Uncovering Aha! | Data-Savvy Brand Strategy

Black Friday has shifted from being “the” shopping holiday of the year to “a” shopping day amidst a calendar year full of perpetual sales. How do retailers find success - and what should they measure to define that success? In this episode, Callahan’s retail strategy director Kristin Demel and chief strategy officer Jan-Eric Anderson discuss the metrics that should matter most to retailers on the eve of 2019’s Black Friday, and how to build affinity for your product or brand in the months leading up to the holiday shopping season.

Having product on shelves is an obvious requirement for customers’ ability to purchase it. But, why drive a consumer to a store if the product’s not on shelves - and why isn’t it there? In this episode, Callahan’s retail strategy director Kristin Demel and head of data Zack Pike discuss the importance of understanding the factors behind out of stock products and how to incorporate that data into your marketing plans.

Virtual reality has become mainstream enough that it’s time for brands to think about what kinds of experiences to offer. In this episode, Callahan’s director of social and emerging media Ben Smith talks about VR’s emerging trends, what brands should really be prepared for, and how to start thinking about VR from a marketing perspective.

Knowing how navigate retail is critical to the success of any brand with shelf space. In this episode, Jan-Eric talks about emerging retail trends - challenges and opportunities - with Kristin Demel, Callahan’s Retail Strategy Director. She has some recommendations for your channel strategy and how to evaluate Amazon for your brand. 

It's easy to generalize performance of your retail locations when looking at data. Sometimes, the true aha insights are lurking in the details. In this episode, Zack and Jan-Eric discuss the potential power of those insights in micro sets of data, how you can separate them and uncover what they mean to the bigger picture.

Analytics are a critical component of any marketing campaign. But who should be in charge of that reporting? In this episode, Jan-Eric and Zack make a “controversial” case that your ad agency is the most qualified to take on the responsibility of marketing analytics, and detail four factors to consider to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

Often, a company’s internal analytics functions are housed somewhere within the finance department to monitor things like cash flow and other operational data. In this episode, we make a case for establishing marketing analytics as part of that team’s function, which would then be able to inform a CMO’s decisions with more detailed sales data.

Ben Smith, Callahan's Director of Social and Emerging Media, recently attended Facebook's F8 conference for developers. In this episode, Ben shares his insight and perspective on the overall health of Facebook, its coverage in news, and what emerging trends could shape future marketing tactics on the platform.