CMOs: 3 Ways to Use the Mobile Video Explosion to Your Advantage

As a marketer, you know that mobile devices are now used almost constantly by your high-value markets.  As a student in Northwestern's Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program, I've found two insightful articles to help you maximize your potential mobile marketing.  It’s not hard to see that the popularity of mobile devices is greater than ever.

“What TV Everywhere Means for Advertisers” written by Joe Martin, Marketing Analytics Manager for Adobe Systems, discusses the rise of mobile in online video consumption.  With mobile eating up an increasing amount of market share, it is projected to surpass desktop in online video starts by the end of 2016.  Additionally Martin mentions that while viewing a 60 minute show online, he saw the same ad repeat 3 times, demonstrating the need for more video ad content to keep up with the increase in mobile video consumption.

Photo Source: "The Drum" - http://bit.ly/1zaROSr

Chain Reaction, an online marketing performance agency likewise posted the mobile marketing trends they have observed for 2015 calling this the “most exciting year yet for mobile video ads.”  With mobile video ad spend doubling yearly since 2013, it’s easy to see why.  It’s not just the ad spend that’s increasing but Chain Reaction has found that consumers on mobile (vs. computer) are three times more likely to view a video.

Based on the findings from these two articles and from my studies in the IMC program, I would make 3 suggestions for marketers:

• Invest in video - The growth of online video means an increase in traffic for video ads, and as Martin mentioned, the increase in mobile video consumption has left us with a need for ad content. 

• Integrate multimedia - Video ads are only part of the picture.  With consumers significantly more likely to watch video on their mobile devices, it’s imperative to integrate video into every part of your marketing strategy.

• Format for mobile - With mobile viewers making up almost half of online video audiences, it’s imperative to make sure your video can be viewed on a variety of mobile platforms.  If it’s difficult to get your video to play, viewers are going to just move on.

As streaming technologies continue to improve and mobile screens seem to just keep getting larger, mobile video is likely to become more and more popular.  While many marketers are happily jumping on board, some might be more hesitant to invest in these areas. However, both mobile and video individually are no longer optional in a marketing plan – they’re a must.  So with them rising quickly together, it seems crazy NOT to prioritize them in your own strategy. 

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I'm Becky Canfield, a senior at Northwestern University studying Communication Studies, Psychology, and Integrated Marketing Communications. I have spent the past two years in the marketing and public relations fields, working as a Marketing Associate at Chicago-based retirement plan consulting firm, PlanPilot, and spending this past summer as a Public Relations Intern at Adobe.  This coming August, I'll be starting as a Public Relations Manager at Adobe.

I can be contacted through my Twitter (@bcanfield014) or LinkedIn.

Marketers – Wearable Tech is the Future so Prepare Now or Perish!

        As a marketing manager, you are beginning to see the use of wearable tech and know it will soon become embedded in the culture of your high value markets. Because wearable technology field is fast evolving and is increasingly relevant to consumer groups, it is a puzzle for all of us to solve. The key is to find the right pieces at the right time.  As a graduate student in Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University, I found two articles to help clarify wearable tech challenges and bring the pieces of this puzzle together.

      The recent Nielsen survey, Tech-Styles:Are Consumers Really Interested in Wearing Tech on their Sleeves? touches on both the research about the existing wearable customers and the consumer insights of potential users.  “Seventy percent of consumers are already aware of “wearables,” and about one in six (15%) of them currently use wearable tech—such as smart watches and fitness bands—in their daily lives” which is the reason why as marketers we have to keep an eye on this market. “The majority of wearable owners are young, with nearly half (48%) between 18-34 years old.” And   "what motivates consumers to purchase wearable tech depends largely on the type of device and the benefits each offers for their everyday lives" proving that marketers need to deliver the beneficial content that they are looking for in these devices.  Overall, this survey helps determine the relevance of wearable gadgets in your target consumer groups.

http://www.wired.com/2013/12/wearable-computers/

        Christianna Giordano’s article WearableTechnology at SXSWi: Every Brand’s New Best Friend? points out the important future sales opportunities for brands through new wearable products.  "Consumers are beginning to see the benefits of wearable technology and will start purchasing and that there are so many models coming out that avid fans will want the latest and greatest" and seeing this trend lead to the future expectations as mentioned in the article; “Juniper Research has predicted that worldwide spending on wearable technology will hit $1.4 billion in 2014 and $19 billion by 2018.” These numbers are similar to the smartphone market, so no one would like to miss such an opportunity.  

When considering the wearable tech puzzle, we have to first think about consumer insights and the benefit to us as the marketers. Based on these two articles, here are 3 action items you need to implement:

1. Understand Your Customer’s Wearable Interest - Does your target audience match with the existing or potential wearable device users? If you understand the similarities and differences, you can know whether you need to compete in this market or not.

2.  Find the Right Wearable Content - A common mistake is to duplicate the same type of content to various platforms disregarding the fact that consumers are using different gadgets for unique experiences.  Your consumers want to see something that fits in with their wearable device experience, not the same mobile content squished into a smaller device.

3. Get Ready To Empower - Wearable devices won’t help you if you still have a traditional marketing mindset of pushing the message out. Instead, look for ways to engage with your audience. Let them create their own content via their wearable device and share it with you.  Most importantly, use your content to empower the consumers leading them to their goals. 

Wearable devices will get you as close to your audience as possible, so use this chance to connect with them.  The key is not only to be at the right place at the right time, but also to be there in the right way.  Don't miss the wearables party, all the cool kids will be there...   

Burcu Agma

M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications

Northwestern University

Digital Marketing | Content Marketing | Media Management

Contact me on Twitter @BurcuAgma

http://www.linkedin.com/in/burcuagma/  

It's a Small World After All

I consider myself to be a fairly typical Facebook user. I visit the site daily, follow my friends, and occasionally, when I find something interesting, share it. And having now taken IMC classes for three years and held related positions for various internships and student groups, I also think that I’ve developed a solid understanding of general marketing principles, especially in the social realm. So the fascinating recent study on Facebook friendships conducted by researchers from the University of Milan certainly caught my attention, and with the increasingly vital role of social media in the marketing campaigns of most brands, hopefully it catches their attention, too. 

Amid a host of interesting findings, the most notable (and the one which has been picked up by a number of media outlets) pertains to the number 4.74. That is the average number of connections between any two Facebook users in the world.  A full 92% of people are connected to everybody by 5 connections, and 99.6% by 6. This is truly incredible. Assuming you’re on Facebook--and if you’re reading this, chances are you are--the only thing between you and anyone else is at most 5 people.

The “six degrees of separation” theory was first posited in the 1920s, but wasn’t tested until the 60s, when psychologist Stanley Milgram conducted an experiment in which participants were all instructed to send a letter to a specific individual living in Boston. The stipulation was that they could only mail it to a personal friend or acquaintance--ideally, one who had a better chance of knowing the intended recipient. Milgram found that it took, on average, 5 intermediaries (6 connections) to successfully deliver the letter. 

Now, real world friendships and connections don’t entirely map onto social networks. For one, many people simply aren’t on Facebook. And for those that are, it’s highly unlikely that they are friends with everyone they know in the real world and, conversely, actually know all of their Facebook ‘friends’. Despite these factors, however, the results are clear--people are unbelievably connected. Although the number of connections may not have decreased as much as one might have expected given advent of the internet, the fact is that we are indeed becoming more and more connected with each passing day.

For marketers, the implications of this growing connectivity are huge. Despite the fact that the world is expanding at an exponential rate, it is simultaneously shrinking. The global population just surpassed 7 billion, but it is more possible to reach all of these individuals now than it ever has been--and it is crucial to take advantage of this. Just because a message can reach more people, however, doesn’t mean it will. People will continue to share at increasing rates, and messages will spread faster and faster. But altogether, this results in a significant amount of white noise. This means that, now more than ever, marketers need to create truly meaningful and relevant messages for their consumers. Because if you don’t give people a reason to care, they won’t.

Thanks for reading, friend of my friend’s friend’s friend. 

Dal Ackerman

Northwestern IMC 2012

Follow me @Dal_Ackerman

To Ask or Not to Ask: The Dilemma of a Marketer

The 25^th alphabet “Y”, a web-acronym for the word “why”, has a very interesting anatomy. It denotes a junction from where we pick a route based on the questions we ask. As a prospective graduate student of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) at Medill School, Northwestern University, I faced the question ‘why do you want to do an MS when you already have an MBA?’ And then as a student at IMC I religiously used the word “why”- questions about marketing, about marketers and about the complex interrelations of businesses and consumers.

My journey through an MBA, an MS in IMC and corporate exposure to both Eastern and Western business worlds has facilitated different perspectives, giving me a more holistic view. It makes me feel that marketers today are running after answers and have forgotten to ask the right questions. This article tries to probe into this dynamic between questions and answers and their importance in marketing and in business as a whole.

The system is programmed for answers. How can we blame the marketers for not asking the right questions then? We are conditioned for answers and we have to respond in a defined time frame. Right from schools to offices it is just answers that earn one the accolades. From my experience I can say that the net time required finding the “correct answer” will remain constant even if one spends time on asking questions before trying to “answer”. But how often do we stop a moment to think what it is that we are looking for?

“Data” has become the new buzz word. Organizations today are trying to become more analytics driven. They are sitting on peta bytes of data and still acquire little knowledge out of it. So why is it that we have all the sophisticated technology at our beck and call and still know so little? Do we even need all of it? Intelligence is the mother of knowledge and that makes inquisitiveness the father!

Analysts jump into the data with their complex modeling theories and techniques because someone asked for an answer. Do they really know what they are trying to find in the very first place? To design a query and shoot at the data bank is like querying a dead target. Human intelligence can never be replaced by gadgets. All those sophisticated techniques mean nothing if we do not ask the right questions at the right time. Tools and techniques are just the means to the end. It is the attitude and the thought process at the beginning that lays a strong foundation for reaching that end. Job descriptions these days talk endlessly about tools and recruiters “follow” and entertain candidates with specific tool knowledge. It makes me wonder, are they trying to hire a sophisticated robot with the “right technology” or a human being with the “right thinking”?

While organizations are spending thousands of dollars today on being “social”, do companies really know what they are trying to earn from it? “Likes” on facebook? “Followers” on twitter? “+1 on Google+?” What is the end goal? “Social” has become a badge to get entry to the “privileged club”.  But how many companies actually ask the questions about what social media actually means? Why do users turn to social media? How can the company actually “connect” with these people rather than just flash “badges”?

Amidst this scrimmage the purpose is lost. Do marketers lack the guts to ask the right questions or are they simply too reluctant? As a marketer and a student of IMC at Medill, I believe and recommend cultivating a more inquisitive breed of marketers. We, as doorkeepers to this exciting transition, should encourage curiosity and reward the attitude to learn. Let us all start questioning ourselves, our assumptions and our environment. Only when we start asking better questions will we get better answers and embark upon a journey to build stronger processes and foundations for the future.

Payel Bhattacharya

Graduate Student, Medill School, Northwestern University

Twitter: @payelb