Online and offline channels converge - 2013 and onwards.

Rebecca Lieb in her recent article titled 7 digital marketing trends to watch in 2013 refers to online and offline channel convergence as one of the big trends to watch out for. 

While she broadly refers to it as media becoming more digital, and that we're seeing digital messages appear in new places. Out-of-home channels such as billboards and digital signage - as well as TV screens - are hosting streaming and social media, I would like to suggest a step further. 

I would suggest the emergence of an increased seamless interoperability between the online and offline media and the blurring of the boundaries of the media formats. For e.g. a QR code on a print ad / OOH media leading the consumer to the website / mobile app with an ability to order the product via an eCommerce site or from a store. 

I had written about how we are enabling "Clicks to Bricks" integration for FMCG brands' digital campaigns.

Related articles

• Online and Offline shopping experiences are blurring.
• The future of e-commerce is both online and offline [GigaOM]
• Search Online, Buy Offline: How to Tell?
• 7 Online Techniques to Improve Offline Events

Measure the results of your digital initiatives with BS detector.

Buzz words are everywhere and often over-shadow the need for a well defined marketing analytics framework, which generate and track meaningful results. Adobe has got it bang on in the above video. :-)

We are going beyond the buzz words. We are Simplifying Einstein

Related articles

• Why You Need Marketing Analytics, Not Web Analytics
• How useful is GS&P creates a BS detector for Adobe?
• Buzzword BS Detector
• Einstein Simplified!!

The mobile train has left the station: Are you on board?

Brand marketers and retailers are often unsure of the need to up-the-ante when it come to mobile commerce and still consider it something that is too far out into the future. And then suddenly it seems to hit us hard. 

This past Black Friday was the day we realized that mobile shopping would be the future and while the numbers that came in correspond to the US, the trend is what needs to be looked at.

 

On Black Friday 2012, one out of every four dollars spent online at retail websites came from a mobile device. This amounts to more than $300 million dollars in one day alone. 

For those retailers (and brands) who’ve already embraced mobile, it was a day of celebration, a culmination of their hard work and foresight. For retailers who didn’t get their share of this new mobile world, it’s a wake-up call: Get with the mobile program, or have consumers leave you behind.

Read the full story here and if you are a FMCG / CPG brand or retailer talk to us to understand how mobile commerce would work for you and how it can be part of your marketing strategy.

Related articles

• Mobile Usage Statistics of Consumers
• Mobile retailing: Why your company needs a macro approach.
• The Retailer's Guide To SoLoMo [Infographic]
• Five mobile challenges for retailers

Superb Marketing Campaign for Nature Valley Granola Bars.

This is a fantastic marketing initiative by General Mills Nature Valley Granola Bars.

Awesome objective, great strategy, superb brand fitment and creation of not just a great campaign, but something that will be used for years on end by a thankful target audience. 

I rate this as one of the best marketing initiatives that I have come across. 

The video link below captures the process and the impact and I would suggest that you experience it here on the website

Got Milk? A digital activation.

Soy, coconut and almond milks are saying they’re healthier than real milk. But why? What’s in them? Here is a website to celebrate just that, all the ingredients that go into imitation milk. 

Has been Created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners for the Califonia Milk Processors Board to drive awareness.

I liked the thought, the strategy and the integration of devices; however, I did feel that the video interface makes the experience a little jerky and not as much of fun as I would have liked it to be, especially on the mobile device.

Visit the website here