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People are influenced when they want to be influencers.

Press Release 02/22/19

GAINESVILLE, Fla., February 22, 2019 (swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) – Speaking of media and society, advertising must be mentioned. This week, the featured contributors of Media Insider are enjoying talking about this full-of variety media. It has extremely strong connection with human beings and exists every corner in their daily life. Nowadays, the popularization of social media gives unlimited opportunities to enterprises and brands for advertising placement. While this commercial activity is enlarging, not only business entities, but some individuals as well are getting huge benefit from it.

Advertisements are so close to people. Besides native advertising, influencer marketing is another new significant advertising approach. This strategy usually utilizes the positive impact from people who have high reputation or large number of fans. In other words, the audience of those influencers’ works will also be the viewer of the ads. The writer Gord Hotchkiss takes the Youtuber “Kyler and Mad” as an example in his article “Influencer Marketing’s Downward Ethical Spiral”. This family owns over 3 million subscribers on Youtube and 2.4 million followers on Instagram. “A single branded photo on their feed goes for sums in the five-figure range.” (Hotchkiss) It implies the great commercial value this kind of advertising would bring to the market, the brands and the influencers. Based on this environment, Gord points out that influencer marketing is much darker, vaguer and more immoral than regular advertising with clear, direct trades. Those influencers are trying to show a perfect “reality” to the public, while the brands are offering them confidence, rights and money. The market is not pure and transparent any more.

Indeed, social media makes advertising more complicated. It doesn’t make people’s life easier as well. Not everyone can live like the Fishers family. The influencers create ideal life to the audience. At the same time, in a negative perspective, they are “using” their fans to take advertising business and making profit. This phenomenon is inevitable during the development of social media and technology. But is this a positive effect or not? Probably only time can prove that.

The Media Insider is one of the branches under traditional media category of MediaPost Communications. The company has been the biggest and most influential media, marketing and advertising website since 1996, offering news, blogs, directories for the 150,000-member community. Every year, it holds more than 30 industry conferences and events countrywide and in Europe.

How studying the pedophile dilemma is indicative of YouTube's struggling relationship with brands

Press release published March 15, 2019

Gainesville, FL, March 15, 2019 (Swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) - One company that has been making headlines through the advertising industry as of late is Walmart. In one article published by Adage, Walmart is identified in being a key player for online ad revenue, and could soon be threatening the two leaders in this department, Google and Facebook. A different article also looked into Walmart, and how they are attempting to bring virtual reality to the public. Walmart has been transporting a trailer from store to store that houses an interactive virtual reality experience, which allows the users to replicate an experience from the movie How To Train Your Dragon 3. Adage also looked into the new business practices of Kraft Heinz under the leadership of 3G, a company notorious for cutting costs, and how their reduced marketing budget may have adverse effects.

One of the most interesting articles from last week's edition is an article that looks into Youtube’s ever struggling relationship with advertisers. More specifically, this article looked into the way that Youtube has been handling comments from pedophiles. Officials within the online ad industry are saying that while Youtube has made half-measures to help protect the integrity of brands who wish to advertise on Youtube, it is not enough. One such half-measure involves marking brands as alcohol related, even if they are not, so as to avoid advertising on videos that are targeted to children. Another step that they have taken is to suspend comments on millions of videos to make it more difficult for pedophiles to interact with each other, but this is also a flawed solution.  While many large brands such as Disney and AT&T have pulled their advertising from Youtube, it will be interesting to see how Youtube will attempt to bring these brands back.

From the Walmart related articles, we can see how many brands are realizing the importance of online ad revenue, and are making great strides to become leaders in this field. The article related to virtual reality also shows how large companies are expanding into any and all fields of the future, even if it is not their main focus. For example, Walmart is a retailers, not a technology developer. However, in the past year alone, retailers have spent an estimated $1.6 billion on developing this new technology. This is yet another example of how successful brands are recognizing that the future is stored in technological advancements. The main article concerning Youtube highlights the difficulty of advertising in a world where anyone with internet access can publish their own content, and how to regulate this content. If Youtube executives cannot figure out a method that is agreeable to advertisers while also being fair for content creators, the platform may find itself being replaced by a company that can soon in the future.

Ad Age is a daily must-read for an influential audience of decision makers and disruptors across the marketing and media landscape.

Contact:

Mitchell Wood

(941) 807- 5744

The popular site has brands refusing to advertise with the current policy.  PRESS RELEASE 2/22/19   

GAINESVILLE, Fla., February 22, 2019(swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) While most of the media and entertainment world has been focused on predicting what film will be winning Best Picture this Sunday at the Oscars, the 91st Academy Awards ceremony has been overshadowed in the marketing world by a scandal. 

YouTube has had their share of problems. Recently, the issue has been regarding the ability of inappropriate content being to be shared in the site. Back in 2017 the problem was that extremist videos were being recommended to people. Now the problem is that pedophiles are making inappropriate comments on videos that feature children and linking to other inappropriate content.

YouTube has been put on blast before like in this Ted Talk titled “The nightmare videos of children’s' YouTube — and what's wrong with the internet today” given by James Bird. This Ted Talk goes over the issue of YouTube’s algorithm whose main purpose is to keep consumers on the site. While this may sound innocent in theory, in practice it can be very far from that. Bird explains that children who are watching videos on the site that are targeted at them, like cartoons or kids television programs, can be directed to more inappropriate content as the algorithm suggests videos.  

This might not seem like something that directly affects the marketing and advertising world but the brands that choose to run commercials and ads on YouTube are lashing out. Many brands like AT&T and Hasbro have pulled their ads(therefore their money) from the site; this leaves the site with a need to take action.

AdAge is a global media brand that focuses on analyzing and reporting marketing data and industry news.  

The Art of Authenticity

PRESS RELEASE UPDATED: FEBURARY 21, 2O19

GAINESVILLE, FL., February 21, 2019 (swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) – Based on Entrepreneurship.com – Entrepreneurship is the ability to turn a vision into reality and the excitement to bare all the uncertainties from crossing unchartered territories. This can lead to the voice in our heads proving to be our biggest competitor in the entrepreneurial process. This week’s theme is gaining the control back over your mind. Fear is the main culprit of this mental resistance and it has been found that the number one way to overcome this fear is through acknowledging and preparing for rejection in the case that it potentially happens. The first step in regaining control of your mind is by feeling your emotions as they come and making the conscious decision to separate yourself from your thoughts. Curveballs may come in fast and as an entrepreneur they come in even faster. On the topic of leveraging the mind to leverage success, having a strong support system such as family and close friends will make the rough times not seem as intense. A very self-sabotaging subconscious way to wreck your confidence and ultimately ability to lead is by hiding doubt and fear. Great leaders don’t hide; they keep authenticity in the forefront of their actions. The theme of this week was focusing on developing oneself in order to develop the healthiest habits to create the most fulfilled and successful life, especially entrepreneurially.

The article, “Most Scholars Agree Emotional Intelligence Is the Key to Productivity” explains the successes brought to a company when the focus shifts from mindless conflict to team building through idea sharing and open lines of communication. Emotional Intelligence is arguably the most important lesson not thought in schools and is comprised of four key components – self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relational awareness. These four components all are linked through understanding one’s emotions to boost positivity and reduce stress through an ability to adapt. Meditation, if done properly, is one of the most efficient ways to develop and strengthen one’s emotional intelligence. Productivity runs rampant when like-minded people come together to make magic, free of judgment. The quote from this article, “positivity also sparks creativity and encourages open-mindedness,” speaks volumes to the unlimited greatness that can come from a supportive environment. Getting back to the core of greatness is love; emotional intelligence just understands one’s purpose in this world and how they can generate the most love. Nothing strong can develop on a wobbly foundation and emotional intelligence is at the core of our foundation of being human.

Although I love learning about emotional intelligence, a major take away from this article is that there are four components to EI. I never really considered self-awareness as important of a component as social awareness, but after reading this article I can clearly see why it is considered the most important. Self-motivated and self-confident people will be the most successful both professionally and personally. We are all multi-faceted creatures trying to make sense of our time here on Earth; EI is the quickest way to find our individual “why?”

Entrepreneur.com serves as a platform for everything and anything an aspiring entrepreneur would need to know in order to merge successful in this cutthroat industry.

 Lauren Gutierrez

Data Mapping Protects Patient Records

Press release     February 22, 2019

Gainesville, FL., February 22, 2019 (swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com)-- Recently, Healthcare Global has focused on ways to innovate healthcare. One article reviews the top healthcare innovations for 2019, discussing new technologies such as artificial intelligence and new tools for storing patient records. Another article focuses on how healthcare is becoming more digitized and a new smartphone application released by NHS. One article, Fit for Purpose: Introducing Data Mapping for a Healthier NHS, focuses on how the NHS can use data mapping to help keep patients information more secure.

The NHS has been storing patient data for over 70 years, so the amount of data held by the NHS is large. The amount of data stored by the NHS presents a large threat to the security of patient records. During 2017, the global WannaCry attack resulted in the cancellation of 20,000 appointments and a large loss in revenue. The NHS is more prone to attack by cybercriminals because they use outdated technology and operating systems. If NHS suffers another cyber attack, it is possible they would not be able to recover from the damages. Even though there is much skepticism surrounding data security people still trust the NHS with their records. This makes it important that there is a way for NHS to store data and keep it secure. One way to do this is through data mapping. “Data mapping is about creating a visual overview of all the data collected and stored by an organisation, providing an insight into the potential risks associated with each data type and location.” Data mapping does not rely on data being strictly online, so it is compatible with all NHS documents that are still kept on paper. NHS must decide how all current audio, online, and paper data must be stored. They also must implement new policies for how data is controlled and create new guidelines for who controls the data. Once the NHS takes these steps, they can begin to chart the data flow. After NHS understands the data that is being stored, they can ask a series of questions to determine how the data is being processed and collected.

Data mapping is a technology that any company can use to make sure people’s information is safe. It is especially important when it comes to people’s medical records. By streamlining how data is collected, stored, and transferred through data mapping people’s information will be safer in the long run.

Healthcare Global highlights innovation and untraditional ways of handling patient care to continually move healthcare forward.

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Press Release: February 22, 2019    11:59pm

Gainesville, FL., February 22, 2019 - In very ode to a creamsicle fashion, Coca-Cola has launched its first new flavor in over a decade. On February 11, 2019 Thom Forbes wrote an article that was published in Media Post about the new flavor that is being released by Coca-Cola this month called Orange Vanilla.  Forbes writes that this new flavor outperformed other creative combinations with a focus group. In this article Forbes reminds the reader that the last new flavors were launched by Coca-Cola in 2007, well over a decade ago. Coke was able to find that though carbonated beverage popularity has taken a hit as of late, the “healthier” zero sugar versions of the soft drink have done quite well.

The case can be made that this launch is simply a ploy to get consumers back on the sugar bandwagon when things have taken a healthier turn, recently. According to Forbes, “The Orange Vanilla announcement comes at a time when Big Soda contends with criticism over American's unhealthy eating habits and with municipalities around the country passing so-called soda taxes. Plus, Americans now buy more bottled water than carbonated beverages, data from the research and consulting company Beverage Marketing found,” Zlati Meyer points out for USA Today. This indicates that to try to injects Coke’s name back into people’s minds while reaching for a beverage the company had to think of something new, something drastic to get people reaching back for those syrupy sweet carbonated concoctions.

Because Coca-Cola is such a recognizable brand any new release they make is going to cause a major stir and a push for partnerships. The deal made to release the fountain drink version exclusively with Wendy’s for the first month with tie in to the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament was a major win for all three brands. The exposure during the tournament and beyond is sure to drive sales numbers up for both Coca-Cola and Wendy’s. While Pepsi used one night at the Superbowl to try to outshine the competition, Coca-Cola is making a month-long effort. Even in advertising and marketing the classic Pepsi versus Coke debate continues.

MediaPost is an integrated publishing and conference company whose mission is to provide a complete array of resources for media, marketing and advertising professionals.

Writer’s contact information: #statonksis

Most marketers have a long list of new things they want to try in 2019, but everyone has a limit. Here’s what top marketers say they’ll stop doing in 2019.

Press release February 21, 2019

GAINESVILLE, Fla., February 21st, 2019 (Swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) – The latest content featured on the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) website is focused on informing its audience on important skills and trends in the communications field. The overall tone of the AMA’s most recent articles is uplifting and educational – offering valuable knowledge about ongoing progressions in the marketing world. Specifically, the most recent articles detail the cohesive partnership between marketers and designers, stating the constant working relationship they must have to create meaningful marketing campaigns. In addition, the AMA has recently posted informational articles regarding sales lessons for up-and-coming marketers and the importance of pro-bono work. Overall, the AMA is consistent in detailing its articles on the popular tendencies occurring in the marketing world.

One of the AMA’s more recent articles explains the current trends marketers should try and avoid in 2019. Typically, marketers are concerned about obtaining “more leads, more content, more website traffic, and more engagement” (Neely). However, marketers must keep up with the technology advances and adapt accordingly. In December 2018, Neely administered an informal poll and received answers from about 40 marketers. Their responses guided Neely’s conclusions and ultimately allowed her to create a list of suggestions for marketing strategists. Neely states that these strategies aren’t one-size-fits-all – just good concepts to be aware of for 2019. In addition, Neely states that 80% of respondents said they plan to stop doing at least one thing. The four marketing techniques that Neely pinpointed as dwindling are Facebook advertising, cold outreach, social media, and blogging (Mostly on third-party sites).

Facebook may seem like an ideal platform to occupy ad-space on, however, consumers may be seeing less of it as the year progresses. According to Neely, “the most common answer from marketers in the survey is that they plan to do less Facebook advertising in 2019. This was far and away from the most-mentioned tactic that marketers plan to stop or do less of,” (Neely). Marketers stated that Facebook ads really just don’t work the way they used to; the same way the old school cold call outreach method has outdated itself. Primarily, the cold emails and cold calls that are centered around instant sales pitches. The response rate to these kinds of advertisement methods are very slow, however, the automation features these messages have means they take little effort to create. The convenience of cold calling is similar to the characteristics of social media – the third marketing tactic that marketers are advised to avoid. Marketers predict that posts on social media won’t come to a complete stop rather it will largely be scaled back. Much like Facebook, social media platforms just don’t have the same effect as they use to. The last tactic to avoid is blogging (mostly on third-party sites). The algorithms for personal blogging makes it so a very limited amount of people actually see any articles.

Ultimately, as our world evolves to be more technologically connected, it’s important to be aware of the current marketing trends taking place. When consumers and businesses are more aware of the impact of the content they’re exposed to and that they’re creating, society as a whole will hopefully be more informed. These four marketing tactics give the audience a good idea of where the marketing field is currently and what direction it is headed in.

The American Marketing Association specializes in analyzing the current trends and occurrences within the marketing world.  

And for this campaign, no boys allowed!

Press release published Feb 22, 2019

Gainesville, FL, February 22, 2019 (Swampstratcomm-sp19.tumblr.com) - In their last issue, AdAge focused a few of its articles on the ever changing industry of online advertising. One such article described the challenges that the new Safari tracking prevention software was giving to marketers. This new software version makes it so that ads for websites that users have already visited cannot be displayed for that user, which makes it difficult to target consumers. While this is a step back for marketers, it is a step forward for consumer privacy. Another article delved into the controversy known as “corngate”, the recent feud between AB InBev (Bud Light) and MillerCoors. The feud started due to a Bud Light super bowl commercial which accused Coors of using corn syrup as an ingredient in their beer. While this is true, corn syrup should not be confused with high fructose corn syrup, which is a much un-healthier ingredient. Coors has since pointed out that the corn syrup they use is only during the fermentation process, meaning it may not even be in the final product at all, and that AB InBev makes several products with corn syrup in them.

The main article that I reviewed covered Land Rover, the popular luxury car company, and their new venture away from the outdoors and into the city. Up until now, LR has focused its marketing efforts on positioning their vehicles as outdoor vehicles that can go off road, while maintaining a classy and technologically advanced interior. However, LR has decided to market its smallest vehicle, the LAnd Rover Evoque, as a city vehicle. The target audience for the Evoque will be women, specifically women living in urban settings under the age of 35. 70% of consumers who bought the first generation Evoque fit into this demographic, making it an essential target for LR. LR has plans to launch a new ad campaign in May that will target this new demographic, entitled “live for the city”, which will feature ads that show women having fun on their own, without any men in the picture. One example of this will be an ad that features women away at “Camp No Man’s Land”, where they will play games such as “bro-less beer pong”.

From the article concerning tracking software in Safari, we can see the struggle between marketers wanting information and consumers wanting privacy, a very popular topic these days. While marketers may argue that by tracking user activity they can provide a more personalized ad experience for users, many still feel as though it is an invasion of their privacy. The Corngate article, on the other hand, was an example of a great public relations move by Coors Light. After being called out for using corn syrup in their beer, Coors proudly stated that this was a fact, and that they were proud to support farmers across America. This lead to a campaign called “toast to farmers”, where Coors celebrated the farmers that grow the ingredients in their beer. This campaign was mostly hosted on social media, and included pictures of the CEO of Coors visiting these farmers.

Ad Age is a daily must-read for an influential audience of decision makers and disruptors across the marketing and media landscape.

#SwampStratComm #TradeJournal3 #advertising #marketing #corngate #landrover #safari

Contact:

Mitchell Wood