know how harmful they are and how to fix them.

Most of us have experienced and heard stories about toxic work environments. They are more common than one might think as approximately 1 in 10 workers experience their workplace culture as toxic. This can have a big impact on your results. In fact, 90% of CEOs and CFO in North America believe that improving their culture would boost financial results.  This article from MIT Sloan Management Review identifies key predictive factors such as leadership, social norms, and work design based on multiple studies. The authors also give detailed tips on how to design or change your environment to reduce toxicity.

Click here to read the story.

Read more →

How do you stack up with other CMOs/VPs of Marketing?

The annual Deloitte CMO survey is available for 2022. It’s a great chance to understand what your peers and working on and thinking about.  Some key highlights include:

  • 60% of CMOs report that marketing is becoming more important in their company
  • Decreased CMO optimism in the economy because of inflation
  • Top reactions to the inflationary environment: 65% plan to raise prices, 40% plan to communicate a stronger value proposition, 27% plan to make more robust brand-building investments
  • Marketing spending averages 9% of revenue (B2C products average 15%), projecting to decline slightly in 2023
  • Social and digital media spending projected to grow in the next 12 months
  • Marketing teams are still growing (15% vs. 2021)
  • % of marketing teams working from home full time =49% and CMOs view remote working as a positive trend for culture and productivity

Download the full CMO survey 2022 report here.

Read more →

Humor in advertising: A big opportunity to connect, but what’s funny depends on age, income and political views

Comedy is the most-watched entertainment genre, so it makes sense to consider using it in advertising. However, what people find funny is highly personal—based on factors such as age, income level and political ideology. While people like it when brands use humor to connect with them, they feel like few brands are doing it right.

The attached report from IPSOS provides some great information about how humor tastes differ for various demographic groups.  Use this info as you develop your next campaign brief.

Download the full report here.

Read more →

What is the latest cost of a Super Bowl ad?

Super Bowl TV ad costs continue to spiral.  In 2022, a :30 second spot costs a whopping $6.5 million. These ads have long been a questionable investment, but even more so now as costs have accelerated after COVID and there are so many alternative media options to hit the same audience for less.

Read more →

Economic worries overtake COVID fears for first time in almost 20 months

In this latest study by IPSOS, COVID now ranks as the 3rd biggest concern among the global consumer population behind economic-related worries of poverty and unemployment. This is a significant shift in sentiment and should be considered as we develop messages to our audiences as we get further from the pandemic.

Click here to read the full study 

Read more →

COVID-19 related social isolation harms cognitive function

As we are now exiting the final major COVID-related safety restrictions in California, it is good to take away any learnings. An interesting study by researchers in the UK published in the Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology shows that in addition to the emotional damage caused by social isolation, the lockdowns also caused a significant drop in executive function, risk processing and other cognitive measures.  This study is another reason that we should think about reducing isolation when designing marketing team structures and even through the marketing programs to our customers and prospects.

Click here to read the full study.

Read more →

Consumer concerned, but optimistic heading into 2021

Check out the latest survey information from Engine Insights (Representative sample of the U.S. population N=1,000) below from January 10.

As we enter 2021, people are more concerned about disinformation (81%) and violence (78%) than lockdowns (74%) and contracting COVID (71%), but all the numbers are still high.

The vaccination launch is helping to reduce the concern as 18% of respondents claim to be signed up or on a waiting list for the vaccine, while another 34% are planning to get one soon. 71% are optimistic that 2021 will be better than 2020. This bodes well for sales rebounds throughout the year.

American-manufactured products, small business and environmentally friendly products might fare even better with 41% of consumers planning to purchase more products made in the USA, 36% planning to purchase more from small business and 30% planning to buy more environmentally friendly products.

As you project your sales bounce back in 2021, it still looks like summer for the biggest jump with concerns still running high now. Continued sensitivity in marketing messaging and providing continued COVID-related support for customers/community remain solid ways to maintain engagement until sentiment changes.

Download the infographic:

US-Pulse-Infographic-Series-01-11-2021-v3

Read more →

Marketing predictions for 2021

A new report from Gartner analyzes how the turmoil from 2020 (COVID, racial tension, political unrest, recession, etc.) will impact marketing for the future. They have made 6 predictions that we all should consider as we plan for 2021:

1. Major shift to real-time, virtual events – Need to think of this as the standard going forward, optimizing the virtual user experience

2. Shift from channel-based strategies to customer-centric, channel-agnostic – Need to think customer first and get a multiplying effect from an omni-channel approach

3. Continued growth in subscription model pricing – With increased competition, strategies to differentiate your offering and retain your customers will be even more important

4. Due to digital acceleration, customer experience (CX) function increasingly merged into marketing and sales – Higher need to look for an eliminate organization redundancies, share data and map all elements of the customer journey from high in the funnel prospects to loyal customers

5. Increased employee activism – Need to monitor and help guide employee comments and attitudes to help protect brand image

6. Increased emphasis on content moderation – Need to utilize the latest tools to help to maintain brand safety in user generated content

 

Download the full report here for full information:
Gartner Marketing Predictions 2021 & Beyond

Read more →

Almost half of Americans plan to spend less this holiday season

If your sales are slowing into year end, you will not be alone. This report froom IPSOS indicates that the consumer sentiment index post-election is down almost 4 points to 49.5 (and 10 points below May 2020). 23% of consumers plan on spending a lot less and 26% a little less than last year. Even higher income consumers are planning to cut back with 43% of those households planning on spending less this holiday season vs. last.

Historical consumer sentiment chart

Click here to view the full article.

Read more →