How bad incentives ruin good marketing
Peter WeinbergTargeting narrow segments, regularly changing creative and constantly optimising campaigns are all antithetical to growth, yet they’re exactly what marketers are incentivised to do.
Little Moons on the challenge of going viral on TikTok
Marketing Week ReportersMarketing director Ross Farquhar says planning and preparation helped the mochi ice cream brand take advantage of sudden social fame.
Dixons Carphone credits role of CRM as it returns to profitability
Michaela JeffersonThe electrical goods retailer posted a profit of £33m for the 2020/21 financial year, having almost tripled its number of contactable customers.
B2B brands on the shift from ‘product superiority’ to customer service
Matt BarkerOnce purely transactional and often guilty of establishing a ‘professional distance’ with customers, today B2B brands are thriving by showing a more human side.
How brands can avoid the curse of convergence
Helen EdwardsAs much as marketers want to differentiate from competitors, brands in the same market often follow the same formulas. To resist that outcome, watch out for these five pitfalls.
Marketer CEOs beat finance CEOs on overall reputation, study finds
Lucy TesserasFormer marketers outperform CEOs from nearly all other backgrounds when it comes to being socially responsible, inclusive and having a strong strategy and long-term vision.
How Green Flag’s ‘game changing’ England sponsorship put the brand on the map
Charlotte RogersDespite getting off to a bumpy start thanks to a riot in Dublin, Green Flag’s £4m push to become the debut sponsor of the England football team paid off in brand awareness during Euro 96 and beyond.
Marketoonist on influencer marketing
Tom FishburneTom Fishburne is founder of Marketoon Studios. Follow his work at marketoonist.com or on Twitter @tomfishburne See more of the Marketoonist here
The third-party cookie has crumbled, here’s why the C-suite should care
Matt SkinnerThe end of third-party cookies isn’t just important for marketers, it has profound implications for customer experience and businesses’ overall digital mindsets.
As recruitment surges again, brands need purpose to compete for talent
Tanya JosephWith the economy and hiring rebounding from the pandemic, brands need to seek diversity of thought and understand top candidates want to do meaningful work.
How brands can align sales and marketing more effectively to drive growth
Steve HemsleySuccessful marketing campaigns generate business growth and are even more effective when an organisation’s marketers work collaboratively with the sales team.
UK’s top marketers back stricter regulations to prevent ‘bad apples’ from ‘souring’ consumer trust
Michaela JeffersonWhile trade bodies protest the government’s plans for a junk food ad ban, the UK’s leading marketers are widely in favour of increased regulation and restrictions across potentially harmful products, new research finds.
Brand valuations, returns, consumer confidence: 5 interesting stats to start your week
Marketing Week ReportersWe arm you with all the numbers you need to tackle the week ahead.
Pernod Ricard appoints UK marketing director to lead digital transformation
Manny PhamRaja Banerji is leaving after two years at the marketing helm of Pernod Ricard UK having navigated the company through the pandemic by pivoting to a strategy focused on digital and ecommerce.
Virgin kicks off loyalty push to target 15 million customers
Matt BarkerThe group wants to tap into a sense of ‘Virgin-ness’ with new campaign promoting the variety of rewards across its Virgin Red loyalty scheme.
Turn your site into a lead generating machine
Marketing Week PartnerYour website is your shop window but many small business fail to pay attention to what potential customers do there or how that activity can be turned into leads and revenue.
Gap, Asda, Malibu: Everything that matters this morning
Marketing Week ReportersGood morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.
O2’s Nina Bibby: The CTO should be the CMO’s best friend
Charlotte RogersThe evolution of the CMO role means the relationship with the chief technology officer could be just as – if not more – important than the relationship with the sales director, says Bibby.
‘Raise the floor and the ceiling’: Unilever on its ‘integrated approach’ to training
Manny PhamUnilever’s top marketer Conny Braams says marketers must be given the opportunity to use their new skills on the job immediately or training will be wasted.
What skills will marketers need to face the post-pandemic world?
Megan TatumFrom nurturing a fierce curiosity in customer behaviour, to becoming more agile and honing their digital skills, marketers must be prepared to upskill if they want to futureproof their careers in 2021 and beyond.
Zoopla on why CMOs should want to ‘decentralise power’
Matt BarkerTo explore the ‘art of the possible’ even in times of adversity, teams must feel empowered and fully supported, according to marketing leaders from Zoopla, HSBC and Benefit Cosmetics.
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Did Ronaldo damage Coke’s brand? It depends where you were standing
Mark RitsonOur trusty columnist has been away for the past 10 weeks teaching the Mini MBA in Marketing and Mini MBA in Brand Management to 3,000 marketers across more than 40 countries. With class over and fresh from winning the PPA Columnist of the Year award, he returns with his own take on the Ronaldo Coca-Cola incident.
The future of marketing careers? Marketing, data, tech and digital in harmony
Colin LewisAfter a year under lockdown, many marketers are turning to thoughts of next steps and new ways of working.
Experiences make memories – it’s time for brands to be bold again
Andrew GeogheganExperiential marketing has been on hold in the pandemic but, while expensive to invest in, experiences are important to consumers, so brands should let their imaginations fly again.
Inside Creativity
The latest campaigns, creative effectiveness and performance from the UK’s top agencies. Brought to you by Oystercatchers.
How has the pandemic changed brands’ view of ROI?
Charlotte RogersWhile some brands have been forced to ramp up their focus on short-term ROI, others have held their nerve and sustained their commitment to brand building with a view to the world post-pandemic.
Don’t waste a good crisis – take the opportunity to rebuild your strategy
Ben RhodesAs we come out of lockdown, solid foundations and a clear brand strategy are vital to guide short-term tactics and ensure long-term shareholder value, former group marketing director at Royal Mail.
Inside Nationwide’s award-winning campaign to shift consumer attitudes around saving
Marketing Week ReportersLearn how Nationwide used comedy to reframe how consumers’ view their finances and arrest the decline in savings rates.
Aviva relaunch looks to ‘weaponise’ the brand’s emotional power
Matt BarkerAs Aviva kicks off a high profile brand relaunch and repositioning, group brand reputation director Raj Kumar sees a brighter future for both the company and its customer base.
Why Ladbrokes Coral wants to move ‘beyond just the bet’
Charlotte RogersThe pandemic may have thrown the gambling sector a few curveballs but, a year on from its brand refresh, Ladbrokes Coral has a renewed focus on entertaining the nation.
From smartphones to security: BlackBerry on the brand challenge of switching categories
Manny PhamBlackBerry is keen to shake off its mobile phone past and reposition the brand as a trusted player in cybersecurity. But shifting categories is something its top marketers admit is a “tall order”.
Coca-Cola revamps entire range as it sticks by unified pack strategy
Manny PhamCoca-Cola has revamped Coca-Cola and Diet Coke packs to bring them in line with the refreshed Coca-Cola Zero Sugar design, a continuation of its ‘One Brand’ strategy, which it describes as “integral” to its marketing approach.
Marketers need to reframe their view of design
Andrew BarracloughCocreation allows brands to build better relationships with their customers but in order to be most effective marketers and designers need to work together.
‘Consumers want to know the brand behind the brands’: Reckitt on its new identity
Michaela JeffersonRB’s rebrand to Reckitt is part of a more focused effort to communicate what the corporate brand stands for, after observing ‘increased curiosity’ among consumers.
Marketing Week Top 100 2020: We reveal the UK’s most effective marketers
Marketing Week ReportersAmong the names deciding who should be on this year’s Top 100 are Mark Ritson, The Marketing Academy CEO Sherilyn Shackell and former marketing director at The Guardian, Sonia Sudhakar.
Why sport and gaming are a powerful combination for consumers
Steve HemsleySport and video games are closely intertwined in the minds of consumers, and on YouTube these interests create rich territory for brands to reach audiences effectively.
Marketing and Machines: How AI helps brands make their media effective
Marketing Week PartnerWe explore how artificial intelligence can help brands buy digital media more effectively – including the importance of allowing the ‘learning phase’ to be completed.