Marketing Managers are applying financial engineering methods to optimize their portfolio of marketing campaigns.
The growing concern from Marketing Managers about return on advertising is making them look more and more like financial managers.
Many millions are spent on advertising (in Central America about $ 1.8 billion per year), usually in a mix of different types of media and to apply expense optimization methods of portfolio investments, will lead to better rates of return on investments.
The country's two major broadcasters are to reduce the commissions they pay to publicity agencies from 15% to 10%.
Repretel, one of Costa Rica's two main television companies, explained that the commissions are "a heavy burden on broadcasters that must be reduced," reports elfinancierocr.com.
In a letter, Repretel argues that, "when the payment percentages were set the aim was to promote training and investment in market valuation tools but this has not always proved to be the case".
The company's five-year strategic plan focuses on increasing the per-capita consumption of tuna in these countries.
According to the company's estimates, current average consumption half a tin of tuna per year, whereas in Costa Rica this figure is 12 cans per person.
Gabriela Muñoz, Marketing Manager for Sardimar, told Elfinancierocr.com that, "the plan features television, radio and outdoor publicity as well as activities at points of sale and in zones of influence. The tactical objective is to highlight the benefits of this protein as healthy, practical, value for money, tasty and filling for all the family".
Internet usage in Latin America is rising steeply and consumer purchasing patterns are being ever more influenced by the web.
In an article on Altonivel.com.mx, Google's general manager for Latin America, Alexandre Hohagen, comments that, "it is true that e-commerce in the region has somewhat lagged behind in comparison with more developed countries but the gap is closing and today there is evidence of a multi-channel purchasing dynamic when acquiring products or services".
Internet users feel three times more confident in the publicity they find at information portals, than they do in that found on "Social Media" sites
In the marketing world, "social media" is the buzzword of the moment and many, often without much web experience, feel they should recommend clients put publicity on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
In this new breed of marketing to the “4Ps” (product, placement, price, promotion) the following been added: flow, functionality, feedback and loyalty (“4Fs” in Spanish).
The Internet, new information management tools and methodologies, combined with globalization, are redefining the way products are marketed.
Cristina Vílchez, writing for Americaeconomia.com, comments that, “new tools are available for companies to use to reach customers.
In 2010, online advertising spending will grow to $25 billion, and will represent 20% of the entire advertising market by 2014.
The figures of a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers called “Global Entretainment and Media Outlook for 2010 to 2014” match the data from another study by David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer.
“Steady gains in online ad spending will mean an additional $11 billion flowing into the space over the next four years, increasing the Internet’s share of total media ad spending from a bit more than 15% in 2010 to over 20% in 2014”, reported eMarketer.com.
Online media continues to gain ground on traditional media, by combining and offering a single product featuring the best of both.
The television industry understands that audiences are shifting towards the web as their main information source, not only at the expense of print media, but also of television.
Their strategy is also clear: they are joining the enemy, in order to reach their audiences also through the web.
Women still do the bulk of home shopping, and more and more of them research online before doing so.
A study by iVillage/SheSpeaks in the U.S. details how women are changing their shopping habits, detailing that a shopping tour begins at the PC, where they check existing offers and promotions through the Internet. They decide where to shop depending on what they find.
Online video and display advertising are effective at driving significant uplift in site visitation and advertiser search queries, even in the face of minimal clicks on ads.
Fox Networks and comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, unveiled the findings of a U.K. study:
-Video and display advertising both successfully increased brand engagement in each of the four campaigns analysed.
A new web site helps understand what is advertising targeted to user interests, and how to protect privacy online.
IAB Spain, a representative of the Internet Advertising Industry, launched a website on Internet privacy, which aims to help the user protect its privacy and inform on how targeted advertising and cookies work.