The Marketing Week

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

Look Good Feel Better

Cancer support charity Look Good Feel Better is celebrating its 20th birthday. To mark the occasion it has launched a campaign, its biggest ever in terms of scope, to help raise awareness of the work it does and encourage more people to sign up as volunteers.

The campaign tells the story of four women – Suzanne, Kreena, Ellie and Maria – who have all suffered from cancer and attended one of the charity’s holding workshops and masterclasses that teach women beauty techniques.

Simple but impactful executions communicating a unique proposition clearly.

GOOD WEEK FOR…Uber

Choosing the subject of a strike by taxi drivers that accuse it of destroying livelihoods might seem like odd choice for a “good week” choice but the cab-hailing app finished the week up, on balance.

London Hackney carriage drivers parked up in the middle of some of London’s busiest streets Wednesday (11 June) to protest about the mobile app, which lets commuters book rides in private hire cars as well calculate the fare by distance and time. Their issue? Uber is using the app as a taximeter, which only licensed black cab drivers are allowed to use.

In a canny move, Uber marked the day by launching a campaign claiming “We’re the car service that’s keeping London moving, proving that choice is a beautiful thing” and a partnership with Metro offering readers £20 off their first ride. Plus every bulletin about “travel chaos” featured mention of Uber and an explanation of its app. Priceless free media.

BAD WEEK FOR….FIFA

Although the start of the football festivities in Brazil yesterday (12 June) is likely to detract from allegations of corruption, as it stands the sport’s governing body has not had the best of weeks.

A Sunday Times report last weekend claimed former Qatari FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hammam bribed fellow officials in order to secure the country’s bid for the 2022 World Cup.

It is, of course, not the first time there has been allegations of corruption but it is, however, the first time that FIFA’s brand partners have spoken up. Sony was the first to break ranks and most others soon followed with expressions of concern and intentions to follow events closely.

Having pesky British journalists on your back can be handled but sponsors who pay millions is another matter.

INTERNATIONALNEWS

Honda makes YouTube bet to accelerate music ties

The Japanese car marque is building a YouTube channel to reach younger Americans with a stream of music content. Honda has tied with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment, Live Nation, Revolt and Vevo to generate the channel’s posts, which will span exclusive online performances, videos and interviews from the nation’s biggest acts. It is the latest strand of Honda’s strategy to place greater emphasis on social as it attempts to move from “monologue to dialogue”.

Facebook to serve ads based on web browsing history

Facebook is to begin serving ads to users based on their browsing history across the web and not just their activity on Facebook. It will also allow users to edit their advertising profiles to control the ads they are served.

It is a shift from Facebook, which at the moment employs behavioural advertising just based on Facebook activity – pages liked and visited, for example. It also introduced “ad preferences” to provide users “with control over the ads that they see”. Users will be able to call up an explanation of how the ad relates to their behaviour within Facebook and why, therefore, they are seeing it. As a result they can change their interest profile. It will be rolled out in the US soon ahead of a likely wider rollout later this year.

ONE TO WATCH

The launch of Coca-Cola Life, a lower calorie variant with a third fewer calories and sugar than Coca-Cola, is either a game-changer or a huge folly, depending on whom you ask.

Occupying the middle ground between Coke Zero/Diet Coke and Coca-Cola as it was originally intended is either a pointless exercise or a stroke of genius that will grow the cola category. Time will tell.

TWEETS OF THE WEEK

@prashant – global social analytics manager at Way to Blue on the ad breaks during ITV1’s coverage of the World Cup’s opening match

“Looks like more unofficial brands got primetime ad spots. #WorldCup #BrazilvsCroatia #GALAXY11 #riskeverything #FutbolNow”

@skillwill head of brand strategy @TwitterUK on office faux pas

“always going to be #awks when your boss tries to show you his pants.”

@adlawu – head of advertising law at Wragge LG on the future of regulation

“I think the regulators are going to have to take early action on #nativeads because the market seems to be heading in the wrong way.”

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

15 June – 21 June: Cannes International Festival of Advertising takes place. Marketing Week will be busy reporting about the biggest news, announcements and trends. See here for what you need to know before the event and see here next week for all the marketing news, views and analysis from the festival.

19 June: Econsultancy Future of Digital Marketing takes place in London.