Marketing news

• Gordon Ramsay gets his own Alexa skill

  07-02-2018 23:15
  If you feel like getting berated for your cooking skills each night, look no further than Amazon’s Alexa, which now has a Gordon Ramsay skill.
  The skill was developed in partnership with Ground Control, a firm that specializes in building interactive experiences for voice enabled devices. The company has collaborated with former vice president Joe Biden and LA Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers on similar skills.
  According to Ground Control, the Gordon Ramsay skill “allows you to inv
  
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• Geico pre-roll ads interrupt again and again to grab attention

  07-02-2018 22:10
  Geico has been trying to grab people’s attention online with its pre-roll ads, and it continues to do so with its latest, ‘Interrupt-a-palooza’ campaign that interrupts and then interrupts again.
  The first Geico pre-roll campaign, ‘Unskippable,’ won plenty of accolades for its freeze-frame live action silliness and ability to entertain, where many pre-roll ads were highly skippable. It returned with ‘Fast Forward,’ which appeared to skip the middle of an
  
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• It's time to anoint the misfits

  07-02-2018 20:33
  To survive the content generation, we need to anoint the misfits. The people who transcend the org chart but don’t rise in a department because they’re multidimensional and hard to categorize, The ones who compulsively improve stuff, react to and build on others’ work, and don’t wait on the boss’ approval to let it fly. 
  The reason is we need to create more content, in more forms, faster and more personally relevant, than ever before. Demand keeps escalating bu
  
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• US Creative Work of the Week: Make-A-Wish Foundation gives hope through medicine

  07-02-2018 19:49
  Even with some of the most expensive Super Bowl ads in the running this last week, our readers decided that a print campaign for the Make-A-Wish foundation was a more creative option.
  The campaign, by the Chicago and Denver offices of Gyro, aimed to show that Make-A-Wish is not a last wish — it’s a lasting wish. And for many kids, being granted a Make-A-Wish is a turning point in their recovery.
  Whether meeting a princess or a sports hero, those experiences turn into hope. And hope h
  
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• Focus groups fulfil key democratic role | Letters

  07-02-2018 19:01
  Hanna Chalmers from Ipsos Mori responds to Liza Featherstone’s article which claimed that focus groups are ineffectiveAs someone who has spent nearly 20 years observing, leading and analysing focus groups, I found Liza Featherstone’s crushing take on the traditional focus group (The long read, 6 February) to be completely at odds with the world I inhabit. She makes it clear she views the “culture of consultation”, or to put it another way, asking how people feel about thi
  
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• All roads lead to Merge: a new agency network launches in three US cities

  07-02-2018 18:54
  Merge, a unified agency, has launched today (February 7) in three cities — Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, its chief executive officer Ron Bess has announced.
  Merge is made up of five different agencies: HY Connect and Merge Design + Interactive in Chicago, Partners and Simons in Boston, and Dodge Communications and Avid Design in Atlanta. In a statement, the agency said its parts share an “uncommon combination of capabilities in strategy, creativity and technology.”
  The three Mer
  
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• How to put the backbone back into advertising

  07-02-2018 18:49
  Super Bowl has well and truly put the cap on a year of marketing industry turmoil. 
  The fireworks were all in the game for a change, as the underdog Eagles soared to victory and their first ever win. 
  Usually it’s the adfest and entertainment punctuating the game that make people sit up around the world. This is American football, after all. 
  Not this year. The annual showcase for adland’s crème de la crème offered little more than a damp squib at the wee
  
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• Google collaborates with NCERT to introduce 'Digital Citizenship' course to encourage online safety

  07-02-2018 18:38
  Google has collaborated with National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to integrate ‘Digital Citizenship’ course in the educational curriculum in India.
  The course will aim to educate young kids about the importance of staying safe in the online world.
  The syllabus for online safety presented in the curriculum will be systematically graded and has been divided into four themes – Being Smart; Being Safe; Being a Digital Citizen and Being Future Ready. Th
  
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• To fight fraud, identify a combination of signals that can't be faked

  07-02-2018 17:49
  Digital advertisers spend as much as 20% of their ad budget selling to penniless robots. That's according to ad verification company Adloox whose research indicates that fraud is on the rise and worsening.
  The newest breed of bots armed with machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) are dissolving the final barriers to fraud-prevention. They're so adept at mimicking human behavior - from cursor patterns to misspelled words -that advertisers can't distinguish the two. And while these
  
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• Peperami plans 'love grotto' for Valentine's Day

  07-02-2018 16:25 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Peperami, the meat snack, is creating a grotto in the run up to Valentine's Day.
  
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• Rajar Q4 2017: Commercial is still ahead but the BBC narrows gap

  07-02-2018 16:12 via campaignlive.co.uk
  While commercial radio is still pulling more listeners on a weekly basis than the BBC, the gap is closing.
  
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• Avis set to review Euro ad account

  07-02-2018 16:09 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Avis Budget Group, the car rental brand, is poised to review its European advertising business after making contact with agencies.
  
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• Oasis on the challenges of GDPR and the ‘right to be forgotten’

  07-02-2018 15:54
  In less than three months’ time, GDPR will enshrine into law the ‘right to be forgotten’. The new data regulations make it mandatory for all businesses to allow customers to remove their data from record. It is the biggest shake-up to data law in two decades – and yet a number of businesses are still grappling with how they will deal with requests for anonymity.
  Fashion brand Oasis is one of them – and speaking to Marketing Week at an RSA conference on Tuesday (6 Fe
  
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• Craft in action: tracing the ubiquitous Wisdom Script typeface's origins

  07-02-2018 15:50
  In a new series focusing on industry craft, Fine partner and chief strategist Josh Kelly looks at how a craft mindset can influence all aspects of branding, from how products are made, to how services are delivered, and (most of all) how creatives are guiding the story. In this latest piece, Kelly dives deeper into type design with a conversation with James Edmondson
  Chances are you’ve encountered the Wisdom Script typeface somewhere since its 2011 release. Nike, Disney, Starbucks, McDonal
  
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• Sri Lankan supermarket Keells launches new brand and store design by Whippet

  07-02-2018 15:45
  Sri Lankan supermarket chain Keells has unveiled a new brand identity and store concept in Colombo, developed by design and brand agency Whippet.
  The 16-week project encompassed brand strategy, brand identity design, store exterior and interior design and an entire suite of in-store brand communications, including point-of-sale. The agency also carried through the new brand to staff uniforms and the packaging for Keells’ own label products.  Part of John Keells Holdings, Sri Lanka&rsq
  
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• The launch lowdown: from tabloid Guardian to Amazon Go, brands' new year launches rated

  07-02-2018 15:37
  Veganuary. Dry January. Blue Monday. A sobering, cruelty-free look in the cracked mirror of the year just gone, January is rife with the making and breaking of new habits, justified by the fact that the month contains your – statistically proven, apparently – glummest day at work.
  Yet despite the soul-searching, the re-evaluating, the ‘new year, new me, straight after that pack of Digestives’, the transition period between Christmas excess and January reboot brought with
  
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• Here comes the European ePrivacy Regulation – the GDPR’s forgotten sibling

  07-02-2018 15:15
  By now, we’ve all heard about the GDPR and its May deadline. However, in the background, the European Commission have something else waiting in the wings that is no less important to marketers – the ePrivacy Regulation.
  What is it?
  The current ePrivacy Directive (implemented in the UK as the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2011) will be repealed in favour of this new ‘Regulation’ and will apply directly across all EU markets.
  The ePrivacy Regulation
  
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• Kiddylicious appoints Space & Time to handle media planning and buying

  07-02-2018 15:10
  As of January 2018, Space & Time Media has been appointed by The Kid’s Food Company to look after the media planning and buying for their Kiddylicious range of baby, toddler and pre-schooler meals and snacks.
  Justin Stracey, director at Space & Time, said: “We are delighted to be working with a company that cares as much about its customers as it does about its brand, while simultaneously aiming for impressive growth. This is a terrific opportunity for us to demonstrate
  
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• DDB promotes NY head Wendy Clark to worldwide CEO

  07-02-2018 15:09
  Omnicom Group president and chief executive officer (CEO) John Wren announced the promotion of Wendy Clark to president and CEO of DDB Worldwide. Clark, who rises from the position of DDB North America CEO, succeeds Chuck Brymer, who will now assume the title of chairman.
  Clark joined DDB in 2016 from Coca-Cola North America, where she was president, sparkling brands and strategic marketing. Before joining Coke in 2008, she was senior vice president, advertising for AT&T.
  
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• Ads on premium sites more effective than those on social media, neuroscience study claims

  07-02-2018 15:00 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Ads that appear alongside premium editorial content are processed by the brain more effectively than those that appear alongside social, according to research from Newsworks and the Association for Online Publishing.
  
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• US Creative Works: featuring JWT, Humanaut, Grey NY and more

  07-02-2018 14:00
  Welcome to The Drum's US Creative Works. This section is dedicated to showing the best creative work in North and South America and gives our readers the chance to decide which work we feature as our 'Creative Work of the Week.’
  This week we have a few Super Bowl holdovers but mostly we're moving on to the Olympics and other upcoming campaigns and events, so scroll through the offerings and see what stands out.
  For project information, creative credits and more, click on the project t
  
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• How does a young graduate break into advertising today?

  07-02-2018 13:46
  So you have your degree and you’ve waved goodbye to uni. What next? Straight into industry? Unfortunately, it’s not that easy, not even close. As a recent Grad I know this all too well.
  Finishing an advertising degree, I was ready to start my new career in London. I must have sent out hundreds of CVs and applications in the space of a few weeks. It was a testing time. Even when you hear back from a prospective employer – which doesn’t always happen – you still
  
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• Farmers Insurance uses the sounds of Olympic winter sports to play its catchy jingle

  07-02-2018 13:31
  Farmers Insurance has become known for its catchy jingle tag at the end of its ads. The recognizable tune, sung by a low-voiced chorus, has now been replaced by a chorus of snowy sports noises, just in time for the Winter Olympics.
  Inspired by this year’s anticipated winter games, Farmers Insurance is celebrating the spirit of the worldwide event with a playful twist on the company’s catchy mnemonic. With agency RPA, Farmers created custom six-second versions of its signature jingle
  
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• People on the move featuring Sky, Twitter, BBH, GroupM and more

  07-02-2018 13:30
  This week has seen another wave of appointments and departures at brands, media owners and agencies. The Drum has rounded up the key moves from the EMEA, APAC and North America regions below.
   
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  Mr & Mrs Smith
  Former Carphone Warehouse chief marketing officer Julian Diment has joined luxury travel company Mr & Mrs Smith in a newly created role of chief growth officer.
  Diment, who began his career at Saatchi & Saatchi, has served in marke
  
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• Pick of the week: Ancestry ad finds common ground in divisive Brexit Britain

  07-02-2018 13:26 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Amid so much bland and safe advertising, it's refreshing to see a brand with a point of view.
  
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• Next 15's £40m acquisition spree continues with digital deal

  07-02-2018 13:08 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Holding group Next Fifteen Communications has made its first acquisition of the year and the largest in its recent spree, buying UK digital agency Brandwidth Group.
  
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• Ad of the Day: McDonald's marks 50 years of the Big Mac with mullets, shell suits and INXS

  07-02-2018 12:58
  McDonald’s is celebrating half a decade of its most famous double patty with a nostalgic look back through the Big Mac’s five decades in existence.
  The campaign’s hero film revisits a swathe of burger-based ‘first times’ from the 1970s to the present day. Accompanied by the guitar riff of INXS’s New Sensation, the 60-second film also lovingly revisits the 20th century’s questionable fashion trends, such as moustaches, flares, shell suits and perms, as we
  
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• Muji opens pop-up apartment for latest products

  07-02-2018 12:44 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Muji, the Japanese high street retailer, is opening an apartment to launch its spring/summer 2018 travel and home collection.
  
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• Wendy Clark poised to replace Chuck Brymer as DDB global chief

  07-02-2018 12:38 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Wendy Clark is poised to Chuck Brymer as the global chief executive of DDB Worldwide, according to sources at the network.
  
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• Mercedes-Benz apologises for Dalai Lama ad following pressure from China

  07-02-2018 12:18
  Mercedes-Benz has issued an apology to the country of China, following a controversy which ensued after the brand posted an ad on Instagram quoting exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
  The automaker posted what it called a 'motivational Monday' quote from the figure on Instagram earlier this week. The words, pictured alongside a luxury car, read: 'Look at situations from all angles and you will become more open'. 
  Some Chinese consumers said they would boycott the car firm i
  
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• Learning from Jack O’Neill, an empathetic founder

  07-02-2018 12:16
  On 2 June 2017, surfing pioneer and founder of the O’Neill brand, Jack O’Neill, passed away. He leaves behind him a legacy of innovation and commitment towards a culture he himself was a product of. Widely credited with the invention of the wetsuit, he pushed forward a global tribe of surfers, allowing his peers to comfortably conquer even the coldest of waves. His place in surfing culture – and history – should serve as a simple lesson of empathy for all businesses
  
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• 23 years on, and ‘everything store’ Amazon emerges as the third force in digital advertising

  07-02-2018 12:01
  It’s a little-known fact, but relentless.com was one of the original company names Jeff Bezos was very keen on, before he finally settled on Amazon – which is now far more famous than the world’s longest river. Of course, he made the right decision, but his original name choice says a lot about Bezos’ single-minded mission to create what he called ‘an everything store’.
  Like so many tech startups, the world’s largest bookstore started in a garage ba
  
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• Elon Musk rockets up the rep of his Tesla and SpaceX brands with PR stunt

  07-02-2018 11:43
  Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk knows how to play the crowds but he seized headlines by firing his Tesla Roadster into space atop one of his rockets, a powerful cross promotion for both brands.
  Musk, who recently released a flamethrower to the public, a product sold by a group named the Boring Company at the behest of fans, is drawing more attention to his portfolio of brands with ludicrous stunts.
  As part of his mission to Mars trip experiment, SpaceX launched a red Tesla Roadster co
  
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• Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong swoops on Los Angeles Times

  07-02-2018 11:39
  Patrick Soon-Shiong, a biotech billionaire who amassed a fortune from developing a new cancer drug, is set to apportion some of his vast wealth to the purchase of the Los Angeles Times and the San Diego Union-Tribune according to reports in the Financial Times.
  Already a major shareholder in publisher Tronc, Soon-Shiong is reportedly ready to part with $500m to purchase both titles outright, potentially restoring some stability to the former which has been beset by collapsing circulation and adv
  
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• Experian: Data needs to be fit for purpose

  07-02-2018 11:30
  A common challenge for marketers is creating consistent touchpoints for their audiences across different media channels –  whether that be through social media, email or programmatic advertising. But for Colin Grieves, managing director, Experian Digital Marketing and Media Services at Experian, the problem goes far deeper.
  “If we look at programmatic advertising as an example, marketers are routinely confused by a vast array of inconsistently described audiences of data,”
  
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• Ikea, RBS and Just Eat to discuss exploiting emerging tech to boost brands at Supercharged

  07-02-2018 11:16
  Brands including Ikea, RBS, Just Eat and Age UK will be discussing how they are using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to bring their marketing strategies to life at our second Supercharged conference in May.
  The full day event features brands that are using emerging technology to better serve customers. It will also feature sessions discussing the ethics of AI and how it can help brands tackle thorny issues such as brand safety.
  Highlights include the team behind Ikea’s i
  
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• How to manage your brand and customers in 2018 - A Twitter Perspective

  07-02-2018 11:00
  Being live, predictive and personalised is key in helping brands navigate today’s customer conversations  
  From a year of free chicken nuggets to Nike’s #Breaking2 challenge streamed live to millions of Twitter viewers, businesses and brands have seen some of the most unimaginable and disruptive moments in 2017, which opened up new avenues for understanding and engaging their customers.
  It is also a dynamic year in marketing, as the most creative minds in the industry race
  
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• Instagram entices brands with new shopping-enabled ads

  07-02-2018 10:57
  Instagram has further commercialised its service with the launch of all new shopping-enabled adverts designed to lure more brands into setting up shop on the photo and video-sharing site.
  The Facebook-owned platform has already begun mashing together videos and product catalogues to enable members to purchase depicted products without the need to leave the Instagram ecosystem.
  Dubbed ‘collection’ ads, these first debuted on Facebook where they have already met with success, enco
  
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• Tesla launches space stunt in world's most expensive car promotion

  07-02-2018 10:55 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Electric car brand Tesla has achieved the most expensive product placement stunt ever, with billionaire owner Elon Musk sending a Tesla Roadster into orbit around the Earth before it heads for Mars.
  
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• Farm Safety Foundation turns to TVC Group for 2018 campaigns

  07-02-2018 10:48
  The Farm Safety Foundation, a charity dedicated to raising awareness of farm safety and changing attitudes towards farming safely, has reached out to TVC Group following unprecedented level of brand awareness and media interest off the back of a campaign they created for Farm Safety Week (FSW) in July.
  The campaign featured an emotive film starring arable farmer James Chapman, who lost his left arm in his early 20s while working with farm machinery. James became the star of the campaign which dr
  
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• Snapchat's revenue and user growth sees share soar but analysts remain sceptical

  07-02-2018 10:28 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Snap's revenue growth of 104% to $824.9m (£592m) came at a cost with the company posting a net loss of $3.4bn versus $514.4m in 2016.
  
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• Box-bound Beckham fends off mosquito swarm for malaria campaign

  07-02-2018 10:07
  Malaria Must Die – So Millions Can Live saw the footballer turned model locked inside a giant glass box with nothing but a swarm of mosquitoes for company. A pensive-looking Beckham can be seen eyeing up his hungry roommates as the insects buzzing and numbers grow steadily to reach a crescendo.
  At the end of Beckham’s ordeal the box is revealed to be mercifully mosquito free but, as the campaign makes plain, the same cannot be said for the world outside where the disease still claims
  
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• Google tests the efficiency of Programmatic Guaranteed for marketers and publishers

  07-02-2018 10:04
  Google has run a test, alongside Boston Consulting Group and Nielsen, to try to ascertain how much more efficient it is to run campaigns through a consolidated Programmatic Guarantee system, versus a siloed open market and direct route.
  According to the research, the campaigns drove 11% more in reach efficiency, meaning the campaigns reached 11% more unique customers by using Programmatic Guaranteed.
  The research looked at 10 campaigns by large advertisers globally, with three running in Asia Pa
  
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• Tesco brand embroiled in equal pay challenge

  07-02-2018 09:56 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Tesco is facing a legal challenge over equal pay and could have to fork out up to £4bn in back pay, an outcome that would drag the supermarket brand into the gender inequality row.
  
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• Mercedes-Benz sorry for offending China by quoting Dalai Lama

  07-02-2018 09:49 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The automaker becomes the latest brand to trip into a political controversy, by quoting the Dalai Lama.
  
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• PepsiCo scores UEFA Champions League partnership extension

  07-02-2018 09:35
  PepsiCo has extended its global partnership with the UEFA Champions League for an additional three years enabling the food and beverage giant to associate brands such as Pepsi Max, Walkers and Gatorade with the tournament until 2021.
  PepsiCo has been a sponsor of the prestigious tournament since 2015 to promote its ‘performance and purpose’ to over 100 global markets, harnessing top players such as Leo Messi to promote its crisps and staging events such as the Gatorade 5v5 tournament
  
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• Bacardi challenges staff to tempt people in bars to try cocktails

  07-02-2018 09:34 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Bacardi is launching an annual global campaign that takes its staff to a local bar to encourage the public to try a cocktail.
  
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• Tourism of Thailand launches new global campaign to promote country's diversity

  07-02-2018 09:03
  The Tourism Authority of Thailand has launched a new global campaign centered around the next generation of world travelers, named ‘Open to the new shades’.
  The campaign, which was produced by BBDO Bangkok, aims to highlight that Thailand has been one of the preferred destinations for travellers across the world, who come to its shores for its signature dishes, beaches, cultural festivals and most of all, the kindness of Thai people (and their smiles).
  The two minute online short fil
  
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• Diageo unites whisky brands, ambassadors Suki Waterhouse and James Marsden for global Scotch day celebration

  07-02-2018 08:58
  Diageo has launched a major global campaign by sending ambassadors James Marsden, Shanina Shaik and Suki Waterhouse to key global locations to lead its second annual International Scotch Day.
  Diageo is encouraging Scotch fans in 70 countries this year to take part in celebrations, almost doubling from its first year, with the largest-scale events happening in India, Mexico, The Philippines and South Africa.
  The alcohol brand invited actor James Marsden, supermodel Shanina Shaik and actress Suki
  
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• Samsung pays tribute to Malaysia's first Winter Olympian with a short feature film

  07-02-2018 08:17
  To pay tribute to Julian Yee, Malaysia’s first national figure skater who is making his debut in the upcoming Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, Samsung has produced a short feature entitled ‘Julian and His Magical Skates’ for its ‘Do What You Can’t’ campaign.
  The campaign was created by Ensemble, IPG Mediabrands Malaysia’s creative agency, and production took 30 days from start to end with the team collaborating with MFX, a post production studio th
  
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