Effective communication models in advertising campaigns. A strategic analysis in the search for effectiveness

In striving for effectiveness these days, sales alone cannot be the single foremost objective. Other factors can contribute to the creation of a virtuous cycle and have an impact on sales. These too should be measured when determining the overall effectiveness of a campaign. In this article we present an analysis of the winning cases in the Effectiveness Awards for commercial communications in Spain from 2010-2018. We will use it to identify the most widely employed communication models and evaluation metrics currently in use when considering the effectiveness of an advertising campaign. To compare and provide professional assessment we have sought out and compiled the opinions of professionals from the advertising sector who have previously sat on the Effectiveness Awards jury. The main objective is to identify and categorise the most effective models of communication currently in use. To this end 280 cases have been analysed from the Effectiveness Awards between 2010 and 2018 and a total of 48 in-depth interviews have been carried out. Among the main results we highlight the superiority of emotional models over rational ones. We found cultural emotion provides the best results though when it comes to gains in efficiency, a correlation of both yields improved averages in business.En la actualidad, las marcas no pueden definir como único objetivo vender si lo que pretenden es ser eficaces. Existen otros indicadores que contribuyen a crear un ciclo virtuoso que acaba teniendo un impacto en ventas y, por tanto, deben ser medidos para determinar la efectividad de una campaña. Por medio de este artículo, presentamos un análisis de los casos ganadores en los Premios a la Eficacia en comunicación comercial en España (Premios Eficacia) en el periodo comprendido entre 2010-2018 para determinar los modelos de comunicación más utilizados y métricas de evaluación que, en la actualidad, se están aplicando para considerar el nivel de eficacia real que tiene una campaña de publicidad. Además, se recopila la opinión de profesionales del sector de la publicidad que han formado parte del jurado de los Premios Eficacia para contrastar y aportar su valoración profesional. El objetivo principal es identificar y categorizar los modelos de comunicación que son más eficaces en la actualidad. Para ello se han analizado 280 casos premiados en los Premios Eficacia en los años comprendidos entre 2010 y 2018 y se han realizado un total de 48 entrevistas en profundidad. Entre los principales resultados destacamos que existe una superioridad de los modelos emocionales sobre los racionales, siendo el emocional cultural el que ofrece mejores resultados, así como una correlación de los mismos respecto a la eficacia obtenida, generando un mayor promedio en los resultados de negocio

La televisión de los mileniales: una aproximación a sus hábitos de visionado

La televisión vive una etapa de transformación sin precedentes debido a la naturaleza disruptiva de las innovaciones tecnológicas derivadas de la digitalización y la convergencia del medio con internet. De un modelo televisivo lineal se ha pasado a una televisión conectada, multipantalla, interactiva y personalizada, en la que se han modificado radical- mente los procesos de producción, comercialización y visionado de los contenidos audio- visuales. Estos procesos se han visto potenciados por la irrupción de los usuarios mileniales, el público joven adulto, para quienes estos cambios son naturales. El presente artículo anali- za el impacto sobre el sector televisivo de los cambios en los hábitos de visionado generados por este grupo. Para ello, además de realizar una revisión bibliográfica, se ha recurrido a la encuesta como herramienta metodológica principal para conocer los nuevos hábitos de visionado. De este modo, se ha aplicado un cuestionario en línea a un panel de consumidores representativo de la población internauta española con edades comprendidas entre los 18 y los 35 años (mileniales), del que se ha obtenido una alta tasa de respuesta —cercana al 60%, porcentaje correspondiente a 518 encuestados—, con un error muestral del 3,1 % considerando una varianza máxima y un 95% de confianza. Se concluye que la competencia de las plataformas audiovisuales en línea disminuye el tiempo dedicado al consumo televisivo convencional, especialmente entre los sectores más jóvenes de la población, y que esto ha obligado a los operadores de televisión tradicionales a renovar su modelo y a apostar por nuevas estrategias y contenidos que cambian sustancialmente su propia identidad

EcoAnchoa-Asturias 2011 Actividades realizadas por el Instituto Español de Oceanografía e informe de resultados

Resumen Las condiciones hidrográficas observadas durante la campaña Pelacus0411, realizada entre el 26 de marzo y 20 de Abril de 2011 en aguas de la plataforma continental Nord Ibérica, son las propias de comienzos de primavera, caracterizadas por una incipiente estratificación térmica y la presencia de agua de baja salinidad cerca de la costa, principalmente en las proximidades de las desembocaduras de los principales ríos. La fluorescencia (variable indicadora de la abundancia de fitoplancton –producción primaria) presentó los valores más elevados en superficie sobre el talud continental en la zona de Galicia, influenciada por la masa de agua de alta salinidad asociada a la contracorriente de talud (‘Corriente Ibérica hacia el Polo’). A partir del Cantábrico Central, frente a la costa Asturiana, y hacia la zona interna del Golfo de Vizcaya, se observó un máximo sub-superficial de clorofila entorno a los 20 o 30 m. La biomasa total de sardina en la zona de estudio estimada mediante métodos acústicos fue de 11.768 toneladas (t) (151106 individuos). Esta especie se localizó preferentemente en la plataforma de Asturias (sub-área ICES VIIIcE-w), en contraste con su práctica ausencia en aguas de la plataforma de Gallicia (sub-áreas ICES IXa-N y VIIIcW). Los individuos más jóvenes, de edades entre 1 y 2 años, predominaron en Galicia (sub-área ICES IXaN), mientras que los de mayor edad, 3 años, fueron más abundantes en la plataforma de Asturias y del País Vasco (sub-áreas ICES VIIIcE-w y VIIIcE-e respectivamente). Las estimas de abundancia de sardina en la campaña de 2011 son las más bajas de la serie desde 2001 y suponen un motivo de preocupación en relación al estado del stock. Si no tiene lugar un reclutamiento importante, el último de los cuales tuvo lugar en 2004, la previsión apunta hacia un descenso continuado de la biomasa de sardina en la plataforma Nord Ibérica. La biomasa estimada de anchoa fue de 2071 t, correspondiente a 142000 individuos. Éstos se localizaron en dos zonas separadas: al sur de Galicia (sub-área ICES IXa-N) y la parte interna del Golfo de Vizcaya (País Vasco y frontera con Francia; ICES sub-área VIIIcE-e y sub-división ICES VIIIb respectivamente), donde predominaron los individuos recién incorporados a la pesquería (i.e. 1 año de edad). Tanto la biomasa como el área ocupada por anchoa son superiores a las registradas en años anteriores. En contraste con la situación de los adultos, los datos proporcionados por la CUFES (muestreados en continuo de huevos de peces) indicaron que los huevos de sardina se localizaron en 6 toda el área prospectada en número similar a los encontrados en la campaña del año anterior, si bien más cerca de costa. Respecto a anchoa, se ha observado un incremento significativo tanto de la abundancia y extensión del área de distribución de huevos, más allá de la tradicional zona de presencia localizada en la parte interna del Golfo de Vizcaya.Consejería de Medio Rural y pesca del Principado de Asturias, Instituto Español de Oceanografí

Molecular, microbiological and clinical characterization of Clostridium difficile isolates from tertiary care hospitals in Colombia

In Colombia, the epidemiology and circulating genotypes of Clostridium difficile have not yet been described. Therefore, we molecularly characterized clinical isolates of C.difficile from patients with suspicion of C.difficile infection (CDI) in three tertiary care hospitals. C.difficile was isolated from stool samples by culture, the presence of A/B toxins were detected by enzyme immunoassay, cytotoxicity was tested by cell culture and the antimicrobial susceptibility determined. After DNA extraction, tcdA, tcdB and binary toxin (CDTa/CDTb) genes were detected by PCR, and PCR-ribotyping performed. From a total of 913 stool samples collected during 2013–2014, 775 were included in the study. The frequency of A/B toxins-positive samples was 9.7% (75/775). A total of 143 isolates of C.difficile were recovered from culture, 110 (76.9%) produced cytotoxic effect in cell culture, 100 (69.9%) were tcdA+/tcdB+, 11 (7.7%) tcdA-/tcdB+, 32 (22.4%) tcdA-/tcdB- and 25 (17.5%) CDTa+/CDTb+. From 37 ribotypes identified, ribotypes 591 (20%), 106 (9%) and 002 (7.9%) were the most prevalent; only one isolate corresponded to ribotype 027, four to ribotype 078 and four were new ribotypes (794,795, 804,805). All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and metronidazole, while 85% and 7.7% were resistant to clindamycin and moxifloxacin, respectively. By multivariate analysis, significant risk factors associated to CDI were, staying in orthopedic service, exposure to third-generation cephalosporins and staying in an ICU before CDI symptoms; moreover, steroids showed to be a protector factor. These results revealed new C. difficile ribotypes and a high diversity profile circulating in Colombia different from those reported in America and European countries

Future research directions on the "elusive" white shark

White sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are often described as elusive, with little information available due to the logistical difficulties of studying large marine predators that make long-distance migrations across ocean basins. Increased understanding of aggregation patterns, combined with recent advances in technology have, however, facilitated a new breadth of studies revealing fresh insights into the biology and ecology of white sharks. Although we may no longer be able to refer to the white shark as a little-known, elusive species, there remain numerous key questions that warrant investigation and research focus. Although white sharks have separate populations, they seemingly share similar biological and ecological traits across their global distribution. Yet, white shark’s behavior and migratory patterns can widely differ, which makes formalizing similarities across its distribution challenging. Prioritization of research questions is important to maximize limited resources because white sharks are naturally low in abundance and play important regulatory roles in the ecosystem. Here, we consulted 43 white shark experts to identify these issues. The questions listed and developed here provide a global road map for future research on white sharks to advance progress toward key goals that are informed by the needs of the research community and resource managers

Definition of a temporal distribution index for high temporal resolution precipitation data over Peninsular Spain and the Balearic Islands: the fractal dimension; and its synoptic implications

Precipitation on the Spanish mainland and in the Balearic archipelago exhibits a high degree of spatial and temporal variability, regardless of the temporal resolution of the data considered. The fractal dimension indicates the property of self-similarity, and in the case of this study, wherein it is applied to the temporal behaviour of rainfall at a fine (10-min) resolution from a total of 48 observatories, it provides insights into its more or less convective nature. The methodology of Jenkinson & Collison which automatically classifies synoptic situations at the surface, as well as an adaptation of this methodology at 500 hPa, was applied in order to gain insights into the synoptic implications of extreme values of the fractal dimension. The highest fractal dimension values in the study area were observed in places with precipitation that has a more random behaviour over time with generally high totals. Four different regions in which the atmospheric mechanisms giving rise to precipitation at the surface differ from the corresponding above-ground mechanisms have been identified in the study area based on the fractal dimension. In the north of the Iberian Peninsula, high fractal dimension values are linked to a lower frequency of anticyclonic situations, whereas the opposite occurs in the central region. In the Mediterranean, higher fractal dimension values are associated with a higher frequency of the anticyclonic type and a lower frequency of the advective type from the east. In the south, lower fractal dimension values indicate higher frequency with respect to the anticyclonic type from the east and lower frequency with respect to the cyclonic type

Plasma lipid profiles discriminate bacterial from viral infection in febrile children

Fever is the most common reason that children present to Emergency Departments. Clinical signs and symptoms suggestive of bacterial infection are often non-specific, and there is no definitive test for the accurate diagnosis of infection. The 'omics' approaches to identifying biomarkers from the host-response to bacterial infection are promising. In this study, lipidomic analysis was carried out with plasma samples obtained from febrile children with confirmed bacterial infection (n = 20) and confirmed viral infection (n = 20). We show for the first time that bacterial and viral infection produces distinct profile in the host lipidome. Some species of glycerophosphoinositol, sphingomyelin, lysophosphatidylcholine and cholesterol sulfate were higher in the confirmed virus infected group, while some species of fatty acids, glycerophosphocholine, glycerophosphoserine, lactosylceramide and bilirubin were lower in the confirmed virus infected group when compared with confirmed bacterial infected group. A combination of three lipids achieved an area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.911 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.98). This pilot study demonstrates the potential of metabolic biomarkers to assist clinicians in distinguishing bacterial from viral infection in febrile children, to facilitate effective clinical management and to the limit inappropriate use of antibiotics

Identification of regulatory variants associated with genetic susceptibility to meningococcal disease.

Non-coding genetic variants play an important role in driving susceptibility to complex diseases but their characterization remains challenging. Here, we employed a novel approach to interrogate the genetic risk of such polymorphisms in a more systematic way by targeting specific regulatory regions relevant for the phenotype studied. We applied this method to meningococcal disease susceptibility, using the DNA binding pattern of RELA - a NF-kB subunit, master regulator of the response to infection - under bacterial stimuli in nasopharyngeal epithelial cells. We designed a custom panel to cover these RELA binding sites and used it for targeted sequencing in cases and controls. Variant calling and association analysis were performed followed by validation of candidate polymorphisms by genotyping in three independent cohorts. We identified two new polymorphisms, rs4823231 and rs11913168, showing signs of association with meningococcal disease susceptibility. In addition, using our genomic data as well as publicly available resources, we found evidences for these SNPs to have potential regulatory effects on ATXN10 and LIF genes respectively. The variants and related candidate genes are relevant for infectious diseases and may have important contribution for meningococcal disease pathology. Finally, we described a novel genetic association approach that could be applied to other phenotypes