Missed connections
A new report by the CMO Council warns that companies that centralize their marketing departments are at risk of losing consumer connections in local markets. Nearly two-thirds of marketers believe they’re not adequately adapting global brand marketing content across the markets and channels they serve, according to the report. And 37 percent of marketers in a fully centralized structure say they lack local market understanding, according to the report, which is based on a survey of more than 350 marketing executives worldwide conducted during the first half of this year.
The CMO Council, which is a networking group for chief marketing officers, assembled the report with Worldwide Partners, a network of independent agencies. Companies often centralize marketing as an efficiency move. But according to the report, marketers that move to more streamlined systems struggle to deploy personalized outreach to consumers.
“Why do we seem to be in a personalization and localization rut?” says Liz Miller, senior-VP of marketing at the CMO Council. “It’s almost like the more efficient they get through centralization that the farther away they were swinging from understanding the audience of one.”
Hot doughnuts in Times Square
Krispy Kreme plans to open a New York flagship at Broadway and 48th Street in early 2020. Since it’s in Times Square, it will feature the chain’s biggest “hot” light to let people know when fresh doughnuts are ready, plus “doughnut theater” details such as a glaze waterfall and stadium-style seating. Krispy Kreme has already declared that the 4,500-square-foot shop will serve more people than any of its other locations.
Co-working goes upscale
Watch out WeWork—there’s growing competition. Convene, which has been boosting its co-working offerings in recent years beyond its conference brand roots, is fashioning itself as the high-end option for meeting space. On Monday, the company debuted “The Business Class of Co-working” tagline. Developed in-house, the campaign will run on social and in digital ads as well as in out-of-home placements in Chicago, Washington D.C., Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The coworking space has certainly been hot, as new businesses, particularly direct-to-consumer startups, crave more flexible offices. WeWork recently filed to go public.
Would you buy this?
Move over unicorns, Mermaids are having a moment. The mythical sea creatures are the inspiration for a new cereal from General Mills, featuring orange stars and teal tail-shaped corn puffs with orange and pineapple flavors. Other brands deploying mermaid imagery lately include Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer and Gorton's Seafood, which put a male-spin on the seafaring trend with "mer-bros."