Predictive power: Black Swan’s Jeff Headley on marketing intelligence, flu prevention and why the internet is the largest real-time focus group in the world July 11, 2016 Marketing is fundamentally about prediction: what does the consumer want, and when do they want it? From New Coke in 1985, the modernisation of the Gap logo in 2010, and BIC’s pink “for her” biros just four years ago, the history of marketing is littered with flops which better consumer testing could have avoided. Since 2011, [...]
JWT Europe boss: After Brexit, what now for Britain’s brands and “Brand Britain”? July 11, 2016 What does Brexit mean for British brands and “Brand Britain”? The Friday after the referendum, we conducted a field survey of 1,000 people to gauge public attitudes, and try to get a clearer idea of how consumers expect British brands to behave in the wake of the EU vote. Here are some of our findings. [...]
Production company behind BBC’s “steamy” Versailles plans UK expansion July 10, 2016 If you were you among those outraged by the BBC Two series Versailles – described by one Mail Online report as “the steamiest series on television” – you might want to stop reading. Newen, the French production company behind the series, is in talks with the BBC, ITV and Netflix over programming – and is [...]
Making tech human: The Memo’s Alex Wood on why there’s more value in a smaller audience July 4, 2016 "Apple announcements aren’t exciting anymore,” says Alex Wood, the journalist and entrepreneur behind tech website The Memo. Not only is the tech titan failing to launch products and software which are more eye-catching than those which preceded them, Wood thinks that consumers are tired of technology being presented to them as an endless chronicling of operating [...]
Why Remain failed to capture the imagination of young voters in the EU referendum – a marketer’s perspective July 4, 2016 In the absence of official exit polls, data from Sky, the FT, the BBC, the Guardian and others indicate a failure by the Remain camp to convince millennials to vote in the EU referendum. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, given that this demographic seemed to be largely pro-Europe, but it is hardly surprising, given the [...]
Brands and ad agencies need to pay more attention to the way their talent perceives them July 4, 2016 Between the glasses of rose and glimpses of Will Smith, advertising agencies and brands at Cannes this year were discussing the benefits of building meaningful, purposeful brands to engage with their customers. In one of our sessions during the International Festival of Creativity, marketers were discussing how brands and media agencies are coming up short [...]
WPP’s Sir Martin Sorrell targets expansion in rest of Europe ahead of UK after Brexit July 3, 2016 Advertising giant WPP is likely to expand faster into the rest of Europe following the UK vote for a Brexit. Sir Martin Sorrell, the chief executive of WPP and Remain campaigner, also expects his company to experience a short-term boost from Brexit. Read more: Sorrell on Brexit and ad industry: "It is not good news, [...]
Trinity Mirror reports revenue decline as it vows to take action to protect against Brexit uncertainty July 1, 2016 Publishing group Trinity Mirror today reported falling revenues across most of its divisions, as it vowed to take action to deal with uncertainty following the UK's vote last week to leave the European Union. The company's share price jumped by 7.43 per cent in early trading, as the group issued a trading update showing struggling [...]
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp agrees all-cash deal to buy TalkSport owner for £220m June 30, 2016 Media giant News Corp has agreed to pay £220.3m for the company that owns UK radio station TalkSport. The deal for Wireless Group comes after it changed its name from UTV Media in March, following the sale of its TV assets to ITV for around £100m. Wireless shares have shot up 70 per cent on [...]
More bad news on Fleet Street as Mirror publisher plans job cuts June 29, 2016 More job losses are coming to Fleet Street as the national newspaper industry struggles with advertising revenue falls. City A.M. understands up to 15 roles have been put at risk of redundancy across the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. In an email to staff, seen by City A.M., editor-in-chief Lloyd Embley said: "Due to [...]