Marketing Murmur #7 Mind Boggling Alibaba Stats

Keep saying that all departments from within agencies and companies have to come together as one; yes that includes marketing bods meeting IT geeks. Only then can we really have joined up customer experiences. We need to get that infrastructure in place with people working and talking as one. For many in agencies and even clients, dismiss eCommerce as it doesn't fall under their remit so it then takes a back seat when it comes to any form of connected marketing. It must be at the centre of any comms as it's central to the customer interaction from searching through to buying. Just hearing Alibaba's Single's Day on how much was spent on their platforms, is truly staggering.

What were they thinking?

Watching the video of a passenger been randomly dragged of a United Airlines flight I was literally shell-shocked. Shocked how they treated the poor man and for the record he is a Doctor by trade not a madman who went crazy mid-flight. He was chosen, as they needed the space, as they were over-booked!!! Shocked too in the age of ‘live’ broadcast what was the staff thinking? It’s a PR nightmare and I find it amazing that brands invest millions in marketing campaigns but how much staff get trained in dealing with customers? I reckon looking at this, nothing. I bet they now wish they had a time machine and could turn back the clock.

There's More Pop -Ups In-store From Amazon

The march continues in owning the shopping experience from Amazon, according to Business Insider, the tech giant has a master plan to open even more pop-up stores in the coming year, they are keen in particularly to showcase its Echo speakers and other devices and hardware like; Kindles and Fire TV. You could be looking at over 100 pop-up stores in the coming months, as the e-retailer is reportedly putting up one almost every week across the US. They are keen to stress though just because Amazon is expanding its physical presence it doesn't mean it's focusing more on bricks-and-mortar shops. Having said that, apparently, these pop-ups are there to give potential customers a chance to play and interact with the products to then drive up their sales online, so surely the increase will continue. We all know this is the best retail strategy for any brand worth their salt that they have a fully integrated experience. Let's see how this shakes up and maybe what partnerships could evolve for big brands on the high street.

The customer journey is nothing but straight forward.

Great piece via econsultancy with digital, the traditional buying cycle has gone out of the window. Brands and agencies struggle with this, they're not dictating the journey but people are. It's a struggle for many but to build a successful brand you have to let it go a bit and let your customers lead.

Self-centred brand?

If anyone ever asks you what's the difference between brand centric and customer centric? Then this visual sums it up, genius