Factastic Findings – September 2016

B2B

• The Gartner 2015-16 CMO Spend Survey found that 52% of marketers rank customer experience as one of the top 5 marketing technology investments, and Genesys research shows that companies recognize that positive customer experience improves retention (42%), satisfaction (33%), and increases cross and upselling opportunities (32%). www.business2community.com
• Today, the same creative types have marketing automation tools and analytics platforms that can measure the influence marketing efforts have on revenue – and the return on investment…Despite more than 60 % of marketers creating content every day, only 27% say they’re effectively tracking content metrics. What’s worse is that only 30% of content marketers see their content marketing as effective. www.forbes.com
• Based on April 2016 data from digital marketing organization Regalix, which surveyed more than 500 B2B marketers worldwide, more than 60% said they’ve witnessed a sales increase of between 11% and 50% due to marketing analytics. www.emarketer.com
• A study, which surveyed more than 500 B2B marketers worldwide, found that 29% attributed a 10% or less sales increase to analytics, while 8% attributed an over 50% increase in sales. www.marketingdive.com
• A May 2016 survey by Regalix found B2B marketers are also increasingly turning to social media channels as key tools for distributing content. More than a quarter (27 percent) identify social media as an “indispensable” channel for content distribution in 2016. The data shows social media is now on par with traditional content distribution methods: websites (26 percent) and email (28 percent). www.komarketingassociates.com

Brand Strategy

• The most recent U.S. survey of 1,000 men and women further supports the global research findings that more than 85% of people agree – eating berries make them happier when compared to the most popular fruits and veggies of today. The survey findings further demonstrate a direct connection between eating berries and joy. www.freshplaza.com
• A survey conducted by Clutch reported that till 2016, about 57 percent of small companies have small presence on social media and predicts that by 2017, about 75 percent companies are planning to engage with it. www.cioreview.com
• Over the last seven years, sales in the activewear category have increased 42% to $270 billion. According to Morgan Stanley Research, this growth is expected to continue, adding an estimated $83 billion in sales by 2020. www.fastcompany.com
• 86 percent of US/UK millennials believe brands are more important to society today than in the past and should be accountable for public services and education; 75% think brands should act as cultural benefactors. www.campaignlive.co.uk
• Abercrombie & Fitch is emphasizing “confidence” and “character in a new Branding strategy. The rebrand comes as the Ohio-based retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch, reported disappointing second quarter results — net sales were down 4 percent to $783 million and same store sales were down 4 percent — while the company said it expects “the second half of the year to be challenging.” The company’s stock tanked by 20 percent to $18.30. It also said it would close 60 of 744 stores in the US. www.nypost.com
• About 40 percent of consumers say they would switch to a new brand if it offered full product transparency, and 81 percent say they would consider a brand’s entire portfolio of products if they switched to that brand as a result of increased transparency. www.substainablebrands.com

Energy

• U.S. nuclear power plant outages have been higher this summer (June through August), averaging 4.3 gigawatts (GW), or 51% more than in 2015. Summer outages were at their highest in June, reaching 9.9 GW, or about 10% of total U.S. nuclear capacity, on June 17 and averaging 6.2 GW for the month. www.eia.gov
• As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to cut energy waste in the nation’s restaurants and buildings, today the Energy Department’s Better Buildings Challenge recognized the Wendy’s Company and its franchisee, Wendco Group, for leadership in energy efficiency. This local restaurant achieved a 37 percent total energy reduction or more than 50 percent energy savings per sales transaction, and nearly $8,000 in savings annually. www.energy.gov
• The scale of water use for energy production is tremendous. About 580 billion cubic metres of freshwater a year are necessary for energy production. That’s 1.6 billion cubic meters a day – enough to fill 640,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools every day of the year. www.iea.org
• A new solar forecasting system could save the solar power industry hundreds of millions of dollars and make it easier for grid operators and utilities to integrate high penetration levels of variable resources like solar into the electric grid. www.forbes.com
• Space heating and cooling systems currently account for around 40% of building energy consumption around the world. And as standards of living rise, more than 80 percent of the growth in space cooling growth is expected to take place in emerging and developing economies, pushing up energy demand. www.iea.org

Healthcare

• A new McKinsey & Co. analysis of regulatory filings for 18 states and the District of Columbia found that 75% of the offerings on their exchanges in 2017 will likely be health-maintenance organizations or a similar plan design known as an exclusive provider organization, or EPO. www.wsj.com
• In February 2013, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that 24 million people would buy health coverage through the federally and state-operated online exchanges by this year. Just 11.1 million people were signed up as of late March. www.washingtonpost.com
• “Health care is creating a ‘retirement cost gap’ for many pre-retirees,” says Lee Belniak, vice president in Fidelity Workplace Investing. “Although many assume their savings will cover all of their expenses in retirement, health care costs are often higher than anticipated. Many people assume Medicare will cover everything, but it doesn’t. The average 65+ retiree today should expect to pay around $50001 a year on health care premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, and should carefully weigh all options.” www.forbes.com
• Growth in health-care spending has slowed since the recession and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. It was down to 5.5% annual growth in 2015, from an average of nearly 8% in the two decades preceding the recession, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. www.blogs.wsj.com
• Insurance coverage also does little to drive down a patient’s out-of-pocket costs when compared to the general adult population…figures that show high-need adults spend nearly $1,700 out of pocket vs. the $702 the average adult spends. Those with multiple health conditions but no lifestyle limitations spend about $1,150. www.fortune.com