In the past, when senior marketers heard the words "experiential marketing," one of the first associations was likely around stunts - or maybe even a connection to guerrilla marketing. It was something either done in a mall or on a crowded shopping street that had very little to do with AI, AR or IoT. Nowadays, progressive brands are integrating these technologies to offer complex, multifaceted experiences at scale.

In the gilded age of small batch, local, authenticity, and transparency, big corporations often get cast, unfairly, as the villain. While no company is perfect, most large entities get a bit of a bad rap. So, how do establishments stop acting like The Man, and regain the respect of the people? If you’re still using “Likes” as a form of analytical measurement in 2018, you might as well be using an abacus to calculate the tip for dinner. Likes are a thing of the past, but likability is the key to the future of brand perception, and likability is measured …

I recently read in an advertising column that the two major trends for marketing are "authenticity" and "transparency." I scratched my head and thought, "Trends?" This is why many brands are failing, built upon a version of marketing leadership that drives disregard for institutions, government and capitalism itself.

How does a 54 year old make a decision about which non-profit to support? How does an Hispanic man choose a favorite coffee brand? Making sweeping generalizations about the way that people make buying decisions based on age, race, or gender seems ineffective, but for years, it's been all that marketers had to go on.

Ideas that understand their customer.

In a recent survey of our Fortune 500 customers, we asked them to rank their most common data challenges. Integrating multiple data sources was the top result, with analyzing data to draw insights and acting on the data tied for second place.

Yes, you're too busy to read 50 pages about 2018 travel trends. But if you want to make sense of what might be coming up this year, it might be worth your while to read "From the Front Line: Luxury Vacation Trends," written by Jack Ezon, president of Ovation Vacations, a luxury travel agency. There's a lot for marketers to chew on from this keen observer of the industry.

One afternoon you get a call from a long-time retailer complaining that your product is being sold on Amazon at prices 20% lower. Your retailer is frustrated because he's repeatedly being asked by customers to match these lower prices, something he can't afford to do.

There's no denying that we now live in a digital world. The latest findings show U.S. consumers are spending five hours a day on their mobile devices. We often let the digital world engulf the physical one, so much so that people forget they're walking on busy streets because they're so deep into their mobile devices. For marketers, this behavior signifies the importance of technology in today's attention economy. As such, technology should play a critical role in all marketing efforts, including physical experiences.

It turns out "brick and mortar" isn't as dead as everybody thought. Walmart stock is trading at an all-time high of around $100 a share. Kohl's reported sharply higher sales over the holidays. Amazon purchased Whole Foods, and some analysts speculate it will take over Target to further grow its footprint. Now, the popular catchphrase is "omnichannel retail."