Note: a version of this article previously appeared in The Drum. Direct-to-consumer brands have disrupted nearly every industry. Names like Warby Parker, Uber, Allbirds, Stitch Fix, and HelloFresh are inescapable, with plenty more coming into the collective American consumer consciousness on a regular basis. These brands are also the subject of intense interest — even …
The following is a transcript of Signal CEO Mike Sands’ keynote presentation at AdExchanger’s Industry Preview 2019 conference. It has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Identity: The Future of Real-Time Engagement in the Age of Going Direct [Forrester analyst Joanna O’Connell] and I were catching up in the back, and I’m like, “Boy, …
Note: a version of this article previously appeared in Adweek. At first blush, the National Football League’s recent hire of Activision Blizzard’s Tim Ellis as CMO looks like a beleaguered brand’s attempt at leveraging fresh marketing insight to recapture a young male demographic abandoning traditional sports for esports. But at a deeper level, the move says a lot …
“What’s the value of a shopping cart?” This is the question Forrester Principal Analyst Brendan Witcher posed to listeners to kick off the recent Signal-hosted webinar The Age of Individualization: How Identity Is Transforming the Retail Experience. Imagine you’re going grocery shopping and the store doesn’t offer a cart, Witcher explained. As a marketer, you …
Increasingly, retailers are focusing on individualization to meet and exceed the expectations of the always-on, omnichannel consumer. But individualization’s true innovators are using identity resolution technologies as the foundation of their customer engagement strategies, including paid media. This webinar will deliver actionable steps to progress your retail brand’s marketing efforts from segmentation to individualization. Learn …
Note: A version of this post originally appeared in Forbes. When I started out in advertising, no one looked to political advertising as a hotbed of innovation. Political advertising was something like a backwater — a place for the rushed and inefficient implementation of tactics pioneered elsewhere. Nobody would say that today. Thanks to all the …
Today’s consumers expect exactly what they want, the moment they want it — and brands must keep pace. Hindsight is 20/20; however, basing future interactions solely on a customer’s past behaviors is short-sighted. Brands must recognize their customers in real-time across all touchpoints and continuously understand their needs to exceed expectations. Continuous identity is the …
What do marketers have in common with kids at Christmas? What do marketers have in common with kids at Christmas? For one, we’re inexorably drawn to the latest hot thing. For the kids, there’s always a must-have new toy, like Hatchimals or fidget spinners. And for marketers, it’s usually the latest tech trend, like chatbots …
Is Jennifer Greer a 50-year-old mother of three daughters? Or is she actually an 18-year-old male in need of his first real shave? That’s the question facing marketing execs at Gillette after a promotional package of razors landed at Ms. Greer’s doorstep instead of reaching one of the 2 million teenaged boys the personal care …
Personalization has frequently been cited as a top priority for retailers this year. But in a just-published whitepaper, research firm RSR calls individualization one of two key marketing strategies retailers must adopt to win the upcoming holiday shopping season. Individualization — essentially Personalization 2.0 — is based on robust individual shopper profiles plus dynamic, real-time …