Brands placing smartphones & tablets at heart of engagement strategies

Hampshire, UK – 23^rd January 2013: As retailers increasingly utilise mobile devices as a touchpoint on each stage of the retail lifecycle, a new report from Juniper Research has found that annual spend by retailers on mobile marketing will reach $55bn, almost double the $28bn level expected this year.

Advertising up in wake of mRetail Boom

The report – Retail mCommerce: Mobile & Tablet Marketing, Advertising & Coupon Strategies 2013-2017 - found that the development of a mass tablet market had created new opportunities for brands seeking to enhance engagement with consumers. With eCommerce migrating to mobile and nomadic devices, adspend on both tablets and smartphones is continuing to grow strongly as retailers (notably in North America and Western Europe) migrate their own spend to digital in general, and mobile in particular.

Similarly, the report observed that mobiles were driving retail footfall through coupons, with couponing apps becoming an increasingly popular mechanism of distribution and coupon storage. Furthermore, it highlighted the increasing trend towards the development of additional distribution channels – such as AR (augmented reality) and NFC (near field communications) – as mobile becomes increasingly integrated into in-store retail strategies.

Mobile Site Optimisation “Critical”

However, the report cautioned that while retailer engagement with mobile channels had increased dramatically, many had still not optimised their sites for mobile browsing, registration or payment. According to report author Dr Windsor Holden, “If retailers truly want to maximise the mobile monetisation opportunity, then optimisation is critical. If you are using mobile advertising for consumer acquisition, you need to push users to a site with which they can comfortably interact; retailers that fail to respond to consumer demand will fall behind.”

Other key findings from the report include:

• Brands are increasingly seeking to integrate campaigns across mobile social networks such as Foursquare and Facebook.
• Brands and retailers need to ensure that mobile ads are frequency capped to prevent overexposure

The ‘Mobile Marketing ~ Retailer Therapy’ whitepaper is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full report.

Juniper Research provides research and analytical services to the global hi-tech communications sector, providing consultancy, analyst reports and industry commentary.

2013 Trends in 2 Minutes:

Key Trends to Watch in 2013-and-beyond/

Top 100 Key Trends for 2013:

http://www.jwtintelligence.com/2013-and-beyond/

n our eighth annual forecast of trends for the near future, new technology continues to take center stage. Many of our trends reflect how businesses are driving, leveraging or counteracting its omnipresence in our lives, and how consumers are responding to its pull. We also put a spotlight on health, with two separate trends examining the rising awareness around the impact of stress and happiness on well-being and how businesses are addressing it.

This report is the result of quantitative, qualitative and desk research conducted by JWTIntelligence throughout the year. For this report, we conducted quantitative surveys in the U.S. and U.K. using SONAR™, JWT’s proprietary online tool. We surveyed 1,016 adults aged 18-plus (519 Americans and 497 Britons), as well as 100 teens (50 Americans and 50 Britons) from Nov. 9-19, 2012. Data are weighted by age and gender. We also received input from nearly 70 JWT planners and researchers across more than two dozen markets, and we interviewed experts and influencers across sectors including technology, health and wellness, retail, media and academia.

In this report:

• Executive Summary
• Play As a Competitive Advantage
• The Super Stress Era
• Intelligent Objects
• Predictive Personalization
• The Mobile Fingerprint
• Sensory Explosion
• Everything Is Retail
• Peer Power
• Going Private in Public
• Health & Happiness: Hand in Hand
• Appendix

To purchase the 171-page report, click here. We accept credit cards only.

If you are a JWT client, please contact me for a copy.

Warren Raisch Posted January 2, 2013

This is a great review of Twitter in 2012.

http://2012.twitter.com/

The site covers the following:

Golden Tweets – Here are the top two Tweets that generated the most Retweets for the year, plus honorable mentions for a few other Tweets that caught attention around the world

The pulse of the planet signifies the biggest conversations of the year around single events that generate a large number of Tweets and Retweets. Here are the major occurrences in 2012 for which the world came together to witness and discuss.

Only on Twitter – Moments of serendipity and just plain awesomeness (if there is such a thing) are what we call #onlyontwitter. These are examples of Tweets that came to life organically on Twitter, and can be appreciated in an instant.

Trends - Trends are the topics for which we see noteworthy spikes in Twitter conversations. The 2012 Trends reveal what captured our attention, rather than what terms were consistently popular.

New Voices – From the Pope to Pelé to PSY, Twitter welcomed new voices from every corner of the planet. Here is a collection of high-profile Twitter users who joined in 2012.

What was your favorite Twitter moment of 2012?

Post By: Warren Raisch

Mary Meeker just published another great research presentation. Click below to view the full presentation:

Digital is now a way of thinking and has set a new global stage with an air of optimism, excitement and expectation around everything we do, think, touch and experience.

New Empowerment Equals New Relationships 

Don’t Just Accept Change – Embrace it!

A Positive Attitude is Critical!

” Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it”.

Embrace change, leverage the new opportunities and focus on maintaining  a positive attitude in everything you do and you will be driving personal and professional growth for years to come.

Post by Warren Raisch

Warren Raisch’s DMA 2012 Presentation – Emerging Global Marketing & Technology Trends

For my third consecutive year  I spoke at the annual DMA2012 event. It was a jam packed high energy event once again.  This year the event was hosted in Las Vegas, which always ads another element of entertainment value to any event. The focus of the DMA2012 was on global marketing as our world continues to become smaller and more connected.  My presentation was on Emerging Global Trends in Marketing & Technology wit a focus on connecting to the “Digital Consumer” . The interest in all things digital was off the charts this year.

Below is link to my presentation which focuses on core digital marketing  trends including  Social, Mobile, Gamification and emerging areas of Augmented Reality and digital product innovations.

http://bit.ly/TCTJU7

We would love to hear about your latest success & failures in the digital frontier.

Comscore Online Shopper Report.

The Online Shopping Customer Experience Study provides insights into consumers’ online shopping behaviors and preferences. Other online shopping surveys have focused on purchase or web usability, but this particular survey bridges that gap with a view of perceptions on customer experience from pre-purchase through post-delivery. This study also provides a clear picture of which shipping and post-purchase services enhance customer experience. Topics included are:

 What are the most/least important aspects of past online shopping experiences?

 What leads a site user to return to or recommend a site?

 What is important to consumers during the check-out process?

 What shipping services and options do consumers find most valuable?

 How important is tracking and what delivery services are preferred?

 What are consumers’ returns experiences and what aspects are important in a returns process?

 How do all of the services offered during and after the online purchasing experience impact the overall impression of that online retailer?

The study analyzes the data from a comScore survey of more than 3,100 U.S. online shoppers conducted in February 2012. All shoppers surveyed had to meet the criteria of making at least two online purchases in a typical 3-month period. Additionally, an online focus group was held on January 12, 2012. Participants met in a virtual online forum where they were asked about a series of topics related to online shopping and logistics, including shipping and returns. This forum allowed participants to respond to online discussion questions as well as other participants’ comments throughout the course of the focus group.

This report will provide retailers with the necessary insights into what steps they must take to satisfy their customers, thereby increasing customer loyalty as well as the lifetime value of customers.

Key Findings 

While online shoppers are generally very satisfied, there is room to improve their satisfaction related to shipping and returns. While free shipping is a great motivator, drawing shoppers back to sites to make repeat purchases and causing shoppers to recommend an online retailer, consumers are willing to pay a nominal fee for getting their product faster. When comparison shopping, consumers take product price and shipping charges almost equally into consideration.

Download the full report by clicking on the link below:

http://bit.ly/TAtYpR

As we approach the Holiday shopping season it pays to apply all of the key learnings you can to optimize your online shopping experience and campaigns.

Please let us know about your experiences.

Happy Holidays!

Directions for changing your password here: http://mashable.com/2012/06/06/how-to-change-your-linkedin-password/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29

More info from LinkedIn: http://blog.linkedin.com/2012/06/06/updating-your-password-on-linkedin-and-other-account-security-best-practices/

In a recent survey of New Media Professionals conducted by DigiCareers ( www.digicareers.com)  some interesting findings emerged. One in particular was the trend towards media professionals trying Facebook advertising and not  finding the medium effective and deciding not to return to Facebook for current campaigns. I believe Facebook will work on improving their ad targeting capabilities and over time will work through these issues but for the short term with all of the negative IPO backlash in the press they need to make this a priority. If they can regain the confidence of the New Media buyers than they will quiet the storm of bad press.

New Media Professionals – Rethink the Banner

I believe the burden does not fall entirely on Facebook. As those of us in online advertising know, Banner ads are not a particularly effective media with less than 1% click the rates. So my challenge is to those of us in the industry to look at Facebook as a unique global Social Community and find new ways to engage consumers. Facebook should not just be seen as another media outlet for banner ads. Facebook is different and should be treated approached in new ways that leverage the unique elements of Facebook.  I also believe that the Banner ads themselves should be more engaging and be viewed as a content distribution and transaction zone on a site rather than as simply a click-thru traffic mechanism. With todays advances it is possible to deliver content in and through a banner ad and even conduct full eCommerce transactions right from within the banner. So instead of a being just an ad. The banner should become a welcome extension of the  site or outlet that it is a part of.

Facebook Survey Results

With the recent attention by the media and Industry participants on Facebook, DigiCareers wanted to understand the behaviors, attitudes, and opinions regarding this popular website and business. Below is a summary based upon the opinions of more than 300 of your New Media colleagues.

The survey was conducted between May 17 and 21, 2012. The collected data possess an aggregate data tolerance of +/- 5.6%.

Usage
More than 92% of all New Media Professionals currently use Facebook. Among users, more than one-half (58%) access Facebook multiple times per day with nearly three-quarters (71%) accessing Facebook daily and 95% accessing it at least weekly.

Attitudes Toward Facebook
More than three-quarters (77%) of participants believe Facebook meets a consumer or fundamental human need—ability for individuals to communicate with each other. Nearly a similar percentage of New Media Professionals believe Facebook’s advertising is targeted (71%), and the company provides innovative services (70%).

However, the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook remains a major question in the minds of New Media Professionals. Less than one-half (49%) believe Facebook will be a major force in online advertising and less than one-quarter (23%) believe advertising on Facebook is currently effective. Conversely, however, only one in four (25%) New Media Professionals believe Facebook is a fad.

Advertising on Facebook
Currently, 38% of New Media Professionals have or are currently conducting an advertising campaign on Facebook for their business or their customers’ business. Of those, 90% of the campaigns are consumer oriented (B2C), with the balance focusing upon business-to-business (B2B) activity.

Surprisingly, one-half (50%) of all advertisers stated they either concluded a campaign or decided not to advertise on Facebook based upon the results of a prior campaign on Facebook. This raises some issues for Facebook’s future economic success.

Among those advertising on Facebook, nearly one-half (47%) stated they are likely to recommend advertising on Facebook to a business or colleague.

Barriers to Advertising on Facebook
Among the 62% of New Media Professionals who have never conducted a campaign on Facebook, the perception regarding the limited efficacy is the largest barrier (20%). Surprisingly despite Facebook’s self-service offerings, 17% stated they have not yet had the opportunity to initiate a campaign.

Key Differentiators
Among all survey participants, the sheer size of Facebook’s audience is identified as a key differentiator from other online advertising venues (55%) followed by the ability to target specific audiences (51%).

While audience engagement levels were cited by more than one-third (34%) of all New Media Professionals, it is likely this engagement level is oriented toward friends, family, and colleagues rather than advertisers.

Based upon advertising performance (or the perception thereof), Facebook clearly has a challenge and corresponding opportunity.

Initial Public Offering
Nearly an equal number of New Media Professionals stated they would purchase shares in Facebook’s Initial Public Offering if they were presented the opportunity. More importantly, an equal number believe Facebook’s stock price will increase (38%) or decrease (37%) from the IPO price within six months.

Participant Demographics
As New Media Professionals have a unique perspective regarding Facebook, below are characteristics of those who participated in the survey.

Additional Survey Results
Thanks again to all who took the time to share their thoughts and opinions in this survey. Don’t forget to review our prior survey results, including:

• Paywalls
• Tablets
• Smartphones and Mobile Phones
• Coupon and Daily Deal Sites

Posted by Warren Raisch | June 2, 2012

Online Ad spending represented approximately 13% of 2011′s total Ad spend, this is forecast to increase to nearly 18% by 2016 with North America, Western Europe and Asia Pacific spending the most via this channel globally.

U.S. Online Ad Spend

U.S Social Media Spend

Top Online Ad Formats

Global Ad Spending Trends

Online Advertising Trends By Region

Online Advertising Marketing Share

Online Ad Revenue By Industry

Countries Spending the Most in Online Advertising