Total Media’s Guy Sellers on the strengths of independent media agencies October 5, 2014 In an age of unprecedented consolidation in the media world, you’d be forgiven for assuming that the smaller, independent agencies must be struggling to compete, clinging on for dear life amid a flurry of dealmaking by the industry’s giants. Outfits like Total Media, however, call this assumption into question. Its income grew by 14.6 per [...]
David Cameron’s anti-immigration rhetoric spells doom for London’s creative firms October 5, 2014 David Cameron’s Conservative party conference speech last week was in many ways a great success. Passionate and compelling, he gave easily the best performance of the party leaders so far. But for all the strong messages on the economy and popular tax giveaways, the government’s continued and deepening anti-immigration rhetoric, now directed squarely at Europe, concerns [...]
The creative obsession: Leo Burnett London’s Katie Lee talks heritage and innovative adverts September 28, 2014 Few agencies are as steeped in history as Leo Burnett. One of the godfathers of advertising, Burnett founded his eponymous creative shop in depression-era Chicago, placing a bowl of apples in reception as a marker of the agency’s values: rosiness and hospitality. It quickly became known for bold, image-led work, later creating Tony the Tiger [...]
On the right track: KBH On-Train Media’s Ian Reynolds talks train adverts September 21, 2014 If you commute into London on an overground train, chances are you’ll have seen dozens of ads placed by KBH in recent years. The UK’s largest rail media specialist, it claims to reach around 6m consumers a month, 4m of which are in the lucrative commuter bracket. These figures look set to grow. The [...]
Darin Brown of WPP agency POSSIBLE on digital-focused advertising and the rise of gamification September 14, 2014 WPP has been rapidly building up its digital presence in recent years, partly by acquiring smaller agencies worldwide and folding them into POSSIBLE. Darin Brown, POSSIBLE’s Europe, Middle East and Africa chief executive, talks to City A.M. about creating digital-focused advertising, and why brands are increasingly looking at interactive campaigns. You’ve worked on both [...]
Wieden + Kennedy’s Neil Christie: The man behind Three’s Dancing Pony on the secrets of good viral marketing September 7, 2014 As one of the biggest independent agencies in the world, Wieden and Kennedy (W+K) is an increasingly rare variety of heavyweight in a media industry frequently characterised by its consolidation. Over three decades after its inception in Portland, Oregon, the firm now has eight offices around the world, and a solid reputation for its creative [...]
EngageSciences CEO Richard Jones on the science of social media marketing August 31, 2014 Between 2011 and the end of 2013, social media ad spend in the UK rose from £265m to £585m, according to PwC and the IAB. Last year alone, it increased by 71 per cent. Amid the boom, however, marketers have voiced concerns that increased spending has not been accompanied by a commensurate rise in effectiveness. [...]
Chris Hirst of ad agency Grey London believes it’s all about talent August 10, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud talks to Chris Hirst, chief executive of ad agency Grey London. It's fair to say that Grey London is one of the hottest creative agencies around at the moment. After a spell in the wilderness, the WPP-owned company returned to the limelight in 2012 with a series of gripping pieces, including the [...]
Sally Weavers of IPG Mediabrands’s Initiative agency on thinking laterally August 3, 2014 Liam Ward-Proud talks to Sally Weavers, UK managing director of IPG Mediabrands’s Initiative agency. Initiative holds a fairly unique place among UK media agencies. It’s big, placing thirteenth in last year’s rankings, with billings of over £169m, but nowhere near the scale of the outfits owned by the industry’s behemoths. According to Sally Weavers, [...]
ITN Productions’ Mark Browning on content marketing and the challenge for brands July 27, 2014 Most people know ITN as the producer of ITV and Channel 4 news, or as the maker of heavyweight investigative shows like Dispatches. But over the last four years, creative production division ITN Productions has been busily building up a content marketing operation, grabbing a slice of brands’ fast-growing content budgets so hotly pursued by [...]