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Monday, September 25, 2017

Amazon Go, BingoBox and Bodega are changing retail

From big boxes to little boxes, companies the world over are trying to change the world of retail. We have Amazon Go and Bodega in the U.S. and BingoBox in China. Which one seems to have the most potential and what, if anything, does it mean for consumer packaged goods brands?

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Is digital advertising critical for brands?

I was recently asked to address the question ‘is digital critical for brands?’ Much as I was tempted to say no just for the hell of it, let’s just say I think the answer is that ‘critical’ is hyperbole. Can a brand survive without digital? Well, I believe that depends on the brand, category and country.

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Monday, September 18, 2017

Is Apple playing the behavioral economics game?

Apple’s iPhone X is now a reality rather than the subject of rumor and, yes, it now has facial recognition, an all-screen design and a significantly faster processor. While commentators debate whether the iPhone X really is the “biggest leap forward since the original iPhone” it seems clear to me that the primary objective of the launch is to set a new price benchmark for the iPhone range.

#Brands

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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Media money has shifted to less-liked ad formats

According to a Lightspeed survey conducted in Asia, 86 percent of the people interviewed stated they were seeing more online advertising than they did three years ago. Of course, they are right, the number of digital ads has skyrocketed over the last few years which means that more money is going to ad formats that people actively dislike.

#Media

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Monday, September 11, 2017

How an ad campaign tapped into voyeurism to win

Social media has turned us into a culture of voyeurs. So went the thinking behind Leo Burnett Chicago’s Cannes-winning campaign for the Art Institute of Chicago. And by structuring a coherent campaign around that insight the team helped increase the number of visitors to the Institute by 54 percent.

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Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Will people eventually get used to pre-roll ads?

I was chatting with a friend of mine the other day and he suggested that pre-roll ads on YouTube were getting longer. Then he suggested that this was part of a deliberate program to inure people to watching ads on digital devices. I have to admit I found both claims surprising but maybe he is right?

#Media

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Monday, September 4, 2017

Are brands resilient or fragile?

A while back the MSI series ‘5 Things I Know About Marketing’ featured Scott McDonald, President and CEO of The Advertising Research Foundation. One of his five things was that brand equity is hard to build and hard to shift – except in a negative direction. But is that always true?

#Brands

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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Advertising in our search, skip and share culture

One of the big shifts that has taken place over the last couple of decades has been in the way people seek entertainment and information. We now have the ability to find what we want, when we want. Along with all the other changes that have taken place this makes life more difficult for advertisers.

#Media

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Straight Talk with Nigel Hollis

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