P&G, Lush, Diageo: Five things that mattered this week and why
From Lush launching its own tablet till system to P&G cutting its agency roster by 50%, Catch up on all the big marketing news from this week.
Lush introduces roaming tablets
With its bubbles, smells and quirky shop assistants Lush wins multiple awards for its customer experience and now the major retailer is adding its own tablet till system to the mix.
Similar to the Apple store, assistants will roam shops with Google Android tablets providing quicker and easier customer service. Plus, the new system allows Lush to free up space for more stock.
Lush is keen to ensure that this new digital technology aligns with the brand’s ethical purpose in part by using 100 % renewable energy and looking into the ethics behind the data. The retailer is hoping that its approach will be adopted by others and plans to make its till software open-source – allowing ethical businesses, charities and small companies to use the system to create their own till system.
“Our vision is to introduce ethics into the digital market and work on how Lush wants to navigate that digital landscape ethically,” says Jack Constantine chief digital officer at Lush.
READ MORE: Lush on its journey to provide ‘the ultimate customer experience’
P&G is cutting its agency roster in half
Procter & Gamble is cutting its agency roster by a further 50% as it looks to “reinvent” its relationships and use in-house more for media planning, buying and distribution.This plan follows previous cuts by P&G that saw the number of agencies it used go from 6,000 to 2,500 — which it says has saved it $750m in agency and production costs.
CFO Jon Mueller says that P&G is “prepared to pay” for creative talent, but there are other areas that it is not prepared to pay for and it will be exploring new models to fill in the gaps. “We continue to reinvent our agency relationships, consolidating and upgrading P&G’s agency capabilities to deliver the best brand building creativity,” he said, speaking on a results call (23 January).
READ MORE: P&G to cut agency roster by another 50% as it looks to ‘reinvent’ relationships
EasyJet overhaul sees top marketing position replaced by chief data officer role
EasyJet’s new CEO isn’t wasting any time in shaking up the company. Johan Lundgren only took the helm two months ago but has already conducted a management overhaul that sees chief commercial officer Peter Duffy leave the airline after seven years. Lundgren is replacing Duffy’s top marketing position in favour of a new chief data officer role.
Duffy was seen as a possible contender for the CEO role after Carolyn McCall left for ITV but in the end Lundgren was brought in from TUI to run the business. Marketing Week understands that given the changes Duffy agreed with Lundgren that he should leave. Lundgren will take over managing Duffy’s teams in the short term.
READ MORE: EasyJet’s top marketer Peter Duffy departs to make way for chief data officer
Brexit may force two-thirds of EU marketers to leave UK
Many scoffed at warnings of a mass exodus of EU talent after Brexit but those fears may be true for marketing. Two-thirds of EU nationals in the marketing and creative industries are considering leaving the UK because of Brexit, according to a new survey conducted exclusively for Marketing Week’s parent company Centaur.
Some 31% of respondents, which include marketers, creatives and designers, say they will “definitely” or “probably” leave, with a further 31% are unsure whether they will stay or not. Some 63% of respondents agree there “should be a second referendum. Just 38% say they will “definitely” or “probably” stay.
READ MORE: Two-thirds of EU marketers considering leaving the UK because of Brexit
Diageo says investment in new marketing effectiveness is paying off
Diageo is showing that when you invest in marketing it can really pay off. The drinks giant says the savings made from its new marketing effectiveness tool have led to an overall bump in budget.
Catalyst is a new digital interface developed with partners to provide instant data helping Diageo’s marketers make strategic and planning decisions. It launched the tool last year and now marketers within the company use Catalyst in their day-to-day roles to continuously optimise their spend based on the most current data.
The company is seeing an improvement in its rate of return so has invested £60m more in marketing during the first half of its 2018 financial year, compared to the same period last year.
READ MORE: Diageo claims marketing effectiveness drive is making its ‘pounds work harder’
