Gartner gloomy on brand management as marketers say they struggle with multiple facets

In July, Teradata chief marketing officer Martyn Etherington wrote for MarketingTech that “regardless of industry, size or standing, building and maintaining a brand remains the biggest challenge facing any CMO.” With this in mind, a new report from Gartner has put across just how difficult this is.

The analyst firm’s Brand Survey 2019 has found more than one third of the almost 400 marketers surveyed struggle with managing a global brand. The same number say they...

8 October 2019 | Attribution

Google says goodbye to the Average Position metric: What do marketers need to know from here?

In advertising, there are several key questions that are always bandied around: how are our ads performing? What’s the ROI like? Are we increasing brand awareness?

Marketers using Google Ads have been comfortable responding to these questions, often relying on the ‘average position’ metric but as of September 30 that metric was fully retired to make way for ‘prominence metrics’, made up of Impression Share and Impression Rate, which have been being...

2 October 2019 | Advertising

Facebook to follow Instagram and trial hiding likes: The next phase of social media?

Facebook is set to trial hiding likes from posts, the company has said, following on from tests conducted by subsidiary Instagram earlier this year.

The trial will be conducted in Australia initially and is based on positive feedback from mental health professionals around boosting users’ wellbeing. Users will still be able to see how many likes a post garnered if so desired.

“It really is just taking that number out of the equation, so that people can focus on...

1 October 2019 | Attribution

CMOs lacking confidence in their abilities but they deserve a boardroom seat, report argues

You’ve heard of the concept of ‘impostor syndrome’ – but does that feeling still pervade when you get to the highest echelons of your profession?

According to a new study from Deloitte, CMOs periodically suffer from a crisis of confidence – although the good news is that the C-suite has plenty of faith in their abilities.

The report, which surveyed 575 C-suite executives at Fortune 500 companies and as reported by Harvard Business Review, found...

19 September 2019 | Attribution

The cookies crumble: Is enhanced digital privacy the end of programmatic as we know it?

The ad tech industry has faced a flood of challenges — with the GDPR driving stricter data regulation, brand safety concerns sparking the ‘adpocalypse’, and Apple’s Safari ITP limiting cookie use. Add Google’s updated Chrome privacy features to the mix, and many are left wondering: what’s next for programmatic?

Programmatic platforms were built with the cookie in mind and a surprisingly large number still rely on third-party data. But as the...

13 September 2019 | Advertising

We are in a tech distraction epidemic: Leadership, teamwork and coaching will help fix it

For anyone struggling with workplace distraction; believe me, I’ve been there. For anyone who doesn’t think they are struggling with workplace distraction; believe me, you are.

As a digital anthropologist in Silicon Valley, I have studied this topic for years and should have known better, but a few years ago I was so mired in distraction that I missed deadlines and couldn’t finish an important book proposal. Concentrating for five minutes was an achievement.

11 September 2019 | Attribution

Social media users say they can spot fake news – but is their confidence misplaced?

Are you confident when it comes to spotting fake news? According to a new study, almost everyone is – and this confidence means they have no problems in changing their social media activity as the 2020 elections loom.

Data from B2B marketing and research firm Clutch has found that 97% of the more than 500 US-based social media users polled said they were confident in their ability to recognise fake news on social media.

Facebook is the most frequent platform for...

9 September 2019 | Attribution

Deepfakes and distortions, scare tactics and suppression: NYU report examines social and the 2020 US elections

A new report from the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights has explored the various forms of disinformation which could predicate the 2020 US presidential election – and how social media companies need to react to it.

Allegations around interference from Russia in the 2016 elections continue to be prevalent. As the Mueller report put it – and as reported by CNN – Russian hackers compromised local election systems of two Florida counties in 2016....

4 September 2019 | Attribution

Case study: How omnichannel communication could bring benefits to social housing

“Many people living in England’s four million social homes feel ignored and stigmatised, too often treated with a lack of respect by landlords who appear remote, unaccountable and uninterested in meeting their needs.”

This is the damning verdict of the UK government’s social housing Green Paper, “A New Deal for Social Housing”, which sets out the government’s aim to rebalance the relationship between landlords and tenants.

In the...

28 August 2019 | Attribution

Good news, fake news: The mediars fight for encryption – and against misinformation

According to reports, senior figures in the Trump administration held a meeting last month to consider whether to pursue legislation outlawing end-to-end encryption on US-made messaging apps.

While the ultimate outcome of the meeting is yet to be seen, it brings to light a serious question that we all - governments, consumers and businesses - need to ask ourselves: what do we lose when private messaging is truly private?

On the one hand, end-to-end encryption means that private...

15 August 2019 | Attribution