Marketing news

• UK agency Social Chain opens NY office to support clients including Atlantic Records

  22-05-2017 22:52
  
  UK-based agency Social Chain has expanded to the US with the opening of a New York shop based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
  According to the Manchester-based social marketing agency, which also has offices in London and Berlin, Social Chain’s 12-person team in the US will work with clients including Atlantic Records, Glasses USA, Kiss Cosmetics, Naked Wardrobe, Prps, Olive Garden and HSN. 
  Sam Budd, who was recently appointed managing director, will oversee Social Chain’s overseas
  
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• Is Twitter pondering a subscription model (again)?

  22-05-2017 22:12
  
  In the on-again, off-again, on-again conversation around whether or not Twitter would consider a subscription model, according to Recode, it could be on again. 
  At its annual shareholders meeting in San Francisco, responding to a question from an investor, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey indicated that a model that could include access to features and services is something that “has been kicked around for quite some time.” 
  The platform and company have been aggressive in seek
  
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• Apple shows that switching to an iPhone from Android is simple in new campaign

  22-05-2017 22:05
  
  Apple is trying to get Android device users to switch over to the iPhone, releasing a series of 15-second videos highlighting how easy it is for users to switch without losing contacts, photos or music from their existing device.
  The ‘Why Switch?’ digital campaign features eight short films that show the ease and benefits of switching to an iPhone. While many users may be concerned about switching out of fear that they will lose the things that are most important to them, Apple count
  
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• Challenged by dismal retail sales and store closures, JC Penney embarks on a B2B initiative with hotel and hospitality industry

  22-05-2017 21:13
  
  As the struggling department store JC Penney has been seeking ways to  boost its retail business, the company announced on Thursday (May 18) that it is embarking on a B2B approach to its bedding, appliance and home offerings and will direct its sales and marketing efforts towards hotels and other lodging companies.
  The retail chain reported a much worse than expected drop in sales for the first quarter the day after its announcement with Penney shares, already near 40-year lows, plummeting
  
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• Rubicon Project CEO: ‘Open source will be the gold standard’

  22-05-2017 20:09
  
  Soon after it emerged Rubicon Project is mounting a counter-charge to its ongoing legal tussles with The Guardian, The Drum caught up with its chief executive Michael Barrett to gauge his priorities for his first three months in office.
  Rubicon Project's leadership won’t be drawn on record for any comment over its pending legal issues with, although it’s understood throughout the industry that transparency with pricing is now table stakes.  
  The discussion covers: how
  
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• Airbnb stunt lists entire country of Sweden

  22-05-2017 19:48
  
  In a twist on the way tourism boards promote their places, Sweden has listed the entire country on Airbnb. Created in partnership with MDC Partners-backed Swedish creative agency, Forsman & Bodenfors, it celebrates the nation’s “freedom to roam”, a principle, protected by law, that allows people the right to be free in Sweden’s vast, natural beauty.
  The format follows the familiar Airbnb format, but it is unlike the typical booking process, as, due to the law, the lan
  
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• Nissan offers football fans Champions League final trip with David Ginola

  22-05-2017 19:43
  
  Nissan is stepping up its efforts to engage with football fans ahead of the Uefa Champions League final with a new social campaign centred on fan created content.
  The Get There With Ginola campaign is offering fans the chance to attend the final in Cardiff between Real Madrid and Juventus with French football legend David Ginola who, despite reaching the semi-finals with Paris St-Germain in 1995, never played in the final.
  Nissan’s competition is themed around giving fans the opportunity t
  
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• Dove and Shonda Rhimes release inspiring film starring the creator of ‘Fat Girls Dance’

  22-05-2017 19:21
  
  The first film to come out of Dove’s Real Beauty Productions stars Cathleen Meredith, the woman behind the global Fat Girls Dance movement.
  Dove launched Real Beauty Productions earlier this year with Shonda Rhimes, writer and producer of TV hits Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, on board as creative director. According to Dove, the beauty brand – which is celebrating its 60th birthday this year – launched the production studio to “expand the definition of beauty by p
  
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• Keith Weed: Improving ad quality will solve the industry’s digital issues

  22-05-2017 18:13
  
  It’s time to reset. Over recent months we have seen several important issues – brand safety, ad fraud, incorrect billings, diversity in advertising to name a few – flare up, incite outrage and then drift back away again from the public consciousness. These are all important issues, and deserve our continued attention. But instead, as an industry we have focused and refocused our tunnel vision on the matter right in front of us at the expense of the previous problem.
  If we are
  
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• Innocent’s Helen Pomphrey joins Cawston Press as first marketing boss

  22-05-2017 18:11
  
  Soft drinks brand Cawston Press has appointed Innocent marketer Helen Pomphrey as its first full-time UK marketing director as the brand looks to accelerate growth.
  Pomfrey currently heads up Innocent’s Nordic region as head of marketing and transition project manager. She has been with Innocent for 10 years and was previously in charge of running the UK marketing team. She will join Cawston Press on 12 June.
  Cawston Press’s co-founder, Mark Palmer, previously the marketing boss at P
  
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• Ending the blame game: How to optimize technology to maximize profits

  22-05-2017 17:30
  Ryan Kenney, SpotX, vice president, platform services, argues for an end to the the ‘us-versus-them’ mentality creeping into the automated trading sector, and offers tips on how best to vet potential adtech partners.  
  It’s no secret advertisers are embracing automated buying across all forms of video advertising. Both publishers and buyers, however, are feeling the strain, according to recent reports expressing concerns about arbitrage practices and ineffic
  
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• The Tories' 'dementia tax' wobble is a reminder that the devil is always in the detail

  22-05-2017 17:20
  
  Those of you playing along with the Theresa May stock phrases bingo must be close to a full house with the launch of the Conservative manifesto 
  May says a strong economy and delivering Brexit are top priorities. The get out of jail card being that all other policies are dependent on a successful Brexit negotiation.
  The 2015 pledge not to raise income tax or National Insurance has been dropped and there are big changes to social care funding in England including how the elderly wi
  
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• Cuckoo are appointed to Recess design brief

  22-05-2017 17:09
  
  Recess, the new food and drink offering from Valor Hospitality, has appointed Manchester based design agency Cuckoo to its visual identity brief.
  The Manchester based agency has been involved with expanding Valor Hospitality's expanding portfolio of hotels – most recently for its Hilton Garden Inn hotels, which are situated in Bristol, Birmingham and Glasgow.
  Following the refurbishment of the hotel’s dining spaces, Cuckoo were tasked with developing the visual identity, brand p
  
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• GMR Canada hires Jesse Pearson as creative director

  22-05-2017 16:55
  
  Global experiential agency GMR Marketing, part of Omnicom Group, has announced the hire of creative director Jesse Pearson.
  In his new role, he will head up creative and will be based at the agency’s Toronto office, working with clients including Visa, Ferrari and Wrigley.
  Pearson said made the move to GMR because he believes that experiences have the power to change consumer behavior. 
  He has spent the last decade helping some of the world’s most well-respected brands
  
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• Campaign TV: 'transform and unite' are hot topics at Media360

  22-05-2017 16:38 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Speakers at Media360 reflect on this year's theme of transform and unite, highlighting safety, diversity and collaboration between agencies.
  
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• Can FMCG brands take the power back from TEGs?

  22-05-2017 16:34
  
  The power of the Top End Grocer (TEG) has been a main stay for FMCG brands for a long while. Getting listed, being beaten down on the deal, having to spend marketing budget on in-store marketing you don’t really want and the threat of a delisting are commonplace. However, in the future can the tide change with the emergence of digital and social technologies and more specifically e-commerce, m-commerce and s-commerce?
  At the end of the day TEGs need to meet consumer demand and keep custome
  
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• How AI can help brands reach consumers in search

  22-05-2017 16:00
  
  Digital music service Spotify recently acquired machine learning startup Niland to improve its recommendation and personalization technologies. In other words, Spotify wants to better connect its users to music they will like.
  The heart of this concept is nothing new. Netflix and Amazon, too, use machine learning – a type of artificial intelligence (AI) in which machines learn when exposed to new data without being programmed – to suggest content and products their respective us
  
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• Tanya Joseph: For brand safety, look to insight not algorithms

  22-05-2017 15:59
  
  Photographer: Rehan JamilBrand safety and the perils of online advertising have been in the news lately, but concerns about brand safety are not new.
  The issue of the editorial content sitting next to your ad has been something marketers have fretted about forever and a day. What airline CMO wants to see their latest ad sitting alongside news of a plane crash in the newspaper, or toymaker see a 48-sheet poster outside a park where a child has died? If it happens in print and out-of-home, y
  
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• Häagen-Dazs' top UK marketer on why it's switching sexy and suggestive ads for a new brand ethos

  22-05-2017 15:50
  
  Häagen-Dazs is moving away from glossy celebrity endorsements and aspirational branding to ensure it stays relevant to an audience which places value on experiences rather than belongings, but as the brand changes its tune once more will the millennials it's trying to appeal to buy into it? 
  In days gone by, Häagen-Dazs marketing conjured up images of a roguish Bradley Cooper flirting with models over a tub of melting ice-cream or comprised suggestive poster campaigns celebra
  
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• McDonald's CMO: 'we suffered from fake news long before Trump'

  22-05-2017 15:36 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  In an era of fake news and social media driven consumer advocacy, McDonald's has had to open up its brand and marketing efforts in unprecedented ways.
  
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• World Rugby agrees biggest ever US broadcast rights deal with NBC

  22-05-2017 15:01
  
  World Rugby has landed its most lucrative ever US rights deal after announcing a multi-year partnership with NBC.
  The seven-year contract will see NBC hold the exclusive US broadcast rights for the world’s biggest international rugby events, including the Rugby World Cup and Women’s Rugby World Cup.
  NBC’s decision to acquire the rights positions it as the home of rugby in the US, where the sport has enjoyed a significant growing spurt in popularity since its return to the Olymp
  
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• Nestlé has parachuted into the startup world with a different game to play, but can its innovation platform really change the world?

  22-05-2017 14:40
  
  Nestlé was “very late” to the startup party, its head of global innovation has admitted. But in playing catch-up, its dedicated platform – the year-old Henri@Nestlé – now carries a mammoth weight on its shoulders, with a remit to improve the health and wellbeing of global consumers across the world.
  “Henri is definitely not an accelerator programme,” Gerardo Mazzeo, Nestlé’s global innovation director, asserted when as
  
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• Seven key takeaways from Media360

  22-05-2017 14:15 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Every business needs to be thinking constantly about disrupting itself and being open to new ideas and new partners.
  
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• Carlsberg to help Manchester City strengthen ties with US fans during pre-season tour

  22-05-2017 14:09
  
  Carlsberg will help Manchester City strengthen its North American fanbase during the upcoming US pre-season tour after agreeing a deal to become the club’s official US beer partner.
  The Premier League club signed a one-year deal with the Danish beer giant’s exclusive US importer, St. Killian, which will collaborate with City to provide “innovative and engaging” ways to connect with fans in the US.
  As well as hosting sweepstake competitions giving fans the opportunity to w
  
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• The secrets of building heritage brands

  22-05-2017 13:56
  
  William Grant & Sons (WG&S) is not a company that many people know about, admits its UK marketing director Gary Keogh. However, many of its brands are household names – think Glenfiddich, Hendrick’s and Monkey Shoulder.
  And it takes building those brands incredibly seriously. The company’s approach is done through a programme called ‘dram by dram’. It is a set of five principles that have been designed to drive business growth, and are “unique” t
  
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• Media agencies more than a 'middleman' thanks to AI: Zenith

  22-05-2017 12:35 via campaignlive.com
  
  New technology means media agencies should be having a very different conversation with their clients, according to Zenith's global brand president Vittorio Bonori.
  
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• Ed Vaizey: Local election campaigning hasn’t changed in 100 years – but it’s still effective

  22-05-2017 12:22
  
  US elections are the most time-consuming and expensive in the world. The presidential campaign, preceded as it is by the race for the nomination, lasts two years.  And when that’s not dominating, there are the mid-terms…
  Numerous candidates spend billions of dollars on mail shots, social media and TV advertising. I wonder if there is a study out there which shows what impact election spending has had on television networks’ bottom line – staving off the in
  
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• My Media Week: Tracy De Groose, Dentsu Aegis Network

  22-05-2017 12:19 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Nurturing young talent, feeding her 'inner creative' and a pint in her pub keep Tracy De Groose busy.
  
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• Steve Richards: politics is weirder than ever

  22-05-2017 12:02 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Whatever happens in the Brexit negotiations, we're in for a period of continued volatility, Steve Richards, political columnist and host of Rock N Roll Politics, told Media360.
  
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• How to break social media out of the backroom and into the c-suite

  22-05-2017 11:39
  
  “Silos” is a bit of marketing speak you hear a lot these days. Borrowed, for some reason, from the farming storage lexicon, this term crystallises  the idea of departments within a company being cut off from one another. And, despite the omnipresence of social media today, social media departments remain among the most siloed of all.
  It’s a vicious cycle. The challenge of proving their activities’ worth to the rest of the company is one of social media prof
  
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• Convenience store giant McColl’s to swoop on Tesco’s One Stop

  22-05-2017 11:12
  
  Britain’s biggest chain of convenience stores, McColl’s, is to expand its footprint further by lining up a possible takeover of Tesco’s One Stop outlets.
  Tesco is widely expected to be forced to offload the chain owing to competition concerns arising from its £3.7bn merger with wholesale retailer Booker, with the UK’s competition regulator thought unlikely to give its consent otherwise.
  Tesco could also be forced to divest itself of hundreds of Express outlets to ea
  
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• PZ Cussons, Vodafone, Canon, uSwitch and Google to talk search at Manchester event

  22-05-2017 11:01
  
  Household names Vodafone, PZ Cussons, uSwitch and Canon Europe are to outline their visions for the future of search at an event taking place in Manchester in September.
  Also sharing their thoughts at the Benchmark Search Conference 2017 will be search kingpins Google, who will address an audience of senior level digital marketing professionals who manage organic search or pay per click marketing within their organisations.
  Taking to the stage will be Shane Cahill, agency development manager at
  
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• The next wave of British TV CEOs ‘mustn't overlook content’ in favour of rushing headlong into technology

  22-05-2017 11:00
  
  In what some perceive as a rare opportunity for industry-wide change, British TV’s top commercial broadcasters – Channel 4, ITV and STV – are preparing for a changing of the guard that could see the traditional players further diversify broadcasting away from a perishable ad-funded model, and beef up their ability to fight the good fight against new media’s might.
  The next round of chief executives will have to face up to industry-wide advertising tensions. While TV&rsquo
  
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• Digital Cinema Media Awards open for entries

  22-05-2017 10:45 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The third annual Digital Cinema Media Awards, celebrating and rewarding the best advertising work showcased in cinema by the media industry in the past year, is now open for entries.
  
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• Creative Work of the Week: Beck's makes it 'legendary' to target young urban beer drinkers

  22-05-2017 10:45
  
  Beck’s has championed the Creative Works with its new ‘you make it legendary’ proposition winning the European Creative Work of the Week title.
  Created by Serviceplan Campaign International, the cross-media campaign is about the uniqueness of each moment, which can only become legendary though the actions of the individual. Set to a soundtrack of US band Welshy Arms’ ‘Legendary,’ the TV spot – which is on air now – is aimed at young urban beer drin
  
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• Creative Works featuring Music, Mr President, Love, Ogilvy Italy and more

  22-05-2017 10:30
  
  Welcome to The Drum Creative Works, in partnership with Workfront.
  As always this section is dedicated to showing the best creative work and gives you, the reader, the chance to decide which work we feature as our 'Creative Work of the Week'.
  We've now introduced our new five-star voting system. To vote for your favourite, make sure you click on the stars. The winner be chosen based on the average rating and the number of votes cast. Voting closes on Monday 29 May.
  For project inf
  
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• Monte Carlo has created a 'Massage tee' that makes reflexology wearable via technology

  22-05-2017 10:16
  
  Monte Carlo has devised the 'Massage Tee' based reflexology, the application of pressure to areas on the feet, hands and ears.
  The pinpoints are placed in the places needed to be massaged to give one relief from pain and fatigue. J. Walter Thompson Delhi conceptualized the Massage Tee, aiming to create fashion with a purpose.
  The Massage Tee has different pressure points seen as colour-coded dots to make sure there is no chance of a bad massage. As the press release claims, the tee is
  
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• Twitter co-founder Ev Williams says ‘sorry’ for any part in Trump’s surprise election win

  22-05-2017 10:09
  
  Twitter co-founder Ev Williams has responded to criticism that Twitter played a role in helping president Donald Trump get elected by acknowledging that Twitter’s role in the election was ‘very bad’.
  Speaking to the New York Times, Williams said: “It's a very bad thing, Twitter's role in that. If it's true that he wouldn't be president if it weren't for Twitter, then yeah, I'm sorry.”
  Trump has gone on record to attribute Twitter with his electoral success by allowi
  
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• Facebook’s internal rulebook on sex, threats and violence leaked

  22-05-2017 09:36
  
  An internal document outlining Facebook’s in-house policy for handling content containing sex, threats and violence has been leaked to the Guardian - opening up the most detailed look yet at the social media giant’s approach to controversial content.
  Stretching to thousands of documents, the trove of papers illustrate the complex web of rules and regulations used to govern what is allowed and what is not; including apparent inconsistencies in approach which treat a threat to kill the
  
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• Warburtons, Apple, Instagram: Everything that matters this morning

  22-05-2017 09:07
  
  Brits buying more home-grown FMCG brands
  UK consumers are increasingly opting for British grocery brands, according to Kantar Worldpanel’s fifth annual Brand Footprint ranking. The study, which measures which brands are most frequently bought by the most British consumers, reveals seven of the top 10 are home grown, up from six last year.
  Bolton-based Warburton tops the UK list with 84.2% of the population buying its products an average of 25.2 times a year.
  Rival bread brand Kingsmill has
  
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• Mindshare integrates FAST concept globally

  22-05-2017 09:07 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Mindshare has announced that it will incorporate its FAST (Future Adaptive Specialist Team) concept into the "heart of the agency" on a global basis.
  
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• Marks & Spencer, Facebook, Jaguar: Everything that matters this morning

  22-05-2017 09:07
  
  Marks & Spencer to report clothing sales slump
  Marks & Spencer is expected to post a 3% slump in its clothing and homewares sales as the festive revival appears short-lived.
  Reporting results for the first quarter of 2017 on Wednesday (24 May), the high street retailer is also expected to reveal a sharp fall in annual profits and a small decline in its underlying food business.
  These results come after a successful festive period during which Marks & Spencer saw a 2.3% jump in clothi
  
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• Instagram, Facebook, Aston Martin: Everything that matters this morning

  22-05-2017 09:07
  
  Instagram integrates direct response ads within its popular Stories function
  As it continues to evolve its Stories function, Instagram is now testing direct response ads for the Snapchat-esque feature.
  It means consumers who look at ads in Instagram Stories can now be prompted by brands to sign-up for a service or install an app.
  SumUp, an e-payment device company, has launched an ad on Stories that prompts people to swipe up to sign up for its service. According to Instagram, wh
  
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• Ford, Amazon, Aviva: Everything that matters this morning

  22-05-2017 09:07
  
  Amazon challenges Sky and BT with move into pay-TV
  Amazon is moving into the pay-TV space, a market dominated by Sky Virgin Media and BT. Amazon Channels will see the online firm offer individual subscriptions to more than 40 channels at a cost of between £1.49 and £9.99 a channel with no fixed contract.
  Broadcasters including Discovery, ITV and Eurosport have signed up, although others including Channel 4, UKTV and Channel 5 have not, with insiders telling The Telegraph the terms we
  
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• Facebook, Deliveroo, Aviva: Everything that matters this morning

  22-05-2017 09:07
  
  Facebook criticises authoritarianism and nationalism
  Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook, has declared that the “struggle of our time” is against the forces of authoritarianism and nationalism, as he sets out a political agenda for a more equal, connected world.
  Giving the commencement address to Harvard University, he said there was a “battle of ideas not nations” between those who are for the flow of trade and immigration and those who want to slow
  
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• Review recap: KFC, Peroni

  22-05-2017 08:33 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Campaign's weekly round-up of accounts that are up for review across advertising and media.
  
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• Convenience store chain McColls plans swoop for Tesco stores

  22-05-2017 08:06 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The chief executive of McColls, the UK's largest convenience store chain, has said he plans to bid for part of Tesco's business, if the supermarket faces a stumbling block over its planned £3.7bn merger with wholesaler Booker.
  
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• Attribution is broken, here’s how to fix it

  22-05-2017 08:00
  
  Amid all of the current brand-safety brouhaha, it might be hard to remember that it was Facebook who ushered in the current season of scepticism by admitting that their metrics significantly inflated the reported reach of media on their platform.
  The response of Facebook’s EMEA head of marketing science Tony Evans was curiously unhelpful suggesting clients are more concerned with measurement than with metrics. Well, that’s alright then. Only in marketing could “measurement&rdq
  
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• Facebook will permit self-harm to be livestreamed, documents suggest

  22-05-2017 07:54 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The Guardian has obtained a series of leaked documents that outline its rules for what users may and may not post on the social media platform.
  
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• Lack of programmatic expertise is holding the Australian market back

  22-05-2017 07:16
  
  Australian media agencies believe a lack of expertise in programmatic is holding the market back, according to research by AOL.
  AOL’s State of Video Industry Report found 61% of media professionals view the absence of programmatic expertise as an obstacle in selling video inventory.
  Australia is the only market where the skills shortage is the leading concern for programmatic, with the market concerns significantly higher than the global average of 30%.
  The report found media agencies were
  
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