Marketing news

• Mailchimp plays up its ‘unconventionality' in brand and UX redesign

  27-09-2018 23:49
  Mailchimp has received a new brand identity, customer experience and website, working with partner agencies Collins and R/GA to put together the finished product.
  Brand experience firm Collins helped the platform clarify its brand and identity system, elevating the unconventional nature that has made the brand one of the more ubiquitous names in tech today. Collins updated brand mascot, Freddie, switched out its old script logotype for a chunkier wordmark that fits the monkey, added in a couple
  
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• Havas, other holding companies, under federal investigation for media buying malpractice

  27-09-2018 23:25
  US federal prosecutors have launched a probe into the media buying practices of Havas, as well as other members of the “big six” holding companies.
  According to the Wall Street Journal, subpoenas have been issued to the holding company by the feds, based off of FBI interviews conducted within the past few months. Those inquiries were reportedly about the industry’s practices overall, as well as a 2016 investigation done by the ANA on transparency issues and other shady practice
  
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• FCB becomes third IPG agency to reel in 4A's diversity vet in year with Taylor Yarbrough hire

  27-09-2018 19:53
  FCB Global has announced the hire of Taylor Yarbrough, former 4A's manager of talent initiatives, as its associate director of global culture and inclusion.
  In an announcement made by global chief talent officer Cynthia Augustine, Yarbrough has been asked to continue FCB’s progress in designing key culture and inclusion (called C&I)  and talent initiatives across the network, as well as partner with external entities.
  This hire has marked the third hire of a 4A's talent initiative
  
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• Creative Director's Choice: Missy Thompson of the Brandon Agency on Chevy's 'Scars' authenticity

  27-09-2018 19:15
  Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the work they think is the best out in the ad world – the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.
  This week, Missy Thompson, creative director at the Brandon Agency, talks up the authenticity of Chevrolet’s 'Scars' campaign and how it connects with its key audience.Missy Thompson, creative director at the Brandon Agency
   
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  In advertising, authenticity is key.
  Speaking i
  
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• A story about the failure that created the future

  27-09-2018 19:08
   
  Ambition drives us forward. A trite comment perhaps, but I’ve an ambition to make a film one day and if I had the opportunity this is the film I’d make. Next Tuesday with the help of our friends at Digital Cinema Media (DCM), we present the first UK private screening of 'General Magic'. A feature documentary film created by directors Sarah Kerruish and Matt Maude, it has been voted one of the top ten films of Tribeca 2018 by Time Out Magazine. It’s a film about how great
  
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• Hulu, Roku named among first partners with Innovid’s self-serve ad composer for connected TV

  27-09-2018 18:58
  Innovid has listed Hulu and Roku among initial partners in its launch of OTT Composer — a new self-service advertising tool that enables brands, agencies and publishers to design interactive ads for connected TV (CTV) devices.
  Innovid has considered this product a first of its kind; the composer has enabled users to build interactive videos, create and iterate on a personalized level, and have the ads displayed across OTT and CTV devices. Other partners named have included Apple TV, S
  
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• The top 50 customer experience professionals revealed

  27-09-2018 17:50
  The skills and qualities required to deliver outstanding customer experiences have never been more necessary or more in demand for brands.
  In recognition of the individuals using them to achieve results for their organisation, Marketing Week, Zone and Cognizant today (27 September) announce the launch of the CX50.
  The list celebrates 50 professionals who are currently demonstrating the business potential and importance of customer experience, featuring names from multiple sectors working in role
  
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• Best ads in 50 years: Campari

  27-09-2018 17:10
  As part of Campaign's 50th anniversary, we asked the industry to look back on the best ads of the past 50 years. We are revealing one a day for your viewing pleasure...
  
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• Best ads in 50 years: Hovis and the classic 'false ending'

  27-09-2018 17:06
  As part of Campaign's 50th anniversary, we asked the industry to look back on the best ads of the past 50 years. We are revealing one a day for your viewing pleasure...
  
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• Best ads in 50 years: How Levi's defined a generation

  27-09-2018 16:45
  As part of Campaign's 50th anniversary, we asked the industry to look back on the best ads of the past 50 years. We are revealing one a day for your viewing pleasure...
  
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• Philip Almond departs BBC marketing role after six years

  27-09-2018 16:42
  After his exit, Almond's marketing team will report to Kerris Bright, who took the newly created role of chief customer officer earlier this year.
  
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• Tesco appoints Dunnhumby boss McLellan to customer propositions role after Toby Horry exit

  27-09-2018 16:39
  Tesco has hired Dunnhumby managing director Matt McLellan as customer propositions director after his predecessor, Toby Horry, left the supermarket last week.
  
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• Renault uses Formula One as a ‘test bed’ for marketing

  27-09-2018 16:07
  What do Renault’s marketing team and Formula One motor sports team have in common? Well, not much right now. But the French car brand is hoping its return to Formula One two years ago will put some petrol in the tank of its marketers and shift them up a gear.
  Speaking at the Ad:tech London conference, Renault’s vice president of brand, Bastien Schupp, said Renault is using motor sports as a “test bed” for more agile ways of working and “passion-led” marketing
  
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• Recommended reading: The art of persuasion and entrepreneurs’ confessions

  27-09-2018 15:54
  Entrepreneurial Confessions: How Young Founders Found Their Way
  By Elliot Lum
  Ever wondered what motivates young entrepreneurs to give up the day job and start a business? In this book, Elliot Lum, shares the first-hand experiences of a diverse group of business leaders across a range of industries, to understand what inspired them to set up on their own and what keeps them committed. As well as the highs, Lum also discusses how these leaders have overcome the stresses of launching a business a
  
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• Nytol owner Perrigo awards £18m UK ad business to Truant London

  27-09-2018 15:47
  Perrigo has consolidated its UK creative account, parting ways with Lucky Generals and The Corner.
  
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• Sorrell's S4 venture to make debut on stock market today

  27-09-2018 15:36
  Derriston will be renamed S4 Capital this morning, with the former WPP chief as executive chairman.
  
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• Sorrell's S4 hits stock market and studies data and digital media buying acquisitions

  27-09-2018 15:36
  Sir Martin Sorrell has pronounced his new venture, S4 Capital, is exploring a move into data analytics and digital media planning and buying, as it made its stock market debut this morning with an approximate value of £380m.
  
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• AG Barr seeks 'straight-talking' agency for Rubicon after BMB split

  27-09-2018 13:25
  The process, handled by Creativebrief, is expected to conclude before the end of the year.
  
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• In Pictures: Marketing New Thinking Awards 2018

  27-09-2018 12:06
  The UK's brightest marketing talent gathered last night to attend Campaign's Marketing New Thinking Awards at London's One Marylebone.
  
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• Business on the Move: Amtrak, Refinery29, Macy's, and more

  27-09-2018 12:00
  Welcome to The Drum's Business on the Move column, where we collate agency account news, reviews, agency launches, rebrands and acquisitions.
  Americas wins
  Amtrak has selected a Y&R-led team of WPP agencies as the transport brand's new agency-of-record. The Amtrak Partnership will be made up of teams from Wunderman, MediaCom, Culture ONE World and VMLY&R. The partnership has been tasked with revamping marketing comms for Amtrak's long-distance services, building up to it's 50th anni
  
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• BuzzFeed bets its future on being the home of ‘adulting’ advice

  27-09-2018 11:14
  A depressing 74% of people aged 18-24 are so unsure of their competence in basic skills, such as bleeding radiators or reigniting a pilot light, that they would like classes in “adulting”.
  Even more surprising, in research conducted by BuzzFeed and Publicis, is the finding that 59% of those over 35 feel a similar need to partake in an “Adulting 101” classes.
  Traditional life patterns are being eroded.
  For many in Generation X – aged between 39 an
  
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• 'Nobody will ask why they need vertical videos now': Snap on why it welcomes competition from rivals

  27-09-2018 11:13
  Vertical video has been getting a lot of love recently from social networks with Instagram launching its long-form IGTV and YouTube following suit with vertical video ads.
  While these giants are encroaching on the pioneers of vertical video Snapchat’s territory, its developer Snap does not feel threatened. Instead, it is excited to see brands becoming more familiar with the format as it reduces the barriers of creation.
  This is because Snap feels that as vertical video is inherently native
  
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• Uber picks up $148m fine over hacking cover up

  27-09-2018 11:12
  Ride hailing app Uber has been hit with a $148m fine after US regulators discovered that it had failed to notify its own drivers that their personal information had been stolen during a security breach.
  It is thought that up to 600,000 drivers fell victim to the 2016 hack but remained oblivious for a year after Uber withheld from notifying those affected. Instead, bosses elected hide evidence of the breach and pay a $100k ransom to those responsible to have the data destroyed.
  Speaking to Associ
  
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• Meet Guillermo Vega, Saatchi & Saatchi's new CCO

  27-09-2018 10:43
  Vega took over the creative reins at Saatchi & Saatchi London this week, following a 15-month global search by the agency. But who is he?
  
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• Amazon opens physical store stocking 4-star rated products

  27-09-2018 10:21
  Amazon is seeking out fresh growth with the opening of a bricks and mortar store that will be dedicated to selling its highest rated products.
  Dubbed 'Amazon 4-star', it will sell a mix of electronics, kitchenware, toys, books and other miscellaneous goods which have attained a customer satisfaction rating of at least four stars and which are offered by a top seller or are new and popular.
  In an effort to tie-in with the digital realm each item displayed in store will carry its ow
  
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• Spotify partners BBC Music event to offer live podcasts and masterclasses

  27-09-2018 10:10
  This is the music-streaming service's first collaboration with the event.
  
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• Rupert Murdoch sells 39% Sky stake to Comcast for £11.6bn

  27-09-2018 10:07
  Rupert Murdoch’s long association with Sky has come to an end after the media mogul confirmed he would sell his  stake in the satellite broadcaster to Comcast for £11.6bn.
  Murdoch launched the subscription television service three decades ago and retained a 39% stake in the business via 21st Century Fox. However, Sky shareholders accepted a £30bn takeover bid from Comcast late last week, bringing an end to a lengthy bidding war. 
  From humble beginnings the b
  
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• Two weeks to go until Media Week Awards 2018

  27-09-2018 09:29
  The most prestigious awards in UK commercial media are fast approaching.
  
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• Refinery29 unveils creative consultancy The29th to develop content for brands

  27-09-2018 09:00
  Refinery29, a WPP-backed media title aimed at young women, has launched a marketing and creative wing called the The29th.
  This new London-based consultancy will deliver bespoke content for brands and has signed up the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), which already works with marcomms giant WPP, as its launch client.
  It will work on WBA's global beauty and cosmetic brands brands – which include Soap & Glory, Sleek, Botanics and Tea Tree & Witch Hazel – along
  
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• Nike, Samsung, P&G: WFA global marketer of the year judges reveal their favourite ads

  27-09-2018 08:30
  As part of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) partnership with The Drum to find the next Global Marketer of the Year, we asked the judging panel to choose which piece of work they have admired most in the past two years. 
  Judges commended ads that encouraged sustainability, supported diversity and those daring to risk their reputation to make a point. 
  See their selection below. 
  Jori Bindels, vice president corporate communications, marketing and brand, Emirates&
  
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• How department stores are fighting back to combat declining sales

  27-09-2018 08:00
  It is fair to say 2018 has been a traumatic year for department stores.
  Suffering the long-term effects of deep discounting, lagging consumer confidence and falling footfall, department stores are closing locations, issuing profit warnings and entering into insolvency processes at a rapid rate.
  The John Lewis Partnership shocked the business world on 13 September by announcing its profits had plummeted 99% in the six months to 28 July, with chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield blaming Brexit uncertain
  
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• Singapore Press Holdings confirms bid for telco M1 as diversification continues

  27-09-2018 07:06
  Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has confirmed it is in talks to gain majority control of Singapore-based telco M1.
  The media conglomerate is part of a joint bid launched by marine offshore conglomerate Keppel Corporation, through a joint venture company named Konnectivity Pte Ltd, to take over the smallest telco in Singapore.
  SPH currently has a 13.45% stake in M1 and is offering $2.06 per share for the remaining M1 shares they do not own. That means the telco is valued at $1.9 billion, acco
  
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• Untested and unproven, but Mindshare has high hopes for its blockchain project

  27-09-2018 02:38
  Mindshare believes its blockchain project, announced last year, will ultimately help marketers do the fundamentals right again, like mapping the consumer journey.
  “Fraud, transparency and viewability are distractions because the fundamental issue is that marketers want to put money behind a campaign and see whether it works,” Gowthaman Ragothaman, chief development officer for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa at the GroupM agency tells The Drum.
  “However, when you really go
  
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• Channel 4 airs 'eclectic, unpredictable' rebrand across all of its channels

  27-09-2018 01:00
  Channel 4 has rolled out an ambitious, company-wide rebrand set to make each of its channels distinct yet cohesive. The look has been designed to accommodate audiences’ increased digital consumption on smaller screens.
  More4, Film4, 4Music, 4Seven and E4 have all been refreshed by 4Creative and ManvsMachine. The broadcaster said the Channel 4 corporate logo will also evolve from the multi-coloured 3D design to Lambie-Nairn’s 2D design.
  E4's new idents were created by e
  
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• Times Up Advertising takes aim at Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh amidst sexual abuse allegations

  27-09-2018 00:37
  Times Up Advertising, the first industry chapter of Hollywood-borne activist group Times Up, has released its first spot, calling upon Judge Brett Kavanaugh to withdraw himself from consideration for the US Supreme Court.
  Following a tweet sent earlier in the week calling for the judge to step down upon accusations from California professor Christine Blasey Ford (with two more women coming forward this week), members of the group appeared in a video, asking for him to step down from his nominati
  
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• What creating fake ads though a fake agency taught me about brand activism

  27-09-2018 00:08
  Imagine scrolling through your social media feed and coming across an ad for Amber Alert Lager (for the gentleman who doesn’t like to wait) or Thwongs (thong diapers for the fashion-forward mom). How would you react? My guess is you’d do nothing. I know this because my company created, tested and posted these very ads, under the name of a fake ad agency.
  Instead of waiting around for a truly offensive ad to appear, we decided to make our own and test them. Surprisingly, the over-the-
  
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