Top 10 Marketing Week stories 2013

10. Sky Sports offers free trial on Freeview for first time

Sky stepped up marketing support for its sports channels this summer in the face of competition from new rival BT Sport. It chose the opening day of the Premier League season to replace regular programming on Pick TV and Sky 2 with free access to live sport action.

9. The UK’s top 10 most popular ads on YouTube

May’s instalment of our monthly top 10 chart of the UK’s most popular ads on YouTube proved popular with Marketing Week readers. And it was little wonder as the countdown featured Evian’s latest dancing baby viral hit, Dove’s Real Beauty sketches and Irn-Bru’s cringeworthy “Mum” spot.

8. ‘Deeply offensive’ Marmite ad faces ban

Video: ‘End Marmite Neglect’ TV ad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZhEB7bhOh4

The majority of viewers (and Marketing Week commenters) loved Marmite’s “Love it, hate it, just don’t forget it” ad, which amusingly parodied the work of animal welfare officers. However, more than 500 people took such issue with the Adam&EveDDB-created spot, they complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), calling it out for being “deeply offensive” for “trivialising” the work of animal welfare charities. Marmite moved to quell the furore with an £18,000 donation to the RSPCA and the ad was later cleared by the ASA.

7. Coke extends names on bottles to everyone

News that Coca-Cola was to launch a summer nationwide tour allowing everyone to get their name, no matter how unusual, on a bottle, sent Marketing Week readers into something of a fizz-related frenzy.

6. Three launches Fleetwood Mac dancing horse ad

“Never underestimate the power of a plucky little pony”, said Three ahead of launching its first major brand campaign for more than four years. The Fleetwood Mac-soundtracked spot now has more than 8 million views on YouTube and Marketing Week viewers will have been pleased to see the fleet-footed horse return to screens this month to spread some festive cheer.

Video: Three #DancePonyDance TV ad

5. Digital marketing to become just marketing in 2013

There’s nothing like a bit of chutzpah to get marketers’ pulses racing and Forrester’s prediction that “digital marketing” was set to lose its prefix and be referred to as just “marketing” in 2013, provided just that. Whether “digital marketing” has really lost its prefix is still up for debate – something readers did in their masses when Marketing Week first reported on the Forrester forecast back in January.

4. Nike takes social media in-house

Marketing Week kicked off 2013 with the scoop that Nike was taking all of its social media marketing in-house and away from agencies – including AKQA, Wieden & Kennedy, Mindshare and R/GA – in an effort to get closer to its fans.

3. The Top 100 most valuable global brands 2013

This year’s BrandZ ranking of the top 100 most valuable global brands saw Apple maintaining its reign at number one and “top riser” sandwich brand Subway marking the most sustainable value growth since the rankings began in 2006.

2. Salary survey 2013: the full analysis

If marketers are interested in one thing more than how much they get paid, it’s how much their peers are getting paid. This year was no exception – not least because marketers saw a fall of up to 4 per cent in average salaries in real terms in the previous year.

1. Coke puts consumers’ names on pack

A favourite among readers as much as it was the Marketing Week editorial team: Share a Coke was far and away the campaign of the year as far as numbers were concerned. It was a runaway success for Coca-Cola too – with the activity helping lift both volumes and consumer perception over the summer. Keen to capitalise on its popularity, Coke has extended the theme of the campaign to its festive drive.

Video: Share a Coke UK TV ad