Hasta La Creative!

(TrendHunter.com) Many of the top April 2015 retail ideas were developed to simplify and streamline existing in-store systems, apps, processes and incentives to bring ease to staff tasks and customer experiences….

The American Marketing Association, which was founded in 1937, has tapped BFG Communications to develop a new brand positioning for the “Next AMA” as it looks to better serve its more than 30,000 members.

“The AMA has been around for 75-plus years, and has been a mainstay in terms of being a knowledge enterprise and networking association for marketers, as well as the academic community,” said Russ Klein, CEO of the AMA, who has been in his role since July.

Mr. Klein was previously CMO at Arby’s, and he also held senior marketing roles at Burger King and 7-Eleven. He succeeded Dennis Dunlop, who retired after 15 years in the position.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) This collection of top April 2015 tech trends features a few unique creations that point to the nearness of the sci-fi future many movies have envisioned in the past. There is a digital makeup…

The Census Bureau a decade ago projected a tipping point would come in 2050, when the majority would become the minority and non-Hispanic whites would no longer account for more than 50% of U.S. inhabitants. That forecast resonated so much that a multicultural shop launching at the time named itself Project 2050.

But just 10 years later, the Census Bureau has revised its forecast: The tipping point will occur much sooner, in 2044 (or maybe even 2043). And it will keep tilting. By 2050, the U.S. population will be 47% white, 28% Hispanic, 13% black and 8% Asian-American. By 2060, close to one in three U.S. residents will be Hispanic, up from about one in six today. And today’s multicultural population is increasingly born in the U.S. rather than abroad.

In sports, longtime World Cup sponsor McDonald’s always focused its U.S. soccer campaign on Hispanics. Last year, for the first time, McDonald’s World Cup campaign targeted the entire market, and the effort was led by the fast feeder’s Hispanic agency Alma. Marketers no longer regard soccer as just ftbol for Spanish-speaking fans.

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The makeup of the U.S. market is changing rapidly. Here’s what you need to know about how various ethnic groups are growing – and shrinking – and how they’re spending money and consuming media.

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The other reality is that it’s harder for marketers in the North American units of big multi-brand companies to get funding to develop creative even for the U.S. general market, she said. At a time when such marketers as P&G, Unilever and Colgate-Palmolive Co. are trying to make the same creative ideas and sometimes even the same ads work across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia, doing separate creative solely for the U.S. Hispanic market has become a tougher sell at some companies. (However, P&G, the biggest Hispanic marketer, spends more than $200 million a year on Hispanic media.)

Ms. Eleta said there’s long been a “pendulum” in the industry. Marketers move to push as much multicultural marketing development to general-market brand groups as possible, then realize that as their multicultural “centers of excellence” thin out or go away they’ve lost valuable knowledge.

Companies shepherding one or only a handful of big national brands, such as retailers Walmart, Target, J.C. Penney, Macy’s, AT&T and Verizon have it easier, she said, because they can readily have multicultural experts who are very focused.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

The space is ripe for new players, he said, because it doesn’t readily offer the billion-dollar opportunities big players prefer, and because e-commerce makes it increasingly easy to cater to the market’s specialized tastes. Tastes he believes are ignored by the giants of personal care and retailing.

Silicon Valley’s interest is only one factor shaking up what was once an arguably dusty corner of personal care. Changes in African-American hairstyles and a less ethnic-focused approach to marketing are playing a role too.

“In the past four or five years, hairstyle trends have changed dramatically,” said Cyrus Bulsara, CEO of Professional Consultants, which analyzes beauty with a particular focus on the salon hair-care category. “Blacks used to have straight hair, relaxed hair or curly permed hair. They used to do a lot of chemical processing. But now natural, ‘fro and locs are the three top trends.”

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As the Hispanic population shoots up and buying power increases, U.S. retailers are increasingly vying for this audience’s attention. Some have shifted more of their efforts to digital in light of how Hispanics consume media, while others have adopted creative strategies and added products aimed squarely at the market

U.S. Hispanic buying power is poised to hit $1.5 trillion this year — a 50% increase from 2010, according to Nielsen. “Retailers and manufacturers can’t afford to ignore multicultural consumers such as Hispanics,” said Eva Gonzalez, exec director-diverse consumer intelligence at Nielsen. “They are transforming the U.S. mainstream.”

Below is a snapshot of how retailers like J.C. Penney, Macy’s and Target are upping their efforts in order to better connect with the demographic.

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“We try to heavy up in mobile because we know the consumption is there,” said Vilma Vale-Brennan, managing partner-multicultural lead at media agency MEC North America.

Once consumers move to a mobile device, however, they’re harder to reach with targeted ads. Tracking systems — referred to loosely as “cookies” — don’t work as well, or at all, on mobile devices. “Sometimes we don’t have the tracking device we’d like to,” Ms. Vale-Brennan said.

That’s making social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter, along with music sites and certain digital-only publishers more critical buys for marketers looking to reach multicultural audiences.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Iodine deficiency is a huge issue in rural India, and here’s one unusual way to help solve the problem—iodized bindis.

The Neelvasant Medical Foundation and Research Center, a non-profit group based in India, worked with ad agency Grey to create and distribute the medically enhanced versions of the decorative dots that women in India commonly wear on their foreheads.

Named the “Life Saving Dot,” the product has slight shades of sci-fi, with recipients soaking up their daily dose of the nutrient through their skin (though it also seems similar in concept to, say, a nicotine patch).

The nonprofit and agency cite breast cancer, fibrocystic breast disease and complications during pregnancy among the health issues linked to iodine deficiency (an insidious form of malnutrition that has historically been associated with goiter and cretinism, but in recent decades has been tied to a broader set of physical and mental problems).

With help from Talwar Bindi, the iodized dots have been distributed in four areas, so far—Badli, a village near New Delhi, and three parts of the Maharastra state: Niphal, Peth and Kopergaon/Sinnar.

Sure, it might not be as classic a solution as dispensing iodized salt, but it’s definitely more colorful … and if it works, who cares?

CREDITS
Grey Group Singapore
Chief Creative Officer: Ali Shabaz
Copywriter: Ali Shabaz / Karn Singh
Art Director: Cinzia Crociani / Sudhir Pasumarty / Sandeep Bhardwaj / Giap How Tan
Designer: Cinzia Crociani / Sudhir Pasumarty / Sandeep Bhardwaj
Illustrator: Sudhir Pasumarty
Project Manager: Sandeep Bhardwaj
Account Director: Gaurav Arora
Account Manager: Marie Tan
Regional Director, PR & Corporate Communications: Huma Qureshi
Regional Corporate Communications Executive: Yanrong Pang

Greyworks
Producer: Jacinta Loo
Editor: Timothy Lee
Editor: Bobby Aguila
Sound Designer / Composer: Marco Iodice

Director: Giovanni Fantoni Modena
DOP: Matte Chi
Production House: Hfilms Milan