Society is evolving from a one-to-many communications model to a many-to-many model. With the advent of digital platforms, millions of consumers are communicating in ways not possible just five years ago. Within this new ecosystem, a powerful army of grassroots 'Influencers' has emerged. Equipped with above-average category knowledge, social esteem, dogmatism and extensive online social networks, the new 'Super Influencers' are generating category demand, shaping brand perceptions and driving purchase decisions to an alarming degree.

Segmentation is generally acknowledged as a fundamental component of understanding and addressing one's market. Today, customer segmentation is no longer a simple, or static, marketing technique; it is core to the way successful companies run their businesses. However, despite the widespread use of segmentation and the importance of getting segmentation 'right', rarely do segmentation schemes live up to the expectations set by management.

Marketers should take an individually tailored, value-based approach to customer management. That approach should focus the right resources on the right customer while, at the same time, optimizing the level of service to the low-value customer. Our analysis indicates that by adopting such an approach the average company could increase their annual profits by ten to twenty percent.

Multi means many, it does not mean linked nor does it mean optimized. The biggest failure of multi-channel marketing is that the concept has not yet been driven to its point of greatest value - when channels reference each other and result in a more continuous, timely and intimate link to the customer. Optimized multi-channel marketing is a marketing practice that realizes the promise of multi-channel marketing.

Creative content is the primary vehicle used by marketers and advertisers today to try to differentiate their messages in the marketplace. There is a new creative that is even more important in marketing today.