Artificial Intelligence & Intelligent Automation: Top Takeaways from the ACT-IAC Forum
February 13, 2020
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Intelligent Automation (IA) and Robotics Process Automation (RPA) – should we be worried about machines taking over the world? Could Skynet or VIKI really happen in our not-so-distant future? Are we headed towards a Matrix society, or more realistically, should we be worried about our own jobs? While Hollywood may have captured a more fearful version of a world with AI and robots, in real life, this technology surrounds our personal lives. Just ask Siri or Alexa. From auto-filling words when we start typing to providing us driving directions and recommending our next purchases (surprisingly, to our taste), ... Read moreWinning Contractor: Lockheed Martin Wins $1.9B DoD Contract to Support and Sustain F-35 Fleet
January 16, 2020
Congratulations to our friends at Lockheed Martin for their recent Department of Defense contract win to support and sustain the F-35 Lightning II combat jet fleet through 2020. Awarded annually, this contract provides a range of improvements to Lockheed Martin’s repair and maintenance network. It will pay for advanced engineering work, fleetwide data analytics, pilot and maintainer training, supply chain management resources, and the services of industry sustainment experts at air bases and depots. “The F-35 continues to deliver exceptional capabilities to the field, and this contract ensures F-35s are mission ready to meet warfighter needs,” said Greg Ulmer, the Lockheed Martin ... Read moreResearch to Support Your Federal Marketing and Business Development Plans
January 9, 2020
Do you have the information you need to create and justify your marketing strategy for the upcoming year? The “right” information can take many forms, including customer feedback, prospects’ spending plans, agencies’ strategic direction, and the important factors for key decision-makers and influencers. Limited budgets and tight timelines can often hamstring the most well-thought-out plans for information gathering. Market Connections has worked with dozens of public sector contractors over the years to get them the right information at the right time. Whether it’s maximizing the use of free resources or commissioning custom research, here is what we have learned works ... Read moreIs Social Media a Viable Way to Reach Federal Workers?
November 22, 2019
While federal workers are not necessarily learning new dance moves on TikTok during the workday, they are seeing work-related ads on Facebook, connecting on LinkedIn and following current events on Twitter. Personal devices are present in the workplace and provide access to social media throughout the day. But as with any digital media, preferences can change, usage varies by age and the level of influence can differ by platform. To understand federal decision-makers’ media usage habits and trends, for over a decade, Market Connections conducts an annual Federal Media & Marketing Study (FMMS). In response to the uptick in the use ... Read moreStadiums, Arenas and Venues: Winning Strategy for Brand Awareness Among Feds?
October 16, 2019
Congratulations to the Washington Nationals who recently won the National League Championship Series (NLCS) and are headed to the World Series! Both local and national audiences will be tuning in to see if the Nats can continue their streak and whether their good luck charm (the baby shark) can take them all the way! During the post-season, not only are players like Scherzer, Turner or Rendon front and center on people’s TV screens and in-person at games to thousands, but so is the venue they are playing in. Which begs the question, should government contractors be sponsoring or advertising at these highly ... Read moreCisco Tops Great Place to Work’s List for 2019 World’s Best Workplaces
October 10, 2019
Congratulations to our friends at Cisco for topping the list of Great Place to Work’s annual study: 25 of the World’s Best Workplaces. According to Great Place to Work, how employees view their workspace is the key to understanding what the workplace is like. “Employees around the world all want the same thing in a workplace: Trust. They define a great workplace as one where leaders demonstrate credibility, respect and fairness.” Those companies who make this a priority reap the benefits of employees having a great experience. These include increased loyalty and retention, higher productivity and a greater cooperative spirit. What do ... Read moreWill Your Ad Weather Well with Feds?
October 3, 2019
Every year, Market Connections’ Federal Media and Marketing Study helps companies meet their federal customer “where they are.” Whether it’s raining, snowing, sunny, hot or cold where they are, one thing we can forecast for sure, Weather.com and AccuWeather.com are among the most frequently visited digital sites by federal workers year after year. New this year, we also found that weather apps are the most downloaded mobile applications with an average of one out of five federal workers having these apps on their mobile device. These results cause us to joke internally that, “Weather is King!” Does this mean you should advertise ... Read moreWinning Contractor: Lockheed Martin Wins Recent Multi-Year Contracts with US Army and Missile Defense Agency
September 5, 2019
Congratulations to our friends at Lockheed Martin for their recent contract wins with the Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. Army. The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin an estimated $347 million contract as part of a multi-year hypersonic weapons development in support of the Army’s focus in long-range precision strike missiles. Lockheed is the prime contractor for the Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) systems integration project. The team which includes Dynetics Technical Solutions (DTS), Integration Innovation Inc. (i3), Verity Integrated Systems, Martinez & Turek, and Penta Research will develop and integrate a land-based hypersonic strike prototype in partnership with the Army Hypersonic ... Read moreLead Marketers Share Insights at Women in Technology Connect Event Part 2: Broken Internal Systems & Processes
August 20, 2019
Earlier this summer Market Connections attended Women in Technology’s (WIT) “Decoding B2B & B2G PR & Marketing Trends” in partnership with Merritt Group. This informative discussion brought together a panel of leading marketing and PR professionals from small to large companies including Bitdefender, Hybrent, KPMG US and Microsoft to discuss challenges they face and successes they’ve had in marketing to other businesses and the public sector. In part two (read part one) of this blog post series we’ll focus on a second challenge discussed by panelists: broken internal systems and processes. How Can We Better Work Together: Broken Internal Systems & Processes Market ... Read moreLead Marketers Share Insights at Women in Technology Connect Event Part 1: Content Generation
August 15, 2019
Earlier this summer Market Connections attended Women in Technology’s (WIT) “Decoding B2B & B2G PR & Marketing Trends” in partnership with Merritt Group. This informative discussion brought together a panel of leading marketing and PR professionals from small to large companies including Bitdefender, Hybrent, KPMG US and Microsoft to discuss challenges they face and successes they’ve had in marketing to other businesses and the public sector. According to the panelists, some of the biggest challenges include: keeping content relevant, internal broken systems (processes), speed of the industry and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and email marketing. With so many great panelist insights ... Read more