Marketing news

• Heinz rolls out ‘Chicago Dog Sauce’ to trick ketchup-averse Chicagoans

  18-07-2017 21:12
  
  Every city has its own unique culinary delicacies and quirks, but few rival Chicagoans and their utter refusal to put ketchup on hot dogs. 
  That’s why ketchup purveyor Heinz has rolled out a ‘Chicago Dog Sauce’ for National Hot Dog Day on Wednesday. Made specially for Chicagoans, the sauce - which Heinz said is “made with delicious red ripe tomatoes and a special blend of spices and flavorings” - is really just ketchup in disguise.
  To try and prove to Chicago&r
  
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• Ticketmaster bets on smarter tickets to outsmart fraudsters

  18-07-2017 20:33
  
  Ticket sales company Ticketmaster has launched Presence, or what it calls a “next generation venue access control and fan engagement platform” that uses a number of proximity-based digital technologies like RFID, NFC and sound to replace paper tickets and theoretically speed up venue access and ticket transfers, while also eliminating fraud.
  Calling it “the future of ticketing”, Ticketmaster said fans use smart devices to enter venues with Presence. Justin Burleigh,
  
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• Agatha Christie thriller the start of new mega-TV series for Amazon

  18-07-2017 18:11
  
  Amazon has struck a major deal with Agatha Christie Productions for US rights to seven dramas based on the author’s works. 
  Ordeal By Innocence is the first adaptation, with filming starting in Scotland this month. The three-part film, produced by Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen for the BBC, has an ensemble cast led by Bill Nighy, Catherine Keener and Matthew Goode.
  Alice Eve, Ella Purnell, Ed Westwick, Luke Treadaway, Eleanor Tomlinson and Morven Christie also star.
  Publis
  
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• Agatha Christie thriller filmed in Scotland launches new mega-TV series for Amazon

  18-07-2017 18:11
  
  Amazon has struck a major  deal with Agatha Christie Productions for U.S. rights to  seven dramas based on the author’s works. Ordeal By Innocence is the first adaptation with filming starting in Scotland this month. The three-part film, produced by Agatha Christie Limited and Mammoth Screen for the BBC, has an ensemble cast led by Bill Nighy, Catherine Keener and Matthew Goode.
  Alice Eve, Ella Purnell, Ed Westwick, Luke Treadaway, Eleanor Tomlinson and Morven Christie
  
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• SodaStream CEO on why marketing is key as it aims for ‘cult’ brand status

  18-07-2017 18:06
  
  SodaStream is putting its brand purpose to “make a difference to the world” at the heart of its marketing, taking on the giants of the soft drinks space with an aggressive move to cut sales of bottled water.
  The drinks brand started its transition from soft drinks to fizzy water back in 2014 in response to changing habits, as consumers started to cut sugar from their diets.
  That shift comes on the back of growing sales of bottled water. Water overtook carbonated drinks as the mo
  
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• Google Analytics unveils voice-based queries to bring ‘consumer-like simplicity’ to its business suite

  18-07-2017 18:01
  
  Google Analytics has today (July 18) lifted the lid on a voice-based search feature that helps users of the software suite to ask for and receive “plain English” questions and answers, via artificial intelligence (AI).
  The feature, which uses the same natural language processing technology available across Google products like Android and Search (see video above), and will become available in English to all Google Analytics users over the next few weeks.
  Analytics Intelligence, a set
  
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• McCann Worldgroup protest 'arbitrary' decision to shut them out out of multi-billion US Army contract

  18-07-2017 17:35
  
  McCann Worldgroup has filed a formal Government Accountability Office pre-award bid protest against the US Army, saying that its elimination from an agency review for the U.S. Army's business was "an arbitrary and capricious decision."
  In January, the U.S. Army released a request for proposals for its advertising and marketing business. An Army representative said then that the mandated review "estimates the contract ceiling to not exceed $4 billion" over a period up to a dec
  
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• McCann Worldgroup protest 'arbitrary' decision to shut them out of multi-billion US Army contract

  18-07-2017 17:35
  
  McCann World Group has filed a formal Government Accountability Office pre-award bid protest against the US Army, saying that its elimination from an agency review for the U.S. Army's business was "an arbitrary and capricious decision."
  In January, the U.S. Army released a request for proposals for its advertising and marketing business. An Army representative said then that the mandated review "estimates the contract ceiling to not exceed $4bn" over a period up to a decade.
  
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• Humanising machines: Why the distinction between AI and machine learning is key

  18-07-2017 17:24
  
  In recent months you’d be forgiven for thinking that media buying as a discipline is going to hell in a handcart, with Google itself being the latest to suffer the slings and arrows of programmatic media buying’s outrageous fortune.
  But instead of viewing recent events as some kind of advertising apocalypse, we should perhaps be viewing this period as a painful adolescent relationship between adland’s humans and machines. A period where, having rushed headlong into the data and
  
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• The Flu Bug promotes flu tests through word of mouth campaign

  18-07-2017 17:20
  
  Word-of-mouth campaigns may not be the first tactic brands consider for their promotions. They don’t have the immediate reach or flash of video, but the centuries of proven success with the approach are now being used to get the word out about flu testing.  
  Quidel, a manufacturer and developer of influenza tests, wanted a way to get more people to recognize the dangers of flu and drive home the fact that they need to take precautions to avoid being infected or seek treatment if, in f
  
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• Sports publisher GiveMeSport bolsters senior team with raft of hires from Vice, Lad Bible and Bauer

  18-07-2017 17:20
  
  Online sports publisher GiveMeSport has made a raft of senior appointments from Vice, the Lad Bible, and Bauer Media, including the appointment of Mimi Turner as senior strategy advisor, paving the way for its future growth.
  Mimi Turner joins as senior strategy advisor, tasked with developing a data strategy around how its audience responds to its content emotionally, working to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and custom technology into the news flow, and helping the business on brand str
  
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• Millennial spring – wake up and smell the revolution fuelled by Britain’s hung parliament blues

  18-07-2017 17:12
  
  Post-election blues are colouring the zeitgeist in Britain, and a revolution is underway that marketers should ignore at their peril.
  Young voters are giving the finger to politics and the status quo. They’re doing it for themselves after their messiah Jeremy Corbyn left them in limbo with a hung parliament.
  YouGov surveys show a whopping 57% of 18-19 year-old first time voters turned out to vote, with 66% of them putting their crosses by a Labour candidate. Polls show 61.5% of under 40s v
  
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• Ad of the Day: Honda revels in the craft of filmmaking with Dream Makers campaign

  18-07-2017 16:38
  
  Wieden+Kennedy has revealed its latest work for Honda: a celebration of both the intricacies and beauty of filmmaking as part of the auto brand’s sponsorship of movies broadcast on Channel 4 and sister channels More4, Film4 and E4.
  Dream Makers, the hero 90-second spot, is an amalgamation of four different short films, in four different genres, featuring four different Honda models. The dramatic scenes are not the finished product but rather include the CGI skeletons, storyboard sketches,
  
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• Vodafone to ramp up customer service with upgraded chatbot, voice ID and Alexa skill

  18-07-2017 16:31 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  After Vodafone was fined £4.6m by Ofcom last October for failing to handle customer complaints properly, its chief executive Nick Jeffries vowed to tackle the issue head-on.
  
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• Welsh steps down from Vodafone

  18-07-2017 16:25 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Caroline Welsh, Vodafone's head of brand and communications, is stepping down from the post.
  
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• Volkswagen talks to shops amid car-finance fears

  18-07-2017 16:19 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Volkswagen UK hopes to allay consumer fears that the car industry could go through its own version of the sub-prime loans crisis as it begins agency talks to simplify its finance marketing.
  
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• Marketoonist on brand love

  18-07-2017 16:04
  
  The post Marketoonist on brand love appeared first on Marketing Week.
  
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• Robert Ffitch takes CSO role at Hearst

  18-07-2017 16:01 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Robert Ffitch, the former Manning Gottlieb OMD chief executive and Telegraph Media Group director of advertising revenues, is to become chief strategy officer at Hearst Magazines UK.
  
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• Sizmek to buy Rocket Fuel for $145m

  18-07-2017 15:49 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Private ad tech company Sizmek has announced plans to buy publicly-listed programmatic company Rocket Fuel for $145m (£111m).
  
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• Contributor Network Latest: Big Group acquires Frontline, why TV sponsorship is big for small brands and selling summer food on social media

  18-07-2017 15:45
  
  The Drum loves great content and this week saw the launch of the title's new content marketing platform The Drum Contributor Network where companies can post their own news, insights, projects and case studies directly to their own company page.
  In this new bi-weekly Contributor Network update we look at Big Group’s acquisition of Frontline Display International, why TV is a great brand builder for smaller brands, how to target foodies during the summer, case studies for Metropolitan and E
  
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• Campaign rolls out membership scheme

  18-07-2017 15:36 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Campaign is this week unveiling a membership programme designed to reward its most loyal readers.
  
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• Burnett takes role at MRM Meteorite

  18-07-2017 15:32 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Darren Burnett, EMEA planning director at Proximity, is joining MRM Meteorite as chief strategy officer.
  
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• The chief growth officer is just a symbolic role, says J&J CMO

  18-07-2017 15:29
  
  “If I’m not driving growth then I don’t know why I really exist,” says Alison Lewis, global CMO at Johnson & Johnson. It’s a bold statement, and not one that every marketer would agree with. But  with a growing number of businesses scrapping the CMO title in favour of a chief growth officer it’s an issue that is on the agenda of every marketing boss.
  “To me it’s a positioning thing because of course my role is to drive growth. I always say
  
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• New-business reviews fall steeply in first half of 2017

  18-07-2017 15:29 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The number of completed new-business pitches fell sharply in the first half of the year, thanks to a collapse in digital, integrated, direct and media reviews, AAR's latest New Business Pulse report shows.
  
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• Chief growth officer is just a symbolic role, says J&J CMO

  18-07-2017 15:29
  
  “If I’m not driving growth then I don’t know why I really exist,” says Alison Lewis, global CMO at Johnson & Johnson. It’s a bold statement, and not one that every marketer would agree with. But with a growing number of businesses scrapping the CMO title in favour of a chief growth officer it’s an issue that is on the agenda of every marketing boss.
  “To me it’s a positioning thing because of course my role is to drive growth. I always say 
  
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• Programmatic player Media iQ to scale on the back of private equity investment

  18-07-2017 15:18 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Private equity firm EC Partners has acquired a minority stake in analytics and technology company Media iQ for an undisclosed sum.
  
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• Bedwood named creative partner of CHI & Partners

  18-07-2017 15:03 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Dave Bedwood, one of the founders of Lean Mean Fighting Machine and a former creative director at M&C Saatchi, is joining CHI & Partners as a creative partner.
  
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• Love Island success boosts younger audience for ITV

  18-07-2017 14:44 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  ITV2's smash hit Love Island is helping the channel buck the wider decline in younger viewers, with the number of 16- to 34-year-olds watching increasing by 86% year on year.
  
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• Pitch update: Yo!, Debenhams, Sainsbury's

  18-07-2017 14:36 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Yo! is on the hunt for an agency, while Debenhams is in the RFIs stage of its review.
  
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• Mercieca to manage social for ESF Festival of Football

  18-07-2017 14:32
  
  The ESF Festival of Football, the UK’s biggest youth football festival, has appointed Camden-based integrated agency Mercieca to help drive awareness among its target audience of families and grassroots football clubs.
  Martyn Young, company director at ESF Events, said of the new appointment: “Having seen the work that Mercieca has delivered for brands including Mitre they were already on our radar. The team’s knowledge, creativity and network brings great value to our business
  
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• Sizmek to buy Rocket Fuel in a proposed $145m deal

  18-07-2017 14:30
  
  In an ongoing sign of consolidation in the adtech sector, Sizmek has today (July 18) announced it has agreed to acquire publicly listed outfit Rocket Fuel in a deal tipped to be worth $145m.
  A press release announcing the agreement states that Rocket Fuel’s board of directors has unanimously approved the proposal, with an affiliate of Sizmek (the company is an affiliate of Vector Capital) set to offer cash for all of the outstanding shares of Rocket Fuel’s common stock
  
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• L'Oréal appoints temporary marketing chief as Hugh Pile goes on sabbatical

  18-07-2017 14:00 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  L'Oréal's chief marketing officer for Western Europe, Hugh Pile, is taking a one-year sabbatical from his role at the cosmetics giant to work for his family's business.
  
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• Bellwether: marketers' optimism at lowest level for four years

  18-07-2017 13:39 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Marketers' optimism regarding companies' financial prospects are at their lowest level for four-and-a-half years, despite UK marketing budgets being expanded, compared to three months ago.
  
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• Former Unilever media boss Alex Tait partners with IAB’s Nick Stringer to launch GDPR consultancy

  18-07-2017 13:31
  
  Former Unilever marketer Alex Tait is expanding his recently launched consultancy into advisory services around GDPR ahead of the looming deadline which many companies are ill-prepared for.
  Tait departed Unilever – where he led the UK & Ireland media and marketing – to launch a consultancy venture called Entropy earlier this year which consults with brands on media, content and digital services. 
  However, as The Drum has previously reported, many companies are woef
  
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• Walmart apologises for using N-word in online product description

  18-07-2017 13:27
  
  Walmart has been criticised after an antiquated online product was described as ‘n-word brown’ in a listing, a term that has now understandably been retired from the colour chart it once eschewed.
  The retailer, working with a third party seller, was found to be selling a wig cap carrying the offensive description. It has since removed and the company has offered an apology for the listing, but not before it was screencapped by a Twitter user.
   
  Umm, @Walmart we need to
  
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• Let’s use GDPR as an opportunity to lead the global thinking around privacy and innovation

  18-07-2017 13:06
  
  There is certainly a lot of activity now around GDPR, but are many organisations missing a trick? Could they move forward from looking only at how to comply with legislation to thinking how they can look at the new rules as an opportunity for their brands?
  No matter what company you work in, you’d have to have been living under a rock to have missed the urgent need to take action in the light of the upcoming General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), so I’m not going to labour it he
  
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• Disney and FA team up to get girls playing football

  18-07-2017 13:06 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  The Football Association has launched a three-year partnership with Disney to increase girls' participation in football and evolve perceptions of the sport.
  
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• What’s in a job name? A lot, if you’re Bacardi's head of creative excellence

  18-07-2017 12:49
  
  When Bacardi’s chief executive officer Mike Dolan recruited Zara Mirza to his marketing team over coffee in New York, he asked her what she’d like her job title to be.
  It was 2015 and the company was going through a marketing talent shake-up: it was in the process of scrapping the global chief marketing officer role in favour of CMOs from ‘Centres of Excellence’ regionally. Mirza, however, would be invited to “jolt change” in a department growing stale. And fo
  
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• Disney and Lenovo reveal augmented reality games including Star Wars holochess

  18-07-2017 12:41
  
  Disney is embracing augmented reality by bringing to life a beloved component of the Star Wars universe, the holochess displayed on the bridge of the Millennium Falcon in a New Hope and the Force Awakens.
  Holochess, a bizarre claymation hologram projection somewhat approximating chess was showcased by Disney during the weekend, making use of a Lenovo-made augmented reality headset that pairs with smartphones that can project the board onto any table or surface.
  The partnership between the entert
  
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• Donald Trump cover creators on why he's the gift that keeps on giving for print design

  18-07-2017 12:30
  
  It will take you more than a few minutes, maybe longer, to digest the visual feast that is last weekend’s New York Times Magazine cover. Titled ‘Trumplandia’, it depicts a chaotic scene set against the backdrop of Capitol Hill.
  UK-based illustrator Andrew Rae was behind the front-page splash. Painted in a simple hand rendered-style, his depiction of president Trump’s America features, among other characters, right-wing meme and anthropomorphic frog Pepe; dozens of Twitter
  
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• Instagrammer shares ‘Shot on iPhone’ image of his niece Ava that Apple ran globally on billboards

  18-07-2017 12:22
  
  Apple has been championing the photography skills of iPhone users in an ad campaign that generates excitement around the concept of the device as a high quality camera.
  The company is exhibiting user contributed images ‘Shot on iPhone’ on billboards across the globe, and has been doing so for three years.
  Its latest drive is really encouraging Apple users and photographers to get out there with the world’s billboards potentially serving as their gallery.
  The work from TBWA
  
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• BBC Worldwide picks Pottermore’s Henriette Stuart-Reckling for brand director

  18-07-2017 12:01
  
  BBC Worldwide has appointed Henriette Stuart-Reckling as brand director as the broadcaster pushes its ambitions to develop a multiplatform, international global brand portfolio.
  Reporting directly to chief marketing officer Jaclyn Lee-Joe Stuart-Reckling will be tasked with directing the growth of brands such as Doctor Who, Top Gear and BBC Earth, collaborating with franchise and regional teams in the process.
  Arriving from J.K. Rowling’s digital entertainment and e-commerce firm Pottermor
  
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• Campaign TV: The Clothes Show moves home under its rebrand as The British Style Collective

  18-07-2017 11:59 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  This year saw a new home and rebrand for The Clothes Show, as it transformed into The British Style Collective in Liverpool.
  
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• SodaStream CEO: plastic bottles will be the cigarettes of our generation

  18-07-2017 11:39 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  As the home carbonation brand launches its latest provocative campaign, SodaStream's combative boss Daniel Birnbaum explains why Coca-Cola's recycling efforts mean little and how he aims to get a SodaStream machine in every other UK home.
  
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• Uber to suspend services in Macau in ongoing dispute with local government

  18-07-2017 11:34
  
  Uber has announced it will “temporarily suspend” its Macau operations following an ongoing disagreement with local authorities.
   
  The Macau government has taken a firm stance against Uber, since its launch in the gambling hub less than two years ago, claiming the service violates local laws.
   
  A statement from Uber said the Macau operations would close from midnight on 21 July.
   
  “The decision to press pause wasn’t easy, and was made with the best interests
  
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• Former TeamRock staff take Primordial Radio on the air after exceeding crowdfunding target

  18-07-2017 11:32
  
  A new radio station serving British rock and metal fans has smashed its own crowd funding target of £130k after 853 enthusiastic investors weighed in to the tune of £150k.
  The cash infusion will enable the radio station to crack on with its mission of marrying the freedom offered by digital streaming with the personality of radio following the collapse of TeamRock last year.
  That collapse seeded the formation of Primordial with its executive team staffed entirely by individuals made
  
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• L’Oréal’s Hugh Pile takes sabbatical to help run family business

  18-07-2017 11:29
  
  L’Oréal’s Hugh Pile is taking a one-year sabbatical from his role as CMO for Western Europe to join his family business, Blue Skies Holdings, to help accelerate its marketing and branding operations.
  Pile will “stay connected” with L’Oréal, working on some specific projects for three or four days a month. That means L’Oréal will continue to benefit from his expertise as it continues its digital focus, while also ensuring Pile stays up
  
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• Lexus Australia teams with best selling author James Patterson for new car launch

  18-07-2017 11:12
  
  Lexus Australia has collaborated with author James Patterson in a campaign promoting the luxury marque’s latest model.
   
  The automotive brand enlisted Patterson, the best-selling author of Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider, to use his descriptive prose to craft a review of its new LC 500 coupe model.
   
  The review serves as a soundtrack to the new campaign, which also features a voiceover from Patterson against images of the vehicle.
   
  “At first I wo
  
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• A giant Game of Thrones tapestry is the centre of Tourism Ireland's campaign

  18-07-2017 11:11 via campaignlive.co.uk
  
  Tourism Ireland is creating a giant medieval tapestry depicting scenes from Game of Thrones as the HBO show airs its seventh series.
  
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• How The Drum started SapientRazorfish creative chief Daniel Bonner's career over 20 years ago

  18-07-2017 11:05
  
  While The Drum can't take all the credit for SapientRazorfish chief creative officer Daniel Bonner's achievements over the years, he has credited us for kickstarting his career by publishing his work straight out of Edinburgh College of Art and Design in 1997. 
  Looking back on his first paid marketing job, which he won in a college competition, Bonner said: "These two guys came in from an agency called 1576 and said we want to run an ad in The Drum, and I didn't even know what The
  
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