We’re rounding up the latest marketing news from this week.
How Six Companies Are Using Technology And Data To Transform Themselves
McKinsey & Company
Before the pandemic hit, 92 percent of company leaders surveyed by McKinsey believed their business model wouldn’t remain viable at the rates of digitization at that time.
Why it matters: Businesses who are winning the rapid pivot to digital reallocate talent and capital four times more quickly than their peers.
‘You Get 2 seconds To Engage Consumers Online’: Mars Neuroscientist Shares Key Findings
The Drum
Marketers now have only about two seconds to get consumers’ attention via digital content, extensive neuroscience studies conducted by Mars show.
Why it matters: Because it’s difficult to elicit emotions in short form—the key to encoding your products into the consumer’s brain—brands should teach consumers about something and then show them the product.
Why Do Boards Have So Few Black Directors?
Harvard Business Review
The results of a survey HBR fielded between 2015-2016 to a small sample show that one barrier to the boardroom is the recruiting system for directors, which are ingrained on boards that lack directors who are racial/ethnic minorities.
Why it matters: In 2019, 37 percent of S&P 500 firms had no black board members, and in that same year, black directors comprised only 4.1 percent of Russell 3000 board members.
What COVID-19 Did To Customer Loyalty
Retail Dive
Consumers became more loyal to the brands they buy, a Yotpo survey in November 2019 found.
Why it matters: COVID-19 has altered this behavior, causing 75 percent of consumers to try new brands, places to shop or methods of shopping, according to a McKinsey report.
Out-Of-Home Ad Bosses Share Their Pandemic Recovery Plans
The Drum
According to Nielsen, out-of-home (OOH) spend fell 85 percent in Q2 due to COVID-19.
Why it matters: Digital OOH, which was hurt slightly less, enables for more risky ads that, unlike billboards, can be adjusted with the press of a button and feature audio.
Sour Patch Kids Picks NYC For First Retail Store
Marketing Dive
Mondelēz International’s Sour Patch Kids opened a retail store in New York City offering a range of limited-edition merchandise, candy and a dessert bar.
Why it matters: The store comes at a time when the brand’s sales have been under pressure and retail traffic remains slow even as restrictions are gradually lifted.
A Look At Which Real Estate Trends Will Outlive COVID-19
Ad Age
JLL launched a campaign designed to promote safety in the workforce and instill confidence in employees about returning to work, while also advising clients on the best way to re-open.
Why it matters: As mall traffic remains sluggish, JLL has rolled out signage and marketing around curbside pickup services in the more than 1,000 shopping centers it manages.
4 Conversations Leaders In The #MeToo Era Should Be Ready For
Harvard Business Review
Following the #MeToo movement, leaders must be prepared to navigate difficult conversations that help prevent sexual harassment in the first place.
Why it matters: When leaders wait until an incident happens to discuss sexual harassment with their staff, they often come across sounding opaque or defensive.
As Ad Spending Falls, Savvy Marketers Turn Focus To Optimizing Cross-Platform Reach
AdExchanger
Linear television ad buying and consumer behavior have been trending in opposite directions for years because marketers want to avoid committing spend to a single medium with no way to adjust across multiple platforms.
Why it matters: As a result, television buying and selling is shifting to outcome-based key performance indicators that align with digital
What Is FOFO And Do You Have It?
Adweek
Due to a sense of increased responsibility and an unclear path forward, marketers have been suffering from Fear Of Finding Out, or FOFO, for years.
Why it matters: The solution to addressing FOFO is to hold marketing accountable, have a process where all stakeholders can share their views and map a clear path for action within a broader strategy.
3 Lessons From Google About Building A Culture Of Innovation In A Time Of COVID-19
Forbes
Longtime Google executive Ryan Olohan says to thrive in a time of pandemic, you should think 10 times as much as you’re thinking 10 percent, pay even more attention to the data and use this time to innovate.
Why it matters: As searches for restaurants and stores “near me” surged, Google doubled down on its efforts to ensure every one of those searches helped users find the information they’re looking for, in addition to investing in new tools for brands to share real-time information with customers.
You’re Selling Running Shoes – Don’t Pretend You’re Saving The World
The Drum
After seeing one too many marketers mistake preaching for purpose, The Hero Trap author Thomas Kolster says purpose has become meaningless advertising lingo.
Why it matters: To bring about true change, Kolster suggests brands trust and nurture fellow citizens, human beings, colleagues, mothers and fathers.
Microsoft’s TikTok Acquisition Presents Both Political And Technical Challenges
VentureBeat
TikTok’s parent company ByteDance started working on its technological separation from China several months ago in response to national scrutiny, a source familiar with the process told Reuters.
Why it matters: The clean break Trump and lawmakers desire, however, could take a year or longer as TikTok’s server code is still partially shared across other ByteDance products. To ensure uninterrupted TikTok service, whichever company buys TikTok would likely need to rely on ByteDance’s code until it can move to a new back-end infrastructure.
What’s Your Leadership Origin Story?
Harvard Business Review
HBR conducted in-depth interviews with 92 men and women to discover how they tell the story of their leadership origins and how those stories align with their current realities.
Why it matters: Origin stories converged around one of four dominant themes, which HBR labels as being, engaging, performing and accepting. Similar numbers of women and men relied on the “being” lens (I was always a leader) and the “accepting theme” (I’m a leader if and when others see me as one).
11 Takeaways From the Latest Media Organization Earnings
Adweek
Gannett saw a 30 percent increase of digital subscribers compared to last year, reaching 925,000 of them in Q2.
Why it matters: In the next few months, Gannett is poised to exceed one million digital-only subscribers.
