A Look Back at 2014 @ 23 Dec 2014

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As 2014 comes to a close, here is a list of interesting marketing and communications factoids we’ve compiled for your enjoyment:

• Ad Age named Under Armour, Marketer of the Year Other notable A listers include: Beats, Subaru, Lowe’s, Boston Beer Co., T-Mobile, Dollar Shave, and CVS
• Most commonly used social media among marketers: (FORBES)
  1. Facebook 94%
  2. Twitter 83%
  3. LinkedIn 71%
  4. YouTube 57%
  5. Google+ 54%
  6. Pinterest 47%
• Most common channels for interacting with customers: (DMNews)
  1. Website
  2. Sales team
  3. Call center
• Smartphones and tablets accounted for $1.6 billion in sales on Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. (Ad Week)
• 5 Most Memorable New Products (Ad Week)
  1. iPhone 6 Plus
  2. XBox One
  3. PlayStation 4
  4. Amazon Fire Phone
  5. Taco Bells’ Waffle Taco
• Top Marketing Books (Inc.)
  • The Art of Social Media, Guy Kawasaki and Peg Fitzpatrick
  • Growth Hacker Marketing, Ryan Holiday
  • What Great Brands Do, Denise Lee Yohn
  • Hello, My Name Is Awesome, Alexandra Watkins
• iPad Sales Dropped 12% As Android Tablets Soar (Forbes)
• Number one city for open data (free information such as government stats, health studies, or weather) innovation
  • San Francisco followed by New York and Boston (DMNews)
• Top box-office grossing movie — Guardians of the Galaxy
  (check your rear view mirror, though, Guardians because The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 recently opened and the year’s not over)
• Loudest crowd roar at a sports stadium — Kansas City Chiefs at 142.2 decibels (roughly the equivalent of standing 50 meters or 164 feet from a jet)
• Most Downloaded Songs
  1. Happy (From "Despicable Me 2"), Pharrell Williams
  2. All of Me, John Legend
  3. Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J), Katy Perry
  4. Talk Dirty (feat. 2 Chainz), Jason Derulo
  5. Fancy (feat. Charli XCX), Iggy Azalea
  6. Problem (feat. Iggy Azalea), Ariana Grande
  7. All About That Bass, Meghan Trainor
  8. Let It Go, Idina Menzel
  9. Turn Down For What, DJ Snake & Lil Jon
  10. Rude, MAGIC!
• Top Global Fast Food Chains
  • McDonald’s
  • KFC
  • Subway
  • Pizza Hut
  • Starbucks
  • Burger King
  • Domino’s
  • Dunkin Donuts
  • Dairy Queen
  • Papa John’s

It’s the little moments we remember the most. Best wishes for a New Year filled with health, happiness, and spectacular success!

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