Fortune 500 Issue Has Fewer Pages Than in Past 3 Years

This is the time of year when Fortune publishes its door-stop-sized issue listing America's 500 largest corporations. Since 1998, I've tracked the number of pages per issue, which is suggestive of the economic situation because of the number of ads and, therefore, the size of the issue. 

The 2016 issue, alas, is not as fat as 2015, 2014, or 2013, going by the numbered pages. It's only 10 pages bigger than the 2008 issue, which came out in the year of the financial crisis. But then again, this is an election year, which may affect advertising decisions and budgets. 

Another major factor is the increase in digital advertising, which is partly responsible for the plateau (at best) or decline in print advertising overall.
 
2016: 346
2015: 392
2014: 390
2013: 352
2012: 312
2011: 316
2010: 308
2009: 276
2008: 356
2007: 386
2006: 384
2005: 410
2004: 478
2003: 410
2002: 402
2001: 474
2000: 630 - Peak of dot-com boom!
1999: 510
1998: 506

A Closer Look at LEGO Serious Play

From LEGO Serious Play

LEGO Serious Play is a division of LEGO devoted to helping businesses and organizations build teamwork. The program "taps into your team's creativity to boost strategic problem-solving and enhance how it handles change."

LEGO isn't the only big name in children's entertainment to offer corporate programs. Walt Disney has a separate division to teach customer service skills and support service teambuilding. It also offers unique team-building opportunities for groups that meet at its hotels and resorts.

LEGO's division is marketing teambuilding activities built around using LEGO blocks to create structures - and, in the process, inject more creativity into working together.

Quoting from the LEGO Serious Play site: The metaphors in the models serve as the basis for group discussion, knowledge sharing and problem solving and help foster creative thinking and finding unique solutions. The idea originated in 1996 and LEGO Serious Play has now certified facilitators all over the world.

There's a book about this teamwork/creativity approach, in case your management wants to try this at home. The Chicago Tribune wrote about LEGO Serious Play in 2015, interviewing one of the book's authors. Others are using LEGO toys to unlock creative potential, as shown on this page about LEGO and Art Lab. And some companies ask job candidates to build LEGO structures during the recruitment process--so be prepared. These ubiquitous plastic bricks have value to people of all ages and at all levels!

Joe Fresh Leaves America

When the Canadian-based clothing brand Joe Fresh first came to America in 2011, it introduced itself with a hip, fashion-oriented ad campaign. By 2014, the nationwide distribution deal through JC Penney--which gave Joe Fresh prominent positioning in stores from coast to coast--was a challenge because of Penney's troubles, but Joe Fresh was still pursuing international marketing.

By 2015, Joe Fresh was in only 200 Penney stores but pushing multichannel marketing for US customers. Now Joe Fresh is closing its flagship US stores and its US deal with JC Penney is over.

Will the brand try America again? US customers can still shop online or cross the border to a freestanding Joe Fresh store or a store inside/next to a Loblaw's across Canada. 

The brand, owned by Loblaw's, uses social and digital media to reach fans of cheap chic fashion. Its FB page has 266,000 likes, its Twitter feed has 94,000 followers, its Snapchat account is @JoeFreshSnaps, and its Pinterest boards have 14,000 followers. It has an app with special deals and a blog for content marketing.

Are Department Stores Dinosaurs?

The uncertain future of department stores has been discussed for more than 30 years, with the rise of specialty stores, consumer preference for lifestyle shopping centers instead of enclosed malls, and--of course--online shopping.

During the 1980s and 1990s, department stores and mass merchandisers were making significant changes behind the scenes. Point-of-sale terminals replaced cash registers, and personal computers brought data analysis to management's fingertips. Managers could see hourly sales trends instead of waiting for end-of-month numbers.

In those days, department stores like Saks and Sears still offered private-label credit cards, which in turn allowed them to see who bought what and how often. Credit was frequently a source of profits, not just an engine for supporting sales increases. (Today, nearly all store cards are operated by non-retailers). Remember, Sears founded the Discover card, using its expertise in the credit industry. Here's a case study about Sears that offers clues to some of the retail challenges of the time. And here's a quick look at how Sears evolved over the years.

The question of whether department stores are dinosaurs bound for extinction is still being asked. A real estate analysis firm recently estimated that department stores would need to shutter hundreds of branches to return to the sales-per-square-foot productivity levels of 2006. That translates into a sea of empty anchor stores all over the country. Malls are trying to update the shopping experience to bring consumers back, to go to the movies or for specialty stores that are especially in demand.

In a world where promotional pricing attracts shopper attention, department stores are joining in, and that's making waves for high-end brands. Michael Kors is going to limit the number of products it sells to department stores to avoid having its lux image affected by promo pricing.

Department stores are also making some other adjustments. Macy's is closing a few dozen stores, and Sears/Kmart is closing some stores as well. Macy's has begun rolling out "Backstage" off-price stores within stores to utilize space and attract price-conscious shoppers who might otherwise go elsewhere. Sears is leasing some of its space to other stores, such as Primark.

It's still too early to deem department stores dinosaurs.

Brand Rankings in 2016

So many ways to rank brands! Some authorities rank on the basis of brand value, some on the basis of performance, and on and on. In Fortune's recent listing of world's most admired companies, the top three were well-known US brands:

1. Apple
2. Alphabet (you know, Google's parent)
3. Amazon

Here's a selection of how other sites rank US brands of various sorts.

• Consumer Reports ranks vehicles here.
• US News & World Report ranks vehicles in four categories (cars, trucks, SUVs, luxury) here.
• Kelly Blue Book ranks car brands on the basis of image and value here.
• Laptop magazine ranks the top laptop computers here.

Mobile Payments Inch Toward Wider Usage

Mobile payments have been innovating for several years in an attempt to attract a much larger volume of users and a larger group of places (merchants/apps/retailers) where they will be accepted for purchases with a tap or click.

This contactless payment trend has the potential to dramatically change how consumers behave in purchase situations--but that's only a potential outcome. Currently, mobile payments do not yet have the most compelling reasons to change consumer behavior, even though mobile banking is very popular.

Here are some of the latest developments as mobile payments inch along:

• Android Pay will now be accepted for purchases on websites and for ATM transactions.
• FitBit is planning to include payment functionality on future fitness tracking products.  
• Apple Pay is expanding in Canada with the acceptance by major banks there. 
• Samsung Pay is widely accepted among US retailers and is partnering with Alibaba for the Chinese market.
• Walmart has introduced its payment app in Texas.

Neuroscience Helps Advertisers Connect with Audiences

Neuroscience research is helping advertisers determine what catches the audience's attention, what people remember and why, what tugs at their heart strings and what makes them yawn.

For example:

• Print ads can stick in the memory because of the involvement in recognizing, comprehending, and processing words and symbols.
• Ads with emotional content are much more effective than those without.
• Ads embedded in mobile entertainment shouldn't interrupt the game before an important play.
• Ad content should connect with the audience's objectives.

At top, an example of what can make an ad engaging and memorable. It engages at multiple levels, as the audience sees the unusual image of a fashionable, fully-dressed woman in an updated version of the old-fashioned bathtub (notice the red swan instead of the usual yellow duckie in the bubble bath). The words are also engaging--few ads use language like "old lady." If you recognize this fashion plate "old lady," you'll really get the comparison. Even if you don't, you'll smile and be intrigued by the image, the words, and the comparison.

The store is Pirch, and the "old lady" is Iris Apfel, known for her distinctive sense of style. The CMO says, "We looked at this campaign from the approach of explaining and establishing Pirch as a lifestyle, experiential brand." An interesting ad that puts a different spin on "experiential" to attract attention.

Selfies as Self-Ethnographic Research

Marketing researchers want to know how and when their products are used, not just who is using them. Surveys and focus groups are helpful, but ethnography is another tool for observing product use in the real world--real people, real products, real shopping or usage situations.

Audi used ethnographic research in Australia to better understand the context of the local car-buying situation and used that research to inform the development of segment personas. As a result, Audi now has a series of brand touchpoints it has mapped and can target with marketing objectives for each contact. General Motors had ethnographic research and personas, but it needed to add emotion to the equation in order to make sense out of the data and apply the results to a marketing strategy.

Selfies are the next frontier in ethnographic research, with consumers using an app to snap and upload photos showing a product or process in use. Crest has used selfies collected by Pay Your Selfie to better understand when people brush their teeth. Based on the selfie research, Crest's marketers learned about a spike in brushing before dinner--perhaps related to a desire for fresh-smelling breath before happy hour?

One startup, Pay Your Selfie, allows marketers to go where they rarely have access, inside the consumer's real life. Rather than ask someone to describe what they do, a selfie shows the consumer interacting with a brand or product. An ad agency exec for Leo Burnett notes: "From a research perspective, we often ask people to describe what their morning is like in surveys. But a quick picture of their table would definitely be worth 1,000 words."

Selfie-takers get a small amount of money for each "task" they complete, such as snapping a selfie while brushing their teeth. Clearly, the sample for these research studies is limited and self-selecting. But the possibility of stepping into the consumer's world is very intriguing and can yield insights for future marketing plans. Pay Your Selfie is also into political research. Self-ethnographic research is still in its infancy. What next?

Thinking About Digital Devices and "Dayparts"

Think with Google just posted a fascinating discussion about "dayparting" and targeting. The main idea is that marketers should analyze "micro-moment" opportunities for communicating with the target market, when and where and how these consumers are accessing data. How--meaning what type of digital device people are using at the time.

This isn't Google's first post about micro-moments. Last year, a post discussed how consumer behavior is shifting and now comprises so many split-second decisions and actions such as checking social media, checking a bank balance or texting a friend. At those moments, consumers may use different digital devices and want different info or products or functionality. Marketers, are you ready?

Pew Research points out (above) that Millennials are almost all tethered to their cell or smartphones--and some simply see no need for certain other digital devices. That's bad news for PC/Mac makers, bad news for marketers of e-book readers, bad news for game console marketers. It's also a wakeup call for marketers that think about websites and social media in terms of the big screen and in terms of one message all the time.

Mapping the dayparts of digital involvement, Google has found that many people use their phones to accomplish things on the way to work and after the work day is over. During business hours, more tablets and computers are used for online searches, compared with the number of searches by phone.

Understanding consumer behavior and micro-moments will help you plan marketing that makes sense for consumers and the digital device they're using at that time, the content they're seeking, and the functionality you should have for big or tiny screens. Is your marketing plan in tune with these micro-moments?

Cruising into History: Marketing Cruises to Cuba

Fathom's Adonia, a Carnival cruise ship, has put into port at Havana. Adonia is the first ship to sail from a US port to a Cuban port for more than 50 years, making it a historic marketing occasion. News organizations worldwide covered the docking...a lot of free PR for Fathom, which is a fairly new brand for Carnival.

Fathom sails to other destinations, and its unique selling proposition (remember that  buzzword of the last century?) is that passengers can choose to participate in volunteer projects. In the Dominican Republic, for example, passengers can help school children practice their English or work for a few hours on water filters, among other possibilities.

A report last month said Royal Caribbean will base one of its ships (Empress of the Seas) in Havana. Royal Caribbean can promote its Cuban trips and also carry passengers to Caribbean destinations from there.

Permission from the Cuban is needed before cruise ships can dock in Havana or other Cuban ports, but the process is far from routine or speedy, as Pearl Seas Cruises learned. Pearl had to cancel its first 10-day cruise to Cuba after failing to receive permission on time.

Expect more cruises to and from Cuba as the government acts on applications and demand increases.