Tuesday’s Topics . . .

YOU ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR:  These days the client/agency relationship pretty much follows this narrative – clients select an AOR based on who can deliver a full-spectrum marketing strategy the most efficiently.  So the agency who pitches the cheapest most cost effective strategy wins the business, and then must deliver its services on paper-thin margins.  As a result of this downward cost pressure agencies are forced to cut corners by using less experienced/overworked staff and dated technology.  The problem with this sequence, of course, is that in life you get what you pay for.  So as the price paid for marketing goes down eventually so does the quality.  But as clients push for ever-leaner marketing solutions they seem to be blind to this inevitable law of gravity.  That’s why it’s so refreshing to see the attached article from The Drum, about Oliver Maletz, Volkswagen’s head of media, and his contrarian approach towards marketing.  Mr. Maletz espouses the value of a quality creative process that’s blended into the entire marketing strategy.  Instead of sending to creative team off in a bubble to produce spots and then charge the media team with buying it as efficiently as possible, Volkswagen and it’s agency PHD are merging both elements into one collaborative process.  By necessity this strategy has to be less about efficiency and more about quality output, which is definitely swimming against the cost savings stream the rest of the industry seems to be in right now.

THE ROBOTS ARE COMING . . . TO RETAIL:  If you think eCommerce will be the biggest thing to change Retail over the next 10 years you might be wrong.  Robots are poised to transform the in-store retail experience in an even more profound way.  According to this CNN Money link, machines are expected to replace 6-7 million retail jobs over the next decade.  Most of this attrition will come from register positions as the checkout process automates.  Sales and stocking jobs are also at risk as consumers become less reliant on in-store assistance because they can “showroom” product specs on their smartphones.  One of the driving forces behind this transformation is the cost of human labor.  With minimum wages on the rise and the “Fight for $15” (an hour) efforts getting more traction in the larger cities, labor cost as a percentage of the total retail expense is growing.  This reality, combined with technological advances which have made robots smarter and less expensive than ever, have the potential to significantly change the shopping experience and eliminate millions of jobs in the industry.

MANAGING COMPLEX CHANGE:  Finally today, an interesting graphic to chomp on.  We all know digital media is an industry rife with constant change.  But have you ever thought of the best way to implement complex change?  The following image was posted on LinkedIn with no explanation, but I think it speaks volumes.  Successful change requires Vision, Skills, Incentives, Resources, and an Action Plan – no arguing that.  But what’s really fascinating is to see what you get when any one of these ingredients is removed.  So true!

Have a great Tuesday guys!

 

 

43 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Topics . . .

  1. Hi, i think that i saw you visited my blog thus i came to “return the favor”.I am attempting to find things to improve my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!!

  2. hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve definitely picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise several technical issues using this web site, since I experienced to reload the site a lot of times previous to I could get it to load properly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but slow loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your high-quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I’m adding this RSS to my e-mail and can look out for much more of your respective intriguing content. Make sure you update this again soon..

  3. Having read this I thought it was very informative. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to put this article together. I once again find myself spending way to much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worth it!

  4. whoah this blog is fantastic i love reading your articles. Keep up the great work! You know, a lot of people are hunting around for this info, you can help them greatly.

  5. The following time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I mean, I know it was my option to read, however I truly thought youd have one thing fascinating to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you would fix if you werent too busy on the lookout for attention.

  6. Thanks for every other informative site. Where else may just I get that type of information written in such a perfect approach? I have a challenge that I am simply now operating on, and I’ve been on the glance out for such info.

  7. It is in reality a nice and useful piece of info. I?¦m glad that you just shared this useful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.

  8. naturally like your web-site but you have to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to inform the truth then again I¦ll certainly come back again.

  9. My partner and I stumbled over here different web page and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to finding out about your web page again.

  10. hi!,I really like your writing so so much! percentage we keep in touch more approximately your article on AOL? I need a specialist on this area to unravel my problem. Maybe that’s you! Taking a look forward to see you.

  11. What Is Sugar Defender? Sugar Defender is a natural blood sugar support formula created by Tom Green. It is based on scientific breakthroughs and clinical studies.

  12. Wow, superb weblog format! How long have you ever been blogging for?

    you made running a blog glance easy. The full glance of your site is magnificent,
    let alone the content material! You can see similar here ecommerce

  13. It is in reality a great and useful piece of information. I am happy that you simply shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thank you for sharing.

  14. Hello! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog. Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Cheers

  15. I would like to thnkx for the efforts you’ve put in writing this blog. I’m hoping the same high-grade blog post from you in the upcoming also. In fact your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings fast. Your write up is a good example of it.

  16. This is the suitable blog for anyone who desires to search out out about this topic. You realize a lot its almost onerous to argue with you (not that I actually would want…HaHa). You positively put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, just nice!

  17. What¦s Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this I’ve discovered It absolutely helpful and it has helped me out loads. I hope to contribute & aid different users like its helped me. Great job.

  18. I really appreciate this post. I?¦ve been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thanks again

  19. Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers? I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any recommendations?

  20. This web site is really a walk-through for all of the info you wanted about this and didn’t know who to ask. Glimpse here, and you’ll definitely discover it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *