Marketing news

• How VRV plans to build on the success of Crunchyroll: an interview with GM Michael Aragon

  18-08-2016 23:55
  
  In June, Ellation, the parent company of Crunchyroll, announced at E3 the launch of a new subscription video on demand (SVOD) service called VRV. Crunchyroll has proven out, if not helped define, the model for successful SVOD platforms: find a niche audience, serve them premium content, and convert them into superfans. In Crunchyroll’s case, that niche audience is anime fans.
  VRV, though, will differ in that it is built around appealing to the other interests of anime fans, including gamin
  
  Read more

• Want to know what 'The Donald' said? Get the Trump BFF Facebook Messenger app

  18-08-2016 23:38
  
  The blowhole that is Donald Trump’s mouth spouts some interesting, and often cringe-worthy phrases. So many that you may forget some of the gems he’s frothed out.
  Since his positions change so often, one can truly get exhausted. That’s where the BFF Trump bot comes in handy.
  Agency SS+K and messaging bot platform Dexter have brought his most outrageous messages into one place with BFF Trump, the only Facebook Messenger bot that gives you a one-on-one conversation with the bigge
  
  Read more

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise shuffles business from Omnicom to Publicis

  18-08-2016 22:56
  
  Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which spun off from HP Inc. last year, has announced that it is moving the majority of its business from Omnicom to Publicis Groupe following a review.
  In a statement, the company said: “HPE has made the decision to transition the marketing work currently being done by BBDO, Doremus, Rapp, and OMG to Publicis.  This decision does not impact the strong relationships that HPE has with Omnicom agencies Ketchum, Siegel + Gale, Interbrand and GMR.”
  A
  
  Read more

• Stein IAS creative director joins C-Suite as chief values officer

  18-08-2016 22:55
  
  Stein IAS has announced the promotion of creative director (EMEA) Reuben Webb to the newly created role of chief values officer.
  As the agency continues to grow in the evolving world of B2B marketing, the new position is essential to ensure the importance and integrity of the company values is upheld, to protect the company’s most important asset – its people.
  Rob Morrice, chief executive officer at Stein IAS comments: “Our approach to culture, to date, has been intuitive
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Macy’s names Toys “R” Us exec Richard Lennox as chief marketing officer

  18-08-2016 21:25
  
  Macy’s has named Richard Lennox as chief marketing officer of the retailer.
  His appointment comes months after Macy’s former chief marketing officer Martine Reardon resigned from the company after 32 years, the last four of them spent in the top marketing role.
  Lennox joins Macy’s from Toys “R” Us, where he served as SVP-chief marketing officer for two years. Before that, he led marketing efforts at jewelry retailer Zale Corporation, which owns brands including diam
  
  Read more

• Uber launches driverless taxis, with human supervisor meantime, in Pittsburgh this month

  18-08-2016 21:16
  
  Driverless taxis operated by Uber are expected to appear in Pittsburgh within weeks,   according  to a report by  Bloomberg.
  Starting later this month, Uber will allow customers in downtown Pittsburgh to summon self-driving cars from their phones.
  Intending passengers will request cars the normal way, via Uber’s app, and will be paired with a driverless car at random.  But relax: Uber’s Pittsburgh fleet will be supervised by humans in the driver’s seat for t
  
  Read more

• College courses in US getting a bit stranger as students treated more like consumers

  18-08-2016 20:04
  
  It used to be that college students all had to take the same core curriculum to fulfill their requirements and move on to their majors. Cram 500 students into a room and make them learn western civilization or English 101 and you’re good to go.
  But lately, colleges have been giving students more flexibility, offering open curriculum courses that are more off the beaten path, often with extremely specific subject matters, like “Wordplay: A Wry Plod from Babel to Scrabble” (Princ
  
  Read more

• The biggest back to school ever for online retail?

  18-08-2016 19:44
  
  Back to school has always been a big time for America’s big retailers. Target, Walmart, Staples and other stores roll out the red carpet for parents and students, and local shops and college bookstores, along with electronics retailers, trip on themselves to capture parents’ and students’ coveted dollars.
  It’s a trend that won’t be reversing anytime soon, according to Hitwise (a division of Connexity). The company, which measures behaviors across devices, says that
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Bankrupt Gawker to shut up shop next week after Univision buyout

  18-08-2016 19:43
  
  Media outlet Gawker has announced that it will close next week after a Hulk Hogan legal case secretly funded by tech billionaire Peter Theil brought it to financial ruin.
  The news, reported by Gawker itself, comes a day after Univision agreed to buy Gawker Media for $135m in a bankruptcy auction.
  It does not affect Gawker's other properties, including Gizmodo, Lifehacker, Jezebel, Deadspin, which Univision reportedly intends to maintain.
  A bankruptcy court in Manhattan will decide
  
  Read more

• Pornhub and RedTube invite brands and creatives to compete for $100,000 in free ad space

  18-08-2016 19:17
  
  Adult entertainment websites Pornhub and RedTube are looking to entice brands with their ad inventories with a creative competition offering $100,000 worth of digital space.
  The sites, owned by investment group Manwin, have invited businesses, startups and entrepreneurs to compete for their ad space which has the potential to reach their 90m daily visitors - excluding those using ad blockers of course.
  Brands are invited to submit potential ads, one optimized for desktop and the o
  
  Read more

• New York Times spikes youth-targeted app NYT Now as it looks to third parties to expand demographic

  18-08-2016 19:02
  
  The New York Times has announced it will pull its app NYT Now from app stores at the end of the month, admitting it did not take off with its target youth audience as the publisher hoped.
  Instead, the Times will focus its efforts on third-party platforms like Facebook and Twitter to expand its reach among younger readers.
  The app first launched in early 2014, at roughly half the price of the cheapest digital subscription of the Times, with the intention of expanding the paper’s audience to
  
  Read more

• Ad Council encourages adults to finish high school in PSAs created by McKinney

  18-08-2016 18:32
  
  For the millions of adults in the US who never graduated from high school, finding time to take classes and finish their diploma can often seem like a daunting task in the face of family and work responsibilities. Yet a new Ad Council campaign for the Dollar General Literacy Foundation argues that friends, family and co-workers can actually serve as a support system rather than a barrier when it comes to working towards a diploma, encouraging adults to go back and earn their degrees while lettin
  
  Read more

• Why Hillary Clinton shows that humility and inclusivity are a brand's greatest asset

  18-08-2016 18:30
  
  When Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination with “humility, determination and boundless confidence in America’s promise” it was the culmination of decades of public service. As the first ever woman to lead a major presidential ticket, Clinton is living proof of the power of never quitting. A champion of the overlooked and overworked, she told delegates "More than a few times I've had to pick myself up and get back into the game."
  However historic her nomination, Cli
  
  Read more

• R/GA opens Marketing Tech Venture Studio with Interpublic Group

  18-08-2016 18:23
  
  R/GA Ventures has opened the door to applications into its Marketing Tech Venture Studio initiative that looks to aid in business development and fundraising in the digital marketing sector.
  Based at R/GA’s NY headquarters, the scheme, run in partnership with Interpublic Group, will see up to ten startups inducted into the program that is intent on incubating the next generation of disruptive tech including AI, machine learning, messaging, voice activation, and nascent software innovations
  
  Read more

• Charlotte Tilbury enlists Kate Moss for virtual reality 'Scent of a Dream' campaign

  18-08-2016 18:04
  
  Makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury has launched a virtual reality experience starring Kate Moss in honour of the brand’s foray in the fragrance market.
  The immersive stunt is the latest element in an extensive global campaign from the beauty luminary to mark the release of her Scent of a Dream fragrance.
  The glamorous two-minute-long spot (above) was directed by filmmaker Antoine Wagner and created by production studio Happy Finish, it was shot using Nokia’s OZO VR camera.
  Depictin
  
  Read more

• Reuniting the Kingdom: How creatives tackled xenophobia in the wake of Brexit vote

  18-08-2016 17:40
  
  ‘Go Home’, ‘No More Polish Vermin,’ ‘White Zone’. You would be forgiven for thinking that these were lifted from dusty posters belonging to a bygone era, but these were just some of the straplines printed on leaflets and posters and stuck to buildings in the aftermath of Britain’s exit from the EU.
  Reports of hate crime soared by 57 per cent in the wake of the Brexit according to the National Police Chiefs council. Incidents included, but were not limite
  
  Read more

• Ad of the Day: M&S takes us back to school with 'The Art of School Uniforms'

  18-08-2016 17:17
  
  Marks and Spencer has jumped on the ‘Back to School’ bandwagon with its latest advertising push.
  Running across TV, Facebook and YouTube, the spot features a montage of close-up photography and graphic imagery, showcasing the ‘unique innovations’ in schoolwear only found at M&S.
  The campaign marks the first time M&S has used its ‘The Art of’ creative for a Back to School promotion, after introducing the campaign style last year.
  “We’re real
  
  Read more

• Shine emulates Three deal with African mobile carrier Econet, bringing adblocking to 40m customers

  18-08-2016 16:45
  
  Shine and mobile carrier Econet wireless have struck a partnership to bring network-level ad blocking to 40 million subscribers across Africa.
  The ad tech company has struck a similar agreement as to one it inked with Three that resulted in network level blocking tests in Europe and criticism from ad-supported behemoths such as Google, AOL and Yahoo. But in a further blow, unlike the Three deal, where European users had to opt-in, it will be turned on by default for all
  
  Read more

• Designing the Red Bull Music Academy’s UK Tour creative

  18-08-2016 16:40
  
  This October the Red Bull Music Academy will tour the UK each weekend with a unique creative that steps away from a pure digital offering in to traditional craftsmanship.
  While woodwork and a branding design may sound like unlikely bed fellows, the team at Another Kind, who designed the creative, wanted to play with artwork that wasn’t led by digital and were inspired by Dale Kirk, a furniture and object designer.
  The agency and Kirk joined forces to make some new shapes and try to mimic s
  
  Read more

• How brands can make themselves heard in social media's echo chamber

  18-08-2016 16:28
  
  The Guardian’s Kath Viner recently wrote of how social media is disrupting the truth and swallowing the news, threatening the funding of public-interest reporting and ushering in a new era where everyone has their own facts. 
  With the overflow of information we receive through our smartphones every minute of every day, and the increasing lack of trust of news media, it’s little surprise that radical change is quietly raging on and threatening many of the news institutions, now b
  
  Read more

• Vox Pop: Will Instagram's Business Profiles save smaller businesses in the social media maze?

  18-08-2016 16:26
  
  Instagram has finally launched their new 'Business Profiles' allowing customers to connect with brands using a contact button on the app. The app will also provide users with a mobile analytics suite called 'Insights' which will store customer's data and store it in a way that is easily accessible.
  The 'Promote' tool will let brands position top performing posts at the top of feeds, which the Facebook-owned firm has said will allow firms "to reach new customers on the go using Facebook
  
  Read more

• Digital agency Manifesto unveils new branding and website

  18-08-2016 16:18
  Digital agency Manifesto has unveiled its new branding and website in a move to put renewed emphasis on driving positive change through engaging content, innovative technology and meaningful audience-centred digital experiences.
  Jim Bowes, chief executive and co-founder of Manifesto, believes that the new brand and proposition drive his agency's "four key principles" of collaboration, innovation, excellence and change.
  He said: “As an agency of creatives and technologists, we have spent ma
  
  Read more

• MediaCom leads media agency nominees in DCM Awards 2016

  18-08-2016 16:16 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  MediaCom leads the way with the most number of entries among this year's most celebrated big screen campaigns for the Digital Cinema Media Awards.
  
  Read more

• Chicago-based OKRP hires Will Bright as its first group creative director

  18-08-2016 16:07
  
  Chicago agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul (OKRP) has brought on Will Bright as its first group creative director.
  Bright previously served as creative director at Mekanism’s Chicago office, where he oversaw creative efforts for MillerCoors and Jim Beam. According to his LinkedIn profile, Bright left Mekanism in March, one month before the agency officially opened its doors in Chicago.
  Before joining Mekanism, Bright served as a creative director at JWT. He’s also freelanced fo
  
  Read more

• Uber will soon offer free rides to the Pittsburgh public in autonomous Volvo cars

  18-08-2016 16:01
  
  Transport app Uber is primed to reveal the work developed by its extensive autonomous vehicle research in the coming weeks.
  Back in May, the company started testing an autonomous Ford Fusion in Pittsburg – the result of a joined partnership between the company and Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University.
  Now, Bloomberg Businessweek is reporting that a soft launch of the car will occur in Pittsburgh with the autonomous vehicles supervised by a driver. One change however is that the ba
  
  Read more

• Just Eat replaces Domino’s as X Factor app sponsor

  18-08-2016 15:22
  
  Just Eat is to sponsor this year’s X Factor app, replacing Domino’s, which had put spend behind the TV show’s app for the past three years.
  The sponsorship deal with the food delivery service includes second screen takeovers in the ‘fifth judge’ area, where viewers can play along with the show, watch exclusive contestant content and play games. As well as accessing that content, viewers will be able to access Just Eat rewards and order food while watching the X Fact
  
  Read more

• Sainsbury's moves £60m ad account to Wieden & Kennedy

  18-08-2016 15:20 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Sainsbury's has moved its £60m advertising account into Wieden & Kennedy, ending its 35-year-relationship with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.
  
  Read more

• Sainsbury's has moved its £60m ad account to Wieden & Kennedy

  18-08-2016 15:20 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Sainsbury's has moved its £60m advertising account into Wieden & Kennedy, ending its 35-year-relationship with Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.
  
  Read more

• It’s Severn up for RBH with appointment of digital design director

  18-08-2016 15:12
  
  RBH Creative Communications Agency has appointed digital creative Jonny Severn to the role of digital design director.
  Severn returns to RBH having previously spent two years with the agency before changing direction and working for a number of high-profile digital gaming companies, including Activision, where he helped develop DJ Hero 2 and Guitar Hero Live. Most recently he ran his own business, Pixel Smash, working on Halo 5, Super Powerboy and various commercial freelance projects. He will o
  
  Read more

• Liverpool FC partner with Konami in PES 2017 sponsorship deal

  18-08-2016 14:45
  
  Liverpool FC have entered into a partnership with Konami as part of a sponsorship deal which will see the club feature prominently in the video game developer’s upcoming PES 17 game.
  The three-year deal give the Japanese developer “unrivalled access to the club’s players” and will see the two work together in future promotional partnerships.
  Through the partnership Konami will replicate the Premier League club’s players, kits and stadium within its flagship PES seri
  
  Read more

• Asda suffers new low as sales tank 7.5% and pressure intensifies for marketing boss Andy Murray

  18-08-2016 14:32
  
  Walmart owned Asda has suffered another devastating blow to its sales which were down a record 7.5 per cent in the second-quarter, intensifying the already high pressure on its marketing team. 
  It is now the eighth consecutive quarter of declining sales leading Walmart's  chief executive Doug McMillion to stress that it’s being addressed “with urgency”.
  The retailer blamed “the competitive environment” – in other words Aldi and Lidl – as well a
  
  Read more

• Asda to focus on quality not price as it posts worst ever quarterly sales

  18-08-2016 14:26
  
  Asda has reported its worst ever quarterly performance as like-for-like sales fell a whopping 7.5% for the three months ending June 30.
  The poor second quarter performance compares to a 5.7% fall in Asda’s first quarter and represent an eighth consecutive quarter of decline.
  Former Asda CEO Andy Clarke had previously claimed a 5.8% sales drop (in the last three months of 2015) was the supermarket “reaching its nadir”. But the decline has since continued leaving&n
  
  Read more

• Asda hits a new nadir as it posts worst ever quarterly sales

  18-08-2016 14:26
  
  Asda has reported its worst ever quarterly performance as like-for-like sales fell a whopping 7.5% for the three months ending June 30.
  The poor second quarter performance compares to a 5.7% fall in Asda’s first quarter and represent an eighth consecutive quarter of decline.
  Former Asda CEO Andy Clarke had previously claimed a 5.8% sales drop (in the last three months of 2015) as the supermarket having “reached its nadir”. But the decline has continue leavin
  
  Read more

• Guardian makes move to go beyond cost-per trading with ‘more transparent’ time-based buying

  18-08-2016 14:12
  
  The Guardian is piloting a time-based display campaign in a move that could pave the way for advertisers to buy campaigns based on time rather than impressions in the future.
  The publisher has partnered with creative media agency UM London to deliver the pilot campaign, which will feature an ad for the Economist and will deliver ads in time slots ranging from ten to 30 seconds. A call-to-action will direct readers towards a bespoke hub where readers can access Economist content and subscribe.
  Th
  
  Read more

• An interview with The New York Times about 'Watching' their new TV recommendations site

  18-08-2016 14:00
  
   
  Loading...
  The New York Times has assembled an impressive team called NYT Beta that has launched popular products like NYT Now, a curated news app built for the Twitter generation.
  Their latest launched is called "Watching," a TV and film recommendations site. The platform (which currently has a waitlist for its beta) has been described by the media company as follows:
  There are more TV shows and movies to watch than ever before, and more platforms — both big and small &m
  
  Read more

• Volvic pulls ad campaign amid concerns of Orange Order association

  18-08-2016 13:20
  
  Volvic has had to pull an advertising campaign from Scotland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland over concerns that the “Orange and Proud” line used in its posters could offend Catholics.
  The Danone-owned mineral water brand launched a marketing campaign to promote its new orange flavoured drink which featured posters with a smiling model with ginger hair holding a bottle of water.
  The “Orange and Proud” wording in the posters caused the French company to rethink it
  
  Read more

• Childline redesigns digital offering ahead of 30th anniversary to meet ‘growing expectations’ of young people

  18-08-2016 13:09
  
  Childline has introduced an improved digital offering across its platforms and call centres as it looks to streamline its service and keep up with the demands of its users.
  The counselling service, which is provided by the NSPCC, has 750,000 registered users aged between nine and 19 and wanted to make its website more user friendly and overhaul its content to take in to account the diverse age range of its users.
  The NSPCC worked with Amaze to deliver a fully integrated and digitally optimised s
  
  Read more

• Libertarian Super PAC supporting Gary Johnson spends double his TV spend on 'internet web memes'

  18-08-2016 13:05
  
  The US presidential race is heating up, and while its largely a punch out between the Republican and Democrat tickets, the AlternativePAC super PAC supporting Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson’s campaign has just dropped $30,000 on web memes.
  While Republican candidate Donald Trump reportedly hasn’t spent a dime on TV ads, contrasting Hillary Clinton’s mammoth $61m spend, Johnson has spent $15,000 on ads according to estimates from NBC and its partner Advertising Ana
  
  Read more

• Olympic bosses clamp down on Periscope users live-streaming Rio 2016 footage

  18-08-2016 13:02
  
  Rio 2016 organisers have taken issue with Periscope users live-streaming Olympic footage, reportedly pulling broadcasts from Twitter. 
  The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is said to be cracking down on Periscope users, with TorrentFreak reporting that it is going all out to prevent people from streaming the Olympics without its permission. 
  Live-streaming has become much more popular at sporting events thanks to the advent of Twitter-owned Periscope and Facebook Live, and th
  
  Read more

• Lawn Tennis Association: Head of Digital

  18-08-2016 13:01
  
  Negotiable:Lawn Tennis Association:
  Carter Murray is proud to be partnering with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) in their search for a Head of Digital.South West London, London
  
  Read more

• Britain's got talent, for now: Post-Brexit, can British advertising flourish on the global stage?

  18-08-2016 12:59
  
  The UK’s thriving commercial creative economy generates £80bn a year and the talent pool from which it draws undeniably plays a huge part in this. One of the European Union’s fundamental principles, the freedom of movement, has allowed the ad industries in particular to flourish, attracting creatives and digital talent from around Europe and further afield. But following the UK’s vote to leave the EU that ease of movement, which has been central to the cross-fertilisation
  
  Read more

• Nationwide: ‘Sometimes brands can do more with a Snapchat geofilter than a 90-second TV ad’

  18-08-2016 12:50
  
  To celebrate A-Level results day, Nationwide Building Society has partnered with Snapchat to offer a bespoke geofilter and lens across the UK as it aims to target the next generation of customers, with its first ever student account FlexStudent.
  Both the geofilter and lens (pictured) are only available today (August 18) and allow students to celebrate passing their A-Levels by adding balloons and messages such as ‘smashed it’ to share with their friends on Snapchat.
  Should the A-leve
  
  Read more

• Mark Ritson: Apple can’t claim it is socially responsible while keeping billions abroad to avoid tax

  18-08-2016 12:46
  
  A lot of people ask me about my expensive cars and jewellery. It’s true, I have a lot of bling for a marketing professor. But it could not be more simple: I do three quarters of my work overseas and rather than bring it home and pay stupid taxes on it, I just stash it in international bank accounts and only pay income tax on the tiny fraction of my work that I do in the UK.
  I do that because I think that paying ‎‎£11,000 a year in taxes on my £44,000 salary is not fair
  
  Read more

• Monster Energy capitalises on the McGregor Diaz chaos at UFC 202 press conference

  18-08-2016 12:24
  
  UFC sponsor Monster Energy has made the most of the chaos which erupted at a press conference for UFC 202 yesterday with an opportune social media post in reference to the actions of its star fighter Conor McGregor.
  The ritual press conference promoting the highly anticipated rematch between McGregor and Nate Diaz this Saturday (20 August) escalated into violence when the two fighters’ camps began hurling projectiles at each other.
  As the official energy drink of the UFC, Monster Ener
  
  Read more

• Nike has opened a shoe-shaped running track that lets people race themselves

  18-08-2016 12:14
  
  Nike has created a pop-up running stadium in Manila, Philippines that allows people to race themselves via LED screens.
  The 200 foot long race track has been launched to promote the Lunar Epic trainer and has been specifically shaped like the sole of the shoe.
  The track has also been fitted with LED screens along one side. Visitors are invited to run one lap, with their lap time being logged. They then re-run the track, racing against themselves via a projection on the LED screens.
  The ‘Un
  
  Read more

• Kate Moss floats in space in Charlotte Tilbury VR experience

  18-08-2016 12:12 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Kate Moss acts as a celestial guide in a virtual reality experience by Charlotte Tilbury which features perfume bottles hurtling through space as flying saucers.
  
  Read more

• The Government’s childhood obesity strategy: good or bad news for marketers?

  18-08-2016 12:09
  
  The advertising industry has welcomed the Government’s decision not to introduce a blanket ban on advertising unhealthy food and drink to children as part of its ‘childhood obesity strategy’, claiming it has “already taken action” by launching its own public consultation in May this year.
  The long-awaited Government report aims to tackle the problem of childhood obesity as figures show nearly a third of children aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese. The st
  
  Read more

• Audi has a lightbulb moment with intelligent traffic light innovation

  18-08-2016 12:09
  
  Whilst most automakers remain focused on delivering autonomous vehicles, Audi is taking a slightly different tack by introducing new onboard technology which it says will enable its vehicles to communicate with traffic lights.
  As anyone who has ever seen red while waiting at a stop light will attest, dumb timers are no match for a dynamic system and as such Audi promise their gadget will give drivers the heads up on when lights are scheduled to change, reducing the risk of running a red light as
  
  Read more

• Ad industry welcomes decision not to ban junk food ads

  18-08-2016 12:09
  
  The advertising industry has welcomed the Government’s decision not to introduce a blanket ban on advertising unhealthy food and drink to children as part of its ‘childhood obesity strategy’, claiming it has “already taken action” by launching its own public consultation in May this year.
  The long-awaited Government report aims to tackle the problem of childhood obesity as figures show nearly a third of children aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese. T
  
  Read more

• US ready to cede control of internet naming system

  18-08-2016 12:04
  
  The United States has conceded for the first time that it is willing to cede control of the internet’s Domain Naming System (DNS), drawing its 20 year period of control of the body to a close.
  The DNS plays a critical part in the functioning of the web by connecting text-based web addresses with an underlying numerical code, known as an IP address, to ensure efficient online navigation.
  By historical accident the US has served as the ultimate arbiter of this process but in a bid to democra
  
  Read more

Follow @marketing_UKnws on Twitter!