Deceptive demographics: Attitude matters more to marketers January 11, 2016 Here's a shocker for you. There are actually 19 year-old guys who watch Dance Moms, and 73 year-old women who watch Breaking Bad and Avengers,” Netflix’s Todd Yellin told the SxSW conference in Texas last year. Marketers have long recognised the limitations of segmenting consumers demographically. Finding out a customer’s age and gender data, Yellin argued, [...]
Shooting for the stars: The7stars co-founder Jenny Biggam on Iceland and independence January 11, 2016 There is a consensus among marketers that “content is king”. In traditional media, however, the division between programming and advertising has always been quite clear. But on Saturday evening, Suzuki began a £20m two-year deal to sponsor Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, using skits in the style of the show to promote the car [...]
Yahoo and Marissa Mayer under renewed pressure from activist investor Starboard Value January 6, 2016 Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer has come under renewed pressure over her leadership as activist investor Starboard Value once again called for a shake up of management and strategy at the troubled internet media business. The hedge fund warned that it may seek to oust board directors if it does not accept "that significant changes are needed". [...]
Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife and Eastenders: Here’s how much timeshifted Christmas TV we watched on catch-up services January 4, 2016 It may have been the classic Queen’s speech which got us tuning in on Christmas day, but it was Downtown Abbey and Call the Midwife which we settled down to watch on catch-up in the days afterwards, as we continued to stuff ourselves with festive food. Britain’s on-demand TV habits meant that both the popular dramas, on ITV [...]
The biggest marketing trends for 2016 according to the industry’s leading figures January 4, 2016 MESSAGING WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY PERSONALISED – Matthew Heath, chairman and chief strategy officer at Lida. Messaging will become more and more personalised. Our ability to target consumers in segments of tens or hundreds of thousands, right down to the individual, has been something marketers have long talked about. But the right technology hasn't been available. Now, [...]
Advertising Association chief: Why banning sugary food advertising won’t tackle obesity January 4, 2016 Ministers were urged to impose a “sugar tax” and crack down on the marketing of sugary products to children in a Public Health England (PHE) report, published in October. Since then, many have questioned whether tougher regulation of marketing would really help to tackle childhood obesity, and whether UK advertisers should be made the whipping [...]
Downton Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing beaten by Queen’s message to top of Christmas TV ratings December 26, 2015 Downton Abbey pipped Strictly Come Dancing to the title of most watched Christmas Day TV show this year – although neither programme could match the audience for the Queen's speech. The final of hit ITV period show Downton Abbey received an audience of 6.6m from its 8.45pm showing, beating competition from the hour-long EastEnders Christmas special which was [...]
Which actor is the best investment? Marvel Avengers stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth provide biggest bang for their buck December 21, 2015 If actors were stocks, investors would have landed their biggest returns from Captain America. Chris Evans, the actor who plays the marvel hero in the Avengers and the namesake films, gives the most bang for their buck of any actor, returning $214.20 for every $1 he's paid. Captain America isn't the only bankable Marvel star either. Scarlett [...]
ITV share price jumps on report of Comcast’s NBCUniversal bidding to takeover home of Downton Abbey December 21, 2015 The prospect of a takeover of the maker of Downtown Abbey has re-emerged with a fresh report that ITV is considering a sale to the US giant NBCUniversal, owned by Comcast, following meetings between the two broadcasters' bosses. Speculation that the British broadcaster is ripe for takeover has been rife for years, becoming a lucrative target since transforming under the stewardship [...]
Seizing the Moment: Why Antoine de Kermel thinks 2016 is the year of “moment marketing” December 21, 2015 In digital marketing, time is precious. And as brands vie to be noticed in the digital space, many are recognising the impact that offline events can have on online activity. “Moment marketing” may be the shot in the arm their campaigns need. Named as one of the six major marketing trends in Warc and Deloitte’s [...]