• Google-owner Alphabet weathers the brand safety storm with 21% revenue rise to top $26bn

    Despite speculation to the contrary, this year’s brand safety uproar appears to have had little material impact on Google's bottom line. Google's parent company Alphabet today (July 24) reporting a 21% annual rise in revenues which hit $26bn during the three months to June 30.
    The numbers appear even more impressive, when the online behemoth's recently released numbers also contain details of the impact of the recently imposed €2.4bn antitrust fine imposed by the European Union&n
  • Richard Franceschini, Warner Bros. SVP, on the impact of brand integration

    Richard Franceschini’s tenure in brand integration is long and storied. Being in the business for over 20 years, he has seen a continued evolution of how brands and entertainment can work together successfully.
    Franceschini, as senior vice president of production resources for Warner Bros., serves as an important bridge between brands and creative — and his experience and expertise allows for seamless integration.
    One key aspect about brand integration that Franceschini points o
  • Kristen Wiig plays the part of 'The Everyman' in Pizza Hut’s latest campaign

    Kristen Wiig has impersonated everyone from Michael Jordan to Khaleesi from Game on Thrones on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Now, the comedian and actress has now taken her impersonation chops to Pizza Hut to shill for the chain in its latest campaign. 
    In the spots, Wiig’s “Everyman” character takes many forms: bubbly teenager, serious businesswoman, farmer and male cheerleader are just a few. While each of them is different, the one thing that they all seem to
  • “Inside the Moment” breaks new ground for luxury brands moving into immersive technology

    Ritz-Carlton broke new ground by transporting Wall Street Journal readers into  American neighborhoods through interactive 360° VR.
    The “Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card” campaign signals a strong shift in the sophistication and adoption of VR campaigns given its immersive experience, feature rich portal, and prominent masthead placement. Leveraging the creative expertise at the WSJ’s Custom Studios, the “Inside the Moment” creative opens with a colorf
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  • Chris (Simpsons artist) and other creatives pay their respects to the late, great, quaint Microsoft Paint

    Microsoft Paint, the 20th century software that transformed all PC owners into bad graphic designers, has found itself on the chopping block of Windows innovation.
    Bill Gates’ empire today (24 July) announced the rudimentary creative tool to be part of a list of 'features that are removed or deprecated in Windows 10 Fall Creators Update'.
    The news has been met by a surprising outcry from anyone who ever used the spray can tool or fashioned a dodgy head swap on Paint. No industry, howe
  • Ford shifts to local advertising as it looks to become more ‘British-centric’

    Ford is changing its ads to become more Britain-focused in a bid to “dial up work that really resonates” with consumers.
    The car marque launched a new campaign in collaboration with its agency network GTB UK for the new Ford Fiesta model earlier this month, featuring British actor Keeley Hawes. The ad looks to tell the story of Britain’s day-to-day progress over the last 40 years, charting the time since the car first appeared on Britain’s roads.
    The spot cuts through a v
  • Independent Influence: A look back at some of our favorite indie work from this year

    For this week’s Independence Influence, The Drum is featuring some of the best work we’ve seen from indie agencies this year.
    From a clever recruitment tactic that RPA used to find talent at SXSW to Mekanism’s ‘90s-themed campaign for retro drink Zima, we’re showcasing some of the most interesting campaigns and projects to come out of indie agencies in 2017.
    Check them out below:
    Chandelier embraces Cindy Gallop’s “Make Love Not Porn” with lau
  • Discovery Channel pits Michael Phelps against (CGI) great white in Shark Week promo

    Michael Phelps, record holding US swimmer with 23 Olympic gold medals to his name, has (sort of) raced a Great White shark to in a promotion with the Discovery Channel.
    The 23-times gold medalist failed to outpace the shark on a 100-metre stretch but only by two seconds. Some viewers expressed disappointment that the Great White was in actual fact a CGI effect based on the recorded swimming speed of the shark.
    Scientist Tristan Gutteridge said during the show: “Clearly, we can’t put
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  • 'It's taken us by surprise this year': Brands are frantically grafting on social media ahead of Love Island final

    With upwards of 3 million people expected to tune in, the Love Island final has, surprisingly, turned into one of the most eagerly anticipated TV events of the year. And it hasn't gone unnoticed by brand marketers. 
    In case you haven’t been religiously tuning into ITV2 at 9pm sharp for the past eight weeks, Love Island is a game show where swimwear-clad contestants sharing a villa in Majorca are played off against each other in a search for true love and a cash prize of £50,000.
  • Saga relaunches brand as it looks to shake off ‘old people’ image

    Saga is relaunching its brand, unveiling a new look and feel for the brand as well as its first ever strapline ‘Keep doing’ as it looks to evolve the business to ensure it remains relevant for today’s over 50s, rather than being seen as a brand for “old people”.
    The changes, which come into effect from today (24 July), include a new logo, font, colours and imagery. It starts with a new look for Saga Holidays, including new types of holiday aimed at people who want t
  • Unlock your creativity

    Marketing Week’s sister brand Creative Review is launching its first ever online learning programme, a six-part video-based course that has been designed to unlock creative potential
    It caters for all: client side, a creative or designer; those a few years into their career or a seasoned pro seeking to take their creative skills to the next level.
    Mastering Creativity’s carefully curated content is designed to increase your confidence in your creative abilities to enable you to gener
  • Grey London and Volvo triumph in Channel 4's £1m diversity competition

    Grey London and Volvo UK have won Channel 4's inaugural Diversity in Advertising Award and £1m in free airtime for a campaign focused on non-visible disability.
  • The number one reason brands fail online

    When it comes to marketing on screen, the companies that are naïve in the social-sphere are truly exposed. Brands like Beats, Whole Foods, Nike, Patagonia, and WeWork are cleaning up while the rest struggle to get news feed cut through.
    Not only do they get the most likes, but they also inspire the thought pieces, win the awards, and work themselves into offline conversations and the wider cultural picture.
    According to the Becker Report, 5% of brands generate 95% of all engagement online.
  • The Pool's commercial service The Street aims to help 'challenged' fashion retailers drive sales

    The Pool is launching a new commercial service for fashion retailers to help them drive sales both online and in-store at a time when high street fashion is facing a downward spiral.
    The service, dubbed The Street, includes a combination of content, bespoke email, influencers and pop-up events. The initiative will be led by fashion partnerships director Melanie Hearn.
    Content will appear in The Pool’s fashion channel rather than having its own section on site, with content timed to dr
  • Five good reasons why you need a new approach to commerce

    The rate of change in industry today is unprecedented - from connected devices, to a proliferation of new channels, to a diversification of product offerings and changing consumer expectations.   The technology ecosystem supporting ad-tech, mar-tech and commerce is getting more connected as points of inspiration and points of transaction are coming together.   The rate of change is driving new technologies and data analytics to be smarter, ultimately transforming the relation
  • Anomaly recruits creative duo 'Benrik' after Electrolux win

    Anomaly has bolstered its creative department with the hiring of a Franco-Swedish duo jointly known as "Benrik" and individually as Ben Carey and Henrik Delehag.
  • Sick leave costs UK employers £29bn a year – it’s time to bring in digital help

    In Western countries, the workforce is getting older. With life expectancy gradually going up and birth rates static, if not plummeting, pension ages are being pushed further towards the horizon – according to the Office for National Statistics, life expectancy is increasing, and so are the years spent in bad health.
    As a result, the way the world engages with health and wellness is changing rapidly, particularly at work. Now, more than ever, building and sustaining a healthy lifestyle ove
  • A poacher's charter: why the BBC pay revelations don't paint the full picture

    As I predicted, the media burst a blood vessel when under the terms of the new Royal Charter the BBC released the salaries of stars earning more than £150,000.
    Again we were inundated with everyone’s views – several using the story to promote their own wares and services.
    Many commentators who focused merely on the size of the stars’ packages, however, missed the main issues.
    So what are the facts and the figures?
    The figures are set out in f
  • Cannes Lions revenue up despite agency exodus as tech and media fills the gap

    The revenue generated by the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity rose 7% to £62.9m in 2017 despite “slightly reduced volumes of award entries and delegates” according to owner Ascential in its half-year report today (24 July).
    The “reduced participation by certain major agency customers” at the festival was offset by the involvement of technology companies and new media platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Google, it said.. The increased sale of prem
  • If my Alexa Prime Day experience happened in store, I’m not sure I’d return

    The clock ticked 6pm and so Amazon’s third Prime ‘Day’ began. Marvelled for her ability to understand and adapt to our language and personal preferences, Alexa had the potential to revolutionise the Prime Day shopping experience, liberating us from boring old computers and mobile phones. What’s more, this year she promised extra treats – voice-exclusive deals and early access.
    Could she live up to our expectations?
    Not quite. Using Alexa to shop on Prime Day was lik
  • Thermo Fisher embrace VR to educate audiences on global life sciences

    Thermo Fisher have launched their first-ever public VR experience with the help of Spinning Clock.
    Two VR experiences for Oculus were launched at events earlier in the year; the Invitrogen Immunoassays scooter VR experience at Immunology 2017 in Washington DC and the Gibco Stem Cell Reprogramming VR experience at ISSCR 2017 in Boston.
    The agency designed both experiences, from asset creation and 3D modelling right through to coding for use on the Oculus. Spinning Clock created two fully immersiv
  • Advertainment – the new frontier of marketing to Gen Z

    Advertainment is the fusion of advertising and entertainment and the perfect way to engage with Gen Z, the generation coming up behind millennials. Snapchat, due to its creative and playful nature, is the perfect platform for this and marketers will need to take advantage or get left behind.
    Indeed, entertainment is what makes this generation tick. As Maude Standish, vice president of programming strategy at Fullscreen, says: "[Gen Z] has grown up with the internet and a
  • How to avoid buyer's regret when shopping for agency services

    Remember that nice Hawaiian shirt or that jacket that was almost a good fit? Chances are you didn’t set out to buy these delightful items or any of the others that are quickly consigned to the back of the wardrobe or the charity shop pile.  
    Somehow you became distracted during the retail experience and parted with your hard-earned in return for items that very soon you’ll barely be able to look at.
    That kind of shopper regret is a phenomenon that clients often also experie
  • Pitney Bowes partners with NMPi to deliver cross-border marketing solutions for global retailers

    Global technology company Pitney Bowes Inc. has announced a strategic relationship with digital marketing agency NMPi. The new alliance aims to enhance Pitney Bowes’ e-commerce offering with consumer marketing solutions, including international paid-search campaigns, display advertising, social media advertising and optimized Google shopping experiences.
    Consumer marketing and customer engagement are key components of Pitney Bowes’ Complete™ Cross-Border offering, a scalable en
  • Made in Amsterdam: dissecting Dutch creativity

    What does it mean to be ‘made in Amsterdam’ in 2017? As part of The Drum's Amsterdam installment of our Creative Cities series, we speak to seasoned creative leaders and up-and-coming talent as we dissect ‘Dutch’ creativity.
    It’s pretty well documented that Amsterdam has changed a lot in recent years. You’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to have noticed the transformation, regeneration and gentrification taking place. When it comes to the creative and adv
  • President Barack Obama resurrected by US AI researchers

    He may no longer be resident of the White House but former US president Barack Obama is still making some presidential speeches, although all is not as it appears.
    Despite looking and sounding exactly like the real deal the new Obama is actually a digital construction carefully crafted by researchers at the University of Washington who fed 14 hours of genuine speeches into a neural net which has binge-watched so much footage it can now generate new clips indistinguishable from reality.
    The resul
  • AI tool generates fake President Obama speeches

    He may no longer be president of the White House but former US president Barack Obama is still making some presidential speeches, although all is not as it appears.
    Despite looking and sounding exactly like the real deal the new Obama is actually a digital construction carefully crafted by researchers at the University of Washington who fed 14 hours of genuine speeches into a neural net which has binge-watched so much footage it can now generate new clips indistinguishable from reality.
    The resu
  • Michelin hands $100m global media business to Havas

    Havas Media is celebrating after securing a major new client win in the shape of global tire giant Michelin which has just awarded Havas its global media account, ousting incumbent MEC following a three-way pitch.
    Run from Havas’s Paris headquarters, with the Chicago office handling affairs in the US market, the account will see Havas handle all media planning and buying activities across global markets
    Claire Dorland Clauzel, executive vice-president sustainable development, brands and ex
  • Cadbury re-resurrects Tiffin bar after fan-driven social campaign

    Cadbury is permanently resurrecting its 80 year-old Tiffin bar, a move apparently driven by a consumer-led social media campaign and following a successful limited edition run of the bar last year.
  • Creative Work of the Week: Ikea’s Lion relaxes comfortably into the top spot

    Lion, the new creative for Ikea by Mother previously named The Drum’s Ad of the Day, has claimed the crown of this week’s Creative Works.
    The spot features a lackadaisical Lion Man who spends his days in a state of recline, using his living room as a chilled out place to watch TV, read, sip on juice and nap. The serene atmosphere is interrupted at the end of the film when a screaming children’s party invades his territory.
    Laurent Tiersen, Ikea UK and Ireland marketing man
  • Confused.com shows clear thinking with appointment of digital specialists Delete

    Confused.com, the Admiral Group owned financial services comparison website, has appointed digital agency Delete to overhaul the brands customer experience.
    Designed to reinforce Confused.com’s core motoring services the tie-up will see Delete bring their creative and user experience expertise to bear on the comparison portal, overhauling the front end to usher in a more pleasant user experience.
    Tom Dougherty, partner and UX director at Delete, said: “The challenge set by Confused.c
  • Channel 4 unveils first Great British Bake Off sponsors

    Channel 4 has unveiled Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Dr. Oetker will be the official broadcast sponsors for The Great British Bake Off, which is set to return to screens later this year.
    It is the first time the popular show will have brand sponsors, as it was previously broadcast by The BBC. The rights to the TV programme were bought last year by Channel 4 for £75m, leading to a backlash from outraged viewers on social media.
    The partnership with Lyle’s Golden Syrup follows its spon
  • Channel 4 unveils first ever sponsors of Great British Bake Off

    Channel 4 has unveiled Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Dr. Oetker will be the official broadcast sponsors for The Great British Bake Off, which is set to return to screens later this year.
    It is the first time the popular show will have brand sponsors, as it was previously broadcast by The BBC. The rights to the TV programme were bought last year by Channel 4 for £75m, leading to a backlash from outraged viewers on social media.
    The partnership with Lyle’s Golden Syrup follows its spon
  • Ad of the Day: Dwayne Johnson rocks his to-do list with Siri in Apple iPhone 7 movie

    When Hollywood’s highest paid actor, Dwayne Johnson lends his name to any cast, people pay attention. Apple will be banking on this with a new campaign tasking the former wrestler with tag-teaming his hectic schedule with the help of Siri.
    The brand has released the mini-movie ‘The Rock X Siri: Dominate the Day’ which the Rock has described as the “biggest, coolest, sexiest, funnest (is that a word?) movie ever”.
    Teamed w/ @Apple to make the biggest, coolest, sexies
  • 93digital expands into new Farringdon office

    93digital, the London WordPress agency, has expanded into new offices in the recently opened Record Hall in Farringdon. The larger space enables the company to accommodate their growing team along with room for future expansion.
    Founder Alex Price commented: “It’s great to be in a brand new, purpose built building in the heart of the city and we’re already seeing the benefits of being so close to many of our London clients. Working as a fully in-house team has always been centr
  • Ben Callis joins storytelling agency to signal new creative direction

    Ben Callis has been appointed executive creative director of Aesop Agency, a creative agency that specialises in narrative.
    Callis joins from a highly productive two-year stint as creative director and producer at Breakneck Films, working across a broad portfolio of projects including short films, documentaries, gaming development and feature length content.
    Prior to this, Callis was group creative director at Huge, and before that creative director at Sapient Nitro where he took on the challeng
  • Lyft shifts gear on self-driving car ambitions with creation of engineering division

    Ride hailing app Lyft has signaled its self-driving car intent with the formation of a new division dedicated solely towards positioning itself in the front seat of autonomous vehicle research.
    The firm is said to be aiming to recruit ‘hundreds’ of engineers to staff the California-based venture as the business start-up puts its money where its mouth is.
    Marking a significant change of gear from previous statements, where Lyft vowed to leave the development of self-driving systems to
  • Creative Works featuring Wieden+Kennedy, 18 Feet & Rising, BBDO Berlin, WCRS and more

    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 31 July.
    For project in
  • Channel 4 tastes sweet success as Lyle’s Golden Syrup & Dr Oetker sponsor Bake Off

    Channel 4 has signed up its first sponsors for its own version of the Great British Bake Off after confirming that baking brands Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Dr Oetker will jointly back the full first season to the tune of £4m.
    The deal, which includes the Christmas specials and An Extra Slice spin-off, marks the first fruits of a major push by the station to lure in commercial partners for what has become the most successful format on British TV, with 14 million people tuning in to
  • Roi Carthy joins Singulariteam to push blockchain and cryptocurrency startups

    Roi Carthy has left his role as marketing chief of adblocking outfit Rainbow, aka Shine Technologies, to join Singulariteam, an Israel-based investment fund operating in the emerging cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.
    Since 2014, Carthy (who was named CMO of the year by The Drum in 2015) has earned himself a reputation as an agent provocateur in the digital media sector, as the outspoken marketing chief of Rainbow – an outfit that partnered with mobile operator
  • Grab to raise $2.5 billion as it seeks to stay ahead of Uber in Southeast Asia

    Grab today announced that it expects to raise around US$2 billion (S$2.7 billion) from its Chinese peer Didi Chuxing and Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, as it looks to cement its position as market leader in an ongoing battle with Uber and Go-Jek of Indonesia.
    The Singapore-headquartered company also said that it expects to raise an additional $500 million, bringing the total to $2.5 billion in this round, claiming that the amount would be the largest-ever single financing in Southeast Asia.
    Grab c
  • BBC vows to become an ‘exemplar on gender & diversity’ in light of pay disparities

    BBC director general Tony Hall has sought to get back on the front foot following a weekend of rancor in the wake of the unprecedented decision to publish pay details for all of its top presenting talent.
    The move drew immediate criticism from more than 40 female stars; including Fiona Bruce, Clare Balding and Victoria Derbyshire, who signed a letter demanding immediate action to close a yawning gender pay gap between them and their male colleagues.
    Responding to this challenge Hall has vow
  • Tesco, Alphabet, Jimmy Choo: Everything that matters this morning

    Alphabet revenues soar but profits take a hit after Google’s EU fine
    Google’s parent company Alphabet saw revenues in the quarter to the end of June soar by 21% year on year to $26bn, with its ad business accounting for the vast majority of that turnover and suggesting that the brand safety issue has had little impact on the company.
    Profit was down 30% year on year to $3.5bn due to the £2.1bn fine issued by the European Union after it ruled Google had abused its market positio
  • Tesco, Alphabet: Everything that matters this morning

    Alphabet revenues soar but profits take a hit after Google’s EU fine
    Google’s parent company Alphabet saw revenues in the quarter to the end of June soar by 21% year on year to $26bn, with its ad business accounting for the vast majority of that turnover and suggesting that the brand safety issue has had little impact on the company.
    Profit was down 30% year on year to $3.5bn due to the £2.1bn fine issued by the European Union earlier this month after it ruled Google had abused
  • Sainsbury’s, Amazon, Virgin Atlantic: Everything that matters this morning

    Sainsbury’s extends GB Paralympics support to 2020
    Sainsbury’s has extended its sponsorship of the British Paralympic Association for the next four years, including both the PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020 Games.
    The supermarket giant became the first Paralympic-only sponsor of the team during the London 2012 Games, and has since partnered with ParalympicsGB at Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016.
    Tim Hollingsworth OBE, chief executive of the British Paralympic Association, said Sainsbury’
  • Facebook, electric cars, Brexit: Everything that matters this morning

    Facebook ad sales surge thanks to mobile
    Facebook has released yet another set of stellar numbers, beating all analysts’ expectations, as it announced $9.32bn (£7.01bn) revenues in Q2. Advertising revenues, which make up 98% of that figure, grew year on year by 47%, and net income by 71%.
    Mobile drove the lion’s share of Facebook’s sales in the quarter, accounting for 87% of advertising revenue, compared with 84% in the same period last year. Its monthly active users and
  • Boots, Apple, Lyft: Everything that matters this morning

    Boots apologises over contraception comments
    Boots has apologised over comments it made about the morning-after pill in which it said it was keeping the price high to avoid “incentivising inappropriate use”.
    The chain was urged to drop the price of the emergency contraceptive by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) but said it was afraid of a public backlash.
    The company has now apologised for its “poor choice of words” and has said it is looking for cheaper alte
  • Amazon, The Guardian, TomTom: Everything that matters this morning

    New diesel and petrol cars face ban from 2040
    New diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040 in a bid to tackle air pollution, the government is set to announce.
    Ministers will also unveil a £255m fund to help councils tackle emissions from diesel vehicles, as part of a £3bn package of spending on air quality.
    The government will publish its clean air strategy later, favouring electric cars, before a High Court deadline.
    Campaigners said the measures were pro
  • Isobar launches Isobar Commerce practice to deliver ecommerce experiences for clients

    Isobar today announced the launch of a global Isobar Commerce practice; aimed at delivering commerce experiences for clients through globally integrated platforms and solutions that are informed by local insight.  
    As part of the launch, centres of excellence have been established by the Dentsu Aegis Network company in the Americas (US, Canada and Brazil), EMEA (UK, Switzerland, Poland and Denmark) and Asia Pacific (China, Australia, Singapore, Japan).  
    Florian Legendre and Patrick De
  • Dear John: a break up letter to the advertising community

    I’M SORRY. I CAN’T. DON’T HATE ME.
    I’m at the point where I think I have to break up with advertisingI really don’t want to. I’ve really enjoyed what we had. It was great and we used to have a really good time. I like ideas. You liked ideas. I like brands. You liked brands. We liked to make stuff that made people laugh and feel things. Make people dream. And we could, because we used to see the world differently to anybody else.&n

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