Marketing news

• Marketers oblivious to rising costs and complexity, media agencies warn

  22-03-2018 23:14 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Media agency leaders expressed frustrations over the lack of understanding among client marketing and procurement teams of what it takes to run digital media-buying operations in the current environment.
  
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• Target is guest starring in an episode of NBC’s Superstore

  22-03-2018 22:01
  Target will have a starring role in tonight’s episode of Superstore, a sitcom that’s in its third season on NBC.
  The show stars America Ferrera as an employee of Cloud 9, a fictional big-box store in St. Louis, Missouri. According to Target, the retailer will play “a starring role as the employer of a former Cloud 9 employee.” Scenes for the episode were filmed inside of a real Target store in California.
  The link-up between the retailer and show is part of a larger partn
  
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• New York Media purchases comedy site Splitsider, adds to Vulture stable

  22-03-2018 21:45
  New York Media, publisher of New York Magazine, as well as sister imprints Vulture, and the Cut, announced that it has acquired Splitsider, the website about comedy and its creators, from the Awl Network.
  New York Media said it will be integrated into culture site Vulture as a destination for comedy coverage.
  The Awl, which was home to Splitsider as well as sister sites The Hairpin, The Sweethome, and The Billfold, folded earlier this year.
  In a statement, New York Media said: “Splitsider
  
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• Sandy Hook Promise launches chilling video to promote campaign against gun violence

  22-03-2018 20:56
  Gun violence has been at the top of the news for weeks, in response to the murders of 17 high school students in Parkland, Florida. To try to peacefully combat gun violence Sandy Hook Promise (SHP) is launching the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System (SS-ARS) into schools across the country, including accelerated rollout in four of the most at-risk states.
  The campaign will be amplified by a national public service ad titled ‘The Other Side,’ produced by BBDO New York, that will
  
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• The best 90 minutes at SXSW were tech-free

  22-03-2018 20:54
  Half a million people descended on Austin for SXSW, including a healthy contingent from what a friend called the 3 B’s: Bitcoin, Blockchain and Bros. Things that get this big also tend to get really bad. But for all the talk of the festival outgrowing itself, it was another development that grabbed my attention: people had an impulse to connect and collaborate with each other “in real life.”
  Bumble was a good example. With 30 million users, it decided SXSW was a place to get pe
  
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• Tour du Canada: Bikemaker Cervélo recruits Toronto's Juliet as new agency teammate

  22-03-2018 20:44
  Toronto-based cycling manufacturer Cervélo announced that it enlisted Toronto agency Juliet for upcoming product launches and a broader marketing strategy as it looks to grow its audience.
  Juliet is tasked with raising Cervélo’s brand awareness outside of niche cycling communities, while also making the process of buying a high-end bike less intimidating for casual consumers.
  Cervélo was established Toronto in 1995, and considered a favorite of both hard-core cycling e
  
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• Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios purchases the Weather Channel from Comcast/NBCUniversal

  22-03-2018 20:19
  Independently-owned Entertainment Studios announced the acquisition of The Weather Group, parent company of The Weather Channel network and Local Now streaming service.
  The purchase went through founder, owner and chief executive officer, Byron Allen’s company, Allen Media, LLC from Comcast/NBC Universal, Bain Capital, and The Blackstone Group. The Weather Group network joins Entertainment Studios' independent group of eight 24-hour cable networks.
  In a statement, Entertainment Studio
  
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• Apple releases slick new spot to show off iPhone X’s Face ID and Apple Pay

  22-03-2018 20:07
  A man dances his way through a crowded marketplace, picking up desired purchases just by gazing into his iPhone X. That’s the concept behind Apple’s new spot, ‘Fly Market,’ which shines a light on the ease of using the device’s Face ID and Apple Pay.
  In the film a young man walks through a market with his friends when he spots a hat he must have. He looks at his iPhone X, gets recognized by Face ID and pays with Apple Pay as the hat quivers then magically jumps onto
  
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• M&C Saatchi: record results show agency model is still a 'wonderful business'

  22-03-2018 18:26 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The big holding company agency model may be under pressure but it's still possible to run a "wonderful" agency business if local entrepreneurs are in charge, according to M&C Saatchi chief David Kershaw.
  
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• M&C Saatchi: record profits show agency model is still a 'wonderful business'

  22-03-2018 18:26 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The big holding company agency model may be under pressure but it's still possible to run a "wonderful" agency business if local entrepreneurs are in charge, according to M&C Saatchi chief David Kershaw.
  
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• Mozilla becomes first brand to pull ads from Facebook following Cambridge Analytica scandal

  22-03-2018 17:54
  Mozilla, the company best known for its Firefox web browse, is “pausing” advertising on Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
  In a blog post, Denelle Dixon, Mozilla’s chief business and legal officer, says the recent allegations have caused the company to “take a closer look” at Facebook’s default privacy settings, given its “support of the platform through ad dollars”. What it found, she adds, is those settings “leave acce
  
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• Bryan Cranston and Alzheimer’s Research use an orange to debunk mistruths around dementia

  22-03-2018 17:36
  While Bryan Cranston may be more au fait with handling blue substances after years of playing Walter White in Breaking Bad, the actor can be seen curiously pawing an orange in a fresh spot for Alzheimer’s Research UK. 
  The ad is the latest in the charity's 'Share the Orange' campaign, which launched in 2016, with the aim to get people thinking differently about the condition. It hopes to challenge the perception that dementia is little more than a by-product of age. 
  Cransto
  
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• Are retailers providing an experience that’s worth the trip?

  22-03-2018 17:30
  Save the shops! A mantra I’ve heard numerous times having worked in retail for the last 20 years. Yes, consumers love shopping online, but there’s no doubt they want to preserve the ‘real’ shopping experience especially for high-value tech/electrical products. 
  Whether they are looking to upgrade an existing device, buy into a new product category such as the smart home, or make a distress purchase to replace a product that has failed, consumers are looking for a sol
  
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• Accenture is bullish on digital marketing push, but avoids media which is declining 'significantly'

  22-03-2018 16:48 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Accenture has ruled out a move into media-buying because it is "trending down significantly" but sees major opportunities in what it calls "brand-meets-creativity enabled by technology".
  
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• Japan preps high tech condoms for Olympics, Chinese consumers snub foreign brands: International round-up

  22-03-2018 16:07
  Japan to showcase high-tech condoms during Tokyo 2020
  Japan’s condom manufacturers are prepping early amid belief the nation’s high-tech condoms will be in high demand during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
  The host nation says it sees the Olympics as a “golden opportunity” to showcase its record-breaking ultra-thin product and encourage safe sex among athletes. Japan says its ultra-thin condom is just 0.01mm thick and made of polyurethane – a material that is suitabl
  
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• Hendrick's builds 12ft contraption for 'alternative' take on British Summer Time

  22-03-2018 16:01 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Hendrick's, the William Grant & Sons gin brand, has built a 12ft structure to encourage people to look at the notion of time in a different way ahead of the start of British Summer Time this weekend.
  
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• Aflac Duck shows up even when he might not be needed in latest campaign

  22-03-2018 15:48
  Aflac has brought out its signature insurance spokes-fowl for its latest television commercial, ‘Not That Kind.’ In it, the Aflac Duck suddenly appears when he believes policyholders need help, even if they don’t require injury payments.
  The 30-second spot opens with a father giving a pep talk to his daughter before her dance recital, encouraging her to "break a leg." The Aflac Duck appears with cash in wing to help cover costs resulting from a broken leg, to which the father r
  
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• British Airways senior marketer Abigail Comber exits after 26 years

  22-03-2018 15:40 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Abigail Comber, head of customer for British Airways is leaving the airline after a career that spans 26 years.
  
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• Taco Bell is rolling out Dorito-esque tortilla chips in grocery stores

  22-03-2018 15:38
  Taco Bell will begin selling three varieties of tortilla chips in grocery and convenience stores this May.
  The chips are flavored like the fast-food chain’s signature line of hot sauce packets. The Mild version includes “hints of three chili peppers and cumin,” while Fire is seasoned with jalapeño, chili peppers and paprika.
  For those who don’t like spice, a Classic version will also be available.
  "This launch of our first line of sauce packet-inspired chips gives
  
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• Why the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal is the perfect consumer storm ahead of GDPR

  22-03-2018 15:37
  Many folks are waking up to a new Facebook-free frontier this morning after #deletefacebook ironically flooded social media feeds in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. This arguably hair-trigger response to a largely pervasive issue is perversely refreshing for the broader marketing industry, reinforced by the sheer volume of outraged-yet-engaged tweets.
  But the opacity of data use is not a new issue. So why has this scandal captured the public’s attention?
  Facebook has
  
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• M&S: our creative doesn't always succeed in being inclusive, but we learn

  22-03-2018 15:13 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Marks & Spencer admits that making sure its marketing is inclusive for all of its 33 million customers is "not second nature", according to its head of customer experience Maria Koutsoudakis.
  
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• Ad of the Day: H&M sparks a sultry flamenco of femininity (with added Winona Ryder)

  22-03-2018 14:31
  The ad launching H&M’s spring 2018 campaign puts actors Elizabeth Olson and Winona Ryder at the beating heart of sultry dance that celebrates female empowerment and friendship.
  The ad opens in the sticky heat of a Buenos Aires cafe. Olson is seen despondently dancing with a man. He’s tapped on the soldier by a woman in billowing red, who takes over the dance with the actor as the tape is changed and the music picks up pace.
  The dance then spills out onto the street as partners ar
  
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• Mtn Dew’s Dewey Ryder gets behind the wheel for his first Nascar race

  22-03-2018 13:58
  When Nascar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr announced his retirement last year, he was replaced by a driver named Dewey Ryder, at least in the ads for soft drink Mtn Dew. Ryder was played by comic actor Danny McBride, and the character proved popular enough to extend the campaign and actually put Ryder on the track.
  The Dewey Ryder 2.0 campaign commercial starring McBride, Earnhardt Jr and ESPN personality Marty Smith finds McBride’s Ryder pimping out the Mtn Dew car and showing off its new featu
  
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• Brands would be 'hypocritical' to leave Facebook over Cambridge Analytica's data breach

  22-03-2018 13:48 via campaignlive.co.uk
  As Mozilla becomes first advertiser to declare it has pulled Facebook spend, industry chiefs have warned brands of hypocrisy if they boycotted the social media giant over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
  
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• Adidas on the power of using micro-influencers in long-form video

  22-03-2018 13:42
  Creating video that is compelling in a six second burst, while also driving long-term engagement is the aim at sportswear giant Adidas.
  The brand’s latest video project, a long-form series following the exploits of the newly formed Tango Squad FC, has been designed to grow the popularity of Adidas’s Tango Squads influencer communities, first set up in 2016.
  Running between nine and 17 minutes long, each episode of the six-part series charts the development of the Tango Squad FC team,
  
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• Media Scotland MD & editor-in-chief Allan Rennie departs

  22-03-2018 13:23
  Allan Rennie, the managing director and editor-in-chief of Trinity Mirror's Scottish publishing business, will leave his post next week.
  A 24-year veteran of Trinity Mirror, Rennie was made managing director of its Media Scotland arm, which counts the Daily Record and Sunday Mail among its titles, in 2014. He will leave on 28 March and will not be replaced.
  Rennie’s departure comes in the same month that the Daily Record’s editor-in-chief, Murray Foote, stepped down after f
  
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• Brands bring attention and fundraising to International Water Day

  22-03-2018 13:23
  Most of us take clean and plentiful water for granted, but that’s certainly not the case around the world. The UN’s World Water Day, celebrated March 22 every year, focuses on the importance of water, and several brands have put together special campaigns to celebrate the day and bring attention to the importance of water issues around the globe.
  The theme for World Water Day 2018 is ‘Nature for Water’ – exploring nature-based solutions to the water challenges the w
  
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• Ryanair's Wenk: our strength is in simplicity of marketing strategy

  22-03-2018 12:51 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The success of Ryanair's marketing is in its simple strategy and speed of execution, its marketing operations director Matthias Wenk told the audience at Advertising Week Europe today.
  
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• Meals on Wheels celebrates connecting generations with volunteering in Ad Council campaign

  22-03-2018 12:51
  Today in the US, 10 million seniors face the threat of hunger, and millions more live alone in isolation. That’s why Meals on Wheels America and the Ad Council today (March 22) are kicking off a new chapter of their successful volunteer recruitment initiative, ‘America, Let’s Do Lunch.’
  Beyond the impact of a warm meal and a friendly smile to those served, the new public service ads turn the spotlight on the meaningful bonds that can develop between volunteers and homebou
  
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• IPL signs Tata Motors as the official partner for three years

  22-03-2018 12:09
  The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed Tata Nexon as the official partner for the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) for three years. 
  As part of the deal, Tata Motors will leverage the Vivo IPL 2018 platform to showcase the new model Nexon in the stadium, across all matches, with on-ground engagement plans and merchandise. 
  The matches will witness engagement activities like the Tata Nexon Super Striker where the best striker of the match/tournament stands a
  
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• Rapp poaches Rapier's Mackie as chief creative officer

  22-03-2018 12:01 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Al Mackie, executive creative director at Rapier, is joining Rapp as chief creative officer.
  
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• Should UK political ads be better regulated?

  22-03-2018 11:35
  Should ads be better regulated in the UK? The argument they should is gaining momentum, especially amid a miasma of squabbles emerging around the infamous Brexit bus and concerns Cambridge Analytica made unauthorised use of Facebook data to mass manipulate the populace.
  Even the Electoral Commission has called for updated laws to keep better track of digital campaigns, forcing ad buyers to identify themselves, in pursuit of more transparency amid accusations of foreign meddling in the elect
  
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• What were the hot topics at this year's Advertising Week Europe?

  22-03-2018 11:26 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Missed Advertising Week Europe 2018? Campaign rounds up what the industry wast told, with recurring themes including data, the agency model, and diversity.
  
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• Anupama Chopra, Vita Dani encourage women to skill themselves in Vitamin Stree's latest campaign

  22-03-2018 11:25
  Vitamin Stree has collaborated with INKHer to unveil an inspirational film featuring women from diverse professions encouraging other women to join the workforce and excel in it, no matter where they are in their career.
  The spot features a pledge which is tied together with the statement 'Start, Restart, Rise' – each signifying women in different stages of their career. Start signifies women who are just starting to build a career and their own identity; restart signifies men who too
  
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• Advertising Association calls for ‘deep alignment’ of European data protection post-Brexit

  22-03-2018 10:41
  The Advertising Association has unfurled its colours to the mast of continued ‘deep alignment’ between the UK and Europe on data protection once Britain departs the continental club.
  In a statement the AA called on the European Commission to "secure a new and positive relationship between the EU and UK following Brexit that will recognise the UK’s deep alignment with the EU on data protection policy".
  In order to achieve this the advertising body believes that the Information C
  
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• Video must have 'clear brand message' to win consumers

  22-03-2018 10:04 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Speaking at Advertising Week Europe, Fabio Ruffet, creative excellence director, Bacardi said that brands need to ensure that their message is key to their video output and that they shouldn't be distracted by the use of new video technologies where irrelevant.
  
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• How the New York Times is convincing commercial partners to pay for its journalism

  22-03-2018 10:00
  The New York Times had a wish list. It wanted coverage of the emerging human subcultures that young journalists can be so adept at spotting, and it wanted to report them in a way that was visually arresting and likely to thrive on social media as well as its own platforms.
  Its solution was a remarkable project called Surfacing, which has generated features on subjects as diverse as a female “Roller Derby” team made up of members from indigenous peoples from around the world, and the
  
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• Mindshare launches fast idea-generation service Mindshare 24

  22-03-2018 09:53 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Mindshare has launched a fast-turnaround, idea-generation service, Mindshare 24, that will come up with solutions within 24 hours of a brief.
  
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• Visit Florida to pop-up at Westfield Stratford

  22-03-2018 09:45 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Visit Florida, the US tourist board, is creating a video experience to encourage shoppers to visit the destination.
  
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• Boots overtakes M&S to become top ranked brand among UK women

  22-03-2018 09:29
  High street chemist Boots has supplanted venerable department store chain M&S as the top ranked brand among women, according to the latest YouGov BrandIndex survey.
  The analysis confirmed that Boots jumped from third place in last year’s list to first place this time round with an impression score of 54.2; just ahead of John Lewis and Heinz which just fell short with respective scores of 53.9 and 53.6.
  M&S meanwhile slipped down to fourth place with a score of 52.9, just ahead
  
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• Mayor of London office launches #LondonUnited to remember 2017 attacks

  22-03-2018 09:25 via campaignlive.co.uk
  The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has unveiled plans to mark the anniversaries of the 2017 terrorist attacks at Westminster, London Bridge, Finsbury Park and Parsons Green.
  
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• Amnesty International calls out Apple for handing over personal data to the Chinese government

  22-03-2018 09:25
  Apple is being called out for releasing personal data of its customers in China to the country’s communist government in a new social media campaign.
  The campaign, created by Amnesty International, is based on Apple’s 1984 advertisement and urges consumers to tell Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook to reject double standards when it comes to privacy for its Chinese customers.
  This comes after Apple transferred the operation of its iCloud service for Chinese users to Guizhou-Cloud
  
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• LV on humanising the digital experience

  22-03-2018 08:45
  Making the digital brand experience as human as possible for its six million customers is the long-term goal for insurer LV, which last year embarked on a digital transformation project across its entire business.
  The project was led by former Aviva marketing director Heather Smith who joined LV in August 2016 as digital transformation director. A year into the role she took control of the transformation programme, which kicked off with an intense 16-week period mapping out every customer j
  
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• Sorry Zuckerberg would 'love to see' ad transparency regulation and responds with plan

  22-03-2018 08:28 via campaignlive.co.uk
  Facebook's founder-in-chief finally responds with an apology and an action plan.
  
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• Amazon closing the gap on Flipkart in India, says Forrester

  22-03-2018 08:18
  The battle between e-commerce companies Amazon and Flipkart in India continues to intensify as Amazon is now closing the gap on Flipkart, according to Forrester.
  Flipkart raised $2.5 billion from Softbank in 2017, bringing its total funding to $6bn to date and competing with Amazon, which committed $5bn to India for market share. 
  After surpassing Flipkart in 2016 for the first time, Amazon has strengthened its position as metropolitan Indian consumers’ preferred online retail de
  
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• The next era of mobile: Marketing revolution or tech fetishism?

  22-03-2018 08:00
  When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone more than 140 years ago, he probably didn’t envision a world where he would be able to send self-destructing photos of himself with a flower garland in his hair. Or, indeed, a time when phones could measure blood pressure, scan fingerprints or alter the way we see realities entirely.
  Yet thanks to the development of smartphones these things are all possible.
  With the advent of artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual re
  
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• Amitabh Bachchan performs an acapella for the first time in Navratna Oil's latest ad

  22-03-2018 07:23
  Navratna Oil, the ayurvedic therapeutic oil brand from the house of Emami Limited, has made Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan perform the iconic song ‘Sar jo tera chakraye’ (If your head is spinning) from the film Pyaasa in an acapella style.
  Acapella is group or solo singing in choral style which is without instrumental accompaniment, where the background music is usually created by beats made by the human mouth.
  The sounds are usually linked to one another, like hitting the floor, t
  
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• Vice India announces leadership team and brands partnerships ahead of its April launch

  22-03-2018 06:44
  Vice India has announced the appointment of Chanpreet Arora as chief executive officer and Samira Kanwar as head of content as Vice India officially goes live next month in partnership with The Times of India Group.
  Vice has further partnered with PepsiCo brand Mountain Dew to explore the journey of Arjun Vajpai as he attempts to climb Mt. Kangchenjunga. It has also assembled a team of 40  journalists, editors, producers and creatives in India to focus on content product
  
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• Vice India announces leadership team and brand partnerships ahead of its April launch

  22-03-2018 06:44
  Vice India has announced the appointment of Chanpreet Arora as chief executive officer and Samira Kanwar as head of content as Vice India officially goes live next month in partnership with The Times of India Group.
  Vice has further partnered with PepsiCo brand Mountain Dew to explore the journey of Arjun Vajpai as he attempts to climb Mt. Kangchenjunga. It has also assembled a team of 40  journalists, editors, producers and creatives in India to focus on content product
  
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• Brands in China are facing a shortage of video inventory because of rating declines on TV, says report

  22-03-2018 06:19
  Brands in China are facing a shortage of video inventory, while non-video branded content have increased significantly because of commoditisation.
  The shortage of video inventory is traced to significant rating declines on television, which forces brands to fight for prime-time inventory on state television and provincial television to build reach.
  Meanwhile, for online TV, more viewers are embracing membership-based services in order to skip over advertising, because the clutter of ads has rise
  
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