5 things you need to know this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AmKP9VE2Ms

1. Coca-Cola takes its ‘One Brand’ marketing strategy global with ‘Taste the Feeling’ campaign

Coca-Cola unsurprisingly dominated the marketing headlines this week as it launched its first global marketing campaign in more than a decade and introduced the new ‘Taste the Feeling’ strapline.

The soft drink giant will be taking its ‘One Brand’ strategy, which brings its four product variants – Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero and Coca-Cola Life – under the Coca-Cola master brand instead of being marketed as separate products, global after a successful trial in the UK.

“This is a powerful investment behind all Coca-Cola products, showing how everyone can enjoy the specialness of an ice-cold Coca-Cola, with or without calories, with or without caffeine,” said Marcos de Quinto, chief marketing officer at The Coca-Cola Company.

However, not everybody is convinced by the strategy. “Any declines Coca-Cola is facing are related to sugar concerns, so aligning low sugar options with regular Coke reduces the ability to drink a Diet, Zero or Coke Life guilt-free,” according to Emma Rose, senior strategist at Brand Union.

2. Unilever’s marketers adopt ‘zero-based budgeting’

This week,  Unilever reported better than expected results for 2015, with underlying sales up 4.1% for the full year – although net profits dropped 5% to €5.3bn.

However, its marketers will have to adapt to a new strategy, with Unilever announcing it will now adopt ‘zero-based budgeting’ – meaning that marketers will have to justify spending on all new brand activity rather than budgets being based on the previous year’s spend – as the company expands its efficiency drive.

Unilever is targeting full-year savings of around €1bn from 2018 by reducing overhead as well as brand and marketing investment. However, zero-based budgeting will apply across the business in order to boost operational efficiencies and comes on top of the €1bn supply chain savings Unilever has already made.

Despite the new cost-cutting approach, Unilever has been increasing its marketing spend and it was up again last year by 20 basis points. Its CEO Paul Polman said brand investment has increased for the past seven years, leading to “brand equities getting stronger and stronger driving therefore the top line growth”.

3. Hungryhouse picks a marketer as its new CEO

Hungryhouse has made marketing director Alice Mrongovius its CEO, a decision the former marketer says is based around the ‘ownership mentality’ she already brings to the business.

For the past two years Mrongovius has held the marketing director position for Hungryhouse, where she helped communicate the brand to the UK market by introducing the brand refresh of ‘The easy way to takeaway’. And according to figures supplied by the company, the campaign helped increase brand awareness from 53% to 73% over the last 12 months.

Research from executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles released in October shows that British companies are increasingly turning to marketers to fill the top job of CEO.

More than a fifth of FTSE 100 CEOs, meanwhile, now come from a marketing or sales background.

4. ‘Lack of diversity means marketing no longer a destination industry’

Marketing departments are still “far too lazy” when it comes to recruiting diverse candidates, according to Michael Brunt, circulation CMO at The Economist.

Brunt was speaking at an Oystercatchers event on diversity this week, with the event’s overall consensus that marketing is no longer a ‘destination industry’ for young people and must do more to attract people from diverse backgrounds if it wants to ensure it has the best talent and is reflecting British society

Karen Blackett, chairwoman of MediaCom, says for real change to happen it must be embraced by the people at the top – the CEO and CMO.

“It is not about appointing a diversity officer or a diversity champion, it has to come from the person leading the organisation or else change will not happen. It has to be something that is cultural and part of the DNA of the organisation,” she explained.

According to a recent survey conducted by Marketing Week, 26% of marketers report that there are no people from ethnic minorities in their teams while 27% said there were no lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people and 51% that their departments lacked people with physical or mental disabilities.

5. HomeAway ups the ante with Airbnb with campaign criticising ‘sharing economy’

This week, holiday rentals brand HomeAway launched its biggest ever marketing campaign to highlight the differences between its service and that of Airbnb.

The global campaign introduced the strapline ‘It’s your holiday, why share it’ and aims to promote the benefits of staying in a holiday rental, rather than a hotel or in someone else’s house.

Created by Saatchi & Saatchi London, the campaign highlights the plight of oversharing by highlighting some of the unpleasant side effects of sharing a holiday with strangers. This includes toenail clippings and dirty bars of soap, as well overcrowded buffets and swimming pools.

Potentially throwing shots at rival Airbnb, HomeAway’s CMO Mariano Dima told Marketing Week: “We want to be more assertive about showcasing our differences against other players and clear about our proposition. This is a time of oversharing – people are sharing more than they are supposed to be and some people are sharing actual holidays. It’s your vacation, why share it?”