Going (Creatively) Digital
Pinterest Narrows Ad Focus To Retail And Packaged-Goods Marketers
Pinterest’s advertising strategy has become a lot clearer with its recent move to concentrate on attracting brand marketers in the categories of retail and consumer packaged goods. All other companies have been relegated to the image bookmarking service’s self-serve advertising API or ad-tech platforms that connect with Pinterest, The Wall Street Journal reports. Retail and packaged-goods clients will get specialized hands-on attention in their efforts to engage the more than 100 million monthly site users. The jury is still undecided on Pinterest’s desire to be a contender for search budgets against the likes of Google, whose present scale still leaves Pinterest a David hoping to become a Goliath.
New Research Shows Mobile Device Users Want Both Apps And Browsers
Seems the mobile browser isn’t going away anytime soon. eMarketer cites December research from mobile app search company Quixey showing that roughly one-third of survey respondents prefer to use both a mobile app and browser at different times. Some 28% of respondents said apps provide a better user experience, but about 33% said browsers are better at providing access to all of the content they want in one place. Apps get positive scores for pushing out notifications and alerts. Contrarily, they require downloading and taking up storage space on mobile devices. eMarketer estimates that in 2015, U.S. smartphone and tablet users spent an average of three hours and five minutes a day using apps, up from two hours and 51 minutes in 2014.
BuzzFeed: Apple Turns To Publishers For iAd Creation And Sales
Six years after launching iAd—Apple’s first bite at advertising within its devices—the company is turning the creation, selling and management of ads over to publishers, BuzzFeed reports. The move would end Apple’s direct involvement in the selling and creation of iAd units, which Steve Jobs had heralded as a new vision of mobile advertising. The BuzzFeed story suggests publishers will gain needed control and better management of the ad-placement process, although the impact on companies like MediaMath, Rubicon Project and other ad tech companies that have been overseeing demand-side ad buying on the iAd platform remains unclear. So does the future of the internal iAd salesforce.
HP Collaborates With Social Influencers To Reach Millennial Notebook Prospects
HP is taking a new direction for producing social content by teaming with social influencers in videos showing them using the company’s notebook computers in daily routines. Advertising Age reports that HP partnered with professional dancers like Sara Mearns (New York City Ballet), Allison Holker and urban dance duo The Power Peralta in an arrangement in which they share the videos and other content captured during video shoots on their own social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. Takeaways include: Focus on story telling, not products; maximizing the content captured during video shoots; and allowing influencers to be collaborators.
C-Suite Moves:
Michael Lees to Metalogix as Chief Marketing Officer, from WealthEngine, where he held the same position.
Josh Sitzer to Unanimous A.I. as Chief Marketing Officer, from Sprint, where he was Director of Social Media and Digital Marketing.
David Gee to Zuora as Chief Marketing Officer, from Infoblox, where he was CMO and Executive Vice President of Marketing.
Ken Murray to BFS Capital as Chief Marketing Officer, from Farmers Insurance Group, where he was Head Of Digital Products.
Scott Marden promoted to Chief Marketing Officer at Captivate, where he has held various senior marketing positions.
