11 Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2015

Ryan Osterman

In the article titled, “11 Trends to Watch for in 2015,” the author highlights several trends that Forbes anticipates will impact global marketing practices and norms in the coming year. Among the most notable trends to keep in mind, Forbes emphasizes the importance of companies remaining as transparent as possible in 2015. In an era heavily influenced by social media and interactive marketing, the most successful companies will need to demonstrate, in real time, what they are doing to actively benefit consumers. Forbes also anticipates that the most successful marketers will utilize marketing technologists—individuals who can creatively and effectively develop and apply marketing strategies online. Furthermore, as the focus of consumers continues to shift online at an increasing rate, marketers will need to process more consumer data at faster rate in order to adapt and adjust marketing approaches to gain an edge against competitors.

Another trend that Forbes predicts for 2015 is the inevitability that Hispanic marketing efforts will become mainstream in the coming year. Considering that the Hispanic population is expected to grow 80% faster than the non-Hispanic population in the United States by 2017, marketers need to realize the tremendous purchasing power of this growing percentage of the U.S. population and begin developing marketing strategies to build brand awareness and strengthen brand loyalty. The last notable prediction that will impact marketing in 2015 is the switch from globalization to personalization. In an age where data can be processed and interpreted at such a fast pace, online marketing is becoming increasingly personalized to better appeal to individual consumers and to improve conversion rates online. Furthermore, it will be crucial for marketers to use regional and local influences as a platform for creating effective personalized marketing tactics, thus having implications for how companies will manage global brands in the future.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2014/11/09/11-marketing-trends-to-watch-for-in-2015/

Winter Break Movie Plans? How about Exodus?

I was reading this article in search of good movies to watch but noticed a few things instead. The movie Exodus was going through the life cycle of a product. I had never considered movies to be products but I understood when I realized that the movie was going through the development phase and looking to move into the growth phase.
It also mentioned that it in its opening, it had already reached certain demographics such as the religious segment. This in a way is sort of like market skimming where the new product that is introduced peels away "layers" of consumers based on consumer readiness to purchase the product and their perceived value (movie premieres and opening weekend tickets cost more than when the movie has been in theaters for a week).
Overall, it was a rather interesting read.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/box-office-report-exodus-knocks-mockingjay-105189351857.html

Burger King's "New" Sandwich

So in our recent classes we discussed a lot about Burger King and their marketing strategy. A few days ago, I saw this article. It was about Burger King's plan to reintroduce one of their old menu items the Yumbo. This was because of their recent success in reintroducing fan favorites and old classics of their food. I thought it was rather interesting.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/burger-king-brings-back-yumbo-191849931.html

Friskies Utilizing Viral Marketing with "Dear Kitten" YouTube Campaign

My boss (who is obsessed with cats) pulled me into her office today to show me a series of cute, funny videos put out by Friskies, a cat food brand. The first video of the series, simply titled "Dear Kitten", was posted on YouTube in June and has over 18 million views! Each video is roughly three minutes long, and features an older cat telling a new kitten everything they need to know. The videos do not directly promote the cat food brand, so the goal of Friskies was most likely to build brand awareness in an inexpensive way. 

I think one of the biggest benefits of viral marketing is effective customer targeting. Because viewers share videos with other people, it's probable that the viewer will share it with a person that will be interested in it. For instance, I do not own a cat, but I passed along the video to a few friends that do own cats who are the target consumers of Friskies and could now be potential customers.

With technology playing a bigger role than ever in marketing, I think more companies should utilize viral marketing as a way to indirectly promote their brand and product to millions of potential clients!

Watch the videos here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Sn91t1V4g 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yNSF7ljOoU

The Future of Content Marketing Strategies for Hospitality Brands

 This article describes how hospitality and hotel marketing is beginning to evolve into the use of several channels - social media, content, and event - which will be combined to form one comprehensive "bundle" meant to appeal to the "next-generation" consumer. For example, marketing to new consumers will not be solely carried out via one form of advertising, but on a blend of several types. The article states that the best content campaigns integrate "on-and-off-property live events, aggressive social media, blog and app platforms, user-generated content, and... video production". This is a new form of sensory overload as compared to the campaigns of the past, which have mainly been confined to one form of media, such as a magazine or television commercial.

http://skift.com/2014/12/02/new-trends-report-content-marketing-strategies-for-hospitality-brands/

Orange juice with calcium & vitamin D?

I moved to the US about 2 years ago. I did not have much culture shock, but there was one thing in the supermarket here: orange juice labeled ''extra calcium & vitamin D." I had never seen something like this before and I could have not figure out why until I took this Marketing course.
They want you to replace milk with orange juice in the morning!
Drinking orange juice is a breakfast-thing here in America. But people drink milk, too because they think it is good for their health - for the calcium and vitamin D. Now, some people think poring themselves 2 glasses of beverages in the morning is too much. So the orange juice companies thought, "let's make those milk drinkers start drinking orange juice if they were drinking milk because of the calcium and vitamin D!"
Orange juice companies were perhaps afraid of losing the juice market share to the increasing number of new juice varieties. So they tried to take the share of milk in the home breakfast market, which they saw an overlap with milk. Of course, some people maybe drinking milk for the proteins or other nutrition facts or the taste. But more people probably value the calcium and vitamin D.
This got me thinking about two things. 1) even a market driven marketing strategy can change our habits or lifestyle. 2) if so, how much of our habits and lifestyle is actually shaped by marketing?

Cyber Monday is a Lie??

I found this Slate.com article and it changed my whole outlook on Cyber Monday. Yes, I know I just bought a ton of stuff off the internet because of all the deals flooding my email inbox. But this article decided to tell me that Cyber Monday is just a marketing ploy.

It is very logical that Cyber Monday is just marketing. Marketers noticed that in the past online sales peak the Monday after Thanksgiving, so they gave it a name and made it an event. I fell victim to the idea of Cyber Monday, and it is very eye opening to see how the origin is all because of marketing research.