Mediaboss Marketing

Spocks ship from the 2009 Star Trek film has a surprising connection to Star Trek: The Next Generation. JJ Abrams 2009 reboot of the venerable franchise began when Spock was thrown back to the 23rd century, creating a new timeline. The ship Spock arrived in was only seen briefly in the film, but in Star Trek: Countdown #3, readers learn the ship, called the Jellyfish, was created by a Next Generation icon. The Countdown miniseries served as a bridge between the classic Star Trek universe and Abrams reboot.

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In 2009, JJ Abrams, along with writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, breathed new life into the Star Trek franchise with a big-budget feature film. Recasting the iconic roles of Captain Kirk and Mister Spock, the movie spared no expense in bringing the 23rd century to new and vital life. Yet a way was needed to create this new timeline without disrespecting everything that came before. It was decided that Spock, in a bid to stop the Romulan sun from going supernova, would instead be thrown back through time, with a group of vengeful Romulans in close pursuit. These Romulans attacked the USS Kelvin, and the new timeline was born. The ship Spock traveled through time was one of the most unique looking starships seen in the franchise - the Jellyfish.

Related: Spock's Wrath of Khan Death Returns - But This Time He Has a Solution

And in Star Trek: Countdown #3 fans learn its origin. The issue, written by Mike Johnson and Tim Jones from a story by Orci and Kurtzman, and drawn by David Messina, sees Picard and Spock race against time to contain a destructive chain reaction that is threatening to destroy the galaxy. It has already claimed Romulus, and within weeks it will threaten the heart of the Federation. Spock devises an idea: plant a red matter bomb in it and create a singularity to siphon the energy. The idea is sound, and Picard tells Spock he has just the craft to do it. He introduces Spock to the Jellyfish. This tiny, experimental vessel can withstand atmospheric conditions that would destroy a conventional starship. Picard also reveals the ship is theirs to use, due to a personal link to its creator. Arriving at the facility, fans learn the Jellyfish was designed by Geordi La Forge.

The Jellyfish proved more than capable of its mission: it withstood forces and conditions that would have destroyed other ships. The Jellyfish also survived a trip through a singularity and a trip back through time. It was clearly a uniquely well-designed ship, but Countdown does not reveal if any more were made beyond the prototype. Nothing like the Jellyfish has been seen in the new Star Trek shows - perhaps its disappearance erroneously convinced Starfleet the ship was not up to scratch when, ironically, it's one of Starfleets best designs in history.

It should come as no surprise, then, that it was designed by Geordi La Forge. Gerodi was the Chief of Engineering aboard the Enterprise for the second through the seventh seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. In that time, his engineering prowess saved the Enterprise countless times. He has taken what he learned from his time on the ship and parlayed it into making some truly mind-bending starships, further adding reverance for the larger franchise to the creation of the Kelvin Timeline. While Star Trek movie fans might not have known it, Spock isn't just piloting any ship in the movie, but rather the masterwork of The Next Generation's Geordi La Forge.

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Spock's Kelvin Timeline Ship Has a Huge Next Generation Connection - Screen Rant

Majority of Brits say Pride-focused brand activity is for PR purposes

Consumers have a negative view of the sincerity of brands efforts to support the LGBTQ+ community during Pride month.

YouGov data shows 75% of the 6,000 people surveyed believe brands activity around Pride month is solely for PR purposes rather than a sincere desire to show support for the LGBTQ+ community, a figure which rise to 79% when LGB+ consumers are asked.

Those who believe that brands do have a sincere desire to support the queer community is less than a tenth of the sample (7%) and although the figure rises slightly for those in the LGB+ community (12%), it is despairingly low for brands investing in a Pride marketing campaign.

There are some generational differences at play with younger consumers (18 to 24) nearly three times more likely than those aged 65+ to believe brands are being sincere in their Pride communications (11% versus 4%), however, two-thirds of 18 to 24-year-olds are equally as cynical about the intentions of brands and believe it to be for PR purposes.

The data indicates most UK consumers believe brands are engaging in rainbow-washing where positive messages about the LGBTQ+ community are put out with the expectation of very little in the way of action to support them beyond kind words.

Source: YouGov

Grocery inflation has fallen to the lowest level so far this year, dropping to 16.5% in the four weeks to 11 June 2023.

Despite this being the lowest level of inflation in 2023 so far, it is the sixth-highest monthly rate of inflation recorded since 2008.

The proportion of households stating they are either extremely or very worried about the rising cost of food and drink has risen to 70%. This has increased from just over two-thirds stating the same in January this year.

The Kantar figures also show the discounters have again grown the fastest out of the major UK supermarkets. Aldi grew at 24.6% in the four weeks to 11 June to reach a new record market share of 10.2%. Lidl grew almost as fast at 23.2%, giving it 7.7% of the market.

Morrisons value range, Morrisons Savers, is the fastest growing in the UK, with its sales almost double versus last year. Morrisons grew modestly by 0.8% during the period. This is the fourth consecutive period of growth for the supermarket, and comes after a time of decline.

Source: Kantar

Consumers are taking it upon themselves to ease the effects of inflation with more than 60% of customers now actively looking for the lowest price when shopping.

The survey of 3,000 adults from IPA TouchPoints across the UK shows 60.9% of shoppers now look for the lowest price and best deals when shopping (up 11% on 2020) and that 41.6% search for money-off vouchers (up by 31% since 2020) to lower the cost of their shop.

Financial difficulties have also made consumers significantly less loyal to their preferred brand, the data shows, with half of consumers (52.9%) saying they will gladly switch brands to make use of a coupon (up by 13%).

Meanwhile, 42.7% use a range of supermarkets and shops for their weekly groceries in order to get the best prices, up 14% from 37.5% in 2020.

Supermarkets continue to attract the greatest weekly reach of all shopping outlets at 63.6% (although this itself is down 7% since 2020). But the number of shoppers on the high street has fallen by 17% (from 40.5% to 33.6%) since 2020; shopping centre reach has fallen 8% (from 21.0% to 19.3%) and out-of-town retail parks have fallen 3% (from 14.7% to 14.2%). Meanwhile, online shopping has increased slightly since 2020, up by 3% from 49.4% to 50.7%.

TouchPoints also reveals consumers are spending an hour longer at home than they did in pre-lockdown 2020 with the mean hours spent inside now at 18 hours and 43 minutes a day, up from the 17 hours and 37 minutes a day consumers were at home before.

Source: IPA TouchPoints

Consumer confidence is edging up despite stubborn inflation and the Bank of England raising interest rates to a 15-year high of 5% last week.

The inflation rate was 8.7% in May as it was in April stopping the downward trend from its peak of 11.1% last year, with the Office for National Statistics suggesting rising prices for air travel, recreational and cultural goods and services are keeping it high.

But despite this consumers are becoming slightly more positive in their outlook, according to the latest Consumer Confidence Barometer from GfK.

The overall index score improved by three points in June, taking it up to -24, which although still in negative territory is a marked improvement on the -41 recorded in June 2022.

The biggest improvement was seen in peoples view of their personal financial situation over the coming year, which increased by seven points to -1. This marks the third consecutive month of improvement and means it is just shy of returning to a positive position, something not seen since December 2021. It is also a 27-point increase compared to June last year.

Consumers feelings about their own finances over the past 2 months has also improved, up five points to -15.

Looking at the wider economy, there has been a five-point increase in peoples outlook for it next year, taking it to -25. Again this is a significant uptick compared to 2022 when the figure stood at -57. Peoples view of the economy over the past 12 months remains static at -54.

Source: GfK

European social media use fell by four minutes in Q1 2023 compared to the same period last year.

The average time spent on social media platforms now stands at two hours and 1 minute per day for European users with new research from GWI showing all regions (except North America) had a drop as usage starts to level off after a pandemic high.

In the UK, use of social media dropped to one hour and 46 minutes from the one hour and 52 minutes recorded in 2018.

Theres good news for individual apps, however, as TikTok continues to grow in popularity with it now being 9% of social media users favourite app (a jump of 100% to the same time in 2021. WhatsApp and Instagram continue to be the worlds favourite platforms with both sitting on 21% and Facebook sits in third as 20% of users favourite platform (albeit a sharp drop of 14% from the same time in 2021).

The report of 970,000 consumers also finds that keeping in touch with friends and family is the most popular reason for using social media (54%), with many consumers also using social platforms to catch up on news headlines (27%). In fact the number of Western TikTok users using the platform to keep up-to-date with the news has jumped by 41% in two years.

Consumers are also leaning on social media platforms to discover whats trending/being talked about (22%), with the number of consumers turning to TikTok for information about products and brands rising by 52%.

Source: GWI

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Grocery inflation, Pride, social use: 5 interesting stats to start your ... - Marketing Week

June 23, 2023

Dr. Joshua Wilson

Dr. Maribeth Kuzmeski

financial advisors

modern marketing

+more

The landscape of marketing has evolved drastically over the past few years, largely fueled by technological advancements and the constant quest for relevance. A discussion about this evolution is timely as we witness the convergence of marketing trends and the wealth management industry. Additionally, attracting younger investors today undoubtedly requires the use of social media. Theres even a renewed emphasis on staying ahead in marketing, particularly in the financial advisor world. Today, with almost 92 percent of financial advisors using social media for business, according to Putnams Social Advisor Survey, the stakes are higher than ever.

The core question that emerges from this shift is: How can financial advisors stay relevant and successful in an environment where marketing trends evolve so quickly?

On this episode of Untamed Ethos, host Dr. Joshua Wilson and founder of United Ethos Wealth Partners, interviewed Dr. Maribeth Kuzmeski. Their conversation explored the changing trends in marketing, the challenges faced by financial advisors in staying relevant, and the strategies needed to thrive in this fast-paced world.

During the episode, Dr. Wilson and Dr. Kuzmeski centered around these three main points:

Dr. Maribeth Kuzmeski is an accomplished consultant in the wealth management space. Having worked with various types of financial advisors for over 20 years, she boasts an illustrious career trajectory that spans both practical and academic realms. A fervent advocate for forward-thinking marketing, Dr. Kuzmeskis rich academic background includes a PhD in Marketing from Oklahoma State University. She continually pushes boundaries, guiding industry professionals to remain agile and responsive to emerging trends.

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Modern Marketing in Wealth Management Requires Prioritizing ... - MarketScale

Are you using generative AI tools in your day-to-day process?

The hype function of the moment, generative AI can create complex visual and text outputs, based on simple prompts but those outputs are often distorted, frayed at the edges, or just downright incorrect, which can make it risky to rely on such, especially in a professional context.

But they can be very helpful, in a range of ways. And, according to our latest LinkedIn poll, a lot of people are already making use of them in their work life.

As you can see, based on almost 1,300 responses on LinkedIn, 67% of people indicated that they are indeed now using generative AI tools in their day-to-day work.

The data here isnt specific, in that we didnt ask what types of things people are using generative AI for. But it is interesting to consider the results in the context of the Social Media Today audience in the app, which is primarily marketing and communications leaders based in the US.

That suggests that the business world is moving quickly to integrate these new tools, and build them into their processes - which underlines the need for marketers to, at the least, have a solid understanding of what you can use these tools for, and how they provide benefit for an organization.

Personally, Im not as bullish on generative AI tools as some others. In my experience, theyre handy supplementary tools, which can provide you with additional angles and elements to consider, but theyre not wholesale replacements for real people, or expertise as such. You still need to know whether the outputs are correct, and/or how to refine them. Basically, you cant rely on what these tools give you in itself, which is why you need the additional knowledge and skill base to make best use of them.

But they can be handy, and they can help you maximize your processes, if you take the time to understand their limits, and where they fit.

And based on these numbers, a lot of people are doing exactly that.

If youre looking to learn more about generative AI tools, LinkedIn already has a range of LinkedIn Learning courses on the subject.

Originally posted here:
Research Shows that the Majority of Marketing Professionals are ... - Social Media Today

When you use TikTok for good and youre shaping the beauty industry for the good of all, it really has a meaningful impact on society, said Michelle Crossan-Matos, CMO of Ulta Beauty.

Crossan-Matos and Sofia Hernandez, TikToks global head of business marketing, sat down at the Variety Studios at Cannes Lions, presented by Canva, to discuss the value of social media for brand outreach.

What Im hearing about is the importance of the community, which maybe isnt a new conversation, but now a deeper one, said Hernandez. To clarify, Hernandez considers the community to be users of social media, but also the population at large that defines culture.

When we talk about community at Ulta Beauty, were talking about fans, the beauty enthusiasts, people who just want to play and learn, so it can be defined in many ways, said Crossan-Matos. Ulta has over 40 million loyalty members, the Ultra CMO explains, which she believes is more than any other company in the U.S. Hernandez said that TikTok has over a billion users, so when the two come together, the possibilities for outreach become nearly infinite.

Everyone wants to be surrounded by realness and authenticity, said Hernandez. And this is a community that really started to lean into imperfection from a beauty standpoint. And so, a lot of the work that Ulta has done on TikTok is embracing that.

Younger generations gravitate towards fellow social media members for recommendations rather than brands themselves, which is something beauty brands like Ulta are trying to cash in on. Both Hernandez and Crossan-Matos believe that community members online are a valuable asset in brand marketing, especially when they come across as honest and authentic.

We tell brands a lot to think like marketers but act like creators, said Hernandez. She hopes brands can learn how to better utilize TikTok to help get products out there.

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Ulta CEO and TikTok Head of Marketing Talk Brands on Social Media - Variety