Why & how more brands need to take a stand to become a love brand

Beate Rosenthal, Global Brand Director Digital & Media at Merck Consumer Health

In today’s world, crowded with messages and distractions, brands need to find ever more unique ways to stand-out.

That does not just mean that brands needs to add emotional benefits to functional superiority, but they need to consider taking a stand and commit to societal topics.

Brands need to take a stand about topics, people care about

Insights based ideas that connect with consumers at a higher level are important to create brand love, but they don’t replace the need for product benefit superiority. At Merck consumer health, the world’s oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company, we are committed to the love brand idea. By the way, brand love is a scientifically proven concept with various studies showing that simply seeing their favourite brand logos caused students’ hearts to slow temporarily – literally ‘skipping a beat’.

At Facebook we get things wrong – but we take our safety role seriously

Monika Bickert, Head of Public Policy Management at Facebook

Last month, people shared several horrific videos on Facebook of Syrian children in the aftermath of a chemical weapons attack. The videos, which also appeared elsewhere on the internet, showed the children shaking, struggling to breathe and eventually dying.

 

The images were deeply shocking – so much so that we placed a warning screen in front of them and made sure they were only visible to adults. But the images also prompted international outrage and renewed attention on the plight of Syrians.

How Mobile App Success Rests on Where Your Users Spend Their Time

Paul Barnes, Territory Director Northern Europe and Middle East at App Annie

Apps have become one of the most influential devices in driving consumer behaviour, with over 900 billion hours spent in apps worldwide in 2016 and over 30 apps on average used per month. People now manage a myriad of different aspects of their lives with apps – a ubiquitous component to everyday life.

The reality is that, on a daily basis, the average consumer uses approximately 10 apps. By understanding how these apps are used, where consumers are spending their time and in which apps, mobile marketers gain a unique insights into behavioural trends of a highly influential audience.

Mobile Commerce Engagement Grows As User Acquisition Costs Drop

Dennis Mink, VP of Marketing, Liftoff

Earlier this week Liftoff released our annual Mobile Shopping Apps report, highlighting the latest trends in mobile user acquisition and app engagement. The good news for ecommerce marketers is that as mobile purchases are on the rise, the cost to acquire new mobile shoppers has declined over the past 12 months.

As we inch ever closer to the holiday shopping season, marketers should take note of several important mobile shopping trends. August and early September is an opportune time to focus on new user acquisition. With mobile ad inventory costs at near lows for the year, marketers can acquire new users cost effectively, just ahead of the holidays. This is also an excellent time to test and optimize ad creative, before inventory costs shoot up. If you wait until October, you’ve already missed the window of opportunity as more competition ramps up spending, driving up costs for everyone.