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Software Suite Covers Email, SMS And Other Channels https://ift.tt/2T3nOZg Software provider Phonexa has debuted a suite of three products to help brands make the most of their email, SMS, calls, leads and click strategies. The new suite includes Lynx (click tracking), Opt-Intel (suppression list management) and Cloud PBX (a cloud phone system). These tools join Phonexa's existing products: Call Logic (call tracking and distribution), LMS SYNC (lead tracking and distribution), E-Delivery (email and SMS marketing) and Books360 (automated accounting), the five year-old company says. Phonexa claims that merging these products and channels under one uniform entity is a breakthrough. "The archaic days of segmentation and depending on niche-based marketing solutions are over,” states David Gasparyan, president and CEO of Phonexa. Gasparyan adds that “much like Google and Adobe have revolutionized industries with their set of foundational tools, Phonexa is following in their path but in a parallel lane by arming marketers with an all-in-one suite of products.” Clients can engage with Phonexa via a new website, a desktop platform, iOS and a Google Play mobile app. In addition, the company has unveiled a new monthly pricing model that is designed to further separate Phonexa from competition that "offer just one or two niche services,” the firm says in an announcement.
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Integral Ad Science Sets IPO Terms, Suggesting A Valuation Up To $2.5B https://ift.tt/3gVRW2d Integral Ad Science (IAS) has joined a growing list of ad-tech companies that have filed to become publicly listed or completed their public listings by filing a S1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The New York-based ad-verification and viewability company recently set terms of its initial public offering in which it looks to raise up to $255 million, with a valuation of up to $2.53 billion. The company is offering 15 million shares in the IPO, which is expected to price between $15 and $17 per share when it begins trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "IAS." The company is looking to go public at a time that the Renaissance IPO ETF rose 0.1% year-to-date, and the S&P 500 gained 10.9%, according to MarketWatch. One more company going public means a clearer and more accurate picture of the industry’s position during the second half of 2021 and beyond. “It’s rare to be able to compare IAS directly with DoubleVerify, two large direct competitors in a niche,” said Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence for GroupM, WPP's media investment group. “For a sector that’s been difficult for marketers to understand, being public is helpful for the industry.” advertisement advertisement IAS is following an ad-tech resurgence, likely looking at DoubleVerify’s successful IPO, in which the company’s stock rose 33% on its first day and continues to rise. DoubleVerify, a competitor, went public in April, and today sees a valuation of $5.4 billion, according to analysts. Competitors Pubmatic and Viant become public companies in 2020. The Trade Desk, Criteo and Magnite went public years earlier. Wieser said that 10 years ago, ad-tech existed but most people didn’t know the meaning of “DSP.” When RocketFuel formed around the same time as Criteo, most couldn’t tell the difference. Having more companies in a sector that is public will add to the research and foster a greater understanding of how the industry operates, helping marketers make better decisions. Tony Marlow, CMO at Integral Ad Science, on Wednesday in a podcast told Nicole Perrin, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, that the company has been reaching deeper into connected TV to support media such as contextual targeting. “When we look at CTV, but also some broader video metrics, when we look at viewability, we found that CTV and video has the highest viewability rates -- both around 93%,” Marlow said. “Desktop and mobile were around the lowest, both in the 60% range.” IAS serves 2,062 customers with 1,924 advertising customers and 138 publisher customers, according to the company’s filing, in which it claims that from Dec. 31, 2017 - Dec. 31, 2020 its average revenue per customer for the top 100 customers has grown at a CAGR of 22% and revenue attributable to the top 100 customers approximated 70% of our total revenue for each of these years. “We collect trillions of data events per month, which provides us with a comprehensive view of digital ad transactions,” IAS wrote in the filing, adding that the company’s platform ingests, “on average, 100 billion web transactions per day.” In 2020, The Trade Desk grew 26%, while Magnite had growth of 5%, Pubmatic grew 31% and DoubleVerify had growth of 31%. Viant did not show growth, and Criteo declined by 13%, according to company numbers. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 23, 2021 at 12:19PM
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Facebook Adds Shops To WhatsApp, Intros Shops Ads, Plans Visual Search On Instagram https://ift.tt/3j3eO0T Facebook has announced three more updates designed to advance its aggressive, ongoing push into ecommerce. The initiatives include launching its Shops on WhatsApp, bowing Shops Ads, and preparing to test AI-driven visual search for shopping on Instagram. They were outlined on Tuesday by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a Live Audio Room livestream and posts on Facebook and the company’s blog. WhatsApp is being functionally linked to Facebook’s other ecommerce offerings, Facebook Marketplace and Instagram Shops. “Today, we have over 300 million monthly Shops visitors and over 1.2 million monthly active Shops,” Zuckerberg wrote. “Now, we’re making it even easier for people to discover and buy from Shops. Soon, we’ll give businesses in select countries the option to showcase their Shop in WhatsApp. In the U.S., we’ll enable them to bring Shops products into Marketplace, helping them reach the more than 1 billion people globally who visit each month. advertisement advertisement “Soon you’ll be able to view a Shop in WhatsApp so you can chat with a business before buying something,” he posted. “Businesses only need to set up their shop once to have it work across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.” The WhatsApp Shops rollout will start soon, he said. Shops inventory in Marketplace is available now for Shops in the U.S. that have on-site checkout. Shops Ads are meant to enable a more personalized shopping experience, based on shopping preferences data. “For example, we’re testing the ability for businesses to send shoppers to where they are most likely to make a purchase based on their shopping behavior, such as curated products that you might be interested in from a Shop or a business’ website,” Zuckerberg said. “In the future, we’ll explore ways to help brands further personalize their Shops ads by providing special offers or promotions to select shoppers.” AR Dynamic Ads are now available in the U.S., with companies including Huda Beauty and Laura Mercier using them to let customers test lipstick shades with AR before buying, notes TechCrunch. Instagram’s AI-based visual search feature will begin testing in coming months. “Visual search helps people find similar products – like floral print dresses – just by tapping on an image of a dress they like,” wrote Zuckerberg. “In the future we’ll make it possible for people to take photos from their camera to start a visual search. While it’s still early, we think visual search will enhance mobile shopping by making even more pieces of media on Instagram shoppable.” "Two-thirds of online shoppers say that they want to virtually try on products from the comfort of their home, he added. “To help shoppers get a better feel for the fit of a product before they purchase, we’re making it easier for brands to create AR try-on experiences in Shops through new API integrations with Modiface and Perfect Corp. We’re also introducing new tools for brands to include AR product catalogs in ads that will automatically show relevant products to people based on their interests." “We’re also bringing some of the biggest brands together to experiment with Live Shopping on Facebook and bringing this personalized shopping experience to viewers through Live Shopping Fridays.” Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 23, 2021 at 08:38AM
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Social Significance: Why B2B Brands Value Social CX & Are Spending More https://ift.tt/3d8JjPc Why are B2B brands placing greater value on social media, and why are they willing to spend more than ever before on social customer experience (CX)? New digital marketing research reveals why B2B brands are finding a renewed passion for the expanding benefits of social media, and why they are becoming more willing than ever to spend more for the competitive advantages that social CX offers. Let’s take a look at some of the latest report and survey data, and see how B2B brands are changing their social media strategies and outlook. 1 — Social Helps B2B Brands Meet Customer ExpectationsA new report from Sprout Social reveals how customer expectations have evolved for the brands that they follow on social media. Examining insight from over 1,000 U.S. consumers and the same number of U.S. marketers, along with 782 million public social messages, the recently-released "Sprout Social Index, Edition XVII: Accelerate" report showed that 90 percent of consumers will purchase from brands they follow on social media. “For marketers, this is an opportunity to demonstrate how social positively influences all parts of the business and why a brand’s competitive advantage lives on social,” the report suggested. 55 percent of marketers said they used social data for understanding their target audience, while 48 percent used it to develop creative content, and 39 percent for supporting other departments, the report showed. Only 26 percent of marketers said they used social data to foster connections with customers, however, and just 10 percent said they used the data to inform business decisions. “88 percent of marketers agree their social strategy positively influences their bottom line,” the research concludes. The value of social data has generally increased over time, and the new Sprout Social study bears this out, revealing that 47 percent of marketers consider social a resource that influences strategy for multiple organizational teams, while 46 still see it as strictly a marketing resource, with eight percent viewing it as an organization-wide resource for business intelligence. Something as seemingly simple as responding quickly to customer questions can be very important in brand purchase decisions. 47 percent of consumers said that responding to customer service questions in a timely manner was the top way brands could get them to buy and forgo competitors. Nearly as important among consumers were brands that demonstrate an understanding of what consumers want and need. “Nine out of 10 consumers will buy from brands they follow on social, while 86% will choose that brand over a competitor,” the Sprout Social report data showed. Given the importance customers place on speedy response times from brands, it’s easy to see how the new Sprout Social data indicated that “78 percent of consumers agree that social media is the fastest and most direct way to connect with a brand — and consumers want their voices heard.” When it comes to sharing feedback about a product or service, after social media, consumers turn to e-mail and a brand’s website (18 percent for each), followed closely by review websites, and just 11 percent prefer calling a brand’s customer service phone number, according to the report data. Even for reaching brands about customer service issues or questions, most consumers (33 percent) prefer social media, followed by customer service (24 percent), e-mail (23 percent), and just nine percent prefer using a company’s website for such questions. “44 percent of consumers will unfollow a brand on social because of poor service, putting a damper on brands’ growth goals,” the report warned. The Sprout Social study surfaces a fascinating distinction between what consumers and marketers believe makes for best-in-class social media performance. The most important factor among consumers — at 47 percent — was brands that offer strong customer service, while that was only the sixth most important factor to marketers, at 35 percent.2 — Social Will Drive Post-Pandemic B2B Customer EngagementAccording to Ascend2 and Wpromote’s newly-released 2021 State of B2B Digital Marketing report, the number one digital marketing trend B2B brands are prioritizing is the utilization of new social platforms. 42 percent said new social platforms represented their top trend priority, followed by 34 percent who said virtual events, and 30 percent who noted that influencer marketing was a priority trend. “Brands embraced new social platforms, virtual events, and influencer marketing strategies that can open the door to new opportunities to drive brand awareness and grow new audiences,” the report suggested. A robust 68 percent of B2B marketers said they expected their digital marketing budgets to increase during the forthcoming year, with 26 percent seeing a significant budget increase ahead, according to the report data. When it comes to driving revenue, 57 percent of B2B marketers saw social media as the most effective digital marketing channel, followed by content marketing and email, each at 47 percent. Reinforcing the notion supported by the other research we’ve examined, the Ascend2 and Wpromote data showed that social media was the area of digital customer experience that had the most impact on overall strategic success, according to 57 percent of respondents — ahead of website optimization’s 47 percent and paid advertising’s 42 percent. “Whatever social platforms you use as a B2B marketer, if you prioritize the time and resources to add new social platforms to your mix, you increase the opportunity to build new audiences and further engage with your existing audience," Todd Lebo, CEO at Ascend2 told me. "Newer platforms that B2B should consider are TikTok, Clubhouse, and Twitter Spaces,” Lebo added. We've taken a look at how B2B marketers can utilize Twitter Spaces in "On-Target: What’s New With Twitter For B2B Marketers In 2021," Clubhouse in "How B2B Brands Can Boost Confidence in Livestream Video, Podcast and Clubhouse Marketing," and other new social platforms in "How B2B Marketing Influencers Are Finding Success On New Social Channels." The most successful B2B marketers have also tended to inform their CX strategy by including other departments — a structure that less successful marketers don’t tend to utilize. Bringing many of these trends and tactics together, account-based marketing (ABM) — or even account based experiences (ABX), as our CEO Lee Odden recently explored in “Is ABX the Next Evolution of B2B Marketing?” — is increasingly used by the most successful B2B marketers. 43 percent of the most successful B2B marketers already have a working ABM strategy in place, and 30 percent are actively implementing one, the Ascend2 and Wpromote data showed. [bctt tweet="“To do ABM well, you need to bend the sales odds in your favor. The best way to bend the odds is to utilize customer data you collect over time and deliver a seamless customer experience (CX).” — Ruth Stevens @RuthPSteven" username="toprank"]3 — Social Drives B2B Customer Experience PersonalizationB2B brands are increasing finding success in delivering more personalized CX through social channels. The digital experiences customers crave can be crucial for building brand affinity, as some 80 percent of respondents in a survey conducted by Salesforce said that these experiences are every bit as important as a firm's actual products or services. Brand storytelling helps build more memorable digital experiences, as Microsoft’s Miri Rodriguez has explored, which I outlined earlier this year in "Microsoft’s Miri Rodriguez on How B2B Marketers Are Embracing Empathy For Better Customer Storytelling." [bctt tweet="“Storytelling isn't the mere telling of story, it's the intentional design of story structure, attributes and elements that conjure emotion, drive inclusion and lead with empathy.” — Miri Rodriguez @MiriRod" username="toprank"] Some 68 percent of businesses in the Salesforce survey said that they expected brands to demonstrate empathy, but only 37 percent said that they were experiencing it — a sentiment Rodriguez shared when she noted that, “Brands want to transact with people who are showing high levels of empathy.” Ryan Higginson, vice president and UK/ROI Country Leader at Pitney Bowes, sees a future that includes better customer experiences that go beyond the mere algorithmic. “B2B decision makers want humanized, personalized, helpful and relevant experiences to reduce complexity and save them time,"Higginson recently noted. "They want businesses to anticipate their requirements beyond the ‘You liked that, now try this’ algorithm. The more B2B organizations get to know their clients at a personal level, the better the relationship becomes and the greater the customer experience,” he added. A McKinsey study revealed that 97 percent of B2B buyers said that they would use an end-to-end self-serve digital model to make a purchase, with most being comfortable doing so while spending $50K or more. The pandemic has brought about a shift among B2B buyers, who have grown more comfortable with digital self-service and omni-channel interactions. LinkedIn's* State of Sales Report 2021 noted that trust in a brand's product or service was consistently a top factor in influencing purchases among buyers, and the 2020 version of the report showed that some 75 percent of B2B buyers were particularly influenced by social media, with 84 percent of senior executives utilizing social media to support buying decisions. We dug into the shift to executive influence in B2B marketing in "Brandfluence – Why Growing Executive Influence is Essential for B2B Marketing," and also shared 20 tips for driving executive credibility efforts in "20 Ways to Build B2B Executive Credibility and Thought Leadership." [bctt tweet="Social engagement with prospects along with publishing credible thought leadership content warms prospects for conversations that lead to conversion.” — Lee Odden @LeeOdden" username="toprank"]Reach New B2B Marketing Heights With A Social & CX Mixvia GIPHY There’s no need to make a leap of faith when you have data-backed research informing your digital marketing strategy. By using social media to drive customer experience personalization and to help B2B brands meet rising customer expectations, B2B marketers will achieve greater levels of post-pandemic B2B customer engagement. We hope that our look at recent report and survey data will help inform your own B2B marketing efforts as we move ahead towards 2022. Crafting award-winning B2B marketing with a creative mixture of social media, influence, and memorable digital customer experiences takes considerable time and effort, which is why many firms choose to work with a top digital marketing agency such as TopRank Marketing. Contact us today and let us know how we can help, as we’ve done for businesses ranging from LinkedIn, Dell and 3M to Adobe, Oracle, monday.com and others. * LinkedIn is a TopRank Marketing client.The post Social Significance: Why B2B Brands Value Social CX & Are Spending More appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®. Mobile Marketing,SEO via Hubspot https://ift.tt/2wiHYzh June 23, 2021 at 05:36AM
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EU Antitrust Officials To Investigate Google Over Ad-Tech Systems, Privacy Plans https://ift.tt/3gNQTku European antitrust regulators have launched an investigation into Google's ad-tech operations, including whether the company's plans to improve consumer privacy will give it an unfair advantage against other ad-tech providers. “We are concerned that Google has made it harder for rival online advertising services to compete in the so-called ad tech stack,” European Commission official Margrethe Vestager stated Tuesday. “We will also be looking at Google's policies on user tracking to make sure they are in line with fair competition.” The authorities said their investigation will cover several areas, including Google's requirements that advertisers use its services to purchase and display ads on YouTube. The probe will also focus on several of Google's privacy moves, including its plan to block third-party cookies on the Chrome browser, and to stop transmitting Android device identifiers when users opt out of receiving personalized ads. advertisement advertisement “The formal investigation will notably examine whether Google is distorting competition by restricting access by third parties to user data for advertising purposes on websites and apps, while reserving such data for its own use,” the European Commission stated Tuesday. Google has repeatedly vowed to impose the same restrictions on its own ad-services products (including the former DoubleClick) as on outside ad-tech companies. “We have explicitly stated that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will not build alternate identifiers to track individuals as they browse across the web, nor will we use such identifiers in our products,” the company wrote earlier this month in a blog post outlining commitments the company made to regulators in the UK. “Building on this principle, the commitments confirm that once third-party cookies are phased out, our ads products will not access synced Chrome browsing histories (or data from other user-facing Google products) in order to track users to target or measure ads on sites across the web,” Google added. “Further, our ads products will also not access synced Chrome browsing histories or publishers' Google Analytics accounts to track users for targeting and measuring ads on our own sites, such as Google Search.” A company spokesperson also said it will “engage constructively with the European Commission to answer their questions and demonstrate the benefits of our products to European businesses and consumers.” The European Commission specifically said it will focus on whether the proposals set out in Google's “Privacy Sandbox” will have an effect on “online display advertising and online display advertising intermediation markets.” While the Privacy Sandbox outlines several different plans, the controversial Federated Learning of Cohorts is among the most well-publicized. That plan appears to involve placing Chrome users into audience segments based on their web-browsing activity, and then transmitting data about those segments directly to publishers through a Javascript API. Google is facing several antitrust lawsuits in the United States, including one brought by a coalition of states led by Texas. The authorities in that action allege that Google rigged auctions for online display ads, and that the Federated Learning of Cohorts system is anti-competitive. The digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation has also criticized the cohort-based targeting proposal -- though for reasons related to privacy, not antitrust. That organization calls the plan a “terrible idea,” adding that the proposed targeting system will make it impossible for Chrome users to surf the web without also transmitting information about their potential interests. “Every site you visit will have a good idea about what kind of person you are on first contact, without having to do the work of tracking you across the web,” the group wrote. In the U.S., the self-regulatory privacy group Network Advertising Initiative -- which represents many small ad-tech companies as well as Google -- hasn't taken a position on whether Google's plans are anticompetitive. David LeDuc, vice-president for policy at the organization, says the group supports plans to advance privacy, but believes “enhanced privacy can be achieved at the same time as maintaining a competitive digital advertising marketplace.” He adds that the organization thinks policymakers “should be keeping a keen eye on all of the large platforms,” to make sure they're not placing other companies at a competitive disadvantage. Google isn't the only large tech company facing antitrust complaints over privacy moves. Business groups in Europe, including the Interactive Advertising Bureau France, have raised antitrust concerns about Apple's privacy moves, including its recent decision to require mobile developers to obtain users' explicit consent before tracking them across apps. In March, French regulators declined to prohibit Apple from moving forward with the new settings. Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 22, 2021 at 03:56PM
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A Fix On B2B Digital: What's Working, Where The Budget Is Going https://ift.tt/3wKXFNA Email remains one of the top channels in driving B2B revenue. But this doesn’t mean it is getting better by the day or that more dollars are being poured into it, judging by 2021 State of B2B Digital Marketing, a study by Ascend2 and Wpromote. Email is tied with content marketing for second place in effectiveness among digital channels, cited by 47% apiece. Social media is first, with 57%. But only 28% say they will be increasing their email budgets in the year ahead, versus 55% for search, 44% for content marketing, 37% for display advertising and 34% for paid search. Granted, this could be because email infrastructure is already in place. And brands may be struggling to catch up in social media. Not that any one channel is all-important — 35% are shifting to a diversified marketing strategy. Overall, 68% expect their digital marketing budgets to increase — with 42% who expect them to increase moderately and 26% significantly. Another 14% say they expect budgets will remain the same, while 12% that they will decrease, and 3% significantly. Just 6% are unsure. advertisement advertisement In addition, 30% say they are significantly increasing their technology spend, and 37% say they will increase spend moderately. The budgets will remain the same for another 17%, and will decrease for 16%, including 9% who say they will decrease in a major way. Budgets aside, here are the digital marketing trends they are prioritizing:
But email reigns at both the top and the bottom of the funnel: The top 5 Top-of Funnel Tactics:
And the top 5 Bottom-Of-Funnel Tactics:
How successful are the respondents’ email marketing strategies? Their effectiveness is:
All that said, B2B brands face several barriers to success. For organizations with under $10 million in annual revenue, they are:
For firms generating over $10 million, they are:
Moreover, B2B marketers are facing these lead generation challenges:
B2B brands are also trying to cope with changes on the privacy front—for example, deprecation of third-party cookies. Here is where they are in that issue:
Silos are another issue. The best-in-class marketers list these departments as having critical involvement in developing a customer experience strategy:
Here’s how the least successful marketers answered the question:
Among those polled, 42% describe themselves as very successful, or best in class. Another 52% say they are somewhat successful, and 7% unsuccessful. Best-in class marketers measure success by:
Here are the digital customer experience areas that have the most impact on overall strategic success:
Ascend2 and Wpromote surveyed 258 marketing professionals and a curated list of marketing research subscribers in May 2021,. All respondents were from organizations with more than 50 employees.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 22, 2021 at 02:59PM Media-Planning Software Provider Telmar Unveils Cookie-less Identity Targeting Partnership6/22/2021
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Media-Planning Software Provider Telmar Unveils Cookie-less Identity Targeting Partnership https://ift.tt/3zPSYE0 Telmar, a leading provider of media-planning and buying software and data to ad agencies, this morning announced it is offering a cookie-less identity data solution developed by ID5 to help agencies and brands target consumers as third-party cookies and mobile ad IDs (MAIDs) are deprecated by big platforms like Google and Apple. ID5 claims its "universal ID solution enables the sharing of user-level information," as well as the "activation of first- and third-party data" in all browser and in-app advertising environments. It also asserts that its solution is 100% consumer privacy-compliant. While countless post-cookie identity solutions are flooding the ad marketplace in the wake of Google's and Apple's moves, becoming integrated into Telmar's systems provides a tacit vote of confidence for ID5's method. In a related move, Telmar said it is joining "Inside," a partnership program developed by ID5 for technology and media companies to support the distribution of its cookie-less IDs. In a statement, ID5 CEO Mathieu Roche claimed the company's IDs are "active on more than 60,000 websites and reaches over 500 million users per day globally." advertisement advertisement Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 22, 2021 at 10:01AM
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Summer Trends: Younger Drinkers Reach For Hard Seltzers, RTD Cocktails https://ift.tt/35HZ9fF Above: Two of the most-popular hard seltzer brands among Gen-Zers and millennials.
“Drinks that cater to a healthy lifestyle without sacrificing alcohol content are likely to be well-received,” concluded Reach3 Insights, based on recent research into the alcoholic beverage drinking plans of Gen Z and millennial consumers as they head into this first post-pandemic summer. “There’s a desire among this cohort for functional types of ingredients,” Reach 3 Insights CEO Matt Kleinschmit told Marketing Daily. As an example, he pointed to Vizzy Hard Seltzer, which trended hot among respondents. That brand’s label boldly states “With AntiOxidant Vitamin C.” advertisement advertisement Other functional aspects appealing to younger drinkers are portability and low-alcohol content, Kleinschmit said, but “no-alcohol” is a no-no. As younger drinkers head back outdoors -- and indoors -- this summer with what Kleinschmit termed a “pent-up demand for interpersonal social gatherings and getting out with friends,” 90% of respondents said they will drink the same or more as compared with last year. And hard seltzers and RTD cocktails should be a big part of that. “Hard seltzers continue to be a mainstay of this cohort, with RTD cocktails waiting in the wings,” Kleinschmit said. Indeed, 37% of respondents said the hard seltzer category as a whole is here to stay, with 79% expecting the so-called craze to “last” at least until next year. Meanwhile, 77% expect RTD cocktails to be “hot” this summer (compared with 71% for hard seltzer) -- good news for brands in the category, being that 51% of respondents also expect to order alcohol for delivery. Both the convenience of RTD cocktails and the willingness to get drinks delivered represent holdover behaviors from the pandemic that may now be here to stay. Ecommerce has taken off, and looks like it will continue,” stated Kleinschmit. Among the questions alcohol marketers now face, he said, are whether or not hard seltzer drinkers will transition over to RTD cocktails – and what exactly will appeal to consumers in both categories. Vizzy, for example, is a MolsonCoors brand, but not marketed as an offshoot of an existing beer brand. Michelob Ultra, on the other hand, received a very low hotness score, which Kleinschmit said was caused by both lack of awareness and “confusion about whether it’s a beer or a hard seltzer.” Pointing out that the rapid rise of hard seltzers took the alcoholic beverage industry by surprise, despite all the market research that’s done by industry players, he added that it’s imperative for them to understand “what’s the next thing that will be hot.” In that regard, here are some of the RTD brands now termed hot by Gen Z and millennials: Loyal hard lemonade, Jack Daniels blended with cola, Crown Royal Whisky & Cola, and On The Rocks Effen Vodka. One of the lower scores went to Fugu Vodka Bloody Mary, apparently because it lacks sweetness. As one respondent told Reach 3, his peers want “hard seltzers with fruit, mixed drinks again with fruits …anything kind of sweet, very refreshing." Both hard seltzers and RTD cocktails lend themselves to summer outdoor activities, of course. In fact, Just 58% of respondents were “very excited” to get back to indoor drinking (although the figure rises to 66% in urban areas). Reac3’s research was conducted via mobile messaging conversations -- including the opportunity for them to include their thoughts on video -- conversations with 300 Gen z and millennial drinkers from May 6-10.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 22, 2021 at 06:14AM
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Consumers Like Virtual Try-On For Products Like Eyewear, Study Finds https://ift.tt/2SifwN1 Here’s something ecommerce brands can offer to apparel shoppers via email: Virtual try-on. Of consumers who have tried it, 69% went on to buy the product, according to a study by Vertebrae, a firm that specializes in 3D and augmented reality tools for retail. Of the consumers polled, 44% have used virtual try-on, and 75% of those have done so in the past year. Moreover, 77% of those who have not experienced would try if it were easily available, and 49% would be likely to buy. We’re not talking about apparel try-ons: Eyewear and sunglasses dominate, with 70% of shoppers believing VR would be most useful when making a purchase decision in these areas. And, 79% say they would use it when it is easily available on web or mobile. One caveat: the company did not supply methodology with its announcement, and had not responded to a query by deadline. advertisement advertisement How cool it would be if the customer could initiate the try-on in the email without jumping to another site. When it comes to trust, 47% trust eyewear brands themselves, not Amazon (15%) or big-box retailers (29%). But be warned: 43% of shoppers are unlikely to use virtual try-on if it requires extra steps like uploading a photo or entering measurements. Despite that, 63% agree the most helpful uses for it are:
“Virtual try-on is transforming shopping for entire categories like eyewear, hats, footwear, and soon clothing,” said Vince Cacace, founder and CEO of Vertebrae. What business is Vertebrae in? augmented reality and 3D.
Mobile Marketing via MediaPost.com: mobile https://ift.tt/2oB2PsH June 21, 2021 at 03:44PM
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Nextdoor Focuses On International Expansion, Hires Industry Vet To Take Lead https://ift.tt/3d03ejh Nextdoor, the neighborhood app, on Monday announced the appointment of Jose Gaztelu to head of international. Based in London, his focus will be to lead the company’s growth and expansion outside the United States. Social network growth patterns during the next 12 to 18 months in the U.S. are in a “post-pandemic state,” said eMarketer Analyst Deborah Williamson, during a podcast published today. eMarketer estimates that monthly social network users rose by 7.6 million in 2020 -- about 3.7% growth, much higher than expected. The growth is returning to pre-pandemic patterns. Now companies like Nextdoor are ready to expand globally. There are more than 276,000 Nextdoor neighborhoods across the globe. The app is available in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, and Canada. advertisement advertisement The company estimates the app is used in one in three U.S. households, with 52 million local business recommendations from neighbors. Gaztelu comes to Nextdoor with experience building and growing tech-consumer platforms in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Recently, he helped accelerate Domestika's international expansion and spent four years with Houzz in London, where he took responsibility for launching the company’s international ecommerce business and private label teams for the U.S. market. He also led expansion into Spain. Before Houzz, Gaztelu also worked at fashion online retailer Global Fashion Group where he joined as CEO for Zalora Thailand and later became managing director for Zalora Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Gaztelu began his career at McKinsey & Company advising clients in mainly consumer, retail and telecommunication and media industries across Europe, the U.S. and Southeast Asia. Nextdoor, which eMarketer classifies as a “slightly smaller social player,” has experienced significant growth during the past two years, with daily active users up 50% in 2020, compared with the prior year, according to eMarketer. People looking for local information such as vaccine locations fueled the growth. It moved from being a bulletin-board to a “microcosm for tensions.” The key to growth will become finding a way to moderate the content, Williamson said.
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