The Marketing Week
Welcome to The Marketing Week, your guide to the good, the bad and the ugly in the marketing industry over the last seven days.
CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK
Cancer Research UK signed up comedian Dara O’Briain for the launch of a new marketing campaign aimed at involving its supporters in the quest to find a cure for cancer. Part of a shift in the charity’s marketing strategy to focus on participation, it has launched a smartphone game available for free on iOS and Android.
On the surface it looks like a typical space shoot-em-up. But dig deeper and users will find that when they are flying through asteroid fields in search of the precious metal “Element Alpha” what they are actually doing is spotting abnormalities and patterns in gene data from tumours.
The charity’s UK head of strategic marketing Ed Aspel says the campaign is aimed at engaging with supporters beyond fundraising. It is promoting the game through direct marketing, as well as on social media.
GOOD WEEK FOR…
Radio
One of the most traditional of media proved itself one of the hardiest this week. The percentage of Britons listening to the radio each week reached 90.9 in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to Rajar, up from 89.6 per cent in the previous quarter and 89.8 per cent in the same period a year earlier. Gains registered by BBC and commercial stations helped push the total up.
The total number of people listening to local and national BBC stations went up 3.2 per cent on the previous quarter and 2.9 per cent on a year earlier to 36.2 million. Meanwhile, commercial radio also posted a strong quarter with 34.9 million tuning in in the fourth quarter, up 1.5 per cent quarter on quarter and 5.1 per cent year on year.
BAD WEEK…
Although the social network doubled its ad revenue in its first quarter since floating on the stock market, the gloss was soon dulled by news that user growth slowed and losses widened. The latter was expected. Investors appreciate that Twitter must invest to grow and become profitable. However, the slowdown in user growth is of greater concern.
Interaction and engagement with Twitter is of the upmost importance as it is this that will be the KPI advertisers look for. Changes have been and will be made to remedy this, Twitter insists, and will be seen later this year. http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/technology-and-telecoms/twitter-needs-a-marketing-lifeline/4009427.article Investors, analysts and marketers will be watching closely.
ONE TO WATCH
Unilever is taking in-store sampling to the ecommerce realm with a trial in partnership with online retailers Gilt and Coastal.com. Samples of hair care brands such as Tresemmé, Dove Men and Nexus are being placed in packages going out to customers who are buying premium apparel and accessories. Buyers are also invited to request specific samples at the checkout, which the FMCG business is using to garner additional market research. Unilever is using the platform to develop more targeted retail opportunities and push for greater ROI from its online channels. The tool has been developed in partnership with Exact Media, which has also worked with Procter & Gamble in the past.
TWEETS
@OurielOhayon – former venture capitalist and co-founder of apps discovery platformAppsfire on the rise and rise of the annoying mobile game of the moment Flappy Bird
Flappy bird points to a triple lesson: Mobile user acquisition is broken. Mobile ads still suck and are broken. App store rank is broken.
@Mildenhall – senior vice president of integrated marketing content and design excellence at Coca-Cola on Channel 4’s rebrand of its channel idents and logo to a rainbow colour on the opening day of the Winter Olympics in Sochi
Very proud of #Channel4 as it rebrands to back gay rights. Bravo 4 having big balls and a big heart #workthatmatters
@iansteadman – science and technology writer for the New Statesman on Facebook’s ‘Look Back’ feature that lets users create a video of their history on the site, to mark its 10th birthday
There’s something really tragicomic about a fb algorithm trying desperately to turn a smatter of sarcastic pics/statuses into a narrative.
DATES FOR THE DIARY
- 11 February SAB Miller’s European MD Sue Clark will be giving analysts a glimpse into the brewer’s growth plans for 2014 at its quarterly investor seminar.
- 12 February Heineken updates the market on its 2013 results.
- 12 February Weve set to announce plans on its mobile loyalty offering.
- 12 February Mondelez will post its Q4 results.
- 13 February The British Retail Consortium holds its 2014 Customer Insight conference.
- 13 February Pernod Ricard will reveal whether it has been able to carry the pan-European sales momentum from previous quarters into its second quarter.
- 13 February PepsiCo is set to update industry observers on its efforts to breathe new life into brands such as Pepsi and Doritos with its fourth quarter results.