Marketing news

• P&G to cut advertising costs by $400m

  22-02-2018 22:46
  The cuts keep coming: P&G plans to cut advertising costs by $400m by implementing new agency models and reducing the number of agencies it works with by 50%.
  Speaking at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference, P&G chairman and chief executive David Taylor said that the consumer goods giant has already reduced the number of agencies it works with from 6,000 to 2,500 since it began its cost-saving spree in 2015. According to Taylor, the company has saved $750m in agency and prod
  
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• Toyota lets people in on what it feels like to be a legally blind skier

  22-02-2018 22:20
  For most people, just setting foot on a ski slope might give them anxiety, but for someone who can’t see, skiing might seem a daunting activity.
  A new social campaign by Toyota lets people know what it’s like to ski down the steepest slopes at over 100 km/hr with only 3% vision. Toyota launched an Instagram account @SeeLikeMenna that takes people on the slopes through the eyes of 18-year-old visually-impaired British Para-Alpine World Cup athlete, Menna Fitzpatrick.
  @SeeLikeMenn
  
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• Feeding America PSA brings attention to those who struggle with hunger in US

  22-02-2018 21:52
  With the wealth of resources in the US, it might be difficult to imagine that people in this country go hungry, but a new public service advertisement (PSA) for Feeding America calls attention to the truths of ‘hidden hunger.’
  Feeding America, which states it is the nation’s largest hunger-relief and food rescue organization, worked in partnership with the Ad Council and McCann New York to tell ‘Stories of Hidden Hunger,’ a campaign exposing the truth about the ever
  
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• Copa90 announces partnership with MLS marketing arm Soccer United Marketing

  22-02-2018 21:46
  Copa90 - a global, multi-platform soccer media business specializing in creating fan-first video content has announced a new strategic partnership with Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the for-profit marketing arm of Major League Soccer.
  The two companies will collaborate on new content formats, including bilingual content focused on the Mexican National Team, the CONCACAF Champions League and Major League Soccer.
  Additionally, as a “Preferred Digital Media Partner,” Soccer United Mark
  
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• Diageo supports female directors by joining ‘Free the Bid’

  22-02-2018 19:55
  Diageo has joined Free the Bid, a nonprofit that advocates for female directors.
  Brands who join Free the Bid do so on the condition that they will ask their ad agency partners and content producers to include one female director on all bids. According to figures from Diageo, less than 7% of directors are women and only 9% of commercials are directed by women. Free the Bid was founded in 2016 by Alma Har’el to raise those numbers.
  “As advertisers we have the power to normalise gender
  
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• What trends should marketers watch out for at Mobile World Congress?

  22-02-2018 18:56 via campaignlive.co.uk
  We asked the industry for key trends to watch out for at Mobile World Congress before it kicks off on Monday in Barcelona.
  
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• Jezebel unearths years of sexual assault cases at Comcast call centers

  22-02-2018 18:43
  Employees at Comcast call centers described various acts of sexual harassment that took place over a span of years as the company "failed to protect them."
  In a story written by Bryce Covert at Jezebel, the experiences of the six current and former employees she interviewed were verified by friends and former colleagues who either witnessed the acts of abuse take place, were told about it, or experienced misconduct themselves.
  The #MeToo movement has become the most intense topic of conversation
  
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• Jezebel reports years of sexual assault cases at Comcast call centers

  22-02-2018 18:43
  Employees at Comcast call centers have reportedly alleged various acts of sexual harassment that took place over a span of years as the company "failed to protect them."
  In a story written by Bryce Covert at Jezebel, the experiences of the six current and former employees she interviewed were reportedly verified by friends and former colleagues who either witnessed the acts of abuse take place, were told about it, or experienced misconduct themselves.
  The #MeToo movement has become the
  
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• Facebook cleans up ad metrics and adds labels for transparency

  22-02-2018 18:42 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Facebook has started to label some of its metrics in Ad Manager as "estimated" and "in development" to provide more clarity and transparency.
  
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• Facebook promises ‘metrics clean up’ to bring more clarity to its advertising offering

  22-02-2018 18:33
  Facebook is overhauling its metrics offering in a clean up that it claims will help bring greater clarity to advertisers over how paid-for media placements on the network perform – an earlier source of contention for media buyers.
  The clean up will see Facebook introduce a new labeling system that will better articulate how ad performance metrics – such as reach and frequency or ad recall rates – are estimated, the retirement of outdated metrics, as well as an education dr
  
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• Mindshare South Asia shakes up leadership team

  22-02-2018 18:00
  Mindshare South Asia has restructured its upper tier in a bid to aid its collaborative efforts with other parts of the company.
  The GroupM agency announced that Amin Lakhani of team Fulcrum will take on the role of president, client leadership of Mindshare India where he will be responsible with managing client relationships while attracting more brands aboard. He has been in the company for 14 years.
  Anita Kotwani of Mindshare West has been promoted to senior vice president of new business. Add
  
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• How the Three Billboards phenomenon has become a visual meme

  22-02-2018 17:43
  Billboards caught fire -- literally -- in Martin McDonagh's critically acclaimed 'Three Billboards' movie.  Now, the film's distinctive black-on-red all-caps creative has become a fast-spreading visual meme, says a top ad agency veteran.
  "How come, Senator Rubio?  How come, Paul Ryan?  How come . . . fill in the blank.  How come now is a meme," says Billups managing partner Rick Robinson, who lives in Los Angeles and frequents the movies.
  (Meme, as in: "an idea, behavior, or
  
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• Saatchis' Huntington rails against orthodoxy in fiery Thinkbox speech

  22-02-2018 17:38 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The marketing industries must go to war against the "four horsemen of the marketing apocalypse" Saatchi & Saatchi's chairman and chief strategy officer Richard Huntington has said.
  
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• Why Google needs to have the answers

  22-02-2018 17:08
  In 2018, being number one isn’t enough, at least as far as search is concerned. While the competition has historically been between brands fighting for a top position in search results, it’s no longer the only way to get in front of your audience – and more importantly, the types of queries users ask are evolving.
  Many see voice search as a catalyst for this, but finding answers to questions through search is nothing new. The key difference now is that users have an a
  
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• Toyota hosts Le Fil gig for shoppers

  22-02-2018 17:07 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Toyota is hosting a live Le Fil performance as part of its campaign to encourage people to express themselves.
  
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• Slam dunk commerce: Jordan Brand and R/GA debut Snapchat augmented reality-shopping experience

  22-02-2018 16:31
  R/GA has created a Snapchat experience for Jordan Brand’s 30th anniversary on NBA All-Star Weekend, with the help of Darkstore and Shopify.
  The experience, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of Michael Jordan’s All-Star Slam Dunk Contest dunk from the free-throw line, allows fans at the 2018 NBA All-Star game to relieve that moment on their smartphones. It also gave a few attendees early access to the latest sneaker release. According to R/GA, it was the first time a sneaker
  
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• New York Times print ad names and shames NRA-funded politicians

  22-02-2018 16:29
  Gun control groups have run a striking two-page print ad in The New York Times to share with the US public the lawmakers who accept NRA donations, just days after a mass school shooting in Florida.
  The ad was funded by the Everytown for Gun Safety and Mom's Demand Action for Gun Sense. It ran in Wednesday’s New York Times, naming politicians who have received NRA donations. It comes a week after the Parkland shooting in which 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
  
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• Marketing’s Changemakers: why General Mills is asking teenagers for their solutions to world hunger

  22-02-2018 16:00
  Welcome to Marketing’s Changemakers, a new series from The Drum that tells the stories of brands trying to change the world in ways both big and small. Here, chief communications officer of General Mills Mary Lynn Carver discusses the company’s Feeding Better Futures Scholars Program.
  There are unfortunately no easy fixes to issues as complex as hunger relief and sustainable agriculture, but both are causes that benefit from actions large and small - whether they stem from individual
  
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• Facebook faces fine in Belgium, YouTube promotes conspiracy videos: International round-up

  22-02-2018 15:55
  Facebook threatened with hefty fines by Belgian court
  A Belgian court has ordered Facebook to stop tracking users, or risk being slapped with fines of up to €100m (£88m) or €250,000 (£221,285) a day.
  According to the court, the social media giant broke privacy laws by tracking people via third-party websites who are not necessarily Facebook users.
  The social network has been ordered to wipe all data is has collected illegally from Belgian citizens following a long-winded ba
  
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• Estée Lauder reviews EMEA media amid spend hike in growth markets

  22-02-2018 15:46 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Estée Lauder Company is reviewing its media-buying account across most of Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
  
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• NUJ warns of UK newspaper duopoly as CN Group joins Newsquest

  22-02-2018 15:36
  The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has issued a warning that Trinity Mirror and Newsquest may form a newspaper duopoly over the regions of the UK due to the rate that they are acquiring newsbrands.
  The declaration comes in response to Newsquest’s impending takeover of the CN Group, an independent Carlisle-based group that publishes two regional dailies and five weeklies including The Mail in Barrow -in-Furness, the Carlisle News & Star.
  Newsquest, owned by Gannett, boasts mor
  
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• Ad of the Day: CoverGirl stands out by featuring a model with vitiligo

  22-02-2018 15:06
  The faces of beauty are changing and becoming more diverse, as is evidenced by CoverGirl’s latest ad featuring a model with vitiligo, a skin in which the skin loses its pigment cells.
  The model, Amy Deanna, is featured in ‘Stand Out,’ the makeup brand’s latest in its #IAmWhatIMakeup campaign by Droga5. In the 15-second spot, Deanna is shown putting on two different tones of the brand’s TruBlend foundation, complementing rather than covering up the lighter and darker
  
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• Manchester United, YouTube's most viewed English club, finally launch official channel

  22-02-2018 15:00
  Manchester United (MUFC) have launched a YouTube channel, with both the club and the Google-owned platform spotting an opportunity to capitalise on the fact that despite having no official presence on the site until now, the Red Devils are the most viewed Premier League side.
  The move marks the end of a 13-year wait for fans, with Manchester United being the last Premier League club to partner with YouTube. 
  This season, unofficial MUFC content has generated some 843m YouTube
  
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• From catalogues to chatbots: The next stage of Boden’s digital transformation

  22-02-2018 14:45
  British clothing retailer Boden is making its biggest ever investment in digital and technology as part of a renewed focus on the customer experience, that moves it beyond just selling online.
  The brand launched its ecommerce offer in 1999 so it is no digital newbie, but 2015 was a tough year, with profit down by 25% and sales flat for the third year in a row. To counter that decline, Boden realised it needed to accelerate its digital proposition, and in 2016 brought in Phil Lewis from Ralph Lau
  
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• From catalogue to chatbots: The next stage of Boden’s digital transformation

  22-02-2018 14:45
  British clothing retailer Boden is making its biggest ever investment in digital and technology as part of a renewed focus on the customer experience, that moves it beyond just selling online.
  The brand launched its ecommerce offer in 1999 so it is no digital newbie, but 2015 was a tough year, with profit down by 25% and sales flat for the third year in a row. To counter that decline, Boden realised it needed to accelerate its digital proposition, and in 2016 brought in Phil Lewis from Ralph Lau
  
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• Oak Furniture Land seeks agency to drive expansion in UK and US

  22-02-2018 14:34 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Oak Furniture Land is scouting for a creative agency to handle its £30m UK advertising business, as the brand's new chief marketer aims to drive the its expansion at home and in the US.
  
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• Calling all female rising creative stars

  22-02-2018 13:38 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Creative Equals and Campaign are calling for female creatives to become a future leader.
  
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• Unilever and the struggle to find balance in advertising's moral maze

  22-02-2018 13:32
  Everyone’s catching the censorship bug and, if we don’t watch out, it could kill our freedom of speech. 
  Unilever appear to be the latest company to have succumbed to the aggressive tactics of cyber eco-warriors and campaigns like #StopFundingHate. 
   
  They’ve threatened to pull ads from online platforms like the Facebook, Google and Twitter if they don’t tackle “toxic” content. 
   
  In other words, they’re willing to walk
  
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• Creative Director's Choice: Grow's Drew Ungvarsky on the Academic's innovative Facebook Live music video

  22-02-2018 13:12
  Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the current work they think is the best out in the ad world – the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.
  This week, Drew Ungvarsky, chief executive officer and executive creative director at digital agency Grow, states why the Facebook Live music video by the Academic for the song ‘Bear Claws’ is an innovative, modern use of the platform.
  Show me entity :: 18409
  One of my favor
  
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• Business on the Move: Match.com, MG, Betvictor, and more

  22-02-2018 12:00
  Welcome to The Drum's Business on the Move section, where we collate agency account wins, reviews, agency launches, rebrands and acquisitions.
  Agency wins
  Online dating site Match.com has appointed MediaCom UK to its UK media account, ending its relationship with incumbent agency Vizieum.
  MediaCom UK will work with Match across all its propositions, which include Match.com, Tinder and OK Cupid.
  MG, the SAIC Group automotive brand, has appointed Wavemaker&n
  
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• GoCompare welcomes former Facebook exec Joe Hurd as non-executive director

  22-02-2018 11:56
  Comparison platform GoCompare has confirmed the appointment of Silicon Valley-based angel investor Joe Hurd as an independent non-executive director with immediate effect.
  Hurd arrives from his most recent role as director of emerging business at Facebook where he held responsibilities for strategy, operations and market planning in support of the social media sites advertising monetization efforrts.
  Prior to that Hurd advised the US secretary of commerce on trade policy as part of an impressive
  
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• Diageo puts focus on gender diversity with pledge on female directors

  22-02-2018 11:45
  Diageo is calling on its agencies to put forward at least one female director as part of any creative bid as it looks to improve gender diversity in the teams behind its marketing campaigns.
  The drinks giant is joining the ‘Free The Bid’ initiative, which is trying to tackle the gender gap in the advertising industry. Currently, just 7% of directors are female and only 9% of commercials are directed by women.
  Syl Saller, chief marketing officer, says: “As advertisers we ha
  
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• CMO Survey predicts 6.5% increase in marketing capabilities spend this year

  22-02-2018 11:19
  The latest CMO Survey of top marketers predicts that combined spend on the likes of digital marketing, martech platforms and marketing analytics will increase by 6.5% over the next year.
  Backed by Deloitte and the American Marketing Association the findings compare favourably with an anticipated 3.9% rise for marketing research and intelligence, a 3.3% uplift for marketing consulting and a 2.5% boost for marketing training.
  Drilling down further into the precise nature of this spend the CMO
  
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• Huawei to showcase AI smartphone-driven car at Mobile World Congress

  22-02-2018 11:04 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Chinese mobile maker, Huawei, claims to be the first to have an AI-powered smartphone drive a car.
  
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• PlayStation begins EMEA creative agency search

  22-02-2018 11:00 via campaignlive.co.uk
  PlayStation has begun a search for a creative agency to work on its advertising across Europe, Middle East and Africa.
  
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• New York Times, Guardian and Economist chiefs lead line up for Digital Media Strategies

  22-02-2018 10:50 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Leaders from The New York Times, The Guardian, The Economist, Time Out, ISBA and MediaCom are among the speakers at Campaign's Digital Media Strategies conference in London on 8-9 March.
  
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• Taco Bell dethrones Burger King as fast food big cheese

  22-02-2018 10:43
  Taco Bell has won bragging rights over its fast food rival Burger King after it officially leapfrogged the chain in the latest rankings of America’s most profitable chain eateries.
  The Mexican-inspired restaurant’s climb sees it sit in fourth place, behind table toppers McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway respectively, according to Techmonic.
  Taco Bell’s has found favour with Americans drawn to its tasty offer of tacos, burritos and nachos as well as a wallet friendly dollar
  
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• Now brands can manage social experiences on messenger app Viber

  22-02-2018 10:37 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Viber, a messenger app owned by Rakuten, has integrated with social media management platform Sprinklr.
  
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• Murdoch's Fox convenes media summit to fix advertising industry

  22-02-2018 10:17
  Rupert Murdoch’s Fox Network Group, TV and cable division of 21st Century Fox, is to convene a day-long media summit where advertisers and ad buyers will mingle with studio executives to discuss solutions to some of its most intractable problems.
  Up for discussion at its 20th Century Fox studio will be the need to devise a new financial model for high value video programming as well as viewers increasingly jump ship to online streaming services. Other key issues for attendees to grapp
  
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• Huntsworth takes controlling stake in AboveNation Media

  22-02-2018 09:48
  Healthcare and communications group Huntsworth has confirmed it’s taken a commanding 75% stake in AboveNation Media for an initial sum of $1.75m, with two further earnings based deferred payments due in 2019 and 2021.
  The New York-based full-service media strategy, planning and buying agency will be used to augment Huntsworth’s own offer by enabling it to provide integrated advertising technology solutions.
  Under the terms of the deal CEO Steve Minichini and president John Lee will c
  
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• Manchester United becomes final Premier League brand to launch on YouTube

  22-02-2018 09:34 via campaignlive.co.uk
  After years of notable absence, Manchester United has agreed to launch a YouTube channel, becoming the final Premier League football club to have an official presence on the platform.
  
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• Chinese New Year is evolving and this is how brands can stay ahead

  22-02-2018 09:19
  Chinese New Year is evolving. Brands that turn a blind eye to the opportunity or think it is limited only to companies operating within China will lose out.
  While tradition and family remain the cornerstones of Chinese New Year, savvy brands are starting to think beyond these, creating new narratives through which to connect with the evolving Chinese audience – such as tapping into a desire to travel or self-gift.
  Re-imagining tradition holds even greater relevance for Chinese New Year 201
  
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• Inside Forbes – the century-old title behaving like a startup in its bid to crack Europe

  22-02-2018 09:00
  After 100 years of publishing, Forbes is making its biggest move into Europe with a new London base and major expansions of editorial resources, live events and branded content production.
  At the same time, the famous American business title has made an increased bet on its contributor model of driving digital traffic by publishing articles from external experts – despite global news site HuffPost having scrapped its own blogger network on the basis that large open platforms with unpaid wr
  
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• How to ensure commercial content is worthy of consumers' trust

  22-02-2018 09:00
  Consumer trust in media is falling by the week, to the point where some of us feel a bit like polar bears, looking frantically on as the Arctic ice cap melts away. Ideally, we need the media equivalent of the Paris climate accord to reverse the current situation; but I’d settle for protecting trust in the more contained world of commercial content, a task which feels somehow more achievable.
  But is it? Are there failsafe ways of ensuring that commercial content is always worthy of trust?
  A
  
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• Lose the creative ego (and other lessons I learnt from the back of a Ghanaian Jeep)

  22-02-2018 08:45
  Last week I found myself on a brand induction like no other - in the back of a Jeep driving through a pineapple field in Africa. To my left I had our head of planning, IIa, and to my right Sophiya from PR. My laptop was precariously balancing on my lap as I typed away. In the Jeep in front were our new clients.
  They had set us a challenge. Come see what we do, interview us, figure out how we operate, figure out our key messaging. Oh, and while you’re here nail the big global
  
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• What makes marketers tick?

  22-02-2018 08:28
  Marketers come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and more importantly, with a variety of mindsets. As Marketing Week turns 40 this year, it seems an excellent time to investigate just what those mindsets look like, and how they affect marketers’ working habits and professional principles.
  TAKE OUR QUIZ: Are you the Steve Jobs of marketing?
  Partnering with research company CrowdCat, we have set out to create psychological profiles of the Marketing Week audience. The project is split in
  
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• Pilsner Urquell uses VR to take Winter Olympics attendees to its brewery in the Czech Republic

  22-02-2018 07:22
  Pilsner Urquell has created a virtual version of its brewery tour and taken it to the Winter Olympics.
  The virtual experience is housed at the Czech House, part of the Olympic Village at PyeongChang in South Korea.
  Official sponsors, such as Alibaba, Visa and Coca-Cola have created experiences and showcases at the event.
  The idea behind the campaign was to create an experience in South Korea that mimicked that of the brewery tour, which is one of its most successful ways of creating brand advoca
  
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• Total creates a Facebook show to felicitate unsung heroes of India

  22-02-2018 07:07
  Motorcycle Engine Oil’s brand Total has created a digital video series "Ride For Legends" to highlight how few Indians are helping improve the society.
  The campaign conceptualised by WATConsult is live on Facebook and features stories of individuals like Aarti, a resident of Mumbai, who has made it her mission to provide education to underprivileged children; Siddharth, a 16 years old who has massively impacted the lives of 1200 BMC employees; Pratima Devi who single-handedly built a big k
  
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• Snapchat launches bespoke lens product in UK

  22-02-2018 05:30
  Fresh off happy investor news, Snapchat today today announced more product changes where UK users can create a custom AR Face Lens.
  According to the company, in under five minutes, Snapchat users can create bespoke Snapchat Lenses for all manner of special occasions including weddings, birthdays, baby showers, hen and stag dos and more. 150 templates and lenses can be personalised with text and emoji, date, time and location — with Lenses starting at £5.99.
  The company continues to t
  
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• Lindsay Pattison: Brands versus demand

  22-02-2018 03:57
  It has now been over two years since the World Economic Forum declared we are experiencing ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution’, characterised by technological upheaval and the fusion between the physical, digital and biological.
   
  Both clients and agencies on behalf of their clients are - rightly - obsessed with the future, what it will look like and how we can future proof to continue driving growth.
   
  Jack Welch told us that businesses plan across three time horizons;
  
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