Gap is relying on the feel-good vibes of R&B star Leon Bridges to spread holiday cheer, using upbeat dance moves and striped sweaters to bring people together.

Part of its ongoing “Meet Me in the Gap” campaign, the new ads star the Grammy-nominated Bridges singing “Now That We Found Love,” and is meant to “transcend the edgy climate of today by spreading love and driving positive change,” says the San Francisco-based retailer.

This time around, the white dance space, which Gap has previously filled with musicians like Kyle, Future and Cher, vibrates with a rainbow of stripes and happy feet.

Directed by Emil Nava, the campaign is running on network TV as well as on mobile, digital and social channels, and in stores. The retailer is also planning digital takeovers on Vevo, Hulu and Spotify, and says it’s prioritizing viewing moments within the NFL and top-rated programs.

The ads may be are upbeat, but some are skeptical about Gap’s chances of winning with consumers this holiday season. Recently, a J.P. Morgan analyst downgraded the stock, citing operational issues and unbalanced inventory selection.

And while observers are hopeful Gap’s new CEO, Neil Fiske will breathe new life into the company’s struggling flagship, it’s still early to feel much of his impact. Fisk joined the company from Bilabong, the Australian apparel brand, back in June.

In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Gap says that while its Old Navy division notched a 5% increase in comparable store sales, and Banana Republic rose 2%, same-store sales at Gap sank 5%.

Increasingly, the company seems to be pinning its hopes on activewear. It says Athleta continued to gain share in the quarter and is getting close to its $1 billion sales target.

Gap is also introducing Hill City, a line of technical clothing for men that can be worn all day long, “from workout to work to weekend.”
It launched earlier this month with its own website and is also on display in select Athleta stores.

Living up to analysts’ expectations, Samsung on Wednesday reported operating profit of about $15.5 billion for the third quarter -- up about 21%, year-over-year.

During the period, total smartphone shipments remained flat, which Samsung blamed on decreased sales of mid- to low-end phones.

Overall, profit for Samsung’s phone division decreased on-quarter, which it attributed to increased promotional costs and a negative currency impact.

Yet the South Korean tech giant said it expected a more modest fourth-quarter performance.

Looking ahead to Q4, Samsung said it expects its smartphone shipments to rise during the year-end peak season -- especially for its "mass product" lineup, including the new Galaxy A7 and A9.

More broadly, Samsung anticipates overall fourth-quarter earnings to decline as it enters a period of "weak seasonality" for the semiconductor market.

As for 2019, Samsung said earnings are likely to be weak for the first quarter, due to seasonality, but then strengthen as business conditions -- particularly in the memory market -- improve.

For all of 2019, Samsung actually expects “solid” earnings growth, which it believes will be bolstered by rising demand for image sensors used in more sophisticated camera specifications.

Among other efforts, Samsung said it’s aiming to establish its networks business as a leader in 5G technology as it begins supplying related equipment to global markets.

Along with 5G, the Apple arch-rival will continue to invest in other emerging technologies, including AI and automotive electronics.

The media is a very powerful thing — though 60, and even 30 years ago, it was less influential than today.  

With the development of the internet and digital media, media has shifted from specific, fixed location devices to instead be woven into the very fabric of everyday life.  

Look at pictures from the advent of radio, when it was a massive device in the living room.  That device shrank, and the fixed location was replaced with a television.  The TV shrank and moved into multiple rooms, and along came computers, then the web, followed by your mobile devices (phones, tablets).  

As these devices became ever more connected, media became more accessible, moving from something you have to tune into to something that interrupts your day with near-omnipresent alerts.

Media is everywhere, and the media is angry.

It used to be that “sex sells” in advertising.  In the media world, the truth is that “arguments deliver audience.”  Most news programs default to hosting two people with diametrically opposing points of view who are effectively seated in a steel cage and deprived of food, water or sleep long enough to make them despise the person on the other side of the table and shoot down their respective point of view.  

This cannot be healthy.

I consider myself a semi-intelligent person, but I’m having a very difficult time determining how to think anymore.  I know what my values are, and I know what I consider to be right and wrong. I also know from personal experience the truth is rarely found on either opposing extreme of any argument.  The truth always lies in the middle.  

Today’s challenge is, we can’t find the middle represented in the media anywhere. anymore.  I’ve reviewed the charts that depict the bell curve of media outlets who represent various points of view, but I don’t think it is accurate.  

I’ve looked at both extremes to try and find both sides of an argument, so I can better understand the point of view that faces mine and it’s hard to understand those views because they are emotional and less logical.  I’ve even read the arguments for why I cannot understand the other point of view and they’re even more emotional.  There has to be something more to it.

It is almost Election Day, and depending on what you read and where you read it, things will go one of two ways.  Either the “blue wave” will run rampant or the “red wave” will come crashing down.  

I find myself unsure of what’s going to be happen, but I do understand one thing to be important: The fate of the country should not depend on a vocal minority while disregarding the majority of Americans, whoever they may be and whatever POV they may have.  

All the stats I’ve seen suggest less than 50% of U.S. citizens are going to vote. That is unacceptable.  The studies say Millennials and Gen Z are disenfranchised, while other studies say some minorities are unhappy and won’t be voting.  As far as I can tell, the folks in the middle are tired and therefore may not be getting out of their seats to vote, either.

I have my opinions, and so do you.  We may not agree, and that’s OK, but we should both agree that not voting is unacceptable.  

I think our extremely influential, truth-challenged, opinion-mired media should all align on a single point: Everyone’s voice should be heard.

 The media should, for one week, tone down the anger and try to remove some of the “flame-the-fires” rhetoric to simply motivate the populace to vote.  Get people to understand that this is the only way their voice can be heard and if you are in power, or want to be in power, you should want to know whether your message resonates or not with a true majority.  

If this were a perfect world (and I know it is not) we would see at least 70% voter turnout.  At the least, we should see more than 50%.

Get out and vote. 

Email may produce the highest ROI of any channel. But it fails as a customer service vehicle, and brands don’t seem to know it, according to the State of Customer Experience 2018, a study by the Northridge Group.

Only 48% of consumers say email is easy to use. But 73% of businesses proclaim that it is. 

The only larger disconnect concerns the phone, which 48% also rate as easy — compared with 75% of businesses. Of course, less than 50% of consumers find any channel easy to use.

Here’s more bad news for email specialists: Email is the least preferred channel among young adults.

For example, only 20% of millennials prefer email, vs. 44% who like digital and 34% phone. And 22% of Generation Xers choose email — also third in a field that includes  digital (35%) and phone (41%).

In contrast, email narrowly beat digital among boomers (23% for email, 22% for digital). But with 55%, phone beats both.

And 28% of those in the Silent Generation — those between the Swing Era cohort and the boomers —prefer email, and 18% like digital. But phone wins again, with 52%. 

It could be that phone wins because you can vent on it. But speed of response is probably the main factor.

Among those polled, 69% say phone response occurs within an hour. And 66% report the same about online chat.

Email ranks at the bottom in speediness, with only 19% receiving an answer within an hour. On the contrary, 81% say it takes a day or more to get help, vs. only 31% for the phone. 

In the past year, 36% have contacted a firm by email to make a comment, and 31% to complain. But only 22% have used email to ask a service or product question, 18% to make account change, 17% to address a billing or payment issue and 16% to resolve a problem.

Consumers vastly prefer the phone or billing issues (56% versus 26% for digital channels) and to resolve problems (54%). 

But digital is the winner for making comments (44%) and complaints (37%). In addition, 37% prefer it for asking service or product questions. But 40% would rather use the phone.  

Just what do they mean by digital? Web sites, online chat and mobile self-service. But only a third of consumers think text messaging is easy to use, and roughly the same percentage say that about mobile self-service.

However, two-thirds find web sites user-friendly. All three of these option have grown in terms of perceived usefulness by consumers. 

In general, 62% needed to make multiple contacts to settle their most recent customer service issue. Only 46% resolved the issue in an hour, and 10% say it was never resolved. Moreover, 29% say it was difficult contacting a business for customer service.

The Northridge Group surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers, and conducted a parallel business study.

Americans spend roughly five hours a day on their mobile devices, according to Flurry research. Users can interact with it without any filter, and tap into a fully connected world within a few seconds.

Marketers recognize this massive opportunity to build relationships with their customers, but many struggle to create successful connections. In order to develop these relationships, marketers must keep three factors in mind: channel, intent and consent.

Channel

Despite all the new platforms and social networks popping up, it doesn’t necessarily mean all audiences will be there. Savvy marketers strategize to meet consumers where they’re at, not invite consumers to find them.

For example, marketers looking to target commuters recognize that not everyone takes public transit, nor are they using their phones on the way into work. With podcasts on the rise, many brands have purchased ads to reach these hands-free listeners. While 44% of the U.S. population has listened to a podcast, only 22% listen to podcasts while driving, as reported by Podcast Insights.

Radio, an often undervalued medium, still brings in the most ROI for brands targeting drivers. According to Westwood One, radio delivered $12 in sales for every dollar spent on advertising.

Marketers can also take another approach by examining commonly used apps to determine if there are any crossovers in audience. For instance, rather than taking a look at social giants like Instagram or Facebook, marketers can evaluate Uber or Tinder and develop targeted campaigns for those shared users. This helps diversify media buys and creates a holistic ad program that truly reaches new and relevant users.

Intent

Regardless of where consumers live or what their interests are, it’s an uphill battle for marketers if people don’t want to buy anything. Marketers strive to create that urge to shop in consumers (just listen to fast-food ads). But to capture that brief moment, marketers must use a combination of user location, interests and mobile habits to know when to strike. Just as valuable as a driver’s commute, the mobile journey can reveal a lot about consumer intent.

For example, IKEA often sends notifications about the newest room decor sets to consumers near its stores. The best part about the furniture giant’s strategy: if a shopper is driving home, it offers to reroute their current destination and map it back to IKEA. This immediate call-to-action makes it simple for consumers to capitalize on the opportunity.

But as useful as the strategy may be, the message is moot if drivers heading home don’t need to buy furniture. Rather than relying solely on location, the Swedish furniture company could map out its users’ mobile usage habits to better understand if they are even interested in buying room decor, and limit wasted impressions.

Consent

Both of the above strategies won’t work without data, and to get the right data, you need consent from users. Consumers are becoming more concerned with how brands are using their data, especially after the multiple breaches Facebook has disclosed.

The silver lining: Consumers understand that brands need data to serve relevant product recommendations and ads they’d actually engage with. According to the 20018 Internet Trends report, 79% of U.S. consumers are willing to share personal data for a clear personal benefit.

Rather than forced opt-in or ambiguous notices, marketers can follow the K.I.S.S. principle to draft their consent forms: explain what data is needed from users, how it will be used and what benefits users can get from it.

By combining channel, intent and consent, marketers can connect with audiences and provide a relevant experience effectively and transparently.

Travelocity is introducing its first augmented reality experience, allowing consumers to interact with the online travel agency’s Roaming Gnome.

The AR feature, which gamifies the activity of taking travel photos, works by pointing the phone camera toward the floor or a flat service and tapping the phone screen for the Roaming Gnome to virtually appear. Optional weather filters, 3D props, sound effects and photo frames also can be added to the photo or video.

“At Expedia Group, we continue to experiment with mixed reality as a way to engage and inspire travelers beyond our points of sale,” stated Krista McDougal, general manager for Travelocity brand. “The Travelocity AR feature allows our customers to have fun with the brand throughout their travel journey, and we look forward to seeing how travelers engage with the experience and share it with friends and family." 

Travelocity is hosting a sweepstakes to encourage its mobile app users to try the AR experience, offering the winner a five-night stay at a resort.

The AR feature works with or without a Wi-Fi connection or cellular data access.

At the IAB Direct Brand Summit on Wednesday, the Interactive Advertising Bureau will reveal 13 case studies that prove the benefits of integrating digital out-of-home (DOOH) with mobile media, which typically comprises a sizable portion of today’s media budget.

The case studies illustrate a variety of ways that marketers across verticals can drive growth, lift, recall and return on investments for their brands. Combining the two media, for example, can drive in-store visits to increase app downloads and create social and online actions.

“If you look at the 100-top spenders in out-of-home media, 25% come from the digital and the tech industry because they realize the need for a real-life presence that also powers search and social well,” said Elizabeth Rave, managing director at Outfront Media.

DOOH net advertising sales will grow by more than 16% in 2018 to $5.7 billion as new airports, malls and transportation systems become available for media buying this year, according to data from Magna Global.

One featured case study highlights an airline with an in-flight shopping experience for grocery delivery. A leading European grocery chain launched a trial to provide in-flight grocery services that allow people to shop online through a connected portal, using the plane's Wi-Fi to place their grocery order while seated in flight. They also were asked to choose a time and place for delivery.

The campaign ran for three months and leveraged specific targeting around routes, zones and languages. The grocery store limited the messages to outbound flights from Germany in German. And in the end it yielded a click-through rate 25 times comparable to the house ad CTR.

And while the case studies demonstrate that mobile and DOOH work well together, the duo also supports attribution to help marketers better understand campaigns. “You can see when someone passes through an area where they had the opportunity to see the ad, and then see what they did next,” she said. “Did they go to a store, did they visit a website or buy a ticket to an event?”

The conversation between marketers at brands formerly centered around Big Data, but is now focused on determining what to do with the data. For example, people love it when marketers use the data in a smart way by relating it to the context of where the ad gets placed in the real world, she said.

The brands that are doing this effectively use their own data to create really good ad and marketing copy from it, Rave said.

In advertising as in content, the story is key. That has long been a rule for television advertising, where ads often have protagonists as well as beginnings, middles and ends.

In digital video -- particularly in short-form advertising under 15 seconds -- that has not necessarily been the case, even when the creative is based on TV ads.

New research conducted by the media platform Teads in conjunction with the facial coding company Realeyes looked specifically at one of the hottest new trends in video advertising -- six-second ads -- to determine what makes for a successful ad, and what falls flat with consumers.

Realeyes tracks facial movements to gauge emotional reactions, ultimately giving what the company calls an “EmotionAll” score of between one and 10. The companies tested 166 different ad creatives, from 75 brands.

The biggest takeaway from the research was that story still matters. Six-second ads that were able to tell a story in that short time scored a 4.1 one on the EmotionAll scale, compared to a 3.1 for ads that did not tell whole stories. Longer 30-second ads scored higher, averaging a 5.1, suggesting the short-form ads still have legwork to do when it comes to engaging consumers emotionally.

So what does work? For starters, having fresh creative, rather than reusing a longer ad.

When the study looked at 30-second ads that were turned into six-second ads, more than one-quarter of respondents said they didn’t understand the short version of the ad. More than half said it left them wanting more information.

In addition, simpler ads that only had one or two key messages worked better than six-second ads that had multiple messages. A call to action was also deemed important.

“With mobile now the dominant device in our lives, marketers know that 30-second TV spots will no longer cut it for engaging video ads on the small screen,” said Caroline Hugonenc, global vice president, research and insights for Teads, in a statement to Digital News Daily. “However, what this research reveals is that simply making an ad shorter won’t necessarily guarantee performance if the emotional connection is lost.”