The Data Reawakening

March 27, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Data

The world is in the midst of a data reawakening. People are waking up to an idea that advertisers have known for a long time. These digital platforms that connect us aren’t free. The price users pay is they become the product, and what a product we are! 26% of Americans are online “almost constantly,” and 77% of Americans go online daily. Users are a product that gets better and better over time.

Newton said it best. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. We’re in the midst of that reaction now.

Brand Bots Need Focus

March 14, 2018 by Taylor Wiegert in Artificial Intelligence, Bots

Bots. Voice assistants. For all the talk given to the subject the, a brand manager might think they’re stuck in 2009 if they haven’t adopted a Messenger bot or an Alexa skill. The reality, however, is only 7% of brands have put AI-powered chatbots to use, and only another 27% are actually looking into it.

What gives?

What Marketers Can Learn from the New Approach to Gaming

June 27, 2017 by Taylor Wiegert in Gaming

The biggest event in gaming, E3, took place a couple weeks ago, and for a life-long gamer such as myself, it was a dream come true to attend. On the surface, E3 was what one might expect, a showcase of upcoming games, game talks and a deep dive into gaming culture, but this deep dive into culture offered much more than gaming. It offered a lens in which businesses outside of entertainment can think about how they connect with consumers.

Things I’ve Learned from Lately #134

March 11, 2017 by Taylor Wiegert in Things I've Learned From Lately

“Things I’ve Learned from Lately” is a regular compilation of articles that have made me a smarter marketer. Hopefully, they’ll help you, too.

This Week: Chief Marketing Trends, Alexa, What are You Doing to My Brain? and Bullish on VR.

The End of the Apolitical Brand

February 01, 2017 by Taylor Wiegert in Strategy

The election is over, but politics is here to stay 24/7 for the foreseeable future. Today, everything is politicized. That’s no secret to you because one of the things that’s been politicized most is our social feeds, which are inundated with news and posts from (mostly) well-meaning people sharing their thoughts and opinions. The Obama and Biden memes are the last funny thing to make its way onto the Internet as of late, and yes, even those were political.

These are not ordinary times. Facebook has taken drastic steps to overhaul its approach to how news is shared and consumed on its platform because of its role in the dissemination of fake news. Twitter has found new relevance (for better or for worse) in its ability to share and shape policy decisions from the government. These platforms are working to define their roles in a political environment they, at the very least, helped create.

These are most certainly not ordinary times, and brands need to be paying attention.

Thanks for Copying Snapchat, Instagram

August 16, 2016 by Taylor Wiegert in Instagram, Snapchat

Instagram Stories are here, and you may not be that excited for them because they kind of already existed on Snapchat as Snapchat Stories. Just like Snapchat Stories, Instagram Stories allow users to create video and photo slideshows that disappear after 24 hours. And again much like Snapchat, users can add emojis, text and even drawings to the images in their stories. It’s a blatant copy and paste from Snapchat to Instagram, which Instagram’s Kevin Systrom freely admits. That doesn’t really matter though, especially when you consider the implications for marketers.