Trends and Technology

Is the agency review process broken? According to a recent study, the typical price tag for agency reviews is on the rise, both for the agencies and the brands they serve. Agency reviews are also getting to be a bigger drain on time. When an incumbent agency participates, the selection process takes 2.5 months, while choosing a new agency takes 3.2 months. Both sides of the table are getting increasingly frustrated, but there are ways to remedy the situation.

More than 70 percent of consumers said it is more important to trust the brands they buy from or use today than in the past, according to a recent survey released by Edelman. Companies will need to revisit their strategies for building trust with their customers or face dwindling returns or, even worse, irrelevancy.

Companies can no longer approach customer experience (CX) as one person's or department's job, according to Neil Dowling, CMO and global alliances lead at the global experience company Rightpoint. If companies are siloed, true measurement is narrow and makes enhancing the customer experience a bigger challenge.

Intellectual property and copyright concerns are among the thornier issues that marketers and agencies are grappling with as generative artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a force in the ad business. Procurement can play a key role asking vendors about their technology capabilities and how those technologies or models were trained. At the same time, marketers should be encouraged that some generative AI vendors are providing assurances that their products are free of copyright concerns.

Martech utilization rates keep plummeting, according to a recent survey. One reason marketers don't use more of their technology is because marketers and/or their agency partners fail to take charge of the applications within their organizations. Problems with customer data, a complex ecosystem, and rigid governance also contribute to underutilization.

While the cost savings and marketing efficiencies chatbots offer are real, they come with potentially severe and growing risks, ranging from copyright infringement to misinformation. Whether marketers deploy generative AI chatbots for advertising campaigns or to improve workflow in-house, they need to understand the legal and ethical sand traps and proceed with a plan.

By ignoring people with disabilities, brands are not only potentially alienating a large swath of the population, they're also leaving money on the table. New research conducted by Morning Consult found that 84 percent of respondents had a more favorable impression of companies that are inclusive of people with disabilities in their marketing and advertising and 80 percent wanted to do more business with such companies.

The promise of AI is tempered by growing concerns regarding the risks the technology presents, leading the Biden administration to pressure the seven leading AI companies to commit to new standards for safety, security, and trust as they aggressively compete to dominate the space. Brands and agencies are diving in.

Marketers continue to be overwhelmed by the amount of data they collect. A big part of the problem is that companies tend to acquire technology without thinking about the specific marketing goals and objectives for which the resulting data will be used. To tame the tech stack, CMOs and their teams need to do a better job of planning and figure out what the end game for the data is well before executing.

Most people will be watching their wallets during the 2023 holidays, with more than half of consumers (53 percent) saying inflation will have a moderate or significant impact on their spending. To ensure that they are buying wisely, consumers are demanding more from brands and retailers. They want flexible return policies, discounts, loyalty programs, and the capability to buy online and pick up in-store.

Two-thirds of companies viewed retail media as a sales driver, but only 12 percent used it to build their brand, according to a new survey. Only 31 percent said it was a valuable marketing tool right now. The lack of consistent and industrywide measurement on the effectiveness of retail media investments is one reason brands remain cool to the market.

Marketing to Hispanic consumers requires that brands heavily research the distinctive factors that matter most to them. Influencers can help brands connect with the various communities, as well as cultural elements like music and humor, but it's important to consult market experts to ensure the campaign is effective.

The idea that brand work is difficult to measure or quantify doesn't hold up, according to Charlotte Blank, U.S. CMO at Jaguar Land Rover North America. She stresses that marketers need to cultivate KPIs for brand health metrics in the upper funnel, which are just as important as the conversion-oriented metrics that drive performance marketing discussions.

While the backlash to brands aligning their messaging and merchandise with Pride Month has quelled, marketers continue to weigh the risks of taking a stand on hot-button issues. It seems an increasingly difficult needle to thread for marketers, who must grapple with a polarized society and the spread of misinformation on social media. Before they take a stand, brands need to take the temperature of both the mainstream and potential opposition and be prepared to stick to their messaging.

Location-based production has largely returned post-pandemic, but new challenges have emerged — including higher costs — alongside new opportunities like tax-incentive programs and promising new technologies.

Not all in-house agencies will stop working with external agencies altogether. But a recent ANA study shows that in-house agencies continue to increase their clout and companies are working with fewer external agencies as a result. In fact, the study predicts that 85 to 90 percent of member companies will ultimately have in-house agencies handling some aspect of their marketing activities.

Battle lines are being drawn stemming from a flurry of legislation at the federal and state levels designed to limit the use of social media among teens and children. Dozens of prominent advocacy groups have voiced opposition, saying the bills would limit free speech and allow state attorneys general to decide what constitutes “harmful” content.

For harried parents, making back-to-school shopping less of a hassle is a major priority this year. Retailers are responding in kind by moving up the launch date for their back-to-school promotional campaigns and touting convenience in their ad messaging.

Streaming programming is fast evolving and recently surpassed cable for the first time in the percentage of TV viewers. Media companies are responding in kind. Lydia Daly, SVP of audience impact and intelligence at Paramount, says the explosion of streaming services is changing the way people consume entertainment and constantly raising expectations that marketers must meet head-on.

As difficult as it may be when it comes to aligning marketing with financial outcomes, there is a path for CMOs and CFOs to have a more productive relationship.