Keith Weed’s legacy and what Unilever needs to do next
As Unilever marketing boss Keith Weed steps down, what does this mean for the company and what legacy is he leaving behind?
How Monzo’s ‘radical transparency’ approach is disrupting banking
Monzo has just raised £20m in one of the biggest crowdfunding campaigns ever by a financial firm with its focus on innovation, product development and customer engagement fuelling growth as it looks to take on the big banks.
Unilever, Iceland, John Lewis: 5 things that mattered this week and why
From Keith Weed’s decision to retire from Unilever to Iceland topping the list of the best ‘Christmas’ campaigns and Formula E refreshing its brand ahead of the new season, catch up with all the major marketing news this week.
Mark Ritson: The story of digital media disruption has run its course
Internet ad spend may still be growing at the expense of newspapers and magazines, according to GroupM forecasts, but market maturity is approaching, news brands have diversified and most ‘traditional’ media will also grow next year.
2018 year in review: It’s been a good year for…
Marketers have enjoyed a booming year in a number of sectors, whether driving the rising popularity of women’s sport, or responding to fresh brand opportunities provided by big mergers. Meanwhile, fast-fashion retailers have seen soaring sales, but the conversation might be about to change.
Unilever marketing boss Keith Weed to retire after 35 years
As the FMCG giant’s top marketer, Weed has been a champion of sustainability, diversity and a better digital ad ecosystem for both the company and the industry as a whole.
Meet the Founding 50: The young marketers looking to solve the industry’s looming recruitment crisis
50 young marketers answered the call to become School of Marketing ambassadors, ready to spread the word about how fulfilling and dynamic a career in marketing can be. Here some of the 50 share their thoughts on what needs to change to get young people excited about marketing.
How Adidas is evolving dark social to stay ahead of the game
Adidas football is shaking up how it speaks to consumers, from using dark social to build a community to launching its first app and rethinking its “outdated” ad strategy, as it looks to stay one tackle ahead of the competition.
The best marketing campaigns of 2018: Part 2
From a finger-licking good apology and a laundry ad with a difference, to brands joining forces to stamp out online abuse, we look at some of 2018’s most memorable and thought-provoking campaigns. In no particular order they are…
Mr & Mrs Smith’s Julian Diment on why it’s a ‘golden age’ for customer-focused marketers
Story of my CV: From his rapid rise starting out at Saatchi & Saatchi to becoming chief growth officer at Mr & Mrs Smith, Julian Diment has maintained his hard-working ethic but also followed the three passions in his life: food, film and family.
Children, surprises and low fares – Ryanair ad celebrates ‘the best things about Christmas’: The Marketing Week Christmas blog 2018
Welcome to the Marketing Week Christmas blog! A chance for the Marketing Week team to cram all the latest festive advertising news into one place.
Tom Goodwin: The killer questions to ask before beginning a digital transformation
While digitalisation is short-term fixes, digital transformation is rethinking everything to set-up businesses for future growth. To get it right, ask yourself these key questions.
The best marketing campaigns of 2018: Part 1
From a divisive stand against racism and the fight against plastic to brands levelling the playing field for women, we highlight some of this year’s most hard-hitting and memorable campaigns. In no particular order they are…
How to build a digital culture
Given the pace of technological developments, the challenge of embedding a digital culture in order to compete in a fast-paced, digitised and customer-centric world has never been greater for companies. Understanding what the opportunities and indeed challenges are and getting internal buy-in is not straightforward, however. This report draws on a range of survey data, […]
The fundamentals of B2B digital transformation
Digital Transformation is an often misappropriated term but understood correctly it can yield extraordinary results. Including interviews with senior leaders from British Gas, IBM, Fuji Xerox, Ogilvy APAC, Oracle Marketing Cloud and Salesforce and thousands of respondents to a survey, the report looks at the challenges that B2B companies face and how they have responded […]
Marketing measurement and analytics: What you need to know
There has never been as many opportunities to measure the impact of marketing campaigns but there has never been as many chances to get it wrong. Digital channels have led to an explosion in available data, offering the chance for marketers to engage, personalise and attribute the success of campaigns. It does, however mean […]
How marketers learn
Business and society is changing at a frenetic rate and marketers are at the forefront of technological and behavioural shifts. In the face of this, it is difficult but even more important to take time out to learn and develop. Based on interviews and a survey of hundreds of senior marketing leaders this report highlights […]
How to build and execute an ecommerce proposition
As more and more sales gravitate online, the opportunity for businesses to boost revenue and profit grows daily. It is not, however, enough to ‘build it and they will come’. Marketers need to carefully plan and develop their propositions or risk getting lost in a very crowded environment. This report will help you create your […]
Creating and executing a content marketing strategy
Content marketing is considered by many to be the silver bullet solution to engaging with consumers weary of traditional push advertising. But what is it, and how can you build an effective content marketing strategy that helps execute your marketing strategy. Pulling together insight from interviews from senior marketing leaders and content strategists from some […]
Vote for your favourite marketing campaign of 2018
Marketing Week has selected its top campaigns of 2018 and now it’s your chance to have a say.
Top tactics to maximise returns from Facebook ads
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Most marketers are missing out on the full potential of Facebook dynamic ads by failing to target the users most likely to buy.
Gambling companies deny agreement reached on live broadcast ad ban
Bet365, Betfred, Ladbrokes, Paddy Power and William Hill are among betting brands considering a ban on “whistle-to-whistle” gambling ads but no deal has yet been finalised.
How the NHS overcame allegations of racism to drive black blood donors
NHS Blood and Transplant increased black registrations by 6% with zero budget through a targeted social media campaign to help raise awareness of a rare blood type and change perceptions.
Going beyond the trend: The movements influencing design in 2019
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Next year, the creative trends that matter won’t just be colours, fonts or platforms but the themes in work and society that are driving changes in design, and indeed in how companies do business.
‘Gritty, visceral, competitive’: Formula E gears up to move away from eco-friendly image
Ahead of the new season, which begins later this month, Formula E has launched a major brand campaign it hopes will show the world the sport is more than just electric cars.
Charlotte Rogers: House of Fraser’s decision to skimp on a festive ad is a false economy
While the Mike Ashley-owned department store may think it has saved on a big budget Christmas campaign, such short-term thinking is no way to rescue this 169-year-old retail institution.
Colin Lewis: Just because brands can doesn’t mean they should
Landing customers with unexpected price hikes and made-up fees might increase revenues in the short term but the long-term damage could be devastating.
Marketoonist on the voice of the customer
Tom Fishburne is founder of Marketoon Studios. Follow his work at marketoonist.com or on Twitter @tomfishburne See more of the Marketoonist here
Iceland’s ‘Rang-tan’ Christmas ad the most likely to make people buy
The annual study from Kantar Millward Brown reveals consumers have responded better to simple Christmas stories than blockbuster ads this year.
Enabling customer journeys is more powerful than dictating them
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Marketers too often think personalised experiences are driven by brand objectives when in reality they should be led by the individual customer, whose journeys must be allowed to evolve over time, ultimately leading to better engagement.
How to understand the lifecycle of a mobile app user
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Mobile apps have a charmed life in the hands of smartphone users – they may be opened daily or rarely, kept long-term or quickly uninstalled. These tips will help you improve your chances of acquiring and keeping users.
How can your brand survive Google’s ‘EAT’ algorithm update?
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Google updated its search algorithms earlier this year, in a change that has had a dramatic impact on some brands’ visibility. Here’s how you can respond.
Real-time analytics: The key to unlocking insight and driving customer experience
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SAS and Harvard Business Review reveal which companies are most successful at creating real-time customer experiences, and why.
‘Influencer Marketing 2020’: How brands, agencies and consumers see influencers
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With brands’ use of influencers growing every year, Influencer Intelligence looks in-depth at attitudes towards the channel across the industry and among the public.
Six last-minute holiday season tips for ecommerce marketers
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There is still time for marketers to adjust and optimise their tactical plans for making the most of the sales opportunities this Black Friday and Christmas.
How analytics unlocks the power of personalisation
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Personalisation will miss the mark if it is only based on past data – marketers also need predictive analytics to achieve its full potential.
A complete campaign guide to Facebook Dynamic Ads
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Learn how to maximise the effectiveness of one of the most influential social media ad formats on the market.
Customer-centric trends behind winning companies
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Find out which companies are excelling at customer-centric communications, and how they are achieving it.
How to convert data into meaningful, business-critical action
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Businesses’ challenge today is no longer how to collect data on their customers, but which data is most useful and how it can be turned into ‘marketing intelligence’.
Understanding marketing intelligence
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Marketing intelligence is the information needed to drive business outcomes, elevating insights to fuel brand strategy rather than just using them to optimise tactics.
Learn how WhatsApp can be an effective marketing channel for your business
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Learn everything you need to know about messenger marketing.
How to target the five online shopping modes
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Most brands personalise based on who their customer is. Very few are capable of offering online experiences built on an understanding of why a particular customer has engaged at a given moment.
Ad spend, ethnicity in advertising, inflation: 5 killer stats to start your week
From ad spend forecasts being cut to a failure to bridge the ‘race gap’ in advertising, we arm marketers with all the important numbers they need to tackle the coming week.
Tesco, Burberry, Thomas Cook: Everything that matters this morning
Good morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.
John Lewis launches biggest ever Christmas product push
The eight 10-second ads will each feature a different brand with a different Elton John song that relates to the product.
Hack your commute: Look out the window
People who took a stroll through an arboretum performed 20% better in a memory test than those sent for a walk down a city street, according to research by the University of Michigan, suggesting we could all do with looking out the window every now and again if we want to perform at our best.
Lloyds, BT and Virgin Media back push to raise awareness of disability in the workplace
Employees from BT, HSBC UK, Lloyds Banking Group, Lloyd’s of London, Nationwide, Reed Smith, Scope and Virgin Media will appear in a Channel 4 film aimed at raising awareness of the #PurpleUpLight movement, which celebrates the economic contribution made by disabled people.
Uber on its ambition to move from a ‘viral app to a viral brand’
The ride-sharing company is shifting its focus from customer acquisition to brand reputation as it looks to build its brand story following a turbulent 2017.
Pizza Hut, Unilever, Volkswagen: 5 things that mattered this week and why
From the launch of Pizza Hut’s loyalty scheme and Volkswagen cutting its agency roster to Unilever CEO Paul Polman stepping down, catch up on this week’s top marketing news.
Co-op looks to avoid Christmas hyperbole with ad focused on community
The Co-op has once again delayed launching its Christmas marketing campaign until December as it focuses on its community work amid signs consumers are tiring of festive hyperbole.
The five challenges facing Unilever’s new CEO
As Paul Polman retires after a decade at the helm, his successor is facing a series of challenges to growth from the battle for talent to questions over sustainable business and the growing threat of disruptors and direct-to-consumer brands.
Disney on in-housing, upskilling and creating more effective marketing
From doing more things in-house to upskilling employees, the world’s largest entertainment organisation wants to make sure it can be more than just a media partner to brands.
Sign up for our webinar: From cross-sell to customer-centricity
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Join Marketing Week and our panel of marketers as we dissect how the UK’s biggest banks are overhauling their customer strategies.
How E.ON repositioned as the ‘un-utility’ energy company
When E.ON wanted to promote its solar storage technology, it turned to the band Gorillaz to get across a message of technical innovation, creativity and collaboration.
Mark Ritson: Today’s agencies are like yachts – underused, expensive and all the same
The merger of Wunderman and JWT into Wunderman Thompson shows the key challenge of consolidating agencies: while necessary, it’s complicated by their commoditisation and lack of differentiation.
Moonpig hunts for emotional connection in marketing refresh
The online retailer’s new brand positioning aims to remove the “need” associated with purchasing a card and instead focuses on “celebrating the emotion” behind it.
Marketer to take over as Unilever boss as CEO Paul Polman steps down
Polman, who has been with the company for a decade, will be replaced by the current president of Unilever’s beauty and personal care division in January.
Tanya Joseph: Campaigns ignoring mature consumers are the folly of youth
Marketers need to stop relying on segmenting people by their age and instead look at values and attitudes if they want to reach their target audience with relevant messages.
The benefits of taking control of the creative process
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The typical marketing agency business model has had to change because the customer journey increasingly starts on mobile and ends up on ecommerce.
Understanding marketing intelligence
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Marketing intelligence is the information needed to drive business outcomes, elevating insights to fuel brand strategy rather than just using them to optimise tactics.
Watch on-demand: How to reach shoppers at key moments
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A host of technologies and tactical considerations are on marketers’ radars as they seek to help shoppers choose their brands over the competition, especially during key shopping periods such as Black Friday and Christmas.
How messaging bridges the chasm between brands and customers
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From discovery of new products to customer care, today’s customer journey is more complex than ever. In this competitive landscape, brand success is centred on meaningful, one-to-one interactions.
Should brands have a voice on society’s big issues?
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New research from YouGov examines whether it’s riskier for brands to speak up on important social and political matters, or to stay silent.
GSK looks to be more agile and ‘fail fast’ to take on direct-to-consumer brands
A mixture of agility, flexibility and speed is helping the pharmaceutical giant take on the DTC brands by making bets in lots of areas and “pouring gasoline” on the ones that work.
Advertisers ‘failing to bridge the race gap’
While representation of BAME groups in advertising has doubled since 2015, many still feel underrepresented, suggesting brands need to do more work to better represent their audiences.
Ellen Hammett: Volkswagen should be focusing on effectiveness not efficiency
The German car marque is aiming to boost marketing efficiency by 30% over the next two years but it should watch that a drive to cut costs doesn’t impact the quality and success of its work.
The new networking: How marketers connect in 2018
Marketers and entrepreneurs alike are ditching the traditional idea of corporate networking in favour of informal meet-ups and online communities that better suit the modern age.
Revealed: Marketing Week readers’ favourite Christmas ad of 2018
We asked. You answered. Sainsbury’s festive school play was voted the best Christmas campaign by a retailer this year by Marketing Week readers with more than a fifth of the vote.
Pizza Hut launches loyalty scheme to ‘close the loop’ with consumers
Pizza Hut is bringing its loyalty programme, Hut Rewards, to the UK with an eye on engaging new consumers, enriching relationships and ensuring it stays relevant in a fast-paced delivery sector.
Marketoonist on Black Friday and holiday shopping
Tom Fishburne is founder of Marketoon Studios. Follow his work at marketoonist.com or on Twitter @tomfishburne See more of the Marketoonist here
Coca-Cola: We must keep creating brands or online retailers will win
Coca-Cola has put a focus on scaling new brands to drive growth as it looks to innovation and takes a test-and-learn approach to navigate a rapidly-changing market.