June 2017

Google, in partnership with Ipsos, recently conducted research geared towards discovering the tastes, behaviors and wants, as well as the future trends, of the up-and-coming “Generation Z” consumer group (those born after 1995). Screens Most Used Of those Gen Z teenagers polled, 78% use smartphones, 69% use laptops, 68% spend time watching TV, 62% use gaming consoles and 52% utilize tablets. Of those between the ages of 18-24 that responded to the same questions, 87% use smartphones, 80% use laptops, 72% spend time watching TV, 56% use gaming consoles and 56% utilize tablets.

There are exponential changes occurring in the field of retail. Recent research indicates that at least 58% of retail sales (non-grocery) is expected to be influenced by digital in 2017. More astounding is the fact that this figure equates to an additional $86 billion in non-grocery retail sales this year that will be influenced by digital, as brands continue to strive to deliver truly integrated digital experiences to their customers by improving their mobile strategy.

A recent survey revealed that people interact with their mobile smartphones an average of 13 times per hour. In addition, 60% of ads that people found to be influential in making a purchase were viewed on a smartphone. These stats should be very telling to a company interested in the capture and conversion of their mobile customers. Red Lobster is a good example of a company that is taking advantage of the mobile behaviors of their customers.

Google is launching ad blocking technology in Chrome… and why this is a good thing for all of us! According to Mary Meeker’s 2017 Internet Trends report, the marketing industry doesn’t want ad blocking increasing on mobile devices from the current adoption rate of 1%, which is considerably lower than the current rate of 18% for desktop computers. The good news is that there is an improvement plan being implemented.

The impact that mobile advertising has on the landscape of advertising is growing exponentially, and no company in any industry should ignore the tracks that mobile ads are leaving in the sand. Here is what we ALL can learn from the travel industry: Google recently reported that when it comes to booking hotels, almost 50% of Google Hotel ads referrals are now coming from smartphones, indicating a continued growth by nearly 2.