The state of influencer marketing amid Covid-19: Concern but micro-influencers show path forward

Influencer marketing campaigns, so often trying to achieve a balance between aspiration and authenticity, have seen a fault line rip through them as the coronavirus pandemic has progressed.

For all of the missteps which made the news last year - Philip Morris breaking its internal rules on a campaign, fashion influencer Marissa Casey Grossman's marriage which brought a new meaning to the term 'brand engagement' - the statistics around influencer marketing were solid. According to...

29 June 2020 | Campaigns

AI retail software market set to touch $10bn by 2025, says Omdia

Analyst firm Omdia has predicted that the expenditure on AI software for retail uses across the world will grow to $9.8 billion (£7.96bn) in 2025, compared to $1.3bn in 2019.

The report, titled Artificial Intelligence for Retail Applications, also says that retailers will have invested $37.3bn on AI-driven solutions from 2019 through 2025 globally.

Plenty of use cases are driving the artificial intelligence market within retail, such as reducing cost and improving the...

7 April 2020 | Automation

Like for like? Why the traditional tool of social media affirmation needed to shift

The ‘like’ was unassuming. Few anticipated that a miniature, good-willed icon of a thumbs-up could dictate corporate and cognitive wellbeing. At its best, the like has been massively generative to individual and industry alike. It’s turned people into brands, spawning influencer culture, and has reshaped global marketing.

But the like isn’t always at its best. People have died chasing them (think selfies on railroad tracks) and taken their lives for not...

26 November 2019 | Attribution

Back to life: It’s the ‘new’ New Year – and a huge opportunity digital marketers overlook

For decades, marketers have made a moment of “back to school”, setting their sights on mothers and, in more recent years, fathers.  But according to new data from Pinterest, limiting marketing to families with kids focused on back-to-school is a miss for advertisers.

On Pinterest, we see a renewed enthusiasm from people of all ages for organisation, health, positivity, activities and refreshed routines in September. It’s almost like people are hitting refresh...

3 September 2019 | Branding

How Sage is using employee advocacy to create a strong voice on social

Last week, Kim Kardashian West - perhaps the ultimate influencer - put digital ink to silicon and tweeted forth. Yet this wasn't quite a case of affirmation-brought-to-you-by-X. The socialite had visited Jack in the Box and wished for a discussion about the experience "pronto." Underneath, rival fast food brands, from Burger King, to Wendy's, to Steak-umm, were queuing up to throw shade.

For some, this may be seen as light relief on the increasingly divisive social...

24 May 2019 | Campaigns

Six killer marketing metrics that really matter: Segmentation and engagement

The life of a digital marketer is rarely straightforward. Whilst other communicators may perhaps argue it’s easier for their digital peers to evidence ROI, those within the world of email marketing, for instance, may be quick to defend their position. Because yes, they have a wealth of metrics at their fingertips, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Death by data anyone?

Focusing only on open and click rates?

In his book How to Win Friends and Influence...

3 April 2019 | CRM

Salesforce wants you to get some AI and visual search into your eCommerce game

Salesforce has announced a series of new updates to its Commerce Cloud platform which aims to encourage organisations to ‘go beyond eCommerce sites and modernise every shopping experience.’

The move includes adding artificial intelligence and visual search capability into APIs and developer services with the goal of giving an insightful experience across various customer touchpoints.

The company quoted research from Deloitte which argued that retailers use almost...

15 January 2019 | Automation

Why even the biggest brands are favouring the power of micro-influencers

The rise of social media has seen a big increase in the use of brand influencers. In the last two years, “influencer marketing” as a search term on Google Trends has risen by 400%. But working with the right sort of influencer is critical – you must choose one which fits well with your brand and has an authentic voice. Biggest is certainly not always best when it comes to influencers.

Pepsi’s controversial ad from last year is an example of a brand not quite...

21 August 2018 | Content Marketing

Facebook topples from list of top 10 most innovative brands

Battling fake news, mass data breaches and a stomach-lurching drop in share prices, it’s hardly been a good year for Mark Zuckerberg, and as if to rub salt in the wound, the social network and tech colossus has now fallen out of sight on a rank of the world’s most innovative brands.

The revelation comes as part of Brand Keys’ sixth annual Most Innovative Tech brands survey, which featured Amazon, Apple and Google in the top three of the consumer-voted list, while...

1 August 2018 | Advertising

Pinterest on track for IPO as ad revenue approaches $1bn waterline

Social media company Pinterest is approaching $1bn in ad revenue, according to sources close to the group, putting in IPO (initial public offering) in arm’s reach for 2019.

The image discovery platform could double its 2017 $500 million sales revenue this year, driven in large part by success with mobile ads according to CNBC, with big fashion and beauty brands turning to the platform to get in front of 200 million monthly active users, 80% of which claim to use its...

25 July 2018 | Native Advertising