M&S is facing another quarter of sales decline at its clothing business as deep discounting in the run-up to Christmas aimed at luring customers in store hits its profit margins, according to analysts.
BlackBerry has appointed B2B marketing veteran Mark Wilson to the newly created role of senior vice president of marketing as one of two hires it hopes will accelerate its new vision following the departure of its CMO and other c-suite execs last month.
Volvo has signed a deal with Sky Atlantic that will see it sponsor every programme on the channel for the next two years in a deal worth £5.3m as it looks to drive perceptions of Volvo as a designer of “quality” cars.
LG is hoping its forthcoming campaign for the “world’s first” 55 inch curved screen OLED TV will have a halo effect on the rest of its products and position the brand as “premium and aspirational”.
Tourism is set for a boost as the Government is set to commit a further £90m in funding to the overall GREAT campaign over the next two years.
Mondelez International is to create marketing initiatives for brands such as Trident and Oreo inspired by the success of Nike’s combination of physical products and technology through its Nike+ strategy in attempt to encourage snacking.
Vue Cinemas is building a direct sales channel around a tablet app that pushes branded content to readers in the hopes of spurring online ticket sales.
Looking back over the last 12 months, three words come to mind in terms of market research: reputation, value and social – words that I believe will continue to be of importance in 2014.
Campaign group Let Toys Be Toys is planning to target Morrisons next as part of its campaign to end stereotyping in toy marketing after Marks & Spencer became the latest retailer to agree to gender-neutral toy packaging.
Broadcasters and alcohol brands need to be on alert in 2014 when the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will begin proactively testing whether alcohol adverts are breaching new scheduling standards formed to minimise their exposure to children.
Holiday brand Thomson’s new year campaign will be led by a short film telling the story of “Simon the Ogre”.
St John Ambulance will continue to use a claim that first aid could help prevent up to 140,000 deaths a year in PR and ‘press materials’ despite the ad watchdog ruling that the figure is misleading and banning its use in advertising.
An outdoor ad for Mini UK featuring the car with blurred lines trailing from behind has been banned by the advertising watchdog for its likelihood to encourage dangerous driving.
This year was called ‘Empty 13’: no Olympics, no World Cup, no general elections, no… well, anything. It was hailed as a year to forget before it had even begun. But 2013 has not been empty. This was the year in which we discovered that spending £1 on advertising adds £6 to the economy and in which content marketing exploded, with claims that 20 per cent of every pound in marketing is spent on content.
After much deliberation among the august judging committee (me) here are the awards for the best and worst of 2013.