Category: Americas

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Africa Americas Asia-Pacific Data Driven Channels Europe In the News Mobile

Mobile wallet – in 1 in 5 handsets by 2018, researcher finds

A new report from Juniper Research has found that 1 in 5 mobile handsets will have mobile wallet functionality by 2018, against less than 1 in 10 at the end of last year.

The report – Mobile Wallets: Strategies for Developed and Developing Markets 2014-2019 – found that growth would be driven by two distinct wallet models. In emerging/developing markets, SVAs (Stored Value Accounts) are increasingly enabling first time financial access for unbanked individuals, and the report anticipated a surge in deployments across sub-Saharan Africa, developing Asia and Latin America.

Meanwhile, the report says that wallet launches across North America and Western Europe are increasingly expected to feature contactless payment functionality. The sector is forecast to receive a boost both from the anticipated launch of an Apple iWallet later this year and through HCE (Host Card Emulation)-based NFC (Near Field Communications) services. According to the report, more than 1 in 3 mobile wallets – and over 50% of wallets in developed markets – will featuring contactless payment by 2018.

P2P ‘Attractive Value-Add’

The report also claimed that the mobile wallet profile would be bolstered through high-profile P2P (Person to Person) payment initiatives such as the UK’s Paym, which will be integrated into customers’ existing mobile banking or payment apps as an additional way to pay. At the same time, it argued the mobile P2P market in the US was being driven by a number of start-ups – including Venmo and Dwolla – targeting younger demographics.

According to report author, Dr Windsor Holden: “While P2P mobile payment services have struggled to gain traction in developed markets, financial institutions are keen to commit to them as they can serve as an attractive value-add to consumers in an increasingly cashless society.”

Other findings from the report include:

  • China’s Alipay now has more than 100 million wallet users.
  • HCE threatens operator role in contactless value chain.

The whitepaper, Smart Phone – Smart Wallet – Smart Cash, is available to download from the Juniper Research website together with further details of the full report and the attendant Mobile Wallets IFxl.

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Americas Europe Insight Strategy and Management

Marketing and customer insight in a digital world

Effective Strategy, customer insight, marketing strategy

Professor Merlin Stone is calling for examples of how classic CRM data has been integrated with true digital data to produce good customer insight.

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Americas In the News USA

Learn to Lead, Engage, Analyze and Optimize at major US event

Conference to take place June 3-4 in NYC.

At the USA Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Integrated Marketing Week (IMW14) conference, attendees will immerse themselves in winning IM Weekstrategies and tactics through three dedicated program tracks: Lead, Engage, and Analyze & Optimize — as well as special ‘Funnel’ sessions focused on B2B topics. IMW14, The Event for Integrated Marketing in the Customer Experience Era, will be held June 3-4 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.

Paul McDonnough, the USA DMA’s vice-president of conferences and events, said: “At IMW14, we’ve set out the roadmap every marketer needs to follow to start, reboot, or fine-tune their integrated marketing.

“This isn’t theory and projection — it’s about proven routes to success. IMW’s three-track agenda features keynotes, industry leaders, and tech entrepreneurs covering the key disciplines for delivering great customer experience.”

Lead: Making It Happen

Thought leaders from top companies such as Nutrisystem, Forrester Research, The Weather Company, and Canon USA will show attendees how to transform their businesses and implement successful change; create winning budgets; and grow their brands across channels.

Lead topics include:

  • Business Agility – or How to be Open to Change
  • CMO or CIO? How Technology is Changing the Marketing Landscape
  • Engagement with a Purpose: the Power of B Corporations
  • How CMOs Can Unlock “Power of One” Marketing
  • Implementing a Global Business Transformation Strategy for the Future
  • Expansion versus Cannibalization: Managing Across Products & Channels at Nutrisystem
  • Getting Buy-In from the C-Level: A Roundtable

Engage: From Customer to Fan and Advocate

Industry leaders from The Economist, OgilvyOne, New York Life, 1to1 Media, Citigroup, Havas Worldwide, Cabela’s, eM+C, Reebok America, and appssavvy will show attendees how to engage across channels for loyalty, retention and advocacy, and how to keep customers in play through branded content, personalization and conversion drivers.

Engage topics include:

  • Logic & Magic: Data-Driven Creativity to Drive Customer Engagement
  • The Secret to Seamless Customer Experience: Responsive Design
  • Understanding Your Customer through Analytics
  • The New Rules of Engagement
  • Connecting with Consumers in an Omnichannel World
  • Timing: The Missing Ingredient in Mobile Advertising
  • Using Behavioral Modeling to Engage Customers Throughout the Decision-Making Process

Analyze & Optimize: Unlocking Data for Actionable Insight

How do you get relevant, timely insight for personalization and targeting? What are the best strategies for delivering high-impact, revenue-generating experiences? Experts from leading companies, including Google, Cisco Systems, Inc., The Martin Agency, Penske, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Target Marketing Magazine, Didit, Scholastic Books, Time Warner Cable, and more, will show you how.

Analyze & Optimize topics include:

  • Integrating the Offline with the Online
  • Creative by the Numbers: Can Great Creative and Numbers Coexist?
  • Turning Big Data into Right Data
  • The New Online Marketing
  • The Profit Driven Marketer: Being There in More Moments that Matter
  • Data Attribution or Media Mix Optimization?
  • Data-Driven Innovation: The Future of Integrated Marketing

In addition to these three tracks, IMW14 offers Funnel sessions: where marketing meets sales in the new B2B, where attendees will learn how to align sales and marketing around a single set of metrics — and gain strategies, tactics, and tools for automated lead nurturing, content marketing, and revenue performance management.

For a full list of tracks, topics, and descriptions, click here

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In the News UK USA

Online and on the loo! The 10% of UK consumers who shop in the lavatory

DID you know that ten per cent of UK online shoppers have made a purchase while sitting on the loo?u8_toilet-smartphoneb

Not only that, but 72% of mums are most likely to make a purchase while in bed.

New research has pinpointed many consumers’ shopping preferences while concluding that 60% of UK consumers shop online every week.

Sailthru, a provider of personalised communications technology, has just announced the results of its market research focusing on consumer online shopping preferences.

The study was conducted by Redshift Research during March 2014. Key takeaways from the findings indicate that UK consumers not only have a very positive response to personalised communication, but actively understand the concept and today are demanding more tailored marketing communications from brands.

In fact, 63% of UK online shoppers are likely to read a personalised message they receive from a brand they know and then complete that purchase (51%) following a personalised offer.

Other key statistics include:

  • 57% of online shoppers prefer to make a purchase on their home computer or tablet, with the most popular place to make a purchase (56%) being from bed.
  • 64% of online shoppers prefer it when a brand recommends products the consumer has previously shown an interest in – such as items on the wish list or in a shopping basket.
  • 60% prefer it when a brand sends personalised communication with reference to a past purchase or browsing history. With almost two fifths confirming that branded emails are ‘very’ or ‘sometimes’ helpful when tailored to their interests.

With individuals now interacting with a brand across multiple mobile devices, every brand experience needs to be optimised for mobile to mitigate low conversions and/or basket abandonment. In fact, 42% of online shoppers have abandoned a purchase because it was too complicated to complete on a mobile device and 60% still prefer to use a laptop over a mobile device, due largely to a poor mobile experience.

Consumers are telling brands loud and clear that they want their online browsing experience optimised for mobile. They would be more likely to increase both average order value and purchase frequency if every brand experience were optimised for their chosen device – 45% of shoppers said they were likely to make an online purchase if the website was easy to navigate on a mobile.

Neil Capel, founder and CEO of Sailthru – which has its HQ in New York City – said: “The research shows that consumers are very clearly demanding personalisation from their online and in-store shopping experiences. In order to meet this demand, brands must understand their customers on an individual level, deliver content that is interesting, timely and relevant to each user and also optimise that content to render on any device. It’s about giving every individual what they want, when they want it and recognizing that need even before they do.

“This is the future of successful brand to consumer marketing.” Capel concluded: “Now, more than ever, brands need to stop toying with the idea of personalisation and make moves to provide relevant and platform specific communications to their customers or risk being left behind. The innovative brands that we work with have moved away from ineffective segmentation and instead created personalised experiences for each of their customers that tailors content across any device – whether that is via email, mobile or web.

“The results our clients are seeing speak volumes about the power of personalisation.”

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In the News USA

USA DMA: ECHO awards competition now open

Deadline for submissions Is May 23.

In recognition of the world’s top data-driven marketing campaigns — measured by strategy, creative, and results, the USA Direct Marketing Association echo(DMA) has announced that the 2014 International ECHO Awards competition is underway.

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in October in San Diego, California. The deadline for submissions is next month: May 23. Registrations received before Friday May 2, will receive a $100 discount.

Linda Woolley, DMA’s president and CEO, said: “The ECHOs exemplify the heights of success that can be achieved through great data-driven marketing and equally great creative.

“As the incredible wealth of data available to us increasingly fuels our economy and our data-driven lifestyles, and when combined with superb creative that snags us and holds our attention, it’s truly exciting to see how these things drive outstanding results in exceptional marketing campaigns.”

Winners will be selected in 15 business categories — automotive; business and consumer services; communications and utilities; consumer products; education; financial products and services; information technologies; insurance; nonprofit; pharmaceutical and healthcare; product manufacturing and distribution; professional services; publishing and entertainment; retail and direct sales; and travel and hospitality/transportation.

The ultimate team award

Jenny Abreu, DMA’s director, awards & recognition programs, said: “This year’s call for entries competition continues the theme, ‘The Ultimate Team Award,’ and new tag line ‘Achieve the Ultimate with a Common GOOOAL!’ honouring this year’s BIG game — which couldn’t be more fitting.

“After all, ECHO-award winning campaigns exemplify outstanding team work — as they incorporate the ECHOs’ three pillars — for creative, strategic — and game-winning results.” The integrated marketing effort supporting the entries is developed by Quinn Fable Advertising, Inc. (New York).

This year’s ECHO competition will honour excellence in integrated and single-channel direct-response campaigns spanning a diversity of channels, such as alternative media, banner ads, catalogue, direct mail, email, mobile, print, search marketing, social media, telemarketing, television/video/radio, web advertising and web development.

Tedd Aurelius, vice-president, director 1-2-1 engagement, The Martin Agency, is chairman of the DMA International ECHO Awards Board of Governors. He said: “We’re seeing that the best customer engagement efforts are coming from all over the world, not just the US — and each year, the winning ECHOs serve as a benchmark for direct response brilliance that is both measurable and accountable.

“Our Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO winners are selected from hundreds of entries, ranging from acquisition, to penetration, to retention programs, which showcase brands using data-driven insights to power their strategy, generating fabulous creative ideas that achieve amazing results.”

Each year, ECHO entries include data-driven campaigns from the US and more than 50 countries – and 2014 entries will be judged later this spring and early summer in Australia, Denmark and the US.

This year’s Awards Ceremony and Gala will be held on Tuesday October 28, during the DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition: The Global Event for Data-Driven Marketers, at the San Diego Convention Center.

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO awards, four special awards will be presented: the Diamond ECHO Award for the most prestigious and, considered, the top campaign overall; the Personal Connections ECHO Award sponsored by Pitney Bowes; US Postal Service Gold Mailbox Award; ECHO Green Marketing Award; and Henry Hoke Award.

For more information about the International ECHO Awards, which will be presented Tuesday evening, October 28, 2014, during DMA2014m click here. The DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition will be held October 25-30 in San Diego, California.

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In the News UK USA

NSA ‘used Heartbleed for years’

Insiders at the US National Security Agency claim that the organisation has been exploiting the so-called Heartbleed bug for nearly two years to capture datansa-used-Heartbleed-for-years-300x212 on individuals instead of informing the rest of the online community.
The claims, denied by both NSA and White House chiefs, follow whistleblower Edward Snowden’s allegations that it was common practice for the organisation to deliberately introduce vulnerabilities to security software.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said in an email: “[The] NSA was not aware of the recently identified vulnerability in OpenSSL, the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability, until it was made public in a private-sector cyber security report. The reports that say otherwise are wrong.”
The Heartbleed bug could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of web and email servers which run open source software and has triggered major warnings across the world.
Online users are being urged to change all their passwords and usernames where possible as the bug went undetected for more than two years.
A blog post by Tumblr last week even urged people to “call in sick and take some time to change your passwords everywhere – especially your high-security services like email, file storage, and banking, which may have been compromised by this bug”.

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Australia Europe In the News UK USA

Demand for key digital roles 'fuelling salary inflation'

Account directors earning $125k (£75k)-plus up 45%, creative directors command 41% more in North America versus Europe, technical architectsSalary-increase-200x150 wanted worldwide, says report.

Competition for talent at digital agencies and production companies is leading to sharp salary rises and remuneration gaps of up to 45% between some regions.

Globally, there’s never been a better time to be in the three most sought-after digital roles: account director, creative director, and technical architect. Senior-level strategists and user-experience leads also command strong salaries, although these vary according to where they live.

These are key findings the annual Salary Report by SoDA, the invitation-only organisation that represents top digital agencies and elite production companies worldwide.

The number of account directors earning more than $125k (£75k) increased by 45% between 2012 and 2013; while creative directors commanded up to 41% higher salaries in North America compared with their European peers.

Last year, the average salary for technical architects in North America was between $101-$110k (£60-65k) compared with $91-$100k (£54-59k) in Europe and Australia. The result suggests uniform global demand for this area of expertise, particularly in light of the sometimes significant salary gaps between these regions for other roles.

The SoDA Salary Report underscores a significant – and in some cases widening – salary divide between regions such as Europe and North America. In Europe, average salaries for project managers, creative directors, producers, graphic designers and copywriters stagnated last year as the cost of living rose.

While salaries for some of these positions in North America were also stagnant, they were, on average, 42% higher than salaries in Europe. This fact could lead to some top talent exploring expat opportunities.

The SoDA Salary Report also reveals:

  • Account directors earned 11% more on average last year compared with 2012.
  • Creative directors’ salaries rose by eight per cent, the most common salary range in 2013 was between $126-$150k (£75-90k).
  • Unlike some corporate sectors where CEO pay has risen significantly, compensation for CEOs and managing partners in the study actually dipped 16% in 2013, from $200-250k (£120-150k) on average in 2012, to $176-200k (£105-120k)in 2013. This decline can partly be explained by a shift towards incentive-based pay (not captured in the study’s baseline salary figures).
  • SoDA’s findings also suggest that top executives are shouldering some of the burden associated with tough economic times, in order to maintain or increase the salaries of key talent.

North/South America highlights

Overall, the highest salaries are paid in North America, with some roles such as account managers ($91-$100k or £54-59k) and social media directors ($101-110k or £60-65k) standing out. This contrasts with Europe and Australia where account managers earned between $61-$70k (£36-41k) and $51-$60k (£30-35k) in Latin America.

Salaries for top digital talent in Brazil remain above the rest of Latin America for many positions such as executive creative director, senior graphic designer, copywriter and front-end developer. But the gap is beginning to narrow given the economic strength of other markets in the region, such as Colombia.

Last year a senior Latin American producer could command between $41-$50k (£24-29k) compared with $71-$80k (£42-48k)in the UK and $101-$110k (£60-65k) in New York.

Europe highlights

Creative directors earned $126-$150k (£75-90k) in North America compared with $91-$100k (£54-59k) in Europe, $61-$70k (£36-41k) in Latin America and $111-$125k (£66-74k) in Australia.
While salaries for most key positions in Europe stagnated in 2013, the role of technical architect bucked that trend, rising more than 100% last year. APAC highlights

The Australian bull run of salaries in 2012 abated in 2013, with pay for producers, creative directors, graphic designers and copywriters declining last year.
Median pay for Australian executive creative directors fell from between $176-$200k (£105-120k) to $126-$150k (£75-90k)– the same as Europe. This reflects tightening margins on the continent, increased competition, with clients cautious over the direction of the economy keeping control of budgets.

Chris Buettner, SoDA’s executive director, said: “On a global level, most salaries analysed by SoDA were either stable or slightly up on 2013, despite the slow economic recovery in many regions. One of the reasons is that the world’s leading digital agencies and production companies are fighting hard to keep top talent from jumping ship to start-ups that offer high salaries and promise a golden lottery ticket.

“SoDA’s international growth over the past year has allowed us to segment the response data in more ways than ever before. In this year’s Salary Survey we are seeing pockets of salary inflation due to global demand for top talent in areas such as design, user experience, strategy and technical architecture.”

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In the News USA

Safeguard consumer data – USA DMA re-issues rallying cry

Board approves new ethical guidelines; calls for new measures to enhance data security 

In response to the recent spate of data security breaches on retailers and others, the USA Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has issued a call to actionLinda Woolley DMA2012 (WEB)to all data-driven marketers to recommit to the organisation’s long-standing commitment to ensuring the security of consumer data.

The call to action derived from the approval of new Business Ethical Guidelines around data security by the association’s board of directors, and outlines several new steps that the DMA will take to guide industry best practices and advocate strong data security protections before policymakers at the federal and state levels.

DMA president/CEO Linda Woolley (pictured) said: “Earning consumer trust requires proactive, purposeful action.

“Recent headlines have been full of news about data breaches and, while such situations are a risk of modern business and difficult to prevent, DMA believes that the best defence is a strong offence. DMA standards help businesses ensure that they are protected and ready.”

DMA has championed the setting of guidelines and representing the business community before Congress and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on issues of data security and breach notification. It is now calling on every data-driven marketer to take proactive measures to further enhance data security across the industry, and to:

  • Develop and implement a data integrity and governance programme;
  • Read and utilise in all marketing practices the principles and guidance outlined in the updated Ethical Guidelines for data security and other marketing practices issues by DMA as part of our public trust with consumers;
  • Continue to work as part of DMA with policymakers to enact a national standard for data breach notification. DMA has been supportive of a federal breach notification law; and
  • Work with internal and industry stakeholders to identify additional data security measures and practices to help reduce the risk of data breaches across the ecosystem.

The DMA board has approved revisions to DMA’s Guidelines for Ethical Business Practice, which have provided data-driven marketers with generally accepted principles of conduct and formed the basis for industry-wide self-regulatory enforcement for more than 40 years. The updates are in the areas of data security, mobile applications and retailer data.

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Americas Brazil UK

Get on the ball – plan World Cup promotions now

The forthcoming 2014 World Cup in Brazil will command a worldwide audience – so don’t miss the chance to theme your promotions, says Lorraine Horley (pictured).  Lorraine Horley_03 (WEB)

There are very few sporting events that can command a global audience like the World Cup. This is an event that will unite a nation. We will cheer with delight as our supporting team progresses through the competition and cry, scream and shout together if it all goes horribly wrong.

It is this widespread public engagement that makes the 2014 World Cup the perfect theme for promotions.

So it’s no surprise then that many brands have already signed up to Brazil 2014 as partners, believing that their association with such an event will bring them attention and adulation.

Yet, with many legal restrictions in place that will no doubt be strictly enforced, it may seem difficult to create ideas that would work within the limitations of the regulations.

It is possible, as many major brands have shown in previous years, without resorting to guerrilla marketing.

However, if brands want to capitalise on this enormous event then they need to start planning now before it’s too late. Our proven experience in the industry has shown us time and time again the need to plan early and be on the ball.

There are plenty of ways brands can get involved – from asking consumers to choose a particular team and see how far they will go in the competition to how many goals a country will score in total during the tournament. There could be also be the opportunity to predict the finalists and the top goal scorer or even put forward the idea of picking a game and asking them to accurately identify the first goal time.

Although certain words, phrases, logos and products cannot be mentioned in the copy, running successful, football-linked promotions legally before the event is certainly possible. To make the most of the enormous interest, now is the time for marketers to start planning and talking to experts.

Lorraine Horley is head of client services at UK-based fixed fee promotions company Fotorama.

 

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Americas Europe In the News Latin America

Happiness at Work: research reveals disparities of productivity across countries and sectors

Marketing and PR professionals among the best for productivity with higher than average ‘time on task’

Research from the iOpener Institute for People and Performance, which analysed responses from some 30,000 professionals, reveals significant happiness-at-workdifferences between personal productivity levels in different countries and industry sectors. The findings also show a clear relationship between Happiness at Work and personal productivity.

The Institute measured components of Happiness at Work including energy levels, time engaged and feelings of happiness. Productivity was measured as ‘time on task’; the time that workers are actively producing outputs that make a tangible contribution to their organisation.

The international average for time on task is 58.8%, but there are significant differences between the various industry sectors. The Marketing and PR sector is one the best performing sectors with 60.9% time on task. At the bottom of the table is the Biotechnology sector with 53.2%.

Even greater differences are shown when comparing the different countries surveyed. Mexico is shown to have the highest productivity (73.2% of time on task), while Portugal has the lowest (43.3%).

Within both sets of data, the sectors and countries that show the highest levels of productivity also perform strongly in the measurements of Happiness at Work.

Jessica Pryce-Jones, founder director of the iOpener Institute and author of ‘Happiness at Work – Maximising Your Psychological Capital for Success’, notes: “While broad correlations between Happiness at Work and productivity have been recognised for some time, this detailed method of analyzing the components of Happiness at Work offers organisations actionable insights to formulate practical plans to improve their productivity.

“The sector and country results offer companies a contextual starting point; those in the Retail sector can ascertain how they measure up when compared to their sector and country averages and tailor their productivity initiatives accordingly. While the Marketing and PR sector can take encouragement from scoring highly, there is still potential for improvement in these industry sectors with businesses placing greater emphasis in 2014 on marketing’s contribution to business strategy. Meanwhile, the PR industry continues to undergo significant growth which places increased pressures on employee infrastructure.”

The report may be downloaded by visiting this link.