One of the biggest challenges in marketing is the difficulty in measuring a discrete ROI for your campaigns. This is especially problematic when you have multiple campaigns running concurrently and when there’s no specific way to tie a sale to a marketing impression. TV advertising has always been plagued by this issue – when you spend thousands or millions on an ad, how do you prove you gained incremental sales? TV has also struggled with inefficient advertising – you buy spots in shows and times that fit your target demographics but you pay for all impressions, not just impressions that hit your target market.
Turner and Chipotle (through their marketing agency Mediahub) are aiming to tie results to effort with their “For Real” campaign. Chipotle will focus on addressable ads rather than broadcast ads using Turner’s new platform and Turner is guaranteeing a sales lift from audiences exposed to Chipotle’s advertising compared to non-exposed viewers. This is just another example of technology transforming blurring the line between mass selling and personalized sales. If the effort is successful, it could be a big boost for TV networks who are struggling for ad revenue as more and more firms shift their spending to online marketing. You can read more about the collaboration here.
We often see examples of how the internet and advances in marketing technology enable mass personalization of marketing messages. 3D printing is a disruptive technology which promises to bring the same capability to product design. Gillette announced a pilot program wherein they will allow customers to create a customized razor handle which will be 3D printed in Gillette’s Boston headquarters. Customers can expect a two to three week turnaround time to receive their custom razor. Customers can choose from 48 designs and 7 color options when designing their razor. You can read more about it in 
Sears, Roebuck and Company was founded in 1892 and one of the most iconic retailers in US history filed for bankruptcy protection in October. The Sears catalog was a staple in many households during much of the 20th century. Unfortunately they never seemed to really move beyond the catalog. The retailer has been on a steady decline for over a decade and 
Americans are crazy about Halloween and that works out great for costume companies, candy manufacturers, decoration providers, and of course the retailers that carry those goods. In fact, according to 
Personal selling has always had the ability and advantage of tailoring a message for a specific customer. A downside of personal selling is the cost and time required to touch all members of a large market. On the other hand, mass selling gave us the opportunity to reach a broad audience in a cost-effective manner but we had to do so with a “one-size-fits-all” message. Marketing technology is increasingly becoming more sophisticated is helping to close the gap between personal selling and mass selling. Now we can easily personalize mass communications to address customers by name, present specific promotions based on what we know about that customer, automate follow-up, and more.