5 things you need to know this week

Catch up on the biggest news in the marketing industry over the last seven days.

1.     Coca-Cola is moving to a ‘One Brand’ strategy, scrapping individual brand campaigns

Coca-Cola’s new strategy will see the company’s product variants, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life, move into a Coca-Cola master brand rather then being marketed separately.

The move will also see the company evolve its “Open Happiness” strapline to “Choose Happiness” in the UK, in an effort to inform consumers of the product choices available and clearly communicate product differentiation.

Bobby Brittain, GB marketing director for Coca-Cola, told Marketing Week that the company’s effort to build personality behind its various brands has stunted consumers’ understanding of its products.

“We failed to communicate clearly enough the product differentiation. That’s a major wakeup call for us. We need to ensure that we are enabling consumers to make an informed choice,” added Brittain.

2.     Women’s Aid has launched an interactive billboard to highlight domestic abuse, ahead of International Women’s Day

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On Thursday, Women’s Aid posted an interactive billboard in Canary Wharf, which features an image of a bruised woman’s face with the tagline “Look at Me”.

The Creative utilises facial recognition technology, which measures how many people pay attention and look at the image, with a live feed ticker at the bottom of the ad highlighting how many people are actively looking at the billboard.

The more people that view the image, the quicker the victim’s bruises heal and clear up.

The ‘Look at Me’ campaign will also be supported on Channel 4, with a specially introduced 30-second prime time TV spot during the break of the new drama Indian Summers, on 8 March.

3.     Consumers have a lack of appetite for wearables

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As wearable technology increasingly gains attention in the marketing world, research shows that consumers see it as a fad and want more opportunities to try the products.

Research seen exclusively by Marketing Week shows that 61% of UK adults say they would not buy a wearable device.

The survey of 2,000 carried out by One Poll and commissioned by experiential agency Fizz, highlights that 37% of consumers believe they have no need for a wearable product, while a further 15% claim wearables are a “fad”.

Fizz’s Jill Pinner argues that technology brands should develop more coherent marketing messages in order to communicate the benefits of wearable technology to a wider audience.

4.     Brands are facing a talent shortage

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New research has found that brands are facing a talent shortage with few of them able to find marketers with the right level of skills for their business.

The report found that 84% of businesses recruiting for marketing roles say they are affected by talent shortages, with 81% citing a lack of candidates with the right skills.

The dilemma is not reserved to marketers as 72% of employers are affected by talent shortages nationwide. Sixty-five per cent are using counter-offers to retain staff and 24% say candidate shortages have hit staff morale.

5.     Samsung launched its new smartphone and a ‘first of its kind’ TV advert

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Samsung stepped up its marketing battle against rival Apple with the launch of the new Galaxy S6 and S6 edge smartphones along with a TV advert.

The TV spot, released Monday (1 March), used footage from this week’s event at Mobile World Congress to create an imitation ‘breaking news’ segment to inform viewers about the launch.

The move reflects the need for mobile brands to maximise the publicity around product launches in light of intense competition from rivals and consumers’ rising expectations about new technology.

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