Marketing news

• Optimizing the mundane: A lesson in design simplicity

  02-05-2017 23:28
  
  In their talk during Design Week Portland, R/GA’s executive creative directors Una Walsh and Ben Williams found that the hype of technology and design has made way for reality.
  While the industry grapples with a never ceasing onslaught of fancy new toys in design and technology (i.e. VR, AR and the like), Walsh and Williams articulated key themes, like going beyond the interface to create things that are simple, purposeful and integrated. On display was some of the work R/GA has done
  
  Read more

• The Teddy Gun shows that toys have more regulations than guns

  02-05-2017 23:08
  
  In a car-jacking gone bad, Chicago-native Colleen Daley lost a high school friend who was shot and killed four years after her high school graduation. From that incident, Daley understands how gun violence can affect someone’s life through her own experience.As the executive director at the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Daley has dedicated herself to making guns and gun ownership safer. Most recently, the organization is spreading their message through a digital marketing camp
  
  Read more

• IPG Mediabrands global CEO Henry Tajer steps down

  02-05-2017 22:43 via campaignlive.com
  
  Chairman Philippe Krakowsky assumes control of holding company's media agency network.
  
  Read more

• What marketers must consider before bringing programmatic in-house

  02-05-2017 22:00
  
  The Programmatic Advisory's chief executive, Wayne Blodwell, who will co-chair the judging panel of this year’s Digital Trading Awards, is asking brands if they’re really ready to ‘go in-house’, and has produced a checklist that will better equip them to make such a decision wisely. 
  Programmatic spend now accounts for 70% of all display ad budgets, a short increase in recent years that has been brought on by the promised efficiencies of such uses of a
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Writer partners with New York University to deploy AI to discern meaning, tone and sentiment to words

  02-05-2017 21:11
  
  The language consultancy, The Writer, has today announced its collaboration with New York University to support research into Natural Language Processing (NLP) – the branch of computer science that deals with analyzing and generating human language.
  The Writer and the NYU Tisch School of the Arts’ Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), will explore how NLP and artificial intelligence can be applied to business language. The aim is to develop writing processes and analysis of w
  
  Read more

• Surfrider Foundation and Gyro enlighten smokers on why they need to quit littering

  02-05-2017 20:13
  
  More than four trillion cigarette butts are tossed to the ground or in the water every year and are the number one littered item globally. Cigarette butts are plastic and never biodegrade, and leach toxic chemicals into the environment and the water supply.
  To combat this issue, the non-profit Surfrider Foundation, teamed up with Gyro San Francisco in an effort to point out the impact of littering cigarettes or treating nature like an ashtray. 
  Loading...
  The ad campaign, entitled “Sn
  
  Read more

• George Osborne leads with Brexit struggles in first edition of Evening Standard under his editorship

  02-05-2017 19:40
  
  The Evening Standard’s first edition under George Osborne’s editorship has lead with the strained relations between the prime minister and the European Union (EU).
  The newspaper’s front cover read "Brussels twists knife on Brexit” and ran with a story on the EU's chief negotiaitor Guy Verhofstadt  mocking Theresa May for the ‘strong and stable’ leadership slogan which she continues to use.
  The article by political editor Joe Murphy refers to reports
  
  Read more

• Why Coke, Citi, Mars and J. Crew are placing bets on hybrid CMOs

  02-05-2017 19:25 via campaignlive.com
  
  An era of slow growth and digital disruption has chief executives scrambling to show they're addressing the problem.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The value of journalistic storytelling in 2017

  02-05-2017 18:47
  
  Storytelling has been an integral part of human life since time began, from sharing stories around the campfire, recording them in drawings on cave walls and writing them down on parchment and then paper. Now in the digital world, storytelling has the tools to evolve even further.
  As a former newspaper journalist, I was trained to write short, snappy content that served three purposes – to inform, educate or entertain – depending on the subject matter; our busy lives mean we want to
  
  Read more

• The Economist stresses environmental awareness with free coffee and experiential marketing

  02-05-2017 18:30
  
  The Economist will be offering free coffee in New York City this month as it embarks on its  #feedingthefuture campaign, highlighting the impact of food waste on the environment. The experiential campaign also marks the US debut of real world marketing agency Sense, which won The Economist’s North American business in late 2016 following a competitive review.  Sense London has been the agency of record for the company in the UK since 2014.
  Through mid-May, The Economist will
  
  Read more

• UK Top Shazamed Ads: Spotify, ITV and Giffgaff all enter the chart

  02-05-2017 17:42
  
  The Drum's Shazam chart is based on the number of times each ad has been Shazamed over the past week using the music identification app.
  This week the chart sees three new entries from Spotify, ITV and Giffgaff while Deezer, Lloyds and Samsung remain in the top three spots. 
  Spotify's short ad sees a young boy enthusiastically singing along to Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply track at the dinner table with his family before the mother explains the histor
  
  Read more

• Small business are cautiously optimistic 100 days into Trump administration

  02-05-2017 17:22
  
  Almost 70% of small and medium business (SMB) owners are optimistic they'll see business growth, expansion or increased revenue over the next 12 months, despite their unease over political uncertainty in Washington, according to a new survey released today by marketplace and small business platform Purch, owner of Business.com.
  The current  administration's plans for deregulation pleased 61% of small business owners surveyed, who note that the promise of deregulation has impacted their
  
  Read more

• Richard Branson hails 'world's first dyslexia sperm bank' for charity launch

  02-05-2017 17:16 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Sir Richard Branson is fronting the launch of a new charity, Made By Dyslexia, which is promoting the world's first "dyslexic sperm bank".
  
  Read more

• Mobile pushes down ad viewability levels

  02-05-2017 17:10 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The growth in mobile adspend is contributing to a decline in ad viewability levels, according to the latest quarterly benchmark report from Meetrics.
  
  Read more

• Ed Warren named Sunshine CCO

  02-05-2017 17:08 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Ed Warren, co-founder of Creature of London, is joining Sunshine as chief creative officer.
  
  Read more

• Weetabix calls Alpen review after takeover

  02-05-2017 17:05 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Alpen, the Weetabix Food Company muesli brand, is reviewing its advertising agency requirements.
  
  Read more

• Ooyala forges partnership with Microsoft to score and analyze content for brand use

  02-05-2017 16:23
  
  While there’s lots of people populating video content, it takes too many others to screen and label it. That’s where artificial intelligence can provide a big assist.While “it’s early days (in such use of AI) it’s an exciting solution to bring to market,” says Scott Braley, GM, Advertising Platforms, Ooyala, which recently announced a partnership with Microsoft’s machine learning platform.In this interview with Beet.TV at the 2017 NAB Show, Braley outlin
  
  Read more

• W&K wins back Honda sponsorship

  02-05-2017 16:14 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Honda UK has handed its broadcast sponsorship work back to Wieden & Kennedy after replacing the shop with Karmarama a year ago. W&K picked up the brief after a competitive pitch.
  
  Read more

• Morris quits Dentsu Aegis to lead Initiative in the UK

  02-05-2017 16:10 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Richard Morris is leaving Dentsu Aegis Network after 22 years to join Initiative as UK chief executive.
  
  Read more

• Dash cam maker Nextbase targets Car Crash Britain with multichannel campaign

  02-05-2017 16:07
  
  Dash cam brand Nextbase is working with independent media agency Guerillascope to launch a new cross-media campaign.
  The multichannel strategy, which is scheduled to run throughout May, will centre on peak linear TV spots around the hit ITV 1 show, Car Crash Britain, which returns for a new series on May 4th. This will be supplemented by digital VOD activity on ITV Hub and online display in the form of a full takeover of the ITV Hub home page. Additional TV airtime has been secured on chann
  
  Read more

• IPA considers admitting third-party-owned agency

  02-05-2017 16:06 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The IPA is in talks with Spark44, which is 50%-owned by Jaguar Land Rover, about becoming a member agency.
  
  Read more

• Adam & Eve/DDB captures EA Sports

  02-05-2017 15:55 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  EA Sports, which owns the Fifa computer-game series, has appointed Adam & Eve/DDB to its global ad account.
  
  Read more

• Should brands take a stand on political and social issues?

  02-05-2017 15:51
  
  Following the shock of Brexit and the divisive election of Donald Trump, there is no question that we are living in polarised times, providing both dangers as well as opportunities for brands.
  On the one hand, if brands take a stance, they risk losing part of their audience. But in not taking a stance, brands could be accused of having no 'heart' or integrity. So how important is it for brands to demonstrate their stance on social issues?
  The recent Pepsi/Kendall Jenner ad backlash that caused P
  
  Read more

• Omnicom leads organic revenue growth in Q1

  02-05-2017 15:50 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Omnicom's organic revenue growth over the first three months of the year outstripped its rivals WPP, Publicis Groupe, Havas and Interpublic.
  
  Read more

• Brewdog’s new spirits offering Lone Wolf distills its punk ethos into a brand obsessed with purity and truth – but is it enough to break into a world outside of beer?

  02-05-2017 15:50
  
  Lone Wolf, the new spirits business backed by Brewdog, wants to be seen as a brand that fights for the “truths” of the alcohol industry – a calculated step away from its parent company’s self-proclaimed punk ethos.
  While Brewdog continues to rage against the establishment (despite unwittingly being a part of it) through its plethora of well-documented PR stunts, Lone Wolf’s tone of voice is more stoic; it promises consumers an intellectual revolution rather tha
  
  Read more

• Pitch update: Department for Transport, Experian, Nissan

  02-05-2017 15:35 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The Department for Transport is holding pitch meetings, while agencies were invited to chemistry meetings with Experian.
  
  Read more

• Financially challenged: banking for the next generation

  02-05-2017 15:33
  
  KPMG seems convinced we are on the cusp of a banking revolution. It’s most recent report on UK challenger banks considers that, over the next decade, our banking sector “won’t have changed – it will be completely re-invented”.
  A new breed of digital challenger – think Atom to Monzo to ClearBank to Starling – seems poised to offer a more personalised, transparent, intelligent way for us to manage our money. Our smartphones already offer biometric sec
  
  Read more

• Tesco takes ‘inside out’ approach as it looks to shop floor workers for inspiration

  02-05-2017 15:32
  
  Tesco’s chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini says each of its ads are now directly inspired by a shop floor colleague, as it moves to an “inside out” marketing approach.
  Today (2 May), Tesco launched the ‘Little Helps to Healthier Living’ campaign. As part of the campaign, Tesco will lower the price of fruit and vegetables; provide ‘Little Swap’ signposts in-store alerting consumers to healthier alternatives; put fresh fruit at checkouts; and launch
  
  Read more

• Tesco takes ‘inside out’ approach as it looks to shop floor colleagues for inspiration

  02-05-2017 15:32
  
  Tesco’s chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini says each of its ads are now directly inspired by a shop floor colleague, as it moves to an “inside out” marketing approach.
  Today (2 May), Tesco launched the ‘Little Helps to Healthier Living’ campaign. As part of the campaign, Tesco will lower the price of fruit and vegetables; provide ‘Little Swap’ signposts in-store alerting consumers to healthier alternatives; put fresh fruit at checkouts; and launch
  
  Read more

• Tesco takes ‘inside out’ approach as it looks to colleagues for inspiration

  02-05-2017 15:32
  
  Tesco’s chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini says each of its ads are now directly inspired by a shop floor colleague, as it moves to an “inside out” marketing approach.
  Today (2 May), Tesco launched the ‘Little Helps to Healthier Living’ campaign. As part of the campaign, Tesco will lower the price of fruit and vegetables; provide ‘Little Swap’ signposts in-store alerting consumers to healthier alternatives; put fresh fruit at checkouts; and launch
  
  Read more

• 9Gag buries monument to memes in the desert to puzzle future generations

  02-05-2017 15:24 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  For its ninth anniversary, humour site and meme generator 9Gag, decided to make the ephemeral internet joke permanent - really permanent.
  
  Read more

• Bottled water industry wins small victory against Sodastream over 'Game of Thrones' ad

  02-05-2017 15:21 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The use of an f-bomb meant that a video ad for Sodastream featuring characters from Game of Thrones was irresponsibly targeted on YouTube, according to the ads standards watchdog.
  
  Read more

• Chip Shop Awards 2017 nominations revealed: will you win the coveted Chip?

  02-05-2017 15:19
  
  The nominations for The Drum Chip Shop Awards are live, and it's apparent that there's an exciting crop of new and established creatives competing for the hallowed Chip and recognition of their ads that never ran.
  The show is intent on fostering and recognising creativity with "no boundaries and no rules". This year’s finalists – including Loaf Creative, ElevenBlack, Now Advertising Ltd, SLG, School of Communication Arts, rrdcreative – are a shining example of these p
  
  Read more

• Evening Standard editor Osborne to meet media agency bosses

  02-05-2017 15:13 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  George Osborne will meet media agency bosses on Thursday after taking up the editorship of the London Evening Standard today.
  
  Read more

• The Chicken Connoisseur Elijah Quashie wings it in Carphone Warehouse Samsung S8 campaign

  02-05-2017 14:56
  
  Chicken shop review sensation, Elijah Quashie, has advanced his critical faculties beyond fried poultry to lead a campaign for Carphone Warehouse.
  The young man fronts 1000heads' social media campaign for the brand, road testing the features of Samsung’s flagship device in an improvised skit that was posted to Facebook.
  Having built a following of half a million people on his YouTube channel, the content rolled on social media with the brand claiming it racked up one million views in
  
  Read more

• Tesco's top marketer on tapping clean eating culture for its most concerted effort yet to promote health credentials

  02-05-2017 14:40
  
  Tesco has partnered with self-described ‘plant-pushing’ chef Derek Sarno as part of its most concerted effort yet to encourage shoppers to make healthier food choices.
  Sarno is co-founder of Wicked Healthy, a company which promotes an 80/20 diet – “Shoot for 80% healthy, 20% wicked and you’ll be 100% sexy” its website proclaims. Though not as prescriptive as the ‘Deliciously Ella’ inspired branch of clean-eating, Tesco’s partnership with the
  
  Read more

• Head & Shoulders partners with Tough Mudder to create original content and help participants scrub up

  02-05-2017 14:28
  
  Tough Mudder has inked its latest sponsorship agreement after announcing a new deal with Head & Shoulders, initiating a partnership which will see the two work together to create original content.
  The Procter & Gamble-owned shampoo brand becomes the official hair care partner for the 2017 season and will work with Tough Mudder to co-create a mini-series which will promote both brands’ marketing around facing challenges with confidence.
  In addition to the digital activations, Head &
  
  Read more

• Google and Facebook pull in one-fifth of global ad revenue as digital duopoly shows no signs of slowing

  02-05-2017 14:07
  
  Google and Facebook attracted one-fifth of global ad spend across all media in 2016, with the digital duopoly showing no signs of slowing down. 
  Zenith's global ad spend report details the top 30 media owners worldwide each year, and has indicated that between them Facebook and Google captured 20% of international ad expenditure in 2016. Between 2012 to 2016 the study claims that combined the pair drove of 64% of all the growth in the industry. 
  Alphabet-owned Google is by far the
  
  Read more

• Agencies remember 'inspirational' Guy Hedger

  02-05-2017 13:39 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Designate and 24-7ideas, which both worked on campaigns in recent years for insurance brand LV=, have paid tribute to its marketing director Guy Hedger, who died on Sunday.
  
  Read more

• About.com is changing its name to Dotdash as it looks to compete with the big boys of publishing

  02-05-2017 13:32
  
  As of today, About.com going away. In its place will live Dotdash (.dash), which culminates the company’s year-long transformation from a general interest website to a collection of stand-alone vertical brands. 
  The company’s reinvention has been in the works for a while, as About.com has spun off the vertical sites. First came Verywell, a site dedicated to health and wellness, featuring the advice of 100 doctors, pharmacists and dietitians. After that came The Balance
  
  Read more

• The New York Times: ‘We’re touting the resurgence of brands’

  02-05-2017 13:30
  
  New York Times senior vice-president of advertising and innovation, Sebastian Tomich, explains how advertisers are starting to revaluate the opportunities posed by trusted media brands in an era when fake news and brand safety top of their list of concerns. 
  The conversation includes: the increasingly collaborative approach between advertisers and media owners; how its growing audience engagement since the start of 2017 is bolstering its latest offering Story[X]; as well as how th
  
  Read more

• JustGiving appoints Rooster PR

  02-05-2017 13:12
  
  JustGiving, the UK’s biggest social fundraising platform, has appointed Rooster PR to manage its UK crowdfunding press activity. Rooster PR will focus on promoting JustGiving’s personal fundraising pages to raise awareness of the site’s crowdfunding offering.
  Rooster will be working closely with the in-house team, headed up by JustGiving’s PR director, Rhys Goode. Activity will focus on the placement of human interest stories in the national and regional UK media to
  
  Read more

• Why Netflix shouldn't be so down on an ad-funded subscriber model

  02-05-2017 13:11
  
  Streaming companies need to start looking at alternatives like ad-funded subscription models to safeguard their futures from dwindling user growth.
  Hidden away in Netflix’s quarterly earnings was a sobering figure for the company and others in the media streaming market. Despite being on-track with operating margins and closing in on the headline-grabbing 100 million subscribers, Netflix fell short of its targeted number of new US subscribers – 104,000 short – as well as intern
  
  Read more

• United Airlines' corporate reputation is at an all time low, but perceptions of Wells Fargo and Volkswagen are on the mend

  02-05-2017 12:33
  
  When a brand talks about a PR nightmare there is no question that United Airlines is still waking up from its own.
  Negative perceptions of United’s corporate reputation have increased by 500% after it forcibly removed a passenger from an overbooked flight last month.
  According to new research from The Harris Poll, 42% of US consumers said United has a 'bad' or 'very bad' reputation when surveyed in April, compared to 7% in late 2016. 
  Loading...
  "United's six-fold increase i
  
  Read more

• Facebook promotes Alex Hardiman to lead fake news purge as head of news products

  02-05-2017 11:54
  
  Facebook has moved to elevate Alex Hardiman, formerly of the New York Times, to its head of news products as it finally puts in place a figurehead to tackle its growing fake news problem head-on.
  Hardiman will be tasked with rooting out fabricated and misleading articles from the platform while also working alongside publishers to pen a greater amount of official news features in a rapid ascension within the social media organisation – having only joined the business in summer last year.
  H
  
  Read more

• LV= pays tribute to 'extremely talented' marketer Guy Hedger

  02-05-2017 11:37 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The chief executive of LV= has led tributes to Guy Hedger, the brand and marketing director of the insurer, who was shot dead at his home in Dorset on Sunday morning.
  
  Read more

• Facebook denies allegations it let brands target teens based on psychological insights

  02-05-2017 11:34
  
  Facebook has rebuffed claims it demonstrated the ability to serve targeted ads to young people based on vulnerable emotional states like stress, anxiety and failure. 
  The claims were first published earlier this week by daily broadsheet the Australian, which alleged an internal report compiled by a researchers for Facebook showed how the social behemoth "can exploit the moods and insecurities of teenagers using the platform for the potential benefit of advertisers."
  Facebook
  
  Read more

• Eco-aware Swedish sportswear brand Houdini has a trick up its sleeve with edible clothing

  02-05-2017 11:17
  Swedish sportswear retailer Houdini has performed a vanishing act of its own after conducting an unconventional ‘upcycling’ trial in which its clothing was plated up and served as food.
  Served alongside a side of salad, the biodegradable garments were first composted before being turned into soil and fertilizer for growing vegetables.
  The unconventional dinner was spearheaded by McCann Stockholm who spent six months working with a Swedish composting pro to break down the clothin
  
  Read more

• Amazon doles out free Prime accounts for Manchester-by-the-Sea residents in Oscars tribute

  02-05-2017 10:49
  
  Amazon is dishing out free Prime accounts to all residents of Manchester-by-the-Sea in celebration of the Academy Awards winning film of the same name arriving on Prime Video this Friday.
  Manchester By The Sea walked off with the Best Original Screenplay gong at this year’s Oscar’s with lead Casey Affleck also picking up a best actor accolade while Amazon Studios sister title, The Salesman, was recognised as best foreign language film.
  Crucially this gives Amazon bragging rights over
  
  Read more

• JJ Abrams says bad theatres keep movie fans at home, suggests ‘inevitable’ exclusivity window reduction

  02-05-2017 10:42
  
  Hollywood director J.J. Abrams has seemingly tolled the bell for the theatrical release exclusivity window enjoyed by blockbuster movies, adding that he understands why people would want to watch at home.
  While industry disruptor Netflix wages a war of its own on the exclusivity window by directly releasing its movies onto its platforms, Star Wars: The Force Awakens director Abrams has said it is “inevitable” top movies will be available at home faster.
  Variety quotes the director, w
  
  Read more

Follow @marketing_UKnws on Twitter!