December 2012

It’s hard to believe 2012 is coming to an end. It was a big year for us here, with the launch of Madison Ave Insights in October, and a notable one for the advertising industry. As always, agencies tried to top the year before with bigger and better creative, regulatory agencies stepped up oversight and enforcement, and technological advances happened at a pace that seemed like every minute. From the Super Bowl to Cannes to the Summer Olympics to the Presidential election, marketers have been busy year-round with how to balance rapid change and new technology with threats from regulators and competitors while doing great creative and effective advertising. This has been a very hard dance to learn.

Among countless others, here are a few key trends and developments from 2012 that will have long-lasting implications for the advertising industry (that is, if the Mayan calendar is incorrect).

Data: Data is without a doubt changing the advertising industry. With more platforms and devices collecting consumer data, including smart phones, tablets, and mobile apps, data has increasingly become a critical tool for marketers and advertising agencies. Of course, we are all still learning the best ways to collect, manage, and use data without violating basic data security and consumer privacy standards. This year, data brokers have faced scrutiny for selling consumers’ data, and brands have been questioned for data collection practices. With data collection and management tools advancing, and data analytics becoming the “it” profession, all of us are eager to see what will be next and how the advertising industry applies and develops data to benefit all of the constituencies – consumers, marketers, agencies, publishers and technologists.Continue Reading 2012: A Retrospective

During the holiday season, helping others is on many people’s minds.  We see more charitable branding and increased advertising to encourage people to give – to capture the true spirit of the holidays.  Right after the shopping whirlwind of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we celebrated “Giving Tuesday” with the hashtag #GivingTuesday trending on Twitter. Many large charities are encouraging donations on social media, among other platforms. Text a number and you can donate $10 to American Red Cross to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  Salvation Army volunteers are ringing their bells on street corners and outside of suburban shopping malls.  St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital launched a Thanks and Giving campaign across a variety of platforms – television, online and print– partnering with a number of nationwide retailers to allow shoppers to make a donation to St. Jude during in-store or online checkout.

For most large companies, a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy is a key component of each annual strategic plan.  Charitable giving is a large component of that plan, and the holiday season is prime time. Certainly business giving back is the right thing to do as a matter of societal obligation.  The question to consider is whether it actually helps build brand loyalty and makes business sense from a marketing, advertising and sales basis.

The Way I See It

  • I see more companies and influential brands not only making CSR strategies a significant part of their annual missions, but also striving to make CSR a part of their corporate identity and brand.  CSR has become a part of branding, marketing, and advertising efforts year-round.
  • I see new start up’s, especially in technology, social media and new products/services, have as their core positioning – a CSR backbone, and this as an element that both motivates the participants and attracts like-minded customers.
  • I see consumer brands continue to strategically partner with charitable organizations to integrate the process of raising funds for the charities with purchasing consumer goods and services.  I see marketers, advertisers and charities recognizing a real win-win.
  • I see skeptics who say “CSR is dead” and argue against strategies involving charitable giving – for instance, a business school professor recently published “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility” in The Wall Street Journal.  In a tough economic environment where every expense must be challenged, I see the increased use of hard data to support the economic proposition that CSR is good for the long term, and if done right, even better for the short term.
  • I see increased regulatory scrutiny of charitable giving and tie-in’s. With the rise of social media and web giving, there is a greater opportunity for fraud. Many states strictly regulate such programs. In October, the New York Attorney General’s Office issued “Best Practices for Transparent Cause Marketing,” after conducting a study of various CSR programs to benefit breast cancer.

The Way the Industry Sees It


I sat down with Dorothy Jones, Vice President of Marketing at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, to discuss Corporate Social Responsibility and what it means for branding, consumer engagement, and the importance of being strategic.

In what ways have Corporate Social Responsibility efforts evolved in recent years?  Did the financial crisis and the current state of the economy have an impact on charitable giving efforts?

We did not see a change in commitment from our corporate partners overall, although we did see the impact of the recession and unemployment in certain industries and in fundraising from individuals, which we expect will improve as the economy improves.  This tells us that business people understand the value of their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility programs especially in difficult economic times.  This kind of commitment allows us to meet the extra demands for services that organizations like ours provide to people in need.

How important are the holidays to charities in terms of fundraising? Is there a seasonality to charitable efforts?

The holidays are always a special time in general.  Organizations also experience their own seasons – for example, we do a significant amount of fundraising in the fall during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and in the spring, around Mother’s Day, when people are remembering, celebrating, or honoring the women in their lives who have faced breast cancer.

Continue Reading ‘Tis the Season for Giving

2012 is projected to be a big holiday shopping season, with consumer spending expected to return to near pre-recession levels.  The National Retail Federation’s 2012 consumer holiday spending survey forecasts that the country’s holiday spending will rise 4.1% to about $586 billion – the most optimistic forecast since the recession.  But a lot has changed since the pre-recession 2007 holiday shopping season.  The consumer shopping experience has seen significant changes in these past five years, and the holiday shopping season is different today than it was then – a sign of the technological advances that have been made, as well as the strides retailers and advertisers are making with digital, data, social media, and mobile.

The Way I See It

The ‘Holiday Shopping Season’ starts earlier and earlier every year, and this year was no exception, with retailers unveiling holiday displays and deals before Halloween.  And Thanksgiving Day became the new Black Friday this year, with major retailers opening on Thursday evening with outrageous “while supplies last” deals on technology, toys, big screen TVs, and other hot items.

  • I see online shopping continuing to boom with sales on the web and mobile devices continuing to grow – aligned with the growth in advertising on digital and social media, and the increased use of social media by retailers.  The NRF survey estimates that online sales this year will grow 12% during the holidays to $96 billion, with more than half of consumers surveyed – 52% – planning to shop for some gifts online, which is up from 47% last year.
  • I see gift card sales continuing to be a major “gift” for consumers and retailers alike.  Retail gift cards have always been a hot item, even five years ago, but now technology has infused the gift card medium, so some of the hottest gift cards are online gift cards, prepaid debit gift cards, and mobile gift cards.  With the NRF survey revealing that 81.1% of consumers will buy at least one gift card this year, it will be interesting to see how much of the pie is taken by the “new” gift cards.
  • I see the explosion in reliance on consumer data changing holiday marketing and shopping – by far the largest and most influential change for holiday shopping in the last five years.  With data, more relevant information – products, offers, and deals – are being delivered to more consumers than ever before.  This effectively results in advertising and marketing dollars doing a better job of getting consumers to shop and buy.

The Way the Industry Sees It


I sat down with Dana Traci, Vice President in Marketing Rewards at Discover, to discuss the countless ways that the holiday shopping experience has changed for consumers in the past five years.

In your eyes, if you had to choose one development or area of change or growth that has had the largest impact on holiday shopping since 2007, what would it be?

Without a doubt, it’s the access consumers have to information via mobile and Internet channels.  They now have the ability to see a wide selection of products and prices without having to leave their houses.  They can browse deals and/or make purchases on the go, on their own time, without needing to visit an actual store.

How has technology and data changed the way your company prepares for the holiday shopping season and the way you advertise to consumers?

It’s imperative for us to advertise our messages where consumers are, and that means whether they are shopping in-store, looking at products online, etc.  In order to stay relevant and competitive, we need to expand our reach and presence as new technologies change the way consumers shop.

Continue Reading 2012 Holiday Shopping Season: Significant Changes in Only Five Years