Cycling’s popularity in the UK has reach record heights on the back end of the London 2012 Olympics and recent success for British cyclists, but interest in televised and live events for the sport hasn’t necessarily matched these levels. British Cycling is looking to change this by creating social buzz around its major live and broadcast events in an effort to drive ticket sales and awareness.
Innocent has drafted in Bacardi’s Tim Clarke as group marketing director and Coca-Cola Enterprise’s marketing boss Nick Canney as managing director of its UK business in a senior management shake-up designed to lead “ambitious brand and innovation plans” in 2015.
Despite declining sales, Heineken UK is committed to being a “serial” product innovator as it looks to grow the beer and cider category and maintain its premium pricing.
Skyscanner is looking to online video and social as the way to build awareness and ultimately achieve its objective of becoming the leading brand in the category.
McDonald’s is looking to the menu innovations in its relatively successful UK market to help revive flagging sales globally.
Red Bull has appointed a new UK marketing director after confirming that Huib van Bockel has left the company to start his own consulting agency.
Christian Woolfenden, global marketing director for Paddy Power since 2011, has been promoted to become the bookmaker’s UK and Ireland managing director of retail. He will have oversight of day-to-day operation management of Paddy Power’s on and offline channels and strategic direction.
Brands such as McDonald’s, Bulmers and 7up are among the many tapping into the rise of knitting in the UK with campaigns focused on crocheted creations. However, these are not just efforts to target the festive season, but also the increasing popularity of “urban knitting” and “yarn bombing”, graffiti-style street art using wool.
Diageo’s vodka brand, Smirnoff, has not planned an elaborate consumer campaign to celebrate its 150th anniversary. It is, however, looking back on its lengthy history to learn how it might create consistency in future marketing plans.
Despite attracting more than 700 complaints, Sainsbury’s World War One themed video topped the list of most watched ads on YouTube in November, beating John Lewis’s Monty the Penguin into second place despite the social media hype surrounding the latter.
Welcome to The Marketing Week, your guide to the good, the bad and the ugly in the marketing industry over the last seven days.
Pernod Ricard is tapping into its history with Andy Warhol through a digitally focused travel retail campaign in an attempt to drive volume of its special edition bottle.
Public health campaigners have long criticised the time and effort alcohol companies put into responsible drinking campaigns compared to the high amount of energy and spend pushed into product advertising.
Tourism body VisitBritain is set to launch its largest marketing effort in China as it looks to not only boost tourism from the world’s fastest growing economy, but also to encourage visitors that start and finish their holidays in London to explore other parts of Britain.
Premier Foods is set to launch a new campaign for Bisto in the hope of turning it into a “mega brand”, the latest of its core brands to see a new communications strategy and one of several planned changes to the way it approaches marketing as the company looks to revive flagging sales across key categories.