Mark Ritson: Machine learning may be the future but it’s still pretty dumb
If machine learning is so clever, why does Spotify recommend such rubbish songs and Amazon suggest the stuff I already own in different colours?
P&G’s Marc Pritchard: We are 50% of the way to cleaning up digital
Pritchard believes the work will be complete by the end of the year after the digital ad industry “stepped up”, but he warns that “then the hard part starts”.
Samsung on why it chose to take risks and ‘fight against complacency’ during its phone crisis
Samsung’s global marketing boss says innovation and a focus on emotionally-driven marketing has helped the brand bounce back following a difficult 2016.
The representation of women in advertising hasn’t improved in a decade
A new report released at the Cannes Lions festival highlights how men get four times as much screen time as women and are more likely to be shown as leaders.
Vote for your Brand of the Year
Amazon, Argos, Aviva, Brewdog, Cancer Research UK, Just Eat, Maltesers, McDonald’s, Tesco and Yorkshire Tea will battle it out to be crowned The Masters of Marketing Awards’ Brand of the Year.
Samsung on its Note 7 phone scandal: ‘We would not wish it on any marketer’
The phone brand’s US CMO spoke at Cannes about how Samsung had to change its marketing strategy to ‘humanise’ the brand after the Note 7 was recalled after a number exploded.
Unilever teams up with UN Women, Mars and Alibaba to wipe out gender stereotypes
The FMCG giant is launching the new global Unstereotype Alliance at Cannes Lions with the aim of banishing stereotypical portrayals of gender in all major advertising.
Amazon takes on Asos with the launch of Prime Wardrobe
The ecommerce giant is hoping to make major inroads into fashion retail with the launch of a new tailored delivery service.
Cannes Lions 2017
100 Disruptive Brands 2017
100 Disruptive brands redirect
AOL’s digital prophet claims the ‘four Ps of marketing’ are ‘absolute rubbish’
David Shing also suggested the era of celebrity influencers was coming to an end.
How to mastermind a career rebrand
Unwilling to be typecast by any one role, marketers are orchestrating strategic career rebrands that not only grow their skillset, but add real value to the business.
BA’s director of customer experience Troy Warfield departs
The airline says it plans to appoint a successor for Warfield, who was only in the role for 18 months, “in due course”.
‘Brands must do more on LGBT representation’ argues Pride as it launches first ever TV ads
Pride In London will team up with Channel 4 to launch the TV campaign as both look to mark the 50 years since Parliament first voted to start legalising homosexuality.
International round-up: Google’s potential fine, Alibaba partners with Publicis
Plus Fox follows YouTube with six-second ad format, Comcast brings blockchain technology to TV advertisers.
HP’s CMO: We must be business people first and marketers second
Antonio Lucio believes marketing must be about building the business, not just the brand, if it wants a seat at the top table.
Why Pinterest doesn’t want users to spend more time with the brand
Increasing dwell time is not the platform’s goal, according to president Tim Kendall, who instead wants to help people achieve their objective with the “least amount of friction”.
Marketoonist on extreme market research
Tom Fishburne is founder of Marketoon Studios. Follow his work at marketoonist.com or on Twitter @tomfishburne See more of the Marketoonist here
Facebook’s Carolyn Everson: ‘There should be no limit to what women can do in business’
The days of women having to follow advice on how they should act to get ahead in business are over, she claims, and instead they should focus on being their ‘authentic selves’.
Nils Leonard: ‘More agencies need to have marketers in their mix’
Nils Leonard has gone from chief creative officer at Grey to launching his own coffee brand, a move that he says has taught him a lot about the job of a marketer and what needs to be done to improve client/agency relationships.
Unilever’s Keith Weed on how cutting agencies will improve its advertising
The FMCG giant says media fragmentation had led to ‘fragmentation of time and budgets’, but it now wants to focus on more consistent marketing.
TripAdvisor’s CMO on its transformation into a booking site
TripAdvisor’s CMO, Barbara Messing, talks to Marketing Week about how the brand is well known but not known well, and how the company’s latest campaign looks to change that.
YouTube lifts the lid on how it is tackling extremist content
YouTube says it recognises it needs to improve brand safety, and is using machine learning to help it crack down on unsavoury content.
Nine ways to make the most of Facebook advertising
Brought to you by Channel Advisor
Did you know that Facebook now boasts 1.8 billion monthly active users? And with ad revenues in Q3 2016 reaching an incredible $6.8bn, it is no wonder why more and more retailers are finding it difficult to resist the platform’s immense advertising potential.
Mobile marketing cookbook: Whip up the best push notification strategy
Brought to you by Tune
There are millions of apps throughout several app stores. This means that more than ever, it’s vital to have a plan for keeping your app alive and successfully generating revenue. We have whipped up a mobile marketing cookbook; inside you will find steps to perfect your push notification recipe.
Demystifying digital – a guide to better digital marketing
Brought to you by Ebiquity
The pace of change in digital media is dizzying. With constant innovation and increasing complexity, it is not surprising that many marketers feel both out of control and out of their depth. Taking control of and responsibility for digital is the key to becoming a better marketer. This guide covers advertising efficiency, programmatic media buying, […]
The GDPR: Our guide to what’s coming
Brought to you by Communicator
The General Data Protection Regulation is coming in 2018, bringing with it changes to data protection and compliance laws backed by huge fines. This is a big deal for marketers. Communicator’s guide to what is coming is the first in their series, telling you what to expect and giving you a starting point to assess […]
Behaviour change: Disrupt your consumers, not your innovation
Brought to you by Mash
In today’s fast changing world of changing political landscapes, emergent technology, accelerated competition and seismic cultural shifts, growth has never been harder to come by. Deploying behaviour change strategies remains a key tool for global brands to unlock growth without the scale of investment and risks inherent in innovation.
Four simple steps to implementing the ultimate digital retail experience
Brought to you by Mapp
Kick-start your multichannel, one-to-one customer engagement strategy. Download ‘The secret recipe to create the ultimate digital retail experience’ to discover the challenges of providing a personalised shopping experience and how to overcome them, including examples of how retailers are already doing this today. What is the ultimate digital retail experience? Why experience matters in the […]
How to use content to better motivate modern travellers
Brought to you by Olapic
In an increasingly competitive travel marketplace, driving engagement and bookings with important travel audiences is an enormous challenge for brands. To help supplement the need for high-quality, personalised content at scale, many brands have turned to travellers’ own content on networks like Instagram and Facebook. But what motivates travellers to create and share brand content? […]
Brands and retailers: What’s your relationship status?
Brought to you by Channel Advisor
As a branded manufacturer, do you sometimes feel like you’re adrift in the rising tide of ecommerce – unsure of which direction to turn? Retailers have adapted to ecommerce, and most sell their products online. But for brands, it’s different. Each brand has unique needs and circumstances that dictate whether they should sell directly to […]
Ten Affiliate Marketing Trends for 2017
Brought to you by Affiliate Window
Each year, Affiliate Window provides an insight into the trends that will shape the affiliate channel. In this white paper, the network considers how the role of smartphones will be better understood; the rise of China and the global consumer; and the other key trends from across the affiliate channel. Download the white paper now.
Fostering closer customer engagement and nurturing loyalty with personalised marketing
Brought to you by IBM
To safeguard its share of an increasingly competitive savings and investment market, Standard Life created a fully integrated marketing process. Deep insights into individual customer preferences help boost inbound conversion by 8%, reduce the risk of churn and strengthen its position in a fast-changing regulatory environment. Read the white paper for more insight into personalised […]
The right time for real-time marketing
Brought to you by IBM
Applying real-time marketing practices and adding the ability to integrate customer behavioural data from all channels, delivers even greater marketing precision and improves customer engagement for the long term. Learn how with this white paper.
A guide to digital publishing
Brought to you by Instant Magazine
With buzz words like ‘digital transformation’ floating around the marketing arena of 2017, you are going to need to swot up and know the key aspects of publishing relevant content. This whitepaper covers everything from typography to revenue models.
Join Asos, Just Eat and Shop Direct at our AI event Supercharged
The event, taking place on 4 July in London, will look to explore the link between marketers and machines and how to maximise results.
5 killer stats to start your week
We arm you with all the stats you need to prepare for the coming week and help you understand the big industry trends.
Burger King: With creativity, the biggest risk is taking no risks
Burger King, the Cannes Lions creative marketer of the year, explains how the brand stands out when it has competitors that “always outspend” it.
‘We are not going to directly compete with Google and Facebook’ claims Oath boss
Speaking at a press conference this morning at Cannes, Tim Armstrong, the CEO of the company, said his goal was to create a new path for the business centred on consumers and product development.
Periscope, Diageo, Etsy: Everything that matters this morning
We round-up everything that matters in the world of marketing.
Amazon continues its journey into food with £10.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods
Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, says the move makes good business sense because “millions of people love Whole Foods Market”.
McDonald’s ends 41-year Olympic sponsorship
The fast food giant has ended its deal with the IOC three years early, saying the decision is part of its “new global growth plan”.
Uber, Instagram & Protein World: 5 things that mattered this week and why
The marketing news that matters this week including Uber trying to rebuild brand perceptions, the return of Protein World’s marketing director and consumers losing faith in digital media.
How media brands are changing tactics to make the most out of audiences
As print sales fall, media brands are finding news ways to engage younger readers and get different audiences to subscribe.
Tesco sales growth hits seven-year high as CEO insists it will try to keep prices low
Price rises are a “last resort”, according to Tesco CEO Dave Lewis, who has led the supermarket giant to a sixth consecutive quarter of sales growth.
Get ready for Cannes: Everything you need to know
The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (to give it its full name) is a time for marketers to share new ideas and get under the skin of some of the world’s leading brands. Ahead of what promises to be a jam-packed week, Marketing Week rounds up our top picks of what to see and do.
Thomas Barta: Customer experience is a marketer’s biggest leadership challenge
Unless marketers step up and take the lead, great customer experiences will remain a corporate fantasy.
Disney prioritises ‘audience centricity’ in commercial overhaul
The media giant says it is changing its sales and partnerships strategy to become more linked up and have a “broader offering” across its different brands.
Facebook, Sky and Virgin Media look to tackle brand safety issues
Facebook is introducing new features that will give marketers more control over where their ads appear, while Sky and Virgin Media are partnering to offer what they hope will be an alternative to digital amid transparency and brand safety issues.
International round-up: US internet privacy bill faces backlash, Chevrolet focuses on ‘meritocracy’ in Argentina
Plus Asia-Pacific’s advertising market to grow 5.6% this year, Thai police raid a click fraud farm.
Barclaycard to adopt new strategic approach with ‘Start Today’ branding
A new campaign that showcases the credit card brand’s contactless payment solutions is part of a new approach as it looks to talk about both the functional and emotional sides of the brand.
Marketing Week rising star Claire Canty promoted to head of innovation at Weetabix
In her new role, Canty will be responsible for NPD, as well as developing Weetabix’s five year innovation and renovation pipeline.
Marketers can add value to agencies, so why aren’t more being hired?
Marketers do not lack the skills needed to work agency side but few make the transition, with loss of control and lower pay cited as two of the main concerns. However, those that make the move have the power to change agency relationships for the better.
Procurement needs to trust marketing more, says Mondelēz
Mondelez’s global procurement boss admits his department needs to work on having confidence that marketers can make the right agency choices and empower them to make those choices.
M&S: Stop trying to understand customers through the lens of the brand
In order to truly understand customers brands must switch from looking inside out to outside in, says Marks & Spencer’s loyalty boss Nathan Ansell.
Nike, Knorr & Shell: The Top 10 Cannes YouTube ads
Nike’s aspirational ‘The Switch’ ad came out victorious on this year’s Top 10 Cannes YouTube ads, which were compiled by balancing the total number of views with the percentage of organic and paid views.
Instagram tries to make it clearer when posts are sponsored by brands
Instagram is introducing a new tagging tool for influencers and brands in a bid to boost transparency around paid-for posts, with Adidas and Manchester United already signed up to use it.
Mark Ritson: Why can’t marketers see that digital metrics are bullshit?
Digital metrics are a mess of confusion and obfuscation, but it’s clear most marketers have bought into this opaque and over-complicated world.