MMA Impact: Marketing based on understanding Mexican shoppers

From data-driven campaigns, retail media, digitization focused on users, personalized ads, and the fusion of branding with performance, to the metaverse, metamobility and digital advertising was the area of subjects dealt with at the 2022 MMA Impact Mexico meeting, where more than 350 marketing leaders gathered this Wednesday, Aug. 24, in Mexico City. Leading the welcoming ceremony was Fabiano Lobo, managing director for Latin America of MMA, who said that this event is in constant evolution. “It’s more versatile and becomes an industry guide to all the current aspects of marketing, advertising, technology and other elements of the area. All this we do with such tools as our annual playbook and think tanks like Conectadas (Connected Women), which promote diversity and inclusion. So that the Latin American podcast masters of marketing together with top marketing executives and the MMA Hispanic LatAm Smarties event are all on board to celebrate innovation and creativity. The first presentation was given by Luiz Gustavo Pacete, director of LatAm Content for MMA, who spoke of the metaverse with assurances that this is a way to decentralize digital platforms from the data of users, thus endowing these communities with the power to choose where these brand pitches will be sent. Next came the turn of Luisa Castañeda, head of FMCG & Others of Mercado Ads Mexico, who said that in this unit of Mercado Libre (Free Market) business “we have managed to strengthen the business through relevance, effectiveness and objectivity; with that we were able to combine branding with performance for an impact never seen before. In recent years, digitization has considerably increased in our lives and has something from which there is no turning back – e-commerce has become an integral part of a consumer’s shopping routine. In 2019 close to 5 percent of retail sales in the region were done through e-commerce, but the pandemic has speeded up its growth considerably.” Meanwhile, Sarahi Abraham, director of corporate e-commerce at L’Oreal Mexico, said the company was never afraid of doing its best to provide consumers with what they were looking for. “The results were powerful, not because we created a notable campaign, but rather because our months of work generated insights that they could optimize in the future. We were looking for improvements that would help us establish better metrics and win more sales. It wasn’t just a question of selling more, but of knowing we were relevant.” Juan Isaza, VP of Strategy & Innovation at DDB Latina, spoke of the studies his agency made in the area of inclusion and diversity. “We understood the importance of going back to connect with our essence, which has a tremendous content of humanity and inclusion. We knew that more diversity could make a gigantic change in our essence, along with the thought that if you have the best people, you will have the best product, and if you have the best product, you’ll have the best profits.” Another presentation was Enrichment of Data, the Best Solution for the Death of Cookies, by Jesus Benitez and Luis Gutierrez of Adsmovil, in alliance with Cynthya Urbina of AB InBev, who said that the collection of information authorized by users is key to strategic planning for the creation of data-driven campaigns that are relevant both for brands and consumers. The Metamobility Accompanying Users on their Journey O+O was another of the conferences, this one organized by Hector Rodriguez of Logan, together with Luis Javier Mendoza and Maria del Carmen of Bayer. Connecting with Mexicans through Spotify and Mercado Libre audios gave a smooth continuity to the event. First announced as the second half of the conferences began were the results of the MMA Modern Marketing Report 2022, a study of trends in principal market segments by Ricardo Barrueta, managing director of GfK Mexico. This brought to light certain insights about Mexican consumers including: -Inflation and the pandemic are a continued concern among consumers around the world, but Mexico is also plagued by crime and illegality.- Mexican consumers, though burdened by these factors, have trust in their country’s economic future, which in turn encourages them to keep on buying. Members of Generation X and baby boomers, however, continue to be more cautious.Coca-Cola, Yahoo!, American Express, Teads, Nespresso, Danone and Plug also took part in this series of conferences.