Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

Nigel Hollis Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst, Kantar Millward Brown

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Monday, August 21, 2017

Is Snapchat the Axe of social media?

Apparently investors were not too excited by Snapchat’s latest usage numbers. Is it me or does the fact that the daily active number of users rose over 20 percent compared to last year outweigh the fact that the absolute number fell short of the expected figure by about 1 percent? Or maybe Snapchat is just different from other platforms?

#Brands

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

For brands tangible advantages trump intangible

In talking about how best to leverage brand purpose last week I failed to address an important point. Seeking to publicize purpose only makes sense if there is no more tangible advantage that could boost the brand’s sales.

#Brands

Monday, August 14, 2017

Making your video work without sound

So a couple of weeks ago I sounded off about Facebook’s plans to enable sound automatically in its New Feed. I suspect my reaction is not that unusual and that advertisers still need to think about how their video is going to communicate without sound.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017

Effectively leveraging the power of brand purpose

The debate over the power of purpose flared up again at Cannes, largely fueled by the fact that Fearless Girl won the Titanium Grand Prix and more. Many acknowledged that the Wall Street statue was on message, but questioned whether it was on brand after struggling to remember which company sponsored it.

#Brands

Monday, August 7, 2017

Is Under Armour’s own marketing diluting its brand?

The constant demand for growth from the stock market has been the undoing of many brands as they extend too far, too fast. I agree with this article in AdAge that Under Armour with second-quarter revenues up but accompanied by a loss of $12.3 million has been over-extended. And it makes me wonder whether its own marketing is contributing to its woes.

#Brands

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Marketing’s response to our age of immediacy

If there is one thing that has changed in the last couple of decades it is our expectations of immediacy. Ever since Apple put easy access to information in our hands people have come to expect everything to be more immediate. This includes business success which is a problem when brands take time to grow strong.

Monday, July 31, 2017

Why did sales not decline after P&G’s digital cuts?

The latest quarterly results from P&G once again raise the question of the real value of digital advertising. If a major company can cut digital spend by $140 million and sales increase, what does that imply about the effectiveness of that spend?

#Media

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Brands are built in mindless moments

‘I am not influenced by advertising. I make up my own mind what to buy’. How many times has one of your friends said this to you? Of course, they are 50 percent right and 50 percent wrong. They do make up their own minds but that decision is likely influenced by advertising along with a host of other forgotten contacts with the brand.

#Brands

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Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

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