Five things you need to know this week

1. Instagram’s mobile ad revenue will overtake Google and Twitter

Instagram is set to hit $2.81bn in mobile ad revenue globally by 2017 according to an eMarketer forecast, surpassing the likes of Google and Twitter in the US in terms of mobile display.

The mobile-only forecast shows that Instagram will make up 5% of Facebook’s global mobile ad revenue this year ($595m), increasing to 14% in 2017.

While the platform’s advertising capability is also available in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the UK, the US will account for 92% of Instagram’s total mobile ad revenue this year, a number that is set to drop to 85% by 2017.

2. Innocent wants to take coconut water mainstream

Innocent is launching a national campaign in support of its newly launched range of 100% coconut water as it looks to catch up with the US and make the health trend mainstream in the UK.

The campaign will be promoted through outdoor, PR and sampling activity as well as a “heavyweight” digital campaign that includes banner ads, YouTube pre-roll and social media activation.

The campaign is a move to “drive category trial” according to Helen Pomphrey, Innocent’s UK marketing director, who said that sampling is crucial for the brand, which tastes “slightly different to the other ones on the market”.

She added that the category has “huge potential”, something the brand is hoping to tap into by driving penetration.

“Penetration of coconut water in the UK is relatively low, around 4%,” she said. “In the US it’s been established for a few more years and it’s close to 10%.

“There’s headroom to bring people into the category. It tends to have quite a city focus, but there’s an opportunity for it to go mainstream.”

3. Superdrug’s marketing director says vloggers like Zoella are ‘not a fad’ 

Social media influencers and vloggers are “not a fad” and will remain an integral part of Superdrug’s future marketing efforts, according to its marketing director Matt Walburn.

Last September, the health and beauty retailer aligned itself with perhaps the biggest vlogger of them all, Zoella, with her exclusive make-up range subsequently breaking Superdrug’s internal sales records.

And Walburn says the tie-up with the YouTube star has had a transformative impact.

Speaking at an event previewing Superdrug’s Christmas range, Walburn told Marketing Week: “I think what we’ve done with Zoella has shown the brand at its very best as our competitors did not react to the movement as quickly as we did.

“Identifying the vlogger trend and putting it into product form has helped to significantly boost both online and in-store sales. I think the work we’ve done with Zoella has transformed the business in a way. Vloggers will be an important part of our marketing mix for the future, I’m certain of that.”

4. P&G has a new CEO with a whole range of challenges facing him

Procter & Gamble is to get a new CEO with David Taylor, its group president of global beauty, grooming and health care, to succeed A.G. Lafley as president and chief executive from 1 November.

Taylor joined the FMCG giant back in 1980 and has helped to build core brands in areas such as home care and family care – two areas he has led to consistent double-digit profit growth, according to P&G.

The outgoing CEO says Taylor will lead P&G during the “most comprehensive transformation” in its history.

Having already served in various senior roles across the business, Taylor appears to be in a good position to take the reigns on P&G. However, with ongoing issues around its product ranges and “questionable marketing”, his tenure won’t be without its challenges.

P&G has gone through a well publicised streamlining of its brands over the last year, with almost 100 brands being divested in the process. In the most recent deal, a good chunk of its comestics brands are being sold to Coty.

Taylor will need to prove that the new streamlined approach can deliver for P&G’s shareholders.

5. Heineken is pushing £7m into its biggest ever product launch for Strongbow Cloudy Apple

Heineken is investing £7m into the launch of Strongbow Cloudy Apple, the biggest launch in the alcohol category this year and the largest new product launch Heineken UK has ever done.

The campaign, which kicks off this week, will involve a “huge” communications plan around the new variant which the company calls a “premium, Strongbow take on cloudy cider” that is an effort to “keep consumers with the brand for longer”.

Emma Sherwood-Smith, Heineken UK’s cider director, told Marketing Week: “Strongbow was the first mainstream cider brand and for many years enjoyed a huge share of the marketplace, but over recent years increased competitiveness across both draught and packaged cider has been tough.”

She said that given the size of the brand consumers often question its quality compared to more “niche brands”, something it has tried to address for the first time this year.

“There’s a powerful quality story behind the brand,” she said. ”We use one billion apples per year grown in our Hereford orchard and we’re trying to communicate that story to consumers for the first time to keep us relevant.”