"How marketers can reach millennials is quite possibly one of the most discussed topics in the ad industry. But there continues to be one over-hanging question few have been able to answer: How do millennials' media habits change as they age?

The answer according to Turner: They don't.

The cable programmer partnered with Frank N. Magid Associates to study how millennials consume content at different stages of life, which they define as student, stable (meaning out of school and working with no kids), parent and flex (those not in any other life stages.)

According to the study, even as millennials enter a new life stage like marriage or parenting, they are remaining "millennial" in their consumption habits and not transitioning into behavior that matches boomers or other generational categories. That means they continue to desire choice, control and convenience -- more than prior generations, the thinking goes -- not only in media but in many other consumer decisions.

The study also found that despite declining ratings for much TV programming delivered traditionally, TV remains an important part of life across all millennial stages.

Unsurprisingly, millennials don't want to be sold to, but rather engaged. So in order for marketers to make an impression, their messaging must appeal to their interests and lifestyle and be delivered in a way that's original and authentic, Turner said.

Turner and Frank N. Magid surveyed 2,000 men and women 18 to 39 years old online, and conducted a series of in-depth, in-home ethnographies with millennials of different life stages and living arrangements.

Turner also took a look at the group it calls plurals -- also known as Generation Z -- which they define as anyone born after 1997. This diverse generation is filled with digital natives who don't know a world where they couldn't access games, videos, music and interact with their friends wherever and whenever they want.

According to Turner's research on the group, which they conducted with Insight Strategy Group's Insight Kids division, plurals expect and demand choices, which they navigate intuitively. The brands that are successful are the ones that feed into this demand.

In order to reach this generation, Turner found that brands need to provide them with a variety of experiences and opportunities to be a fan as they age, and to constantly refresh their products and content offerings through the year."

"Americans are willing to share sensitive information with businesses in the name of safety and efficiency, a new study found. But they’re less enthusiastic about exchanging personal details in return for better advertising or offers–especially when those details reveal their physical location, researchers said.

Although users often accept the implicit bargain of the online world—receiving free services in exchange for personal data—service providers can’t take users’ comfort with the arrangement for granted. Privacy concerns are more “case-by-case than driven by broad principles,” said Lee Rainie, Pew’s director of Internet, Science, and Technology Research.

The report revealed a gulf between the public and the tech industry, Mr. Rainie said, judging by the plethora of data-gathering gadgets on display at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. For instance, Nest seeks to connect items in the home–smart thermostats, light bulbs, garage doors and so on—into a system that would collect data to coordinate their operations; switching on lights, for instance, when the garage door indicates that an occupant has returned home in the evening.

The January 2016  report suggests that public attitudes could limit such plans."

"The creators of a children's smartphone app have drawn complaints for a second time after "inappropriate" images of naked women and explicit wording appeared on the screen without warning.

Two pop-up ads for "Affairalert.com", placed by Plymouth Associates Ltd, appeared in the 'My Talking Tom' app, in August.

One ad included a selfie of a naked woman with the words "Wanna fuck?" written on a mirror. Text below the image stated "Want to fuck her?" with the options "Yes", "Maybe" and "No".

The second image also featured a naked woman, with similar text.

Two parents of children aged seven and three years old who were using the app when the ads appeared, complained to the Advertising Standards Authority. They said the ads had been "inappropriately and irresponsibly placed" in a game likely to be played by children.

Responding to the complaint over Affairalert.com, Outfit7 said although their apps were not directed at children, they strove to be family friendly, and had a number of advertising restrictions in place. Outfit7 admitted that although they have a strict policy on advertising, they were unable to establish what network was responsible for the ad. Despite the similar case in June, it claimed the issue had not arisen again.

Plymouth Associates, the owner of Affairalert.com, claimed they had no role in placing the ad and believed a malicious third party may have been involved. They stressed that they would never intentionally allow an ad to appear in a place children could view it."

Source: brandrepublic.com

"Unclicked ads should not be universally discounted as wasted impressions. A recent Nielsen mobile advertising neuroscience study showed how impressions can influence brand perception.

Since the dawn of the commercial internet, the value of display ad impressions has largely been measured through surveys. These are usually online audiences, segmented by consumers who have and have not seen a marketing campaign or creative and asked to respond to a brand perception questionnaire. This approach only taps into a person’s conscious brain – a major shortcoming.

According to research from the Laboratory for Cognitive Psychophysiology at the University of Illinois, only 5% of the brain’s activity is expended on conscious activity. The remaining brain activity is devoted largely to unconscious processing.

Brands will continue to demand new measurement standards and technologies to better understand the role that impressions play in their digital ad spend.

Digital publishers will benefit, as they will be able to command premiums when ads that are simply seen and not “clicked” have a clear and proven benefit to the advertiser."

Source: wallblog.co.uk

"Brand loyalty is the Holy Grail for retailers and service providers the world over. After all, repeat customers, by definition, make multiple purchases and thus generate more revenues. But once you’ve got your customers “through the door,” how do you go about retaining their business?

While everyone bangs on about personalization, consumers in the UK want you to know something. Yes, personalization is nice, but if you want their continued loyalty, give them something for free.

March 2015 research from IPG Mediabrands asked UK consumers how they’d like their loyalty rewarded, and the top three responses by some distance all related to handouts. A sizable 67% wanted points transferable for money, 50% wanted discount vouchers and 48% simply wanted “free stuff.”"

Source: eMarketer.com

"Purchases made via mobile devices will account for a rapidly growing share of UK retail ecommerce sales and are expected to contribute to strong growth this year, according to eMarketer’s latest estimates. In 2015, a third of all online sales in the UK will take place via smartphones and tablets; by 2019, that figure will rise to over 40%.

“That mobile is playing an increasingly important role in the retail shopping habits of UK consumers is without question, be that via smartphone, phablet or tablet. What this demonstrates, though, is that digital shopping and buying long ago entered the mainstream for most UK consumers, and buying via mobile is just the next step. Indeed, device-agnostic buying, thanks to users’ familiarity with these various device types, is becoming the norm,” commented Bill Fisher, analyst at eMarketer."

Source: eMarketer.com

"The era of mass-marketed products is drawing to a close. TV and radio commercials are great at reaching millions of viewers, but they don’t offer the best engagement. Instead, advertisers in the future will pinpoint the exact moments and needs that users have—entertainment, retail searches, even sports scores—and supply consumers with the solutions they are looking for in real time. In the next couple of decades, as new wearables and connected devices are introduced, advertising will progress more than it has in the past 50 years.

One thing is certain: To future-proof your brand, you have to build a strategy that focuses on human activity. Find the connected moments when people want you to reach them, and add value to those consumers’ lives. Your brand will flourish."

Source: WSJ.com

"British Gas, O2, Marks & Spencer, Cillit Bang, Asda and Center Parcs are among the brands advertising on "paedeo and incest websites", according to a report in The Sun, leading to questions about the efficacy of the media monitoring and targeting technology they are using.

The Sun piece suggests ads for brands are being placed by software on the basis of keywords – so Royal Ascot, as a brand focused on horse-racing, has had ads positioned on sites dedicated to bestiality, while the latter half of the brand name Cillit Bang "probably" led to the brand appearing against content focused on rape and incest.

He said: "It is important that everyone employed on their behalf; from the sellers of media, through to exchanges, SSPs, DSPs, agency trading desks, media agencies, buyers and tech vendors are all working on their behalf to stop their ads appearing next to inappropriate content."

Hogan's company is set to publish research which reveals that 11% of all UK ads monitored by Integral Ad Science were blocked from serving alongside content deemed inappropriate by the advertiser."

Source: marketingmagazine.co.uk

"Many millennials use social networks as a resource when shopping, or simply to express their opinions about brands. But they mostly use social media to socialize—and don’t necessarily want to find brands addressing them there, according to a new eMarketer report, “Millennials and Social Media: Gauging How Facebook and Other Networks Fit in Their Lives.” 

Millennials’ social engagement with brands often has a mercenary motive. When Annalect asked respondents why they shared digital content, 36% said they did so “to receive a coupon/discount/promotion.”

For now, what millennials see on social sites is just marginally influential in what they end up buying, at least by their own telling. In July 2014 polling by A.T. Kearney, fewer than one in 10 US millennial internet users said they frequently based purchase decisions on “what’s happening in my social network.” About three in 10 “only occasionally” did so."

Source: eMarketer.com

"You’ve got venture capital-backed startups like BuzzFeed boasting about reaching 150 million-plus unique visitors per month. You’ve got the rise of programmatic ad buying making it easier for advertisers to cherry pick select audiences when targeting ads. And then you’ve got ad agencies increasingly funneling budgets to their in-house, more profitable “trading desks” to handle more ad buys. Not to mention the massive clout of social networks like Facebook, Twitter and increasingly Snapchat. Is it any wonder that mid-sized sites are feeling squeezed?"

Source: WSJ.com