Media consolidation: Why the agencies will keep getting bigger and bigger April 27, 2014 @LiamWardProud CONSOLIDATION at the top of the media business is nothing new. Publicis and Omnicom’s ongoing $35bn (£21bn) merger, subject to repeated delays by regulators, follows in the footsteps of the former’s acquisition of Saatchi & Saatchi in 2000. Sir Martin Sorrell, meanwhile, has continued busily adding to WPP’s bulging portfolio of companies built throughout [...]
Gamification: What Monopoly is teaching marketers about engagement April 7, 2014 @AnnabelPalmer1 GAMIFICATION has been popular with businesses for decades: loyalty programmes and cereal box prizes are just two examples of the strategy in action. In recent years, however, it’s become a marketing buzzword. But what does it really mean, and is it here to stay? Many consumers associate gamification with apps or digital games. Certainly, [...]
Hyperlocal advertising: Technology is a game-changer for small firms March 23, 2014 @LiamWardProud THINK of an iconic advert – Coca-Cola, Guinness, Lynx? The brand is almost certain to be a giant global player with a massive marketing budget to match. It’s been this way for years. Media agencies have typically worked on high-profile campaigns delivered through TV and other wide-reaching platforms, while much smaller companies have been [...]
One step ahead: Liam Ward-Proud talks to ZenithOptimedia’s Belinda Rowe March 10, 2014 IN 1988, Zenith Media merged with the buying arms of Saatchi & Saatchi, KHBB, and BSB Dorland, forming what many consider to be the world’s first truly global media agency. By 2000, the group (now called ZenithOptimedia) had repositioned itself as the “return on investment agency”. Belinda Rowe joined the firm – part of Publicis – [...]
Shock tactics: What business can learn from charity marketing campaigns March 10, 2014 @AnnabelPalmer1 ANOTHER week, and another hard-hitting charity campaign causes public outcry. This time it’s Save the Children, with its “If London was Syria” video for its Syria Crisis Appeal. Before that, Pancreatic Cancer Action arguably torpedoed advertising boundaries with its “envy” campaign, which some condemned as “insensitive”. It’s hard not to feel a sense of [...]
Blurred lines: What the rise of branded content means for marketers March 2, 2014 @LiamWardProud WHEN is an ad not an ad? Last year, Channel 4 aired a daytime cookery show called What’s Cooking? It featured celebrity chefs including Jean-Christophe Novelli, and often drew an audience in excess of 200,000 according to Kantar Media. But there was something different about this programme: the food featured was mostly Sainsbury’s own-label [...]
Why audience targeting may hold the key to the future of TV adverts February 23, 2014 @LiamWardProud TELEVISION has long reigned as the dominant force in global advertising, accounting for almost 58 per cent of international ad spend in the first three quarters of 2013. But its crown may be slipping. In many digitally-advanced markets, TV’s share of ad budgets has already been eclipsed by online – the transition happened as [...]
Don’t fear the rise of the algorithm – humans still rule media buying February 16, 2014 @LiamWardProud THE RISE of programmatic and automated media buying has been as controversial as it’s been rapid. Take real-time bidding (RTB), where ad space is purchased through automated bidding programmes milliseconds before a web page loads. It’s expected to grow from 14 to 41 per cent of US digital spend between now and the end [...]
The tipping point: Why smartphone advertising may be set to soar February 9, 2014 @LiamWardProud MOBILE is the future” – we’ve heard it so many times it’s almost become a platitude. But while consumers have flooded into the smartphone market with haste (the chief executive of the Internet Advertising Bureau recently forecast that UK penetration will reach 75 per cent this year), ad spend is making the transition at [...]
Digital advertising on the street: Why posters are no longer static February 2, 2014 @LiamWardProud WITH online marketing campaigns accounting for an ever greater share of advertising budgets, digital posters and billboards are catching up fast. There were over 79,000 digital out of home (OOH) advertising sites in the UK in 2013, according to a recent report by OOH specialist agency Kinetic. This figure is set to grow to [...]