Like all young people today, Hispanic adult Millennials have a reputation among older adults as being digital addicts. Boomers and Xers themselves tend toward extremes, and so they often perceive Millennials’ use of tech devices as excessive. But do young people see it that way?

The relationship between Hispanic adult Millennials and technology was one of the focuses of Tr3s’s 2012 research study, Hispanic Adult Millennials Living the Next Normal: Age of Uncertainty. One of the report’s key findings was that Hispanic adult Millennials seek balance between their digital and social lives. They understand that it’s important to step away from their devices and participate actively in the world.

Learning this lesson didn’t come easily, however. Many adult Millennials who used technology to isolate themselves socially as teens are now trying to correct that behavior and have more “IRL” (in real life) experiences. While moderation is a common goal, they are also well aware of how difficult it can be to step away from their tech devices.

This quest for balance is a core Millennial value. Compared with older generations, they are more comfortable “in the middle” in many areas. Hispanic adult Millennials are also interested in finding a happy middle ground between life and work, as well as between foods that are healthy and convenient.

When asked what is coolest to them now, three of the top ten items listed by young Hispanics were tech devices: smartphones (#1), GPS for cars (#6), and video games (#7). However, their “cool list” also revealed that interacting with others is of high importance as well. “In-person socializing” ranked second, and coffee shops (where they can hang out with others inexpensively) also made the list: Starbucks (#3), diners (#8), and Dunkin’ Donuts (#10). Video games, in addition to being seen as cool devices, are also considered key social outlets, bridging the gap between digital and real.

Hispanic adult Millennials see themselves as having “active lifestyles” – which they define as being out of the house socializing with family and friends. They participate in social media, but also have social lives. They play video games, but not all the time. And they text their friends a lot, but they also talk when it’s important. (According to the 2012 Maximo Report by Motivo Insights, bicultural young Latinos believe texting is the most efficient way to communicate, but talking is most effective.)

One illustration of their awareness of the value of balancing technology and life is the phone stacking game. While out at a restaurant or social gathering, everyone piles their phones in the middle of the table. The first person to relent and check their phone suffers consequences that were decided in advance, like paying the dinner tab. The game implicitly recognizes that technology, while tempting at all times, can be isolating and damaging when used too much. In the end, technology is something that enhances their lives — but only when used in moderation.

Source: Tr3s 2012 “Hispanic Adult Millennials Living the Next Normal: Age of Uncertainty”

Consumers are rapidly adopting all forms of deal seeking—especially rebates—through mobile, social and online platforms. Searching for and finding the best value is a practice now cemented in consumers’ path to purchase due to several factors: greater price sensitivity, reduced perceived spending power, advancing mobile technology and easier access to deals online and via social networks.

“Finding deals is emotionally rewarding to consumers, as it makes them feel as though they are doing everything they can to maintain their standard of living. This attitude is evidenced by their willingness to work across social, mobile, print and digital resources to find the very best price,” said Rodney Mason, CMO of parago, a global incentives and engagement company. “This study sends a clear message to marketers: shoppers’ appetites for deals and discounts can be fulfilled in a variety of ways, especially via mobile and social as well as rebates, which consumers understand offer deeper discounts than other deals” Mason added.

The “Let’s Make a Deal” shopper study can be downloaded for free here.

Key findings from the research include:

Price sensitivity is up significantly: Nearly 3 in 4 shoppers are more sensitive to price this year due in part to 42% of those surveyed feeling their purchasing power has decreased.

Deal-seeking behavior continues to grow: Before shopping, 80% of consumers look for deals, rebates and the best prices; only 69% did so in 2012.

The majority prefer rebates to instant discounts: All income levels believe rebates are easy to complete and worth the extra step for the deeper savings earned vs. instant discount offers.

Mobile deal finding jumps: This year, 46% of consumers shop where they can use their smartphones to check prices; only 11% did so last year.

Demand for deals in social networks: 57% of consumers would like access to exclusive values via social media.

The “Let’s Make a Deal” shopper study was conducted in March 2013 via independent online delivery. More than 1,100 consumers, representative of the U.S. population by education, income and sex, responded to a 50-question survey that explored their deal-seeking behavior.

For more information CLICK HERE.

Showrooming—the practice of going into stores to compare products and prices, often using mobile to shop around—is common among moms, as well. At both electronics and big-box retailers, half of mom mobile shoppers surveyed said they used their smartphone or tablet to look up product and price info. This was slightly less common at clothing, grocery and shoe stores, but more than one-third of respondents still had shopped at each of these locations using mobile devices.

However, mobile is not the primary method US moms prefer for shopping. Only 11% of respondents said this was the shopping method they would choose, if given only one option. And according to December 2012 research from parenting app company Alt12, about two-thirds of moms said they did less than half of their shopping on mobile.

But as mobile browsing becomes more common, and retailers improve their multichannel efforts, there is no question that more moms will favor smartphones and tablets for their shopping and buying.

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Please watch the whole 5 minute video and pay attention to the interaction between the judges during the audition and the conversation during the decision.

Put this through the marketing and advertising lense: Cathia is the consumer target to go after as a brand. She is a 19 year old, born in the US, raised in the Bronx and part of the New America – aspirational like every Latino and the future de nuestro país (of our country). The judges represent four different brands fighting to win her over. They are all great artists and we can even debate one might be even better than the other. But, at the end, Cathia summarized it well in her own words- she loved and admires every judge (brand) in front of her, but she decided to go with the one that understands her and speaks to her.

America is changing and it is no longer only about acculturation levels or whether she consumes media in English or Spanish, or whether “spill over” from an English –language media buy will be seen by her. It is more complex than that.

If we as brands are not culturally relevant, no matter what language we speak, we won’t make her feel connected to us. By playing the “Usher card” and being the first to talk to her, we might assume we can reach her, but as we learned here, a Shakira can come in and take her in one second because she is more relevant to her. Whether in English or Spanish, under the same circumstances, she felt more confidence in the “brand” that understands who she is.

Cathia, te viste fabulosa, irresistible, you deserve to win. La victoria es tuya.

BY Andrés Ordóñez – VP Creative & Managing Director / Bravo

In its purest form, responsive design is a single-URL site framework that uses fluid grids, HTML and CSS3 media queries to automatically rearrange and resize digital content to fit the viewport (the viewing area on a screen) of any device used to access the site. The bulk of the decision-making is done client-side, not server-side, which means the browser responds to various parameters to decide how to display the page or even what functionality to provide.

Physical conditions such as height, width, resolution and orientation of the device in use are tested using media queries. Depending on the outcome of the “test,” the layout dynamically reshuffles content from an original, default design to one which best matches the conditions encountered.

December 2012 survey data from market research firm eConsultancy showed a considerable number of client-side marketers worldwide, half of which were based in North America, had experience using responsive design. Nearly 70% of respondents described their experience level with responsive design as “average” or better, and more than half of that group described their companies as “ahead of the curve” or “state of the art” when it came to the design technique.

Still, for advertisers, responsive design has its challenges.

Ad serving systems are not fully ready for responsive sites and neither are marketers. Serving display ads to a fluid content environment requires extra coding and tagging on the publisher’s side. Ad servers are likely to evolve quickly to relieve this burden. However, marketers are wary of the idea of responsive ads for fear a dynamic “one size fits all” ad will fail to take the site user’s context into account. For now, advertisers prefer to stay with fixed ads and publishers are happy to accommodate them.

For more information CLICK HERE.

To begin, we have a Spencer Stuart study that reports the average tenure of the Chief Marketing Officer has doubled, from 23 months (2006 figure) to 45 months.

Contrast that with an Accenture study that reflects a whopping 40% of marketer feel they are not well-prepared to meet their objectives. The study listed key impediments to marketing performance being inefficient business practices (19%) and lack of funding (17%).

Cut to Spencer Stuart crowing about how CEOs are finally coming round to giving credit to the tough job of CMOs in these current recessionary times, combined with credence on the responsibility associated with a CMO’s burgeoning portfolio to include so many more technology-enabled components perhaps previously associated with IT — along with an expanded role including the mission-critical specialties of customer service, social media and the like.

And back to Accenture, indicating that 48% of marketers will spend more on managing customer data; 40% will increase spending on Web analytics; and 39% will boost spending on marketing analytics — with their limited and insufficient funding, of course. Furthermore, half of the respondents indicated they would begin an internal reorganization to become more digitally savvy, and 52% said they would be hiring more digital talent.

So let me see if I’ve got this correct: the CMO is living large and enjoying unprecedented job security and tenure amidst a time of unprecedented economic pressure, organizational upheaval, business volatility, and technology-enabled change, given they don’t have enough processes, budget and/or talent to do their jobs effectively.

Is it just me, or is something a little off here?

I’ve tried to reconcile these two insights to come out with a warm and fuzzy glass-half-full outcome. My feeling is that this is a classic case of lesser evils. On one hand, we have CEOs giving CMOs a little more respect and “slack” to do their jobs. This is a good thing; a VERY good thing, in fact. It’s imperative that CMOs have enough time to execute on a longer-term vision and mission.

On the other hand, this just may be a white flag to essentially throw in the towel, with CEOs conceding that scapegoating CMOs is not necessarily a sustainable practice — while at the same time, not exactly shaking up the status quo to empower CMOs to do their jobs and achieve their goals with the appropriate levels of budget (more), talent (more) and/or resources (optimized; majorly reallocated).
Arguably, the one common thread that connects, unifies and even explains these two disparate findings is the acceleration and proliferation of disruptive technology-based innovation in the marketing world. The goalposts continue to shift and become elusively more challenging to reach from month to month.

Put metaphorically: We’re still chasing our own tails, only what’s changed is the frantic and frenzied (read: manic) pace at which we’re doing it.

Firing the CMO does nothing more than set back the organization even more into an arguably insurmountable back foot posture and laggard position. That said, without implementing dramatic changes associated with the egregious gaps in investment and talent, the company is no closer to being able to exponentially adapt and power forward. Restructuring may help, but only if painfully cathartic, profound and sustained.

The solution? I’m afraid I don’t have a silver bullet, but giving the CMO more room to breathe is a definite start, if — and only if — they take this as a golden opportunity to effect meaningful change within their business unit, company and even industry.

By Joseph Jaffe
Joseph Jaffe is founder and CEO of Evol8tion, an innovation agency that matches early stage start-ups with blue-chip brands. He has written three books, including “Flip the Funnel.”
Courtesy of MediaPost

For example, among the local people-metered (LPM) markets, people 25-54 years old in Pittsburgh, Penn. watch the most traditional TV at about five and a half hours per day—nearly a half-hour more than the national average for that same age group. In terms of DVR playback, viewers in St. Louis, Mo. notch nearly an hour of time each day. St. Louis is also the only DMA in the top five for both TV usage and DVR playback.

Over-the-top (OTT) content, which includes broadband-delivered video and audio content without the involvement of a multiple-system operator, still accounts for a small portion of our video viewing, but it is more prevalent in certain DMAs. Two West Coast markets, Seattle, Wash. and San Francisco, Calif., along with Detroit, have the highest OTT usage at eight, seven and seven minutes per day respectively. Seattle and San Francisco also boast the highest Smart TV penetration among the LPMs, and they’ve experienced the highest year-over-year penetration percentage increase.

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