In the early days of social media, the big challenge for brands was joining the conversation. But now that most brands have a social media presence, brand participation is no longer optional. It's simply expected.
This expectation is what drives the popularity of real-time marketing. If you've never heard of this term before, real-time marketing is the practice of marketing "on the fly" by creating campaigns that latch on to events (usually award shows or sporting events), topics and memes. Think Oreo's "Dunking in the dark" tweet in 2013 or Virgin Holidays' "Time for a holiday" tweet after the passing of the same-sex marriage bill in the UK.
While brands (and their agencies) are eager to join the conversation in a timely fashion, doing real-time marketing successfully is tricky - and it requires a focus on the customer. For CMOs, the real challenge with real-time marketing is ROI. How can a timely tweet that has been re-tweeted thousands of times actually translate to sales?...
The Joint Industry Coupon Committee (JICC) has issued a call for industry comment on its intent to retire the traditional coupon barcode and exclusively use the newer and more sophisticated GS1 DataBar. The reason for change is the increased promotional capabilities of the DataBar and its ability to reduce fraud and mis-redemption.
KEY QUESTIONS:
Are you surprised by the call to retire the traditional coupon barcode? Do the benefits of the DataBar justify such a move? Are enough retail POS systems equipped for the change?
This year's Inmar Forum brought a host of top speakers to Winston-Salem, including Andreas Weigend (formerly the chief data scientist at Amazon), Peter Fader from the Wharton School, John Phillips with PepsiCo, Matt Gymer of Novant Health and many, many others. But as insightful and informative as these and the other expert presenters were, the most impactful sharing at the conference may have come from the eight "everyday folks" who participated in a panel discussion exploring shopper attitudes toward promotions, the in-store experience and the retailers and brands trying to engage with them.
The collective commentary from the panelists was candid, at times colorful and very, very telling. Here are some the key messages we heard from this diverse group of consumers...
New Directions in Shopper Technology, the second book from the Shopper Technology Institute. Building upon the foundations of last year's Essentials of Shopper Technology, the book is divided into five sections: Shoppers, Loyalty, Engagement, Analytics and Digital and contains 19 essays on how mobile marketing, social media, sophisticated analytics, Big Data and the like are continuing to evolve.
Those changes-and others-are presented in this book. As well as reading about their area of expertise, progressive executives will gain a fuller understanding of the entire industry.
Click here to read sample chapters and view ordering information for the paperback and Kindle editions.
