As with many seemingly overnight sensations, the Internet of Things (IoT) - the digitization of everyday objects - has been a long time coming. More than three decades ago, thirsty students at Carnegie Mellon University famously connected a Coke machine to the Internet, in order to see whether it had drinks in stock, making it one of the first popular examples of the IoT in action.

As more consumers turn to online shopping, CPG brands have a real opportunity to drive ecommerce sales. A study from DigitasLBi discovered that 20% of Americans would consider purchasing via social, making it a huge and largely an untapped opportunity for CPG manufacturers. To get the most out of their investment, CPG marketers should consider the following five points in the context of their specific circumstances:

For decades, these post-Thanksgiving deals and hyped promotions have served as the official kickoff to holiday shopping. But this year, several major retailers seem to have tilted that tradition on its head.

In a study by Consumer Goods Technology and Wipro, 39% of executives from North American CPG companies said that they believe direct-to-consumer channels drive the most online revenue for their companies. In fact, nearly three out of five digital shoppers say they would shop on a brand site over online retailer sites like Amazon.com because they offer exclusive products. This creates a tremendous opportunity and can shift how CPG manufacturers have been marketing their products for the past 25 years.

While the demise of ad agencies due to digital disruption has long been prophesied, the evidence just doesn't point to such an outcome. The actual outcome, to date, has been the proliferation of agencies. As digital democratized publishing has opened unlimited new channels, the marketing environment has, in turn, become much more complex, with CMOs hiring a broad phalanx of best of breed channel-specialist agencies. Indeed, "integrated marketing" - or the orchestration of this "stable of agencies" - has become the issue of greatest importance for CMOs, (according to a "Forbes" study), sadly surpassing even "effective advertising."

Wouldn't it be great if brand equity could be measured daily, like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, instead of on a quarterly, or bi-annual basis? Imagine the decisions that could be made by being able to correlate current marketing activities to movement in brand equity. Although not possible historically, due to the analog nature of classic brand equity studies, by focusing on digital channels, marketers have an opportunity to improve the speed of their learnings and, ultimately, the impact of their efforts.

In a largely commoditized category, producing the best product is not enough to differentiate from the competition. Brands need to look at what they can authentically contribute to culture and how they can inspire their audience to build affinity. Few CPG brands are doing this well or being bold enough to do it.