Digital Lifescapes

As an independent management consultant specializing in the tech sector, I've witnessed numerous technological advancements reshape vertical industry workflow and horizontal job functions. However, few innovations have shown as much promise to revolutionize business operations as Generative AI (GenAI). A recent Gartner market study has shed light on the transformative potential of this technology, particularly in the realm of finance. The findings reveal a significant shift in how finance leaders perceive and plan to implement generative AI, signaling a new era of data-driven decision-making and operational efficiency. The Gartner assessment provides compelling insights into the expectations and priorities of finance leaders regarding GenAI adoption. One of the most striking statistics is that 66 percent of finance leaders believe GenAI will have its most immediate impact on explaining forecast and budget variances. GenAI in Finance Market Development This high percentage undersc...

According to the latest market assessment by eMarketer, they anticipate strong growth in the amount of marketing budgets being applied to online display advertising -- in particular, commercial video content. In the U.S. market, eMarketer forecasts that advertisers will increase video ad spending by 54.7 percent and up investments in standard banners by nearly 20 percent. Moreover, eMarketer predicts much lower growth for traditional rich media ads, however, at just over 4 percent -- as brands turn to more engaging online video instead. More marketers are moving beyond a typical direct-response centric model for online display advertising. They're now recognizing that despite low click-through rates, banner ads also have a residual branding benefit. Research suggests that adding video to those banner ads can improve engagement -- increasing the likelihood users will click the ads, as well as boosting the lingering brand awareness that results from viewing creative digita...

  Search advertising has the largest share of online adverting in the U.S. market, but display ad spending is gaining share. The steep growth in online video ad spending, combined with solid increases for banners, will help display ads eventually exceed search ad spending. Total online display ad spending -- including online video, banner ads, rich media and sponsorships -- has already brought the category close to the range of investments in search engine marketing. According to the latest market study by eMarketer , this year U.S advertisers will spend $14.38 billion on search ads and $12.33 billion on online display -- that's up by 19.8 percent and 24.5 percent, respectively, over 2010 spending. Display will continue to grow at a faster pace than search throughout the forecast period, and is on track to surpass search by 2015. "The re-balancing of ad budgets across the board, among companies both large and small, national and local, will be pushing more brand-orien...

There are numerous proven alternatives for marketers to reach and engage their target stakeholders in the marketplace, yet many still choose to invest their marketing budget primarily in traditional media -- regardless of the underwhelming results. What's the forward-looking trend for U.S. advertising spending, and is that insight likely to influence the behavior of those schooled in legacy marketing methods? Will status-quo marketing practices prevail? eMarketer reports that after plunging by 18.5 percent in 2009, ad spending on traditional media is on a slow rebound. They estimate spending was up 2.1 percent in 2010, to $127.2 billion. But rather than making a true recovery, spending is forecast to fluctuate in coming years, hovering under $130 billion through 2015 -- far from the $165.94 billion recorded in 2007. "As advertiser spending continues to more closely reflect the amount of attention consumers give to individual media, each will fare differently," s...

eMarketer reports that the vast majority of marketers are shifting more spending to digital marketing, and a combination of proven tactics with newer online options will benefit from increasing budgets. That said, apparently there's a significant disconnect between advertisers and their agencies, when it comes to the details of many of those changes. According to a report on 2011 marketing budgets from Econsultancy and SAS, agencies worldwide are more eager than their clients to increase spending on newer digital marketing tactics, while advertisers show a greater interest in upping budgets for the more common methods. For example, agencies were 13 percentage points more likely than advertisers to say their clients would be increasing mobile marketing spending. Advertisers were out in front of their agencies with reports of spending increases for email marketing, corporate websites, paid search and display advertising. US-based research from the Direct Marketing Associ...

Marketers value engagement with their content marketing efforts, because it indicates that people actually care enough to interact. However, according to a recent eMarketer report, while engagement is compelling, 10 marketers might define it in 10 different ways. As the interactive ad format that most attracts brand marketers, much is riding on internet video advertising -- mainly their marketing budget ROI. But are consumers really paying attention to online video ads, when most say they avoid or ignore them on broadcast television channels? As spending for online video rises and takes a bigger slice of the display ad pie, marketers must be confident that they are spending wisely. Engagement may be difficult to quantify abstractly, but is key to the worth of video advertising. "All effective advertising today -- not just video -- requires some degree of audience engagement," said David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst. "However, unlike some metrics that pr...

According to a June 2010 survey by King Fish Media, HubSpot and Junta42, a remarkable 72 percent of the polled American business leaders said that they now had a social media marketing strategy. eMarketer reports that the companies surveyed 457 U.S. marketers and managers -- 52 percent of respondents were in the publishing, media, advertising and marketing industries. Those findings are among the highest percentage from surveys that polled whether U.S. marketers had a social strategy. In May 2010, Digital Brand Expressions found that 52 percent of marketers had no plan -- similar to the 50 percent of poll participants in an April 2010 study by R2integrated. King Fish and its partners found that 75 percent of the companies with a social strategy said they planned to increase their marketing budget investment in the coming year. A February 2010 survey by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business found that survey respondents were devoting 5.6 percent of their marketing bud...

Most U.S. marketers are using analytics. They recognize the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness, especially when they are asked to justify their spending. However, according to a report by eMarketer , there is room for improvement in formalizing approaches and communicating results. According to a survey of senior marketing executives by Forbes Insights and MarketShare Partners, nearly seven in ten said they used analytics to measure marketing effectiveness. Marketers with large budgets were significantly more likely to do so than those with spending of less than $1 million. But, many in that group planned to adopt analytics in the future. Many marketers still take an informal approach to measurement. Among those with budgets over $1 million, while 85 percent said they used analytics, 71 percent said they had a formalized way of doing so. Marketers focused most on internal resources to measure the success of their programs, with 86 percent using internal data, 74 per...