The majority of consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are mining the best data in order improve trade promotion investments, but lack the internal resources to create actionable strategies from that information, according to a recent study from Accenture.

As many as 61% of the 350 CPG executives surveyed by Accenture said they don’t have the talent to help produce a return on their trade promotion platform investment.

myThings, a data-driven advertising solution provider, announced a partnership with LiveRamp, a supplier of data onboarding, to offer multichannel retailers with data-driven display ad campaigns that utilize both online and offline CRM data.

The collaboration is designed to enable marketers to extend their reach of in-market consumers; deliver a more consistence marketing message across channels; enable user reengagement; and enhance performance.

Following is Part 2 of the Retail TouchPoints series, titled: Next-Generation Social Media. This section spotlights three retailers that are embracing new social networks to optimize customer engagement and improve sales results. Part 3, which focuses on the emergence of social gifting solutions, will appear in the June 25 newsletter.

Consumers are leveraging social media to discover and validate potential purchases. In fact, they are beginning to rely more on digital feedback from friends, family and influencers, and less on brand-generated messages, according to Forrester Research.

Up to 70% of U.S. consumers trust brand and product recommendations from friends and family, noted the Forrester Research report, titled: How To Build Your Brand With Branded Content. Conversely, only 15% of respondents said they trust posts that brands create and share on their social networking accounts.