For the first time since 2009, H&R Block has bought a 60-second Super Bowl spot – just in time for tax prep. The big buy follows a soft 2016 tax season when tax returns filed using H&R Block’s service declined 4.5% due to competitors like Intuit’s TurboTax, which “took share from all major branded competitors,” […]
If James Byrne, CMO of mixed martial arts fight promoter Alliance MMA, wants to see whether a campaign is working, all he has to do is walk through the front door of the sporting arena. “When you’re talking about something like consumer packaged goods, the end consumer of a can of Pringles or a box […]
Pizza Hut set a record during last year’s Super Bowl when it sold $12 million worth of pizza through digital channels. This year, it hopes to set a new one by doubling down on traditional and digital media – early and often. “People are thinking about what they’re doing for Super Bowl Sunday earlier now,” said […]
Toyota is putting video behind the wheel. On Monday, Toyota, working with VaynerMedia, launched an online video-centric ad campaign to promote its 2017 Toyota 86 sports car to millennials – a generation more associated with Uber than car culture. But millennials are still buying cars. People ages 21 to 38 bought around 4 million vehicles in […]
Intuit’s TurboTax is one of the rare companies that blends its more traditional brand marketing investments in TV with digital and performance. This strategy, which happens at both the organizational and budget level, is intentional. “You’re consuming brand messages on television while surfing the internet on your phone or scrolling through Facebook,” said Cathleen Ryan, […]
The Super Bowl used to be the one day when, thanks to the commercials, non-football fans would willingly watch the sport. Today, you can watch those spots well before the big game even airs, as the number of pre-Super Bowl ads on YouTube grew 200% since 2008, said Google. And the growing importance of online […]
It’s high time programmatic became available to the budding cannabis industry, which is projected to hit $8 billion by 2020, but regulatory hurdles have kept it from lighting up. Instead of examining the legal ramifications around cannabis marketing, many advertising platforms simply fall back on a blanket ban, said Paris Holley, chief technology officer of […]
Quick-serve restaurants don’t involve much purchase consideration. You’re either hungry for a burger, or you’re not. “For us, it’s about reaching the right person at the time they’re thinking about making a decision,” said Brandon Rhoten, VP, head of advertising, media and digital marketing at Wendy’s. That’s why, to draw attention to its Double Stack […]
After a brief hiatus from television, Birchbox is reinvesting in the medium for a multiplatform holiday campaign. Birchbox, which sends beauty products to its subscribers every month, is using a 30-second TV spot and digital assets to message not just beauty-obsessed women, but also more casual makeup users or men who want gift ideas. Amanda […]
At 110 years old, Xerox is the epitome of a legacy B2B business. But as Xerox prepares to spin off its $7 billion business process services arm into a standalone company called Conduent in January, it is borrowing more B2C tactics as it seeks to differentiate both of its brands. “We’re doing a lot of […]
Lyft’s marketing strategy is a bit like a wheel, with spokes radiating from a central hub. Lyft’s San Francisco headquarters is still its nerve center, but about a year and a half ago Lyft started ramping up its regional marketing efforts with the hire of former Foursquare exec Evan Cohen as head of East Coast […]
Audio is still an uncluttered medium where a brand like General Electric can stretch its creative muscles. “We look at audio like a total white space,” said Alexa Christon, GE’s head of media innovation. That’s why GE is re-upping its investment in audio with “LifeAfter,” the soon-to-be-released second season of GE Podcast Theater, a modern […]
Despite being one of the world’s largest commercial real estate firms, CBRE has a low profile in digital media. Until 2014, all of the 110-year-old company’s marketing was executed through traditional media. Then it hired Paul Suchman as chief marketing officer. An agency vet with a history at Young & Rubicam, OgilvyOne and BBDO, Suchman […]
Statisticians know that correlation does not imply causation – so, applying that same logic to advertising, a consumer who saw an ad and converted could have already been predisposed to purchase. One big issue with attribution, as it exists today, is that many marketers still rely on last-touch. Video also poses unique challenges, since brands […]
Dunkin’ Donuts’ marketing might be known for big awareness campaigns like “America Runs On Dunkin” and “Keep On,” but the brand also breaks down media into smaller, product-specific activations. For instance, when Dunkin’ began serving cold-brew coffee this past summer, it let consumers unlock custom geofilters through a special code on Snapchat. “Coffee is such […]
Cross-device recognition is often the difference between a sale and a fail for Land of Nod, a national retailer of high-end, trendy children’s furniture, bedding and toys. “The question I always ask my team is, ‘Would we really want to show a bunk bed to a new mom?’” said Joe Orlando, Land of Nod’s marketing […]
“We need CMOs to turn up the leadership dial,” Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice told attendees during his opening keynote at the Masters of Marketing conference Thursday. Liodice rattled off a litany of problems familiar to the contemporary marketer, including fraud, viewability, privacy, talent shortages and poor creative, that have withered the effectiveness […]
Adidas-owned Reebok is in a unique position, both as a challenger to Nike and as a target of other challenger sports and apparel brands like Under Armour. As such, it invests heavily and consistently in content – despite its fluctuating ad spend over the years. Because content must generate larger, measurable performance results, Reebok bets the […]
Sometimes good marketing means less marketing, according to Belkin CMO Kieran Hannon. “Wherever we’re able to provide a superior experience backed by data, we do,” said Kieran Hannon, CMO for Belkin. “Otherwise, we’re more about minimizing our interaction with people so they can get on with what they need to do.” Each of Belkin’s three […]
After many years in leadership roles at media agencies, Jordan Bitterman will move to the brand and media side as chief marketing officer of The Weather Co., the IBM-owned company said Wednesday. Bitterman brings extensive knowledge of how media companies can drive efficiencies in the data-driven milieu. He said The Weather Co. is in a […]
Change isn’t easy. Just ask Farmers Insurance Group CMO Michael Linton and CIO Ron Guerrier. About three or four years ago, the company had a dismal digital presence. Its Net Promoter Score, which ranks customer loyalty from -100 to 100, was in the gutter at -30 and its website bounce rate was about 40%. “Our […]
When Celestial Seasonings first redesigned its iconic packaging last summer to attract more millennial tea drinkers, it didn’t go over well. Although the Boulder, Colo.-based tea brand had invested in promotional and brand marketing to reinforce its new brand look, loyal customers weren’t having it. After engaging in consumer studies – and gathering consumer feedback […]
The rise of media rebates in the United States has put agencies under a harsh spotlight, thanks in part to the Association of National Advertisers’ June agency transparency report. But relatively little attention has been paid to the role of media sellers in driving the practice. Take Google, for instance. Long before “rebate” became a […]
Because Wix, a website builder competing with Squarespace, doesn’t have a traditional sales force, its marketing needs to go the extra mile. The public company is under pressure to grow profits, so Wix has to make sure marketing investments (pegged at about $150 million this year, according to recent guidance) translate into revenue performance. Wix […]
Since Betabrand crowdsources its ephemeral designs – including the “dress pant yoga pants” – it focuses on Facebook as a primary traffic source. The platform accounts for about 80% of the ecommerce brand’s acquisition budget, and more than half of its members authenticate using their Facebook credentials. Betabrand is no newbie at CRM and email […]
When General Mills launched Tiny Toast in June, its first new cereal brand in more than 15 years, the company also launched its first completely digital marketing campaign. Because General Mills was targeting millennials, it stayed away from traditional TV and instead placed short video clips across YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. In the two months […]
Baskin-Robbins launched a standalone app to help modernize its 70-year-old brand and connect with consumers via personalized messaging and offers. In the two weeks since its launch, more than 10,000 customers have downloaded the app, which was created by DigitasLBi. The app is part of a larger effort for more personalized, one-to-one marketing and enhanced […]
In 2014, Nestle Waters’ data was spread across different digital agencies and databases. “Our go-to-market strategy was very complex,” said Antonio Sciuto, EVP and CMO of Nestle Waters North America. Because Nestle Waters sold its beverages online as well as straight to stores, through single-serve machines or in bulk to warehouses, the company’s digital and […]
Like many companies, outdoor lifestyle brand Columbia Sportswear was no stranger to using 15- and 30-second YouTube videos as a complement to TV. Because consumers weren’t necessarily going to YouTube for “conversion-based” content like product reviews, Columbia experimented with 360-degree video to make its content more immersive. Columbia sent its production crew out with US […]
Retargeting can be more complicated for auto advertisers than for their counterparts in consumer packaged goods or retail. “In the old days, retargeting campaigns gave us a giant boost to our [digital] KPIs,” said Tom Maxmølris, marketing operations manager for Ford Denmark. But that was because Ford Denmark focused on “click to act” campaigns, which strengthened […]
