John Lewis, Disney & Morrisons: 5 things that mattered this week and why

Catch up on all the important marketing news from the week including Disney’s bid for digital ad dollars and John Lewis’s focus on social media.

Disney courts digital ad dollars

Disney has always had a focus on monetising new films and TV series, however, the media giant is turning its efforts to monetising its digital content, allowing brands to integrate into its content “more comprehensively” than in the past.

Disney’s aim is to have more brands advertising around the digital content it produces.

Robbie Douek, VP of digital partnerships of Disney EMEA, tells Marketing Week: “This is for digital formants only, and we’re enabling ourselves to monetise content that hasn’t been monetised in the past. We have so many different audiences, from families, to Disney fans, Star Wars to Marvel, we have so much content so there are lots of partnership opportunities.”

This move is another step forward for the brand. Earlier this year, Disney unveiled its plans to remove all Disney content from Netflix to make way for its own streaming device. This latest development allows the company to make the most out of its intellectual property (IP) and create a more unified platform for brands.

Douek said: “Like in the ad tech scene, if you own the pipes and own the content then you’re in a great place. That’s why Disney is in a great place, because of our IP. We can build better brand partnership because of it, rather than companies using other people’s IP or resenting it. But people, no matter what age, also have a real emotional attachment to Disney – that is our USP.”

READ MORE: Disney shifts focus to put digital content at the heart of its brand partnerships

Cancer Research UK’s approach to GDPR

As the deadline when the General Data Protection Regulations come into force quickly approaches, brands are looking at how they ensure they are compliant. Over at Cancer Research UK, they’ve integrated processes across the business to ensure they are handling data correctly and won’t fall foul of the  new laws.

They have a working group that most departments in the business, including marketing, are involved in. And are carrying out audits and educating and training staff on the changes and their importance.

“Essentially it is finding out what we need to know, making the changes and then making sure people are properly trained on it. The GDPR message is being very clearly communicated from the senior team to everyone here so that everyone is on board and when it comes to making time for doing this, it is a priority,” says Graham White, CRUK’s director of individual giving.

“I can’t tell you that everything is hunky-dory yet but I can tell you that the processes we have in place will get us there.”

READ MORE: How Cancer Research UK is preparing for GDPR

John Lewis hopes to differentiate through focus on social media

John Lewis is focusing its attention on using social media to enhance users’ shopping experience.

As the first UK retailer to test 360-video advertising on Facebook, the retail giant is now introducing more innovative online features for consumers.

The brand is set to trial shoppable Facebook ads as part of its Autumn campaign, enabling customers to view products in a real life house setting before purchasing them. If the trial is a success, the technology has the “potential” to cover other seasons including Christmas, according to Eva Bojitos, John Lewis’s senior manager for social marketing.

She tells Marketing Week: “Any technology that can immerse our customers into the world of John Lewis is a great thing. This 360 format could work in any environment from fashion to home.

“It is such a new format, it’s hard to calculate a ROI or bench mark, but I imagine the key here will be a mix of engagement and click through to sales.”

READ MORE: John Lewis puts focus on social media with 360 ad trial and new hire

Brands still using outdated stereotypes in advertising, and consumers don’t like it

Many brands are still failing to adequately portray gender equality within TV advertising, much to the dismay of men and women.

Havas Creative’s latest Prosumer Study, ‘The Future Is FeMale’, seeks to analyse the progression of gender equality. More than 12,000 men and women in 32 countries were surveyed.

Results showed that in the UK, 41.5% of women surveyed said they begrudge the way women are represented in advertising, compared to 31.7% feeling the same about the portrayal of men. Only 27% of people expressed resentment of the way men are portrayed in ads.

The results come hot on the heels of the Advertising Standards Authority’s crackdown on gender stereotyping in ads and amid calls from major brands including Unilever and Procter & Gamble to stop stereotyping. Seems the message isn’t quite hitting home yet.

READ MORE: Stereotypical TV ads are ‘causing resentment’ among consumers

Morrisons on its colleague-led approach to marketing

Morrisons is thriving after posting seven consecutive quarters of growth. Its continuous efforts to prioritise basic brand values – such as low prices and fresh food made on site – has proved advantageous, leading CEO David Potts to confidently claim he expects to make £1bn of wholesale supply sales “in due course.”

Since appointing Potts in 2015, advertising has placed an importance on its colleagues, who often get overlooked by other brands within advertising. Morrisons understand that its staff are crucial to the supermarket’s success.

The latest advertisement features both shoppers and Morrisons’ staff dancing to Elvis Preley’s Way Down, to celebrate the brand’s price-cutting strategy.

Group customer and marketing director at Morrisons, Andy Atkinson, says: “About two and a half years ago, the big customer learning was that they wanted us to celebrate our colleagues and the fact they were shopkeepers. Subsequently, they have been in all our ads since as they represent our brand so brilliantly. This turnaround is colleague-led so they provide the boost and inspiration for all the marketing I am creating.”

He explains: “We are committed to becoming more competitive and our route to do that is through crunching prices. We are doing well right now because we are selling more food, so that brand commitment to Price Crunch will continue.”

READ MORE: Morrisons on how staff are inspiring both its marketing and turnaround

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