All Research is Creative

CohereOne, the premier direct-to-consumer marketing agency and strategic consultancy, is pleased to announce the addition of Rob Santangelo as Senior Vice President of New Business Development. Santangelo joins CohereOne after six years at Belardi Wong in New York, where he successfully spearheaded the business development infrastructure for the marketing strategy and creative services firm. As both the youngest director and vice president in company history, Santangelo closed business with over 200 top brands during his tenure and generated at least $1 million in new business revenue each year. “CohereOne has been enjoying tremendous growth,” said Tim Curtis, President / CEO of CohereOne. “The addition of Rob supercharges our effort to serve the burgeoning direct-to-consumer industry. His insights and his understanding of how digital native brands launch and expand their use of the direct mail channel speaks for itself.” Santangelo began his career at 1-800-Flowers.com, and rapidly advanced in the organization from Associate Category Manager and Category Manager of Ecommerce Merchandising to Manager of Fulfillment Partnership Sales. Under his direction, the company’s Fruit Bouquets product line increased its fulfillment footprint from 13% to 78%.

Catalogs are a tried-and-true instrument in a marketer’s toolbox delivering an in-depth product experience right to any home or office door. With the rise of the digital age, many thought that e-commerce would supplant catalogs, but the opposite has been true. Catalogs continue to hold their own as a marketing channel operating steadily alongside its digital brethren. Catalogs originated as a method to communicate product availability and highlight new goods. Now a company’s website functions in the same capacity and in real-time. Catalogs of today have evolved to serve as a means of inspiration, allowing consumers to visualize products in real-life situations with thoughtful detail and narratives. They also allow brands more room to tell their story and gain consumer trust. This can occur because, unlike the more frenzied pace of online shopping, catalog readers spend between 15 minutes to 30 minutes turning the pages and catalogs are retained for several weeks as a reminder to place an order, shop online, or visit a store. The staying power of catalogs owes itself in part to online shopping, as the two have formed a symbiotic relationship. A printed catalog allows companies to bridge the physical and digital marketing space that can still be targeted and measured.

Advertising has long been a vector for nefarious actors ranging from organized crime to a variety of other bad actors, but the proliferation of digital media and especially the programmatic advertising marketplace has given rise to increasing opportunities for purveyors of "malvertising" -- digital ads served to unsuspecting users that spread malware, compromise computer systems and harm consumers, publishers and platforms. And while the magnitude has been difficult to benchmark, much less track, weakening advertising marketplace conditions are projected to accelerate the proliferation of malvertising, according to the first of what is planned to be an ongoing series of "threat assessment" reports published for the ad industry by the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG).