What Just Happened

The struggle of B2B marketing to get respect, talent, awards is real but could it be old news?  With the first ever Cannes Lions Creative B2B Lions, supported by the B2B Institute, a LinkedIn Think Tank and strategic thought partner to Cannes Lions - B2B work is getting it's share of the spotlight and a seat at the table.  The mission? To change the tide of B2B marketing and nudge it closer to B2C marketing - not to duplicate it - but to be more creative, have more of a long-tail, to build a brand garnering loyalty and lean less toward strictly lead-gen and conversation. Ultimately, the goal is to move hearts and minds - to tap into emotion. My conversation with Paul Cash about his book (Humanizing B2B - read it!)  and his work at his agency Rooster Punk highlights his mission to evolve B2B marketing. Paul is evangelistic in his message and delivery. I dare you to not be inspired. My article for Forbes entitled: Is it Time For A Breakout for B2B Marketing documents the "Call To the Creatives" to try the B2B side at Cannes Lions. 

Diego Borgo takes us through what IS and IS NOT Metaverse and clarifies Culture and Community vs Commerce. Diego works with the likes of Salesforce - listen in to hear why a huge company like Salesforce (and Deloitte and Accenture) is NOT sitting on the sidelines and waiting for this evolution to play out. The risk of missing out is too great. Web 3.0 is a R/Evolution and understanding it is both complex and simple. Our minds are so wired (and mired) in commerce - it has been a struggle to see past that. This conversation, including case studies inthe CPG space, walks us through that. Also the threat to creativity (vs. Growth) comes up. This is a wide-reaching hot topic conversation in the B2B marketing space.  Stay tuned here for my interview with Paul Cash - Author of Humanizing B2B and CEO of Rooster Punk the 2021 Agency of the Year B2B. Video of Interview Here Diego Borgo Here Deloitte / Cannes Lions Report Here B2B Marketing Article Here

Brick and mortar CAN provide brands data too. How? Trevor Sumner and I discuss Interactive In-store content, data and decisions.  And in a time when cookies is expected to go away - this could be a silver bullet it drive sales. According to Sumner: Ironically the only place NOT to get the digital content, you need to make a product decision. is in store where 85% of purchase decisions are made you realize so much on the messaging outside of the store, you're still limited with what message you have at the shelf. And yet that's where the decisions made. And so we're opening up portals to interactivity, to education, to brand connect. Where it matters most at the most targeted audience at the furthest down to the funnel at the point of final product consideration. And I think that when we get to the point where we can look at the value of that media, you're gonna find that it's 10 times more valuable than Facebook or Google or any of those, because it's a targeted shopper they're in front of your product. They're 20 feet from the point of sale. And now you have a full arsenal to tell that message at a pace that's not pushed on the shopper in a way that's uncomfortable, but is a way that actually enhances the shopper experience. Listen to hear answers to my questions: - Is this just a reinvention of RFID? - Are Retail Media Networks viable for IN-Store - Can't we just use our phones or QR codes in-store? The answers will be very enlightening. I covered Retail Media Networks in my article here. It's great to discuss with Sumner who has his finger on the pulse. https://rethink.industries/article/cannes-lions-the-convergence-of-community-creativity-and-commerce/ www.perchinteractive.com

Ever wonder how brands and retailers (together with their manufacturing partners) make hit after hit. Wondering how brands achieve longevity in this ever-so-fickle time? Well, it's about making great product and making money from this great product. How do you do this amidst needing creativity and innovation? Well, you ASK. Yup - work with a company that provides consumer feedback. First Insight works with 25% of the total retail industry providing the Voice of the Customer. Highlights from the show are: Retail is simple, right? ha! There are so many pitfalls. First Insight provides retailers and brand the information for them to determine what to buy or manufacture. What is likely the best selling what is the right retail price and who it should be targeted at. See, retail made easy! Learn more at www.firstinsight.com watch a video of the interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnX1f_XnEWk

Wondering why your personalization software isn't driving sales and your CAC remains so high. It's because Personalization Software, alone, will not cut it. Learn about Findmine with CEO Michelle Bacharach and what will help with your personalization software.  Findmine starts with: What does the brand believe? What is that differentiation?  What fine mine does is serve as a a Content Amplification Engine - amplifying the amount of editorial and inspirational content and scale out their editorial vision. Findmine acts as the connective tissue between merchandising and marketing to delivery real-time content to drive sales for the ENTIRE assortment - not just top sellers but the ENTIRE assortment.

WGSN is one of the World's Leading Insights Organizations. I sat in on Joe McDonnell's presentation at Cannes Lions: The Rise of Virtual Influencers.  He and I reconnected upon our return to rehash the stand-out moments, content of the event and his brilliant presentation. i couldn't get enough! Download their WHITE PAPER Titled: Future Consumer 2024 After years of rapid industry, technological and social acceleration, 2024 ushers in an era of realignment. WGSN presents the new key consumer sentiments and profiles, and what must be done to win minds and market share. Future Consumer 2024 is part of a series of unparalleled business strategy reports that empower you with the knowledge to anticipate and deliver the engagement strategies and products for tomorrow’s consumer.

Headless commerce gets lots of attention as a "must-do" but is that the whole story? Watch me dig into the discussion with Dedrick Boyd, CEO of www.techsparq.com. Boyd and his team are the go-to problems-solvers often brought in when there is trouble. According to Boyd, "We are brought in when they want to upgrade their platform or when they are on the old version of Demandware and they wanna move to the new Salesforce or storefront reference architecture for Salesforce. Or they have an older version of Magento and, , they didn't realize they actually needed a lot of dev talent to run on Magento. We have historically always been able to tackle complex integrations.  Oftentimes when there are projects that are kind of in trouble or if they just require, a little bit more handholding  that's where we, we work really well." We also get into Immersive Commerce - what is I-Commerce, it's search and discovery just much, much better. Tune In. Learn With Me.

3DLOOK is taking Fit Technology into the present and future. We've had  fit technology in this industry, but we're talking about something new here, so let's learn from the what's happening and why it matters and why it's something brands and retailers should check out  Vadim Rogovskiy, CEO and Co-founder tells us that the technology "Can measure human body super, precisely, super quickly with just two images and believe and believe it or not. it's even more accurate than what you can expect from professional tailors."

Livello is a technology company solving retailers labor problems, expanding revenue opportunities and has a vision is to  bring fresh food to anyone anywhere. https://www.livello.com/technologies?lang=en

Learn with me as I sit down with Otailo CEO Ronit Mayer. OtailO calls itself: A smart and circular solution for online product returns management and resale, leveraging your existing retail ecosystem. The OtailO Solution OtailO enables a click-to-brick returns management solution with smart and optimal returns routing for retail brands. Your shoppers can buy anywhere and return anywhere. OtailO technology transforms your brand’s existing brick-and-mortar network into return and resell centers. These stores process, inspect and resell returns locally. Our mission is that everyone wins with OtailO