There’s a new, cutting-edge technology that’s changing the face of retail marketing. It’s beacons. Here are a few statistics that may help to emphasize this point: By the end of this year alone, it’s expected that there will be over a million beacons installed in stores here in the U.S. Over 40 billion queries for beacon-related content are pulled by Android devices from Google Services each year. Bluetooth beacons are expected to reach a 133% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) between 2016 and 2021 in advertising, retail and personal tracking.

Have you ever been doing research, watching videos on YouTube or attempting to find a new couch on sale, and you discover that with every page you open, there are more and more adds to contend with? It seems that no matter how quickly you click on the life-saving little “X” in the corner (assuming you even have that option), another ad pops up! Why would publishers do this? They flash banners, they play videos (unsolicited), and implement all kinds of overlays that block you from seeing the content you are trying to see.

Once again, Forbes.com has published an article by Genius Monkey’s CRO, Jeremy Hudgens. It expounds on the importance of sticking to the measurements that most impact your bottom line. The title of the piece is: Profits Are More Important Than Impressions. Brand marketers tend of focus their measurements on items that, in the long run, don’t really matter. These items include viewability, impressions and third-party verifications. The dynamics that count most in today’s digital world are Attribution and Conversion.

At Genius Monkey we’re a breed apart from the rest. Most of you reading this will remember a children’s show called Sesame Street. On it, they played a game called “One of These Things is Not Like the Other.” They would show several items, all identical except for one. The children had to determine which item was the different one, and why. If Genius Monkey were featured in a game of “One of These Things is Not Like the Other,” we would certainly be the one that was different!

While the tumultuous discussions continue regarding the value of transparency, more and more brands continue to redefine success in programmatic. While highly-ranked publishers encourage brands to recognize the value of their inventory rather than just the cost, of late, the industry is beginning to notice that advertisers are paying attention to the importance of context in media. Low-cost cookie chasing campaigns have dictated media plans for years. However, brand marketers are now having to consider where their ads show up, and just who sees them.

We have become a culture that is highly reliant on online search. Recent reports indicate that 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when searching on their phone. B2B researchers conduct an average of 12 searches before engaging on a specific brand’s site. In fact, 65% of smartphone users look for the most relevant information, regardless of the company that’s providing the info. Searches are imperative and prevalent in today’s marketing activities.

Did you know that nearly 95% of Google’s revenue comes from online advertising? The average consumer is served up over 1,700 banner ads per month, yet only 50% of them are ever viewed. What is it that makes some ads capture one’s attention, and others go by the wayside? Genius Monkey knows, as we grasped the concept of multifaceted online ads way before the recent findings were released, proving what we already knew.

Google, in partnership with Ipsos, recently conducted research geared towards discovering the tastes, behaviors and wants, as well as the future trends, of the up-and-coming “Generation Z” consumer group (those born after 1995). Screens Most Used Of those Gen Z teenagers polled, 78% use smartphones, 69% use laptops, 68% spend time watching TV, 62% use gaming consoles and 52% utilize tablets. Of those between the ages of 18-24 that responded to the same questions, 87% use smartphones, 80% use laptops, 72% spend time watching TV, 56% use gaming consoles and 56% utilize tablets.

There are exponential changes occurring in the field of retail. Recent research indicates that at least 58% of retail sales (non-grocery) is expected to be influenced by digital in 2017. More astounding is the fact that this figure equates to an additional $86 billion in non-grocery retail sales this year that will be influenced by digital, as brands continue to strive to deliver truly integrated digital experiences to their customers by improving their mobile strategy.

A recent survey revealed that people interact with their mobile smartphones an average of 13 times per hour. In addition, 60% of ads that people found to be influential in making a purchase were viewed on a smartphone. These stats should be very telling to a company interested in the capture and conversion of their mobile customers. Red Lobster is a good example of a company that is taking advantage of the mobile behaviors of their customers.