LATAM TRENDSETTER: Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer CEO, Discusses Digital Complexity & What Latin American Women Trust
Geoffrey Ramsey, CEO & Co-Founder of eMarketer -- the research company that not only amalgamates, but makes sense of existing digital media studies from around the globe, is a well-known for his keynote addresses on he calls the "exploding digital landscape."
According to Ramsey';s calculations, online represents 15% of the total ad spend in the US, while in the UK it is even more significant--closer to 20% of total ad spend. North America and Western Europe accounted for 72.4% of the world's ad spending online in 2009, according to eMarketer reports. However, their combined share will drop to 66.4% by 2014, as Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America experience rapid growth. These regions' combined share will increase to 32.1% from 27.3% over the same period.
Perhaps more interesting than these general statistics, is eMarketer's belief that women in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, along with Hispanic women in the US, are starting to trust online buzz more than some ads. According to a Sophia Mind study, female social network users are avid visitors to social sites and rely on them for purchasing decision-making.
Perhaps to the surprise of many, Latin women are most likely to trust the advice of social network connections when purchasing electronics. About half were also open to recommendations for books and magazines, music, travel and films. Also interesting was is how the purchases of more personal items such as clothing, jewelry and investments were not influenced by social networks.
In Brazil, 32% of women say that they comment "all the time" on social networks about purchase experiences, while an additional 26% say they comment "only when satisfied" with a purchase. Interestingly, just 8% of Brazilian women commented when dissatisfied, while 34% never posted purchasing experience information online.
This compares with 21% of US Hispanic women who offer comments "all the time" about purchases, followed by 14% of women in Argentina and 10% in Mexico.
Interestingly, despite marketers' worries about negative buzz, the discussion of positive experiences regarding products and services outweighed complaint discussions in all markets.
