Digital Lifescapes

Enterprise marketing faces a critical turning point in 2024, mirroring the shift from traditional outsourced media buying to digital marketing practitioners. A rapidly changing landscape of technological advancements demands a similar leap forward. Just as digital disrupted legacy media strategies, these trends render current enterprise marketing methods inadequate. Embracing a data-driven, agile, and purpose-driven approach isn't a suggestion, it's the imperative for survival and success in today's dynamic market. Applying generative artificial intelligence ( GenAI ) to a range of enterprise marketing tasks will result in a significant productivity increase by 2029, according to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). Marketing GenAI Apps Market Development "In the next five years, GenAI will advance to the point where it will handle more than 40% of the work of specific marketing roles," said Gerry Murray, research director at ...

Mobile communications applications continue to evolve in response to new technology use cases. Telecom service providers and software vendors are now exploring applications for Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities. Generative AI (GenAI) is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images, audio, and video assets. Applications of GenAI within the communications sector include generating personalized messages for each customer, chatbots that can answer customer queries, and creating targeted marketing campaigns to generate leads and sales for brands and enterprises. Telecom GenAI Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, enterprise spending on GenAI over mobile messaging channels will grow by 1,250 percent over the next four years -- that's from $830 million in 2024. Juniper predicts that the ability to automate the personalization of content, including marketing efforts and customer interactions ov...

The landscape of Marketing and IT is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by the relentless evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI). New AI apps are rapidly seeping into every facet of business, reshaping customer experiences, streamlining operations, and enabling workflow automation. This presents a vast opportunity for CMOs and CIOs, yet also a disruptive force demanding rapid adaptation. To stay ahead of the AI trend, these key decision-makers must become active participants. International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that by 2027, Generative AI (GenAI) will assume 30 percent of traditional marketing mundane tasks -- such as website optimization, data analysis, customer segmentation, and hyper-personalization. GenAI Applications Market Development According to the IDC survey results, 37.8 percent of CMOs indicated they have already begun implementing GenAI technologies. Also, 51 percent of CMOs say their top business objective in the next 12 months is to improve lead generation ...

Most business technology vendors are already in the process of revamping their traditional marketing organizations to better support their IT channel partners. The ongoing shift to a progressive digital marketing methodology has challenged many leaders, due to the difficulty in re-training their legacy employees. Moreover, demand for marketing talent that is skilled in the development of digital business transformation projects has increased over the last year, yet the available talent pool remains somewhat limited. As a result, the competition for recruiting (and retaining)  digital polymaths is intense -- particularly for those marketers that possess knowledge of hybrid cloud and IT security technologies. Market Development in the Channel The global information technology (IT) channel remains optimistic -- despite predictions of a challenging 2016 -- according to a recent Canalys survey of 260 IT channel partners around the world. 75 percent of partners expect revenue grow...

Why are today’s savvy CEOs more deeply involved in marketing strategy? We know from prior market research that digital marketing adoption is often the precursor to the creation and execution of a broad corporate-wide digital transformation agenda. That’s why. Moreover, the latest global market assessment by IDC concluded that all CEOs now need to better understand what the corporate marketing role can do to further their business technology adoption. Therefore, they also believe that the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) working relationship is now the key to strategic goal attainment. Besides, CMOs that lead a traditional marketing organization have a mandate to move beyond merely achieving digital marketing ‘competency parity’ with their more progressive competitors. Optimal Environment for Marketing Exploration While it’s still a requirement that digital marketing skills training and mentoring of legacy staff continues into 2016, senior ma...

Savvy retailers will create a connected in-store shopping experience. They'll also extend their online engagement with consumers -- moving beyond creating awareness and facilitating payments, to a deeper integration of their customer loyalty programs. The pursuit of this agenda has seen digital coupons evolve from merely being a means of driving consumers to storefronts, to becoming a core element of promoting and reinforcing retail brand loyalty. According to the latest market study by Juniper Research, nearly 1.6 billion coupons will be delivered annually to shoppers via in-store beacon technology by 2020 -- that's up from just 11 million this year. In 2016, more retailers will develop proximity marketing programs for deployment in and around their stores. The Juniper study found that several leading U.S. retailers have already deployed beacon networks, with Macy’s having installed more than 4,000 within its retail stores. The research findings demonstrate that in-sto...

Informed management consultants and industry analysts agree, the digital transformation journey begins with the adoption of digital marketing practices that enable companies to evolve beyond obsolete advertising-centric thinking. Today's progressive marketers have embraced change. They've learned new skills and pushed past the fears that were once holding them back. Now, digital marketing is an imperative, and digital commerce is also a top priority, according to the latest market study by Gartner, Inc. The recent Gartner survey also found that marketing budgets increased by 10 percent in 2015, with 61 percent of respondents saying they expect budgets to increase once again in 2016. "There is little doubt that digital marketing is now mainstream," said Yvonne Genovese, group vice president at Gartner . "Marketers no longer make a clear distinction between offline and online marketing disciplines." Gartner believes that as more enterprise customers op...

Once upon a time, at a typical enterprise organization anywhere in the world, all business technology procurement decisions were dictated by the company's CIO and the execution was managed by their loyal technical team.  Meanwhile, life was good for most people in an IT vendor's sales force who were laser focused on the few they considered as their 'buyer' customers. But one day, the status-quo was broken by the rumble of militant Line of Business (LoB) leaders who rejected the IT establishment and their old ways. The LoB rebels demanded a change and pushed aside the legacy CIO and their 'preferred' vendor collaborators. Now, anyone that was armed by the CEO with an IT budget could lead the Digital Business Transformation that enterprise end-users have craved for so long. This is the new way, the path that is taken by an open organization that seeks to survive and prosper in the Global Networked Economy. End of Tyranny: Open Digital Transformation A wid...

Only the most conservative laggard marketers have yet to embrace digital trends. Global brand and retail spend on digital marketing activities will reach nearly $200 billion in 2015, that's up by 15 percent on 2014 levels, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. The study observed that nearly 70 percent of the net increase on digital marketing spend this year would be concentrated on the mobile channel, as legacy brand strategies evolve to deliver campaigns within an omni-channel digital environment. According to the research, factors behind the migration to smartphones and media tablets include their inherent capabilities to enable timely, targeted and personalized marketing campaigns. That being said, retailer marketers will still need to seek ways to enhance customer engagement and to analyze the relative success of their efforts. In the case of mobile coupons, redemption rates were typically significantly higher and costs per redemption much lower than...

Imagine that a marketer could reach more than 70 percent of Americans without utilizing traditional mass-media, such as TV or radio. Well, that's the allure of mobile marketing via smartphone apps. We're just beginning to see the full potential of the mobile cloud phenomena in America. The latest market research will reveal the upside opportunity. ComScore released data reporting key trends in the U.S. smartphone industry for December 2014. Apple ranked as the top smartphone manufacturer with 41.6 percent OEM market share in America, while Google Android led as the number one smartphone platform with 53.1 percent platform market share. Facebook continues to rank as the top individual smartphone app, while Google has the lion's share of apps in the top ranking positions. Smartphone OEM Market Share 182 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones (74.9 percent mobile market penetration) during the three months ending in December, up 4 percent since September. Ap...

Mobile payments continue to represent one of the most dynamic and fast-evolving arenas of our connected society. This evolution encompasses what we now buy via the mobile commerce ecosystem, the payment mechanisms we use to buy it and the devices on which we shop for a selected product or service. Juniper Research now forecasts that annual retail payments on mobile handsets and tablets are expected to reach $707 billion by 2018, representing 30 percent of all eRetail by that time. This compares with mobile retail spend of $182 billion in 2013, when mobile accounted for around 15 percent of eRetail. The latest market study by Juniper found that leading retailers were increasingly developing strategies built around mobile, using it as a hub facilitating payment, product discovery and customer retention. As a result, it found that the size and scale of purchases across both smartphones and tablets was increasing strongly. However, for users owning both devices there was a strong tre...

The growing penetration of smartphones and tablets -- which are continually generating data about their user's location, activities and preferences -- means that these smart mobile devices have become a highly valuable advertising channel for savvy marketers. A case in point: in-app mobile advertising spend is forecast to reach $16.9 billion by 2018, that's up from $3.5 billion last year, according to the latest market study by Juniper Research. Growth will be driven by several key factors including improved targeting capabilities, as well as a trend for more effective interactive rich media ads to be deployed in preference to traditional static display advertising. Tablets are Gaining Ground on Smartphones The Juniper study uncovered that while smartphones currently account for approximately 70 percent of in-app advertising spend, the growth in tablet users and usage would propel greater medium-term spending. They also observed that tablet in-app ad spend would be fu...

What is advertiser Real-Time Bidding (RTB) and why does it matter to online marketers? Who benefits from real-time advertising buying? What factors and industry trends will affect future RTB growth? These are the key questions that eMarketer considered during their latest market study. Real-time bidding will account for 13 percent of all U.S. display advertising spend in 2012 -- that's more than triple the market share in 2010, according to the eMarketer assessment. Over the next few years, RTB will continue to gain momentum and share of online advertiser spend -- accounting for a quarter of the display market in 2015 -- as more media buyers and publishers benefit from its efficiencies. This year, the overall American display advertising market will grow by 21.5 percent to $14.98 billion -- that's compared with $12.33 billion in 2011, according to eMarketer estimates. In the same year, growth in RTB spending, at 98 percent, will easily outpace display advertising. Ma...

What are the main drivers of growing eCommerce applications in China? What role will m-retail play in the Chinese marketplace? These were a couple of the key questions that eMarketer considered during their latest market assessment of the online retailer landscape in China. According to their latest study, online sales in China are flourishing. The Chinese people are embracing the internet for comparison shopping and product research, and marketers are eager to expand operations beyond the established markets of Shanghai and Beijing. As people in China become more comfortable with shopping on the internet, the number of online buyers on the mainland will rise to nearly 220 million this year -- clearly outpacing the U.S. total of approximately 150 million buyers. No other nation offers this online audience of shoppers. By 2016, eMarketer forecasts that 423.4 million people in China ages 14 and older will make an online purchase at least annually. In 2011, B2C ecommerce sales...

As large multinational advertisers ponder the 2013 outlook, decisions about how to align their marketing budgets has become increasingly complex. The shift to online platforms and mobile media has accelerated faster than many had previously imagined. eMarketer , in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), released its annual Global Media Intelligence report -- a comprehensive assessment of media trends in major markets worldwide. According to one of the key findings, China will become the world's second-largest advertising market in 2013, and the second-largest digital advertising market the following year -- directly behind the U.S. market. As a result, Asia-Pacific is expected to surpass North America in total advertiser spending in 2014 -- primarily due to the growth in mobile internet usage, as well as rapid growth in digital advertising spending patterns. Other 2012 Global Media Intelligence report findings include: Globally, spending on advertising will ...

Marketers that are seeking growth within the online North American marketplace should not underestimate the upside potential that's developing outside of the United States. In fact, while market saturation may be an issue in the region, new high-growth opportunities still exist. Canada, with a population about one-tenth the size of the U.S. market, also has a significantly smaller business-to-consumer ecommerce market. But when viewed holistically, there's much more to consider than the mere market size. This year, according to the latest market study by eMarketer , online sales of retail and travel products will reach $21.45 billion in the Canadian market -- that's compared to $343.43 billion in the United States. That online revenue gives Canada a 2 percent share of all B2C ecommerce sales around the world, or 5.9 percent of the market in North America. And while its worldwide share will drop slightly in coming years as emerging economies grow their online sale...

Do you remember the time when it was in vogue for nearly all upcoming marketing consultants to claim that they were "experts" in search engine optimization (SEO)? I remember it well.  After most of these folks discovered the social media trend, then they quickly shifted their focus. Regardless, today search remains a key component of savvy digital marketer campaigns. Perhaps the huge flock of self-proclaimed social media experts will rediscover search, once the current "social everything" fad has lost its appeal -- we'll have to wait and see. According to the latest market study by eMarketer , search can help to build strong brands by bettering their brand-health metrics. But creating long-term relationships with their valued customers is usually the top priority. eMarketer says "even though a majority of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers now believe that search affects brand-building, digital marketing executives sometimes still find it tough t...

British consumer products advertisers have been looking forward to the London 2012 Olympics. The total media advertising spend is set for a significant increase in new growth this year -- due partly to Olympics related promotional activities. eMarketer now estimates that with total spending forecast to reach $24.21 billion -- it's increased by about 4.5 percent. In a tough European economic environment, that's considered to be a big bonus. And, according to the results of a recent market study, a record amount of that ad spending will be online. eMarketer estimates that fully one in three ad campaign spending in the UK will be digital this year -- a figure that will rise to nearly one in two by 2016. Mobile ad spending is on an even stronger growth trajectory, estimated to be up by 70.3 percent this year after a record rise of 144.8 percent in 2011. Mobile spending is still growing from a small base, however, and as total spend increases, growth will moderate. By 20...

How quickly will online media and entertainment spending grow between 2011 and 2016? What percentage of Facebook advertising impressions are generated by entertainment-related companies? What are the most common goals of entertainment-related mobile advertising campaigns? Those were the questions that eMarketer attempted to answer during their latest market study of the U.S. media and entertainment industries. Overall, the market outlook is very promising, with a few caveats. Online ad spending by the U.S. media and entertainment industries will rise from $2.77 billion in 2012 to $4.34 billion by 2016, according to a new eMarketer report. As more consumers turn to the internet for news and entertainment, advertisers are using digital campaigns to raise awareness, generate buzz and encourage online sales. eMarketer’s ad spending forecast combines media and entertainment because they say that the line between media companies and entertainment companies is becoming increasingl...

It seems that senior executives at big media companies are still not quite sure if Facebook and Twitter are friend or foe -- relative to their legacy advertising-centric business models. Granted, the realm of online media used to be more predictable when there wasn't much innovation and all the big players could anticipate their collective lack of creativity. But it was just a matter of time before someone would come along and disrupt their quiescence. According to the latest market assessment by eMarketer, Facebook and Twitter have taken evolutionary steps to become publishing platforms for news -- not just text, also video, photos and entertainment content. "Users are learning that the more they share, the more they discover," said Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer . "And the more they discover, the more likely they are to turn first to Facebook for content they used to get elsewhere." Since late 2011, Facebook has been gradually rolling out i...