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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG5L22ZazNk

If you haven’t yet heard of “Jack the Baker” you soon will. United Biscuits is pumping £10m into Jacob’s as part of its biggest marketing campaign ever for the brand as it aims to grow the business by a fifth by 2016. And Jack the Baker is the star of the show.

Inspired by a real-life employee, he will star in a number of TV spots that will hero one Jacob’s product. The ads also introduce Jacob’s new strapline “Snack Happy”.

The campaign aims to convince shoppers its savoury biscuits are a healthier snacking alternative and boost growth in the category to levels seen in markets such as the US and Australia. United Biscuits will be hoping to recreate the success of its campaign for sister brand McVitie’s, which has led to growth in the “high single digits” for its sweet biscuit products since it launched two months ago.

GOOD WEEK

Acknowledgement of brand value

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The Government is to take action to make the intangible, err, tangible. It is to launch a campaign to raise awareness of the value of brands among bankers after a report found the worth of such intangible assets was not being considered enough when financiers were determining the value of a company.

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) found the value of “intangible assets” – the value of a company’s brand based on factors such as perception, trust, awareness and sentiment – grew 10 per cent to £137.5bn between 2009 and 2011. Conversely, the value of tangible assets such as building and machinery fell to £89.8bn. 

BAD WEEK

Nike

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Nike has been fire-fighting this week after fans, The Sun, MPs and even the Prime Minister lined up to slam the price of its replica England shirts. Nike is selling premium versions with all the bells and whistles of the shirts worn by players on the pitch for £90 and the rest for £60.

Critics jumped on the maximum price as an example of how rampant capitalism has ripped the heart out of sport (or something) and cash out of pockets.

The furore has damaged Nike’s brand, with customers less likely to buy its products following news of the price hike, according to YouGov’s BrandIndex. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Ikea launches Changing Rooms-style show

Ikea has embarked on an interior transformation tour across the US with the launch of a new home improvement show. Tips on how to furnish homes using the retailer’s products are dished out by the “Ikea Home Tour Squad” in the ongoing YouTube series. The group will revamp two apartments in four cities – Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York – while also interacting with fans on Twitter and Instagram. The team of five will also be dishing out advice to urbanites at local events in each city. Those hoping to take part in the realty-TV show need to submit a video online explaining how Ikea can help improve their home.

Heineken creates posters with stories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13lf3HKi0Q8

Heineken has partnered with a non-profit organisation for the first time for its “Legends” campaign. The brewer’s Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam-created drive charts how a host of artists and entertainers created a series of one-off posters in support of Reporters Without Borders. The posters can be viewed on a Tumblr page and will be auctioned off later this month (13 April). A video (see above) documents how some of the images were created.

ONE TO WATCH

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Keen to ride the wave of appearing in the “Oscar selfie” that went viral last month, Samsung used President Obama in its latest stunt. It retweeted a selfie taken by brand ambassador, baseball player David Ortiz, with the president to its 5.2 million followers. But Samsung’s hijack of what was a formal visit has not gone down well inside the White House. It released an official statement slamming the stunt, which has since been retweeted more than 40,000 times. It objected to the phone maker’s attempt to use the president’s face for commercial purposes. Ortiz has reportedly denied that Samsung paid him any money for taking the photo.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

@andynairn – founding partner of Lucky Generals ad agency on form with his punning
”Kettle chips are always a bit disappointing. Perhaps I’m using too much water?”

@SSpeake1 – ITV commercial marketing director on Marketing Week’s CMO 3.0 session at Advertising Week Europe
“Stay curious and not arrogant as a CMO @AW_Europe. CMO 3.0 great session with @Marketingweek”

@HoweTo – Google managing director of agency sales, North and Central Europe on Channel 4 CEO David Abraham, who was seemingly not as excited about Chromecast as Google is
“David Abraham disappointing #AWEurope patronising Chromecast. That internet thing will never catch on eh David?”

@marcfmath – Unilever senior director of marketing on his meeting with AKQA’s Ajaz Ahmed
“The most powerful force in the world isn’t technology – it’s imagination thanks @Ajaz – looking forward to reading ‘Limitless’”

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

7 April The Festival of Media Global opens its doors again, this time in Rome. Speakers at the two-day conference include Bonin Bough, VP global media and consumer engagement at Mondelez, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation Jon Matonis and Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan.

10 April Newsworks holds its second Shift Conference. This year’s event will see newspaper editors, brand marketers and agency heads take the stage.

10 April M&S will update on its fourth quarter trading. Look out to see if it manages to end its 10-quarter run of sales declines at its general merchandise business.

Recommended

CocaColaWorldCup-Campaign-2014_304

Coke deflects concerns about World Cup ambush marketing

Lara O'Reilly

Coca-Cola’s European vice president of marketing has dismissed concerns that the brand’s sponsorship of the Brazil World Cup may be threatened by ambush marketing from rivals because he believes the brand is doing the “right thing” by eschewing the use of celebrity stars in its activation campaign to promote the “human” story of what Coke describes as the “World’s Cup”.

Nike England Home kit launch 2014

FA reveals plan to monetise its digital assets

Seb Joseph

Advertising Week Europe 2014: The Football Association (FA) is developing a string of second-screen marketing initiatives in an attempt to adopt a more “brand-centric” approach to fan engagement and ultimately boost commercial revenues.