Hasta La Creative!

Overstuffed with star talent and buttressed by a social media policy that doesn’t penalize fans for sharing snackable portions of its in-game content, the NBA is arguably more engaging than it’s ever been. But despite boasting one of the youngest fan bases in sports, pro hoops remains as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the media landscape as any other league.

In an appearance last weekend at the 13th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the generational shift away from the dominant linear TV model has put the squeeze on the league’s deliveries of Millennials.

“From 2010 to 2018, among 18-to-34-year-oldsand that’s our core audience, it’s an incredibly attractive young audiencetheir viewership on pay TV is down almost 50 percent,” Silver said to his interlocutor, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons. “So I think we’re going to have to figure this out with ESPN, and with now our new partners at AT&T and WarnerMedia, how the new world looks.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Every weekday we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the TV ad measurement and attribution company. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time yesterday.

A few highlights: Deon Cole and friends compare notes about the cross-gender appeal of Old Spice Body Wash for Men. A tearful father offers a touching (?) toast to Dos Equis at a wedding. And Walgreens points out that it has pharmacists with cancer expertise in a spot with the tagline “Battle beautifully.”

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Dollar Shave Club is slowing but surely attempting to take over every man’s medicine cabinet. The Unilever-owned company that debuted a new fragrance line in November dubbed “Blueprint,” is rolling out a deodorant line called “Groundskeeper.” Made up of six products (which include butt wipes), the new line is a response to member feedback about…

If I knew then what I know now is a series of bylines from small agency executives about the lessons they learned in building their shops.

I’m almost four years into a journey that I thankfully had no idea would be so hard: joining with two partners from my advertising past to try something new, different and, hopefully, fun. At least, that’s what every agency starting out needs to believe, otherwise why would anyone even bother?

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Overstuffed with star talent and buttressed by a social media policy that doesn’t penalize fans for sharing snackable portions of its in-game content, today’s NBA is arguably more engaging than it’s ever been. But despite boasting one of the youngest fan bases in sports, pro hoops remains as vulnerable to the vicissitudes of the media landscape as any other league.

In an appearance last weekend at the 13th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged that the generational shift away from the dominant linear TV model has put the squeeze on the league’s deliveries of Millennials.

“From 2010 to 2018, among 18-to-34-year-oldsand that’s our core audience, it’s an incredibly attractive young audiencetheir viewership on pay TV is down almost 50 percent,” Silver said to his interlocutor, The Ringer’s Bill Simmons. “So I think we’re going to have to figure this out with ESPN, and with now our new partners at AT&T and WarnerMedia, how the new world looks.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, a boutique hotel brand of IHG, today is rolling out a new initiative that will let guests book special rooms at many of its hotels and participate in unique experiences offered in each, all designed to let them enjoy deeper human experiences. According to Kathleen Reidenbach, chief commercial officer of Kimpton,…

The e-commerce landscape in 2019 demands that the consumer should be the focal point of everything. With consumers in the driver’s seat, it is incumbent on the marketer to provide them with information they need, where they’re looking for it and when they want it. Simultaneously, marketers need to provide this in a seamless manner that reinforces the brand’s value proposition at every touchpoint.

Brands that understand this principle and deliver against the intent of the consumer at every stage of their purchase journey, every time, are well-positioned to transform their relationship with their audiences and drive growth.

In delivering messaging aligned to consumer intent, it is implied that a marketer will attach a level of personalization that will resonate with that user. One often-overlooked aspect of contemporary e-commerce marketing is localization. This is especially critical for brands for whom most of the discovery journey happens online, but with most of the revenue booked offline. Every consumer in the world is attached to a physical place; where they live and where they’re currently located are two factors that should be woven into an Enterprise-to-Local strategy that delivers the brand promise to consumers both online and where they physically are.

Continue reading at AdAge.com