Author Archives: Matt Kapko

LAS VEGAS — Facebook has quickly become an integral part of Sony Pictures’ strategy for marketing its films, and the social network’s rich environment has led to more creative, and more effective, campaigns, according to Josh Greenstein, the movie studio’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution, who spoke at CES 2017.

Modern moviegoers are exposed to upcoming films earlier, more consistently and in an increasingly customized fashion on sites such as Facebook, the studio executive said. Sony’s film marketing budget shifted from 10 percent on digital to as much as 50 percent during the last 18 months, according to Greenstein. “The world’s changed, and for us it’s exciting,” he said. “It’s for the better.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LAS VEGAS — Twitter has used dozens of words, clichés and redundant phrases to describe itself during the past decade. The company’s CMO, Leslie Berland, owned up to that fact in a speech at CES 2017 that aimed to redefine Twitter and explain why 317 million people use it every month. 

Instead of abandoning the myriad ways Twitter executives have described the company during the years, Berland embraced it. “So, we were a platform, a product, a service, a water cooler, a time square, a microphone, and we are every single one of those things,” she said.

When Berland joined the company in early 2016, after more than 10 years with American Express, she set out to revamp Twitter’s marketing message and understand why some people remain confused about its purpose. “Twitter shows me what’s happening in the world,” she said. “Twitter shows me what’s up. Twitter keeps me on the pulse. Twitter keeps me informed. This is why people love Twitter.”

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

LAS VEGAS — The head of Google’s commercial operations in the Western Hemisphere this week spoke with the soon-to-be largest ad spender in the United States and one of Hollywood’s biggest movie studios, to showcase how large traditional media companies are transitioning to digital marketing. On stage at CES 2017, a trio of executives from the companies also discussed the challenge of managing disparate marketing metrics and fears related to machine learning. 

AT&T and Universal Pictures currently spend 30 percent of their marketing budgets on digital media, according to Fiona Carter, chief brand officer of AT&T, and Josh Goldstine, president of worldwide marketing at Universal Pictures. Margo Georgiadis, president of Americas at Google, is enthusiastic about the increase in digital spending (especially when the dollars land in Google’s coffers) but she said it’s more difficult today for marketers to understand the value of their spend as the number of consumer touchpoints — mobile, web, app, social and video — grows. 

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Facebook and Google closed out 2016 with a near duopoly in popular mobile applications. Both companies’ mobile apps expanded their dominance of the 10 most popular mobile apps in the United States by significant margins, according to research from Nielsen. The media measurement firm calculated the average unique audiences for apps between January 2016 and October 2016 and provided year-over-year percentage changes for the 12-month period that ended in October. 

A Facebook and Google world …

Facebook makes the two most popular mobile apps in the United States, Facebook and Facebook Messenger, as well as Instagram, the second-fastest growing app and the No. 8 most popular app, according to Nielsen. Facebook’s average unique audience on mobile during the period grew 14 percent year-over-year to 146 million users. Facebook Messenger’s audience grew 28 percent from the previous year to 129.7 million users. And Instagram jumped 36 percent from 2015 to 74.7 million users, Nielsen says.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

When Apple in July announced it would require all iOS apps to use a technology called “App Transport Security” by the start of 2017, the move was widely regarded as a positive one for user privacy. Now, just barely a week before the deadline, Apple pulled back and extended the deadline indefinitely. The requirement, if implemented, would fill a significant security hole on iOS devices, according to experts. 

Apple takes a strong and public position in favor of protecting its users’ privacy. The highest profile example of this is perhaps the company’s standoff in January with the FBI over its insistence that data be encrypted on iOS devices at rest, regardless of the owner or reasons for a government’s requests to override those protections. (In that case, the intelligence agency wanted access to an alleged terrorist’s personal device to scrape it for evidence and other information).

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

A lot changed in the enterprise messaging and collaboration market during the final months of 2016. Facebook formally entered the space with Workplace and the accompanying Work Chat app, for example. Microsoft released Teams. Google rebranded its portfolio of apps for business as G Suite.

Google does not, however, appear to have a clear strategy or blockbuster app for messaging or group chat in the enterprise. Google is likely capable of overcoming this challenge on its own, but experts suggest Slack is a viable acquisition target that would instantly boost G Suite’s performance and influence in enterprise communications. 

‘G’ in G Suite stands for ‘gap’ in team messaging

Google needs enterprise collaboration tools “beyond just nice-to-have capabilities,” and that missing link is all the more pronounced following the release of Microsoft Teams and Facebook Workplace, according to Craig Le Clair, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Microsoft has an awkward abundance of chat-powered apps in Office 365, but its suite is complete, Le Clair says, while G Suite still has a big “gap” in its offering for team messaging.  

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Social media had a big 2016. The medium and all of the leading social companies reached new heights of influence … but not without consequence. These are the stories that shaped the conversations and intrigue around social media during the past year.

Social media and the 2016 presidential election

The American public is still grappling with all the ways social media shaped the 2016 presidential campaign. However, CIO.com uncovered how social media brings out the darker side of digital introverts and often amplifies slanted views or political biases. During the final weeks of the 2016 presidential election it became quite clear that social could not be more powerful or dangerous.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Box CEO Aaron Levie has a message of hope for CIOs as they approach 2017: “I think it’s the best time in history to be a CIO, because you have so many great companies working on your behalf to enable you to have way better technology in your organization,” he says.

Levie’s positive outlook runs counter to many IT trends and common perceptions. CIOs’ grip on technology and budgetary oversight has been challenged for years as marketing executives and others throughout their organizations gain influence and power of the purse. For example, a November Gartner report concluded that marketing technology budgets will exceed the amount of money CIOs spend on tech in 2017. 

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Box CEO Aaron Levie has a message of hope for CIOs as they approach 2017: “I think it’s the best time in history to be a CIO, because you have so many great companies working on your behalf to enable you to have way better technology in your organization,” he says.

Levie’s positive outlook runs counter to many IT trends and common perceptions. CIOs’ grip on technology and budgetary oversight has been challenged for years as marketing executives and others throughout their organizations gain influence and power of the purse. For example, a November Gartner report concluded that marketing technology budgets will exceed the amount of money CIOs spend on tech in 2017. 

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here