Twitter, BBC, Asda: Everything that matters this morning

Good morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.

Twitter

Twitter investors sue Elon Musk for creating ‘chaos’

Investors are suing Elon Musk and Twitter over the handling of the Tesla CEO’s $44bn (£34.9bn) takeover of the social media giant.

In a lawsuit, the investors accuse Musk of “wrongful conduct”, claiming his “false statements and market manipulation have created ‘chaos’” at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. There have already been changes at the top, with the head of Twitter’s consumer division Kayvon Beykpour and Bruce Falck, who oversaw revenue, both tweeting on 12 May they were effectively being ousted.

The investors also claim the Tesla boss benefitted financially by delaying the disclosure of his significant stake in Twitter and plans to become a board member at the company.

Furthermore, the lawsuit accuses Musk of posting several “misleading” tweets to his 95.2 million followers.

One of the tweets in question is a post the Tesla boss made on 13 May, stating his Twitter takeover was “temporarily on hold” pending details supporting the calculation fake accounts represent less than 5% of users on the platform. Musk tweeted that his team would conduct a random sample of 100 followers of the official Twitter account, inviting others to repeat the process.

The lawsuit adds that the Tesla boss then “doubled down” on his claims about bots on Twitter four days later, reportedly stating the deal “cannot go forward”.

The investors believe Musk’s actions are having a material impact on their investments. Twitter shares are currently 27% lower than the $54.20 (£43) offer price initially made by Musk.

The lawyer representing the investors told the BBC the lawsuit has been filed in reaction to Musk continuing “to disparage the company he wants to buy for $44bn in an effort to renegotiate the purchase price”.

The news comes just a day after the social media giant was fined $150m (£119m) by the US Federal Trade Commission for “deceptively” using users’ account security data for targeted advertising on its platform.

READ MORE: Twitter investors sue Elon Musk and platform over takeover bid

BBC chases ‘digital first’ future in channel shake-up

The BBC has announced plans to close down its CBBC and BBC Four TV channels as part of a major restructure at the corporation.

The content of these networks will continue to be produced and made available on-demand via BBC iPlayer, while Radio 4 Extra is moving to BBC Sounds.

The changes announced by director-general Tim Davie will mean cuts of £200m a year and the reorganisation of services which prioritise digital platforms. However, CBBC, BBC Four and Radio 4 Extra will remain on linear TV and radio for at least three years while the changes are implemented.

“This is our moment to build a digital-first BBC,” says Davie.

“Something genuinely new, a Reithian organisation for the digital age, a positive force for the UK and the world. Independent, impartial, constantly innovating and serving all. A fresh, new, global digital media organisation which has never been seen before.”

Other changes include the merger of the BBC’s news networks for UK and world audiences into a single news channel. The broadcaster will also reconfigure some of its regional news operations.

The plans could result in up to 1,000 job losses in the publicly funded part of the corporation over the next few years. The BBC is looking to make significant cost savings after its latest licence fee settlement was held at £159 per year for two years.

READ MORE: BBC to move CBBC and BBC Four online

Asda chairman says cost of living support is ‘drop in the ocean’

Lord Stuart Rose, the chairman of Asda, has warned consumers will need further help to deal with the rising cost of living after the government announced a new £15bn support package.

Unveiling the package yesterday (26 May), Chancellor Rishi Sunak said all households would receive a minimum £400 discount on their energy bills, with the poorest households entitled to further support. However, Rose said the measures were a “drop in the ocean” and pointed to the likelihood of inflationary pressures for years to come.

“This is not going to suddenly stop,” Rose told The Guardian. “I can remember the last time inflation was [like this] and it took nearly eight years to get under control. I’m not saying it is going to take eight years, but it is not going to stop in a year.”

Rose confirmed Asda is spending £90m in an attempt to keep prices low for its shoppers, but noted that many consumers are already changing their spending habits in order to make savings.

“There is still going to be continuing pressure and a lot of toughness for people,” he said.

The government’s new package will be funded in part by a 25% windfall tax on oil and gas company profits. Announcing the measures, Sunak said the government had “a collective responsibility to help those who are paying the highest price for the high inflation we face”.

READ MORE: Sunak’s £15bn cost of living package not enough, says Asda boss

Google hit with second competition probe

Google
Source: Shutterstock

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has launched a second investigation into Google’s ad tech practices, following a prior probe into the search giant’s ‘Jedi Blue’ agreement with Meta.

The CMA will examine three elements of the ad tech chain where Google owns the largest service provider, starting with demand-side platforms (DSPs), which allow advertisers and media agencies to buy publishers’ advertising inventory from many sources.

The probe will also investigate ad exchanges, which allow the real time automated sale of publishers’ inventory, as well as publisher ad servers that decide which advert to show based on the bids received from different exchanges and/or direct deals with advertisers.

The CMA is assessing whether Google’s practices in these parts of the ad tech stack may distort competition. This includes the concern Google may have limited the interoperability of its ad exchange with third-party publisher ad servers and/or contractually tied these services together, making it more difficult for rival ad servers to compete.

Furthermore, the regulator is concerned Google may have used its publisher ad server and DSPs to “illegally favour its own ad exchange services”, while excluding services offered by rivals.

Chief executive Andrea Coscelli says the CMA is worried Google may be using its position in ad tech to “favour its own services to the detriment of its rivals”, which has the potential to impact brands and consumers. If true, Coscelli claims such a situation would be bad for the millions of people who enjoy access to free information online every day.

“Weakening competition in this area could reduce the ad revenues of publishers, who may be forced to compromise the quality of their content to cut costs or put their content behind paywalls. It may also be raising costs for advertisers, which are passed on through higher prices for advertised goods and services,” he adds.

“It’s vital that we continue to scrutinise the behaviour of the tech firms, which loom large over our lives, and ensure the best outcomes for people and businesses throughout the UK.”

The latest Google probe follows the CMA’s market study into online platforms and digital advertising, which identified “significant issues” relating to market power within ad tech.

The regulator has previously investigated Google and Meta’s ‘Jedi Blue’ agreement on header bidding services and is monitoring compliance with commitments Google made in its ‘Privacy Sandbox’ proposals to remove third-party cookies and other functionality from the Chrome browser.

Fast fashion retailer Missguided on ‘verge of collapse’

Ecommerce fashion business Missguided is reportedly on the brink of collapse amid claims the company has failed to pay suppliers “millions of pounds”.

The fast fashion label, which was set up in 2010 by former chief executive Nitin Passi with a £50,000 loan from his father, is lining up administrators after being issued with a winding-up petition by creditors, the Telegraph reports.

The newspaper claims police were called to the company’s head office in Manchester after angry suppliers turned up demanding payment, while office employees are said to have stopped answering phone calls from factory owners. The issues have been compounded by changes at the top, with Passi stepping down last month.

Missguided was saved from collapse in December by Alteri Investors, which bought the business for £53m and has since been exploring takeover options with the likes of sportswear retailer JD Sports and Chinese fast fashion company Shein. However, the Telegraph suggests potential bidders are more likely to wait, preferring to buy the business out of bankruptcy.

A spokesperson says Missguided is “working urgently” to address action being taken by creditors in recent days, adding that the business is in the process of identifying a buyer and expects to be able to give an update in the “near future”.

READ MORE: Missguided on brink of collapse

Thursday, 26 May

Twitter

Twitter fined $150m after misusing data for advertising

Twitter has been fined $150m (£119m) by the Federal Trade Commission for “deceptively” using users’ account security data for targeted advertising on its platform.

The social media platform asked users for their phone numbers and email addresses to protect their accounts, then allowed advertisers to use this data to target specific users. This violated a 2011 FTC order that explicitly prohibited the company from misrepresenting its privacy and security practices.

According to FTC chair Lina Khan, over 140 million Twitter users have been affected, “while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue”. Ads account for approximately 90% of Twitter’s revenue at present.

The size of the penalty “reflects the seriousness of the allegations”, adds Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta. New compliance measures are also to be imposed as a result of the settlement, to help prevent further “misleading tactics that threaten users’ privacy”.

The fine comes as Twitter remains in turmoil over Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44bn (£35bn) takeover bid.

Weeks after agreeing a deal, Musk delayed its progression until the platform could prove less than 5% of its users were spam or fake accounts.

However, financial filings made public this week show Musk has secured additional funding to make the purchase and has increased his personal funding from $27.3bn to $33.5bn. This moves the billionaire closer to completing the deal.

Consumers want brands to focus on fair pricing amid inflation

More than half (57%) of consumers want brands to support them through the cost of living crisis by keeping prices “fair”, according to a survey of 2,000 adults by the IPA and Opinium.

Fair prices are desired more acutely by women than men, at 62% compared to 52%. Meanwhile, the number of consumers aged over 55 who want brands to keep prices fair is more than double the number of 18- to 34-year-olds (72% versus 36%).

Consumers are also keen for brands to freeze prices on value range products or services (36%), offer more value for money promotions (33%), reward existing customers’ loyalty (30%) and increase the number of promotions they offer (28%).

At the other end of the scale, consumers are least in favour of brands trying to support them through high inflation rates by trying to entertain them or make them laugh or smile (5%), while just 8% want brands to engage directly with them to develop new solutions and just 10% want brands to offer affordable customer finance.

In terms of consumers not wanting brands to entertain them, this is five times more unwanted among the older generations aged 55 (2%) than by those aged 18 to 34 (10%).

“The cost of living crisis is a serious issue, especially for those at the older end of the spectrum, so it is understandable that consumers aren’t looking to brands to provide the fun but to provide help where it hits hardest – their finances,” says IPA director general Paul Bainsfair.

“With further pressures forecast this won’t be easy for brands to navigate, but as the data shows, those that are fair and transparent with their pricing and value proposition may well fare better in their customers’ eyes going forward.”

Morrisons to put off HFSS multibuy ban

morrisonsMorrisons has confirmed it will be delaying the removal of volume-led promotions on products that are high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS), following the government’s announcement it will delay introducing its new HFSS restrictions until next year.

A spokesperson told The Grocer Morrisons’ approach would “reflect” the government’s decision, which was made in light of the ongoing cost of living crisis.

However, the supermarket said a “significant number” of its promotions are on healthy foods, with 54% of its own branded pre-packaged products considered healthy.

Last week, Tesco and Sainsbury’s committed to pushing forward with the promotions ban – which includes ‘2 for 1’ and ‘buy one get one free’ offers – from October.

Tesco says it is doing this in response to customer feedback that it can be hard to change shopping habits, with 86% of people saying they want to eat more healthily. More than three-quarters (77%) say they are looking for help from supermarkets to do so.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s CMO Mark Given has urged the rest of the industry to also follow the government’s original HFSS promotional timelines.

READ MORE: Morrisons to delay introduction of HFSS multibuy ban to help cost of living

Former Just Eat marketing director joins Dishoom

London restaurant chain Dishoom has hired former Just Eat UK marketing director Lucy Milne as its new marketing and creative director, replacing Sara Stark as she steps down after 11 years.

Milne claims almost 20 years’ experience in marketing across brands including Orange, EE, Just Eat, Emoov and Memrise. She joined Just Eat in 2011 as head of trade marketing, before serving as UK marketing director between 2013 and 2016.

After leaving Just Eat she became CMO of online estate agent Emoov for just over a year, before moving to language learning platform Memrise as CMO in 2019.

Meanwhile, Stark plans to take some time away from work before pursuing a new challenge developing another brand for a values-led business. She has been a member of Dishoom’s leadership team almost from the founding of the business, and built the marketing team from the ground up.

Over the course of her tenure, Dishoom grew from a single restaurant in Covent Garden into a multi-channel restaurant chain. She also oversaw the launch of the Dishoom cookbook and an immersive theatre production.

Dishoom co-founder Shamil Thakrar says Stark has been an “integral” part of the restaurant brand’s growth.

“She has brought so much of herself and her talents to Dishoom. We’re really going to miss her creativity and hard work and we wish her the very best with everything she does,” he says.

Ecommerce brands spend 59% of media budget on short-term sales

Brands which rank ecommerce as highly important and are mature in their approach are spending 59% of their media budgets on driving short-term sales, according to new research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and Dentsu International.

This is compared to just 37% spent on short-term sales by those brands which regard ecommerce as ‘important’ or ‘growing in importance’, and are therefore less advanced in their journey.

The research is based on responses from 41 multinational brands across 13 sectors, representing a total global ad expenditure of more than $50bn (£39.9bn). Some 46% of respondents were in media roles, while 48% were in sales or ecommerce roles.

Seven in 10 (71%) of the firms say ecommerce is either “critical” (51%) or “very important” (20%) right now, with that figure rising to 93% when considering the next two years.

Yet, just one in five respondents are aware of the impact on profitability from their ecommerce activity, and few organisations use profit as a measure of success. Only 34% of respondents identify KPIs that relate to the contribution ecommerce makes to the bottom line as one of their top three metrics.

However, the metrics start to shift from activity and volume to commercial contribution as organisations become more mature in this area.

The research also finds that for many organisations, internal structure is posing a barrier to seizing the opportunity in ecommerce. Most respondents say ecommerce is managed in specific siloed teams, normally within the sales function (37%) and occasionally within the marketing team (16%). Some 28% of respondents add that traditional sales channels are managed independently from a central ecommerce function, with each seeking to maximise its own sales and margins.

“The level of inter-departmental integration needed by multinational business to make ecommerce work can be hard to achieve,” says the WFA’s director of global media Matt Green.

“A key barrier for many in making these changes is that they will have to be made before it’s clear how profitable the ecommerce proposition will be for brands, and when it may payback.”

Wednesday, 25 May

Klarna to cut 10% of its staff ahead of ‘likely recession’

Buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) company Klarna says it will cut 700 of its 7000 staff, in the face of what it says is a ‘likely recession’.

“When we set our business plans for 2022 in the autumn of last year, it was a very different world than the one we are in today,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told staff in a blog post.

The Swedish company attributed the planned job cuts to a combination of rising prices, a change in consumer sentiment and the war in Ukraine. Siemiatkowski said he didn’t think these challenges would be “short-lived”, hence why the company was acting now.

He said 2022 had been “a very tumultuous year” so far. This contrasts with last year, when increased online shopping due to Covid meant more consumers were using the service and Klarna saw its value rise rapidly to $46bn (£37bn) when it raised millions of dollars from investors.

Despite the growth, Klarna has been operating with significant losses. Over its last financial year, these rose to 6.58bn Swedish krona (£540m) from 1.62bn Swedish krona (£131.3m).

In its annual report the company said this was “entirely explained by Klarna’s growth, expansion to new markets and massive inflow of new customers”.

Klarna has grown rapidly in recent years and is now used by 30% of people in their 20s in the UK. However, the BNPL sector is now facing increased scrutiny, with calls for more regulation in the area. From next month, shoppers’ habits on Klarna will appear in credit checks by banks and credit agencies.

READ MORE: Klarna to cut 10% of staff as it warns of recession

KLM sued over ‘greenwashing’ ads

Dutch airline KLM has been sued by an environmental group over what the activists say are “misleading” claims made in its adverts.

The claims in the lawsuit centre around KLM’s ‘Fly Responsibly’ campaign, which the group says misleadingly presents the airline as “creating a more sustainable future” and on track to reduce its emissions to net zero by 2050.

The action has been taken by Netherlands based campaigners Fossielvrij NL, supported by Reclame Fossielvrij and environmental lawyers from ClientEarth. They argue that the campaign, as well as the airline’s “compensation” scheme, violates European consumer law as they give a false impression over the sustainability of its flights and plans to address its climate harm.

The group of activists notified KLM of the action at the company’s annual general meeting yesterday (24 May).

The “compensation” scheme allows consumers to buy a carbon offset product ‘CO2ZERO’, which the airline said would reduce their environmental impact by paying towards reforestation projects or KLM’s purchase of biofuels.

“Flight emissions cannot be ‘compensated’ if customers just pay extra to plant trees or give money towards the cost of false solutions like what the industry calls ‘sustainable aviation fuels’. With these messages KLM continues to throw sand in our eyes,” says Fossielvrij NL campaigner Hiske Arts.

Energy price cap set to rise by £800 in October, says Ofgem

The energy price cap, which limits how much companies can charge consumers, is set to rise by over £800 in October, the CEO of the UK’s energy regulator Ofgem has warned.

Jonathan Brearley said that conditions in the global gas market mean the price cap will be pushed up to be “in the region of £2,800” a year. The current price cap, which applies until 31 September, is £1,971. The current price cap had previously been increased by £693, which represented a 54% rise from the previous cap six months earlier.

Brearley told a parliamentary committee that gas prices have at times been at ten times their normal price. He described the current situation as “genuinely a once-in-a-generation event not seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s”.

He also warned that the number of people in fuel poverty, which is defined as having to spend more than 10% of discretionary income on energy, may double to 12 million.

Looking beyond the October increase, he said there are two possible “extreme versions of events” that the energy industry is managing between.

“One where the price falls back down to where it was before – for example if we did see peace in Ukraine – and one where prices could go even further if we were to see, for example, a disruptive interruption of gas from Russia,” Brearley said.

The UK gets less than 5% of its gas from Russia, but the rest of Europe gets around 40% of its natural gas from the company, meaning a sudden interruption to supply would likely lead to huge disruption, which would have the knock-on effect of prices rising in global markets as demand in Europe increased.

280 complaints against Bier Company’s April Fool’s Day promotion upheld

Source: Shutterstock

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a “misleading” April Fool’s Day promotion by beer subscription brand Bier Company after it received 280 complaints about the prank.

On 1 April, customers of the Bier Company were tricked into believing they had won the company’s longstanding monthly competition to win a ‘black card’, which gives them a free lifetime subscription to the ‘Bier Club’.

They were informed via email that they could redeem their prize by using the code ‘SLOOFLIRPA’ when signing up for a subscription to the Bier Club.

However, by midday of 1 April those who had signed up for the deal were informed via email that they had been subjected to an April Fool’s Day prank. They had actually signed up to receive only one month’s free membership to the club and one box of eight free beers, before being charged £22.95 a month.

“Congratulations to everyone that used the SLOOFLIRPA code – you may have cunningly deduced that SLOOFLIRPA = APRILFOOLS backwards,” the email to those who signed up read.

Although customers were provided with an email address through which they could cancel their subscription, they would have to forfeit their free beers as a result. If customers chose to keep their subscription until their free box arrived, they would only be able to cancel future payments five days following the delivery.

The ASA found that this prank was in breach of the CAP code, which says “promoters must not falsely claim or imply that the consumer had already won, would win or would on doing a particular act win a prize (or other equivalent benefit), if the consumer incurred a cost to claim the prize, or the prize did not exist”.

Bier Company shared screenshots of the check-out page for those who used the SLOOFLIRPA code with the ASA. The business said it believed the screenshots showed consumers were clearly informed, prior to confirming the order, that they were agreeing to a monthly subscription service, and it did not state they had won free beer for life. It also noted that consumers had to tick a box stating they understood the nature of the transaction before completing the order.

The ASA noted these comments but said by the point of check-out consumers would already have been misled by the ads into believing they had won a prize when that prize did not exist, something which is prohibited by the CAP code. It told Bier Company to ensure future promotions or ads did not mislead customers.

TfL launches campaign to celebrate opening of the Elizabeth line

After over three years of delay, Crossrail, known as the Elizabeth line, opened yesterday (24 May) alongside a Transport for London (TfL) campaign to celebrate the launch of the new service, which it says is “bringing more of London together”.

TfL worked with VCCP London and Wavemaker to create the integrated campaign celebrating the new line, which is expected to increase London’s rail capacity by 10%.

The campaign is led by a 40 second hero film, which features recognisable TfL infrastructure as well as the new purple Elizabeth line signage. The film also features a specially commissioned arrangement of the classical waltz ‘Blue Danube’ by Chineke! Orchestra.

The film highlights features of the line like step-free access, as well as faster journey times and more space for passengers.

As well as the film, TfL is employing out-of-home activations across London, including adapting the famous tube roundel to highlight the launch of the line. Some of London’s buses have also been taken over with the campaign.

“We look forward to welcoming more and more passengers onboard the Elizabeth line in the coming weeks, and it really is a true honour to be a part of such an important launch for our city, bringing more of London together,” says Miranda Leedham, head of customer marketing and behaviour change at TfL.

Tuesday, 24 May

Starbucks to remove all ‘brand presence’ from Russia

Starbucks has become the latest Western brand to completely withdraw from Russia in light of its attack on Ukraine.

The coffee chain suspended trading in March but has now made the decision to “exit and no longer have a brand presence in the market”.

Starbucks, which first entered Russia in 2007, has 130 coffee shops in the region that are owned and operated by a licensee. The brand has said it will continue to pay the nearly 2,000 staff working at these outlets for six months and provide assistance to “transition to new opportunities outside of Starbucks”.

It has not yet been confirmed whether these stores, which are owned by Kuwait-based Alshaya Group, will be sold or reopened under a new brand.

Starbucks’ exit follows that of Renault and McDonald’s, which last week confirmed it was selling its 850 restaurants to one of its licensees.

READ MORE: Starbucks pulls out of Russia after 15 years

Superdrug freezes more prices to combat rising cost of living

Superdrug has added 30 products to its Price Freeze Promise after its research reveals 80% of its customers are having to switch to cheaper brands.

The health and beauty retailer has now committed to holding the price of 130 own brand essentials across personal care, beauty and healthcare for at least a year.

At the same time, Superdrug is launching a campaign in partnership with poverty campaigner Jack Monroe to help customers navigate the cost of living crisis.

Through the ‘Shop Smart’ campaign the retailer aims to offer customers tips to help keep costs down, all the more important it says as hygiene poverty is rising at an “alarming rate”.

Just like energy costs and food bills, the price of toiletries and personal care essentials are “rising steeply”, says Monroe, leaving many unable to afford things like soap, tampons, deodorant, shampoo and toothpaste.

“It’s embarrassing to not be able to afford things that others might take for granted… [and it’s] fast becoming a hidden impact of the cost of living crisis,” she adds.

Superdrug is also launching a series of initiatives for employees to help them tackle price rises. Employees will receive a minimum of 30% off own brand items and 10% off branded goods, as well as other discounts.

It is also moving fuel reimbursement above the HMRC advisory rate and the taxable element will be covered, to better support those who travel for work. Superdrug will be offering teams webinars in areas such as pensions, budgeting and financial wellbeing too.

Zuckerberg sued over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Facebook Meta ZuckerbergMeta founder Mark Zuckerberg is being personally sued in the US over his alleged involvement in allowing political consultancy Cambridge Analytica gather the personal data of millions of US voters in the run up to the 2016 election.

The suit has been filed by Washington DC’s attorney general Karl Racine, who alleges Zuckerberg had direct involvement in the policies that allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest people’s personal data without their knowledge.

The London-based firm was hired by Donald Trump to assist him with his political campaign against Hillary Clinton.

Racine suggests the scandal was the result of Zuckerberg wanting to open up Facebook to third-party developers and says the lawsuit should “send a message” to corporate leaders, including CEOs, that they will be “held accountable for their actions”.

“This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct,” he adds.

Meta declined to comment, according to the Guardian.

This suit specifically relates to the fact data of millions of Americans was collected in an attempt to help Trump swing the election in 2016, but the scandal has also been linked to Brexit in the UK.

In 2018, Facebook was fined £500,000 by the UK’s data protection watchdog over its role in the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, the highest fine allowed as the offence pre-dated GDPR.

The Information Commissioners Office said Facebook had “failed” to keep personal information secure by not checking on apps and developers using its platform. It added that Facebook processed personal information “unfairly” by allowing developers to access personal information without clear and informed consent and in cases where users had not downloaded an app but were “simply ‘friends’” with people who had.

READ MORE: Zuckerberg sued by DC attorney general over Cambridge Analytica data scandal

Women’s Euro 2022 tournament to generate £54m for England

The UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 tournament is set to deliver £54m in economic activity to the nine English host cities, making it the biggest women’s sport event in history.

The tournament, which kicks off this summer, is expected to attract 96,000 international attendees from 95 territories, according to the pre-tournament impact report by EY.

It suggests ticket sales are on track to double the attendance of the Women’s Euro 2017 tournament in the Netherlands, which welcomed just over 240,000 fans.

Meanwhile, the international broadcast audience could be more than 250 million across more than 195 territories.

It is hoped the event, which will take place across 10 stadiums in Brighton & Hove, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Rotherham, Sheffield, Southampton, Trafford and Wigan & Leigh, will “leave a tangible legacy to grow the women’s game”.

Baroness Sue Campbell, Euro 2022 board member and director of women’s football at The FA, says: “With less than 50 days to go until the tournament gets underway, this report highlights what we can achieve with a continued focus on capitalising on the opportunities offered by UEFA Women’s Euro England 2022 and importantly how we can measure our success.”

UEFA’s chief of women’s football Nadine Kessler adds: “This pre-tournament report proves that the impact won’t stop with the final whistle at Wembley. UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 has a unique chance to be a catalyst for change locally, nationally, across Europe and beyond.

“The tournament and our collective ambition will positively impact local economies and tourism, people and communities and the global visibility of the women’s game, while providing valuable inspiration for the future.”

Marketing Week spoke to PepsiCo about its sponsorship of the Women’s Champions League final, which took place at the weekend, and why brands’ involvement in driving equality in football must not be tokenistic.

Brits cut back on clothes and eating out to save money

Around two-fifths of people in the UK have been forced to spend less or stop buying clothes and meals out, according to new data showing the impact of the cost of living crisis.

Some 44% have had to reduce or stop buying clothes, the research from YouGov shows, with 29% of this group reducing the frequency with which they buy, 10% switching to a cheaper brand and 8% refraining from buying altogether.

When it comes to eating out, 39% have cut back, while 38% are buying fewer takeaways or trading down and 39% have reduced spend or stopped buying non-essential food items.

Nearly a third of Brits have also had to cut back or stop buying household essentials like toilet roll and cleaning products (29%) and everyday food items (31%). One in five within these groups have switched to a cheaper alternative.

Monday, 23 May

Source: Shutterstock

40% of customers face fuel poverty, warns E.ON boss

E.ON’s UK CEO Michael Lewis says the rise in “unprecedented” energy prices will put 40% of its customers into fuel poverty by October 2022.

Amid calls for the government to levy a windfall tax on oil and gas firms, Lewis says around one in eight of E.ON’s customers are already struggling to pay bills.

“We do need more intervention in October and it has to be very substantial,” he said yesterday (22 May) appearing on the BBC’s Sunday Programme.

He adds that a fifth of E.ON’s customers are already in “fuel poverty”. If a household has to spend 10% or more of disposable income paying for energy, it is considered to be in fuel poverty.

Lewis didn’t comment on whether the government should impose a windfall tax on the companies making money from the rise in crude oil and wholesale gas prices, but says it’s important the government taxes “those with the broadest shoulders”.

His comments come as Shell reported a record £7bn profit for the first three months of 2022, while BP made £5bn, its highest for 10 years.

READ MORE: E.On UK boss warns 40% of customers face fuel poverty

The RHS launches new repositioning with ‘We Speak Plant’ campaign

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) is launching a new campaign, ‘We Speak Plant’, as it aims to highlight the organisation’s expertise when it comes to gardening.

Intending to shift the dial on how the RHS markets itself, the campaign’s animated film shows plants discussing the “problems they encounter at the hands of gardeners” with audiences being encouraged to ‘speak plant’.

It also sees the RHS present a new visual identity, with the charity changing how it communicates its five public gardens, its gardening schemes and “sustainable gardening science”.

Launching across video on demand, out-of-home and social media, the campaign by Wunderman Thompson will run until July.

“The RHS wants to inspire, support and help more people to get joy from gardening. We needed something that would push us out of our comfort zone to get the RHS and all our great work noticed,” says RHS President Keith Weed. 

“This campaign breaks away from the norms in the sector and shows that the RHS’ heaps of expert knowledge and advice is accessible and available to everybody.”

KP launches new KP Nuts multi-media campaign

Source: KP Snacks

KP Snacks is launching a new campaign for flagship brand, KP Nuts, continuing the ‘KPow!’ branding it launched last year.

The campaign, which includes OOH, buses, online, video and social and will run until July, is designed to get customers to eat KP Nuts at “new occasion”, during the day.

Using lines such as “Hit the road snack”, “Al Fresco, when you’re not Al Desko” and “Sliding into your AMs and PMs like”, KP is using a “contextual” campaign strategy, with Starcom, to try to reinforce consumers’ online behaviours with the campaign’s OOH offering.

“We’re now bringing the nation’s favourite peanuts to you in the handiest packs, that hit the spot wherever you are, whether that’s at home or on the go,” says KP Snacks marketing controller Ilan Arkin.

He adds that the new campaign, in collaboration with St Luke’s, will help the brand to drive awareness of its new packaging format while trying to increase KP’s relevance when it comes to daytime snack purchases.

YouTube removes 9,000 channels relating to Russia-Ukraine war

YouTube has removed more than 70,000 videos and 9,000 channels for violating content guidelines in relation to the war in Ukraine, the Guardian reveals.

Since February, the streaming service has taken down channels including pro-Kremlin journalist Vladimir Solovyov, and videos include those referring to the conflict as a “liberation mission”.

YouTube has also temporarily suspended channels associate with Russia’s Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs for using the “liberation mission” rhetoric.

“We have a major violent events policy and that applies to things like denial of major violent events: everything from the Holocaust to Sandy Hook. And of course, what’s happening in Ukraine is a major violent event,” YouTube chief product officer Neal Mohan tells the Guardian.

He adds that YouTube has used this policy to take “unprecedented” action.

“The first and probably most paramount responsibility is making sure that people who are looking for information about this event can get accurate, high-quality, credible information on YouTube,” he adds, saying that the consumption of “authoritative” channels on the platform has grown significantly.

And while he says he has no “specific” figures for a breakdown of the removed content, he says “you can imagine a lot of it being the narratives that are coming from Russian government, or Russian actors on behalf of the Russian government”.

Russia has around 90 million users in Russia, however advertising is no longer allowed on the platform there.

READ MORE: YouTube removes more than 9,000 channels relating to Ukraine war

Bestinvest relaunches with £4m campaign

Online investment platform Bestinvest, part of Tilney Smith & Williamson, is launching its ‘You Work Hard for Your Money, Bestinvest It’ campaign.

The campaign, costing £4m, in collaboration with VCCP Media and Harbour Collective, aims to relaunch and reposition the brand with targets of doubling brand awareness within five years while trying to “cut through the noise” of the sector.

The 30-second film, which shows people working “for their money”, will appear on TV and in cinemas, with other campaign activity including radio executions and digital out-of-home in targeted locations.

“To convince people to invest their hard-earned money through Bestinvest, we needed to develop a standout creative platform to cut through the noise,” says Tilney Smith & Williamson CMO, Simonetta Rigo.

To stand out from the “sea of same” that is the world of financial services marketing, the brand says it stayed as far away from the clichés and stereotypes of the sector, adds Harbour Collective creative partner Grant Parker.

Recommended