Pernod Ricard potato vodka brand Luksusowa has launched a new website offering 'The Man's Guide To Maliness'.
The site was created by AnalogFolk and aimed to target the brand's male market and counter a "market increasingly dominated by image-obsessed bottle design and advertising".
The illustrations were created by Mr Bingo.
The Advertising Association has told The Drum it is “pleased to see the Government recognising our positive efforts” following the release of a progress report on the Recommendations of the Independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood by Reg Bailey.
Originally published in June 2011, Letting Children Be Children made 13 recommendations and called on businesses and broadcasters to play their part across four themes: sexualised images; clothing, products and services for children; children as consumers; and making parent's voices heard.
The progress report published this week shows positive feedback for the ad industry and ASA, particularly in Recommendations two, seven and 10.
Glen Christie, communications manager for the Advertising Association, commented: “The Bailey Review encouraged advertising to consider how it engages with children, and we’re pleased to see Government recognising our positive efforts. Responsible advertising, especially to kids, will always be top of the agenda – ensuring that they are well protected, and still free to make the most of the commercial world.”
The progress report praised the Advertising Association, Outdoor Media Centre, ISBA (the Voice of British Advertisers), IPA and Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) for their work in reducing the amount of on-street advertising containing sexualised imagery in locations where children are likely to see it (Recommendation two).
The ASA was also praised for “actively engaging with parents and young people to understand, and respond to, their views and concerns on advertising” as part of Recommendation seven, to ensure that the regulation of advertising reflects parents’ and children’s views more closely. The Advertising Association was also mentioned positively for its work with parenting groups, parents and young people “to ensure public attitudes are understood and reflected in advertising practice.”
In terms of Recommendation 10, raising parental awareness of marketing and advertising techniques, the progress report states: “We are pleased to see both the advertising industry and regulator taking their roles seriously. We expect to see both parties developing clear plans for raising the awareness of parents of the resources now available to them in this field.”
So far in response to this recommendation the Advertising Association, ISBA and IAB have commissioned Media Smart to produce a ‘parent pack’ to specifically raise parents’ awareness and knowledge of advertising techniques.
The progress report also indicated satisfaction with how advergames are regulated.
Today's jobs round-up brings roles for a TV commercial produce, a PR account manager, a digital media assistant, a partnership and digital manager and a head of 3D.
The Mob Film Company is looking for a TV commercial producer for a role in its Manchester team. The company is seeking an individual with a proven track record of handling extensive pre-production through to delivery for a wide variety of clients and advertising agencies. Skills in budgeting, negotiating, account handling and pitching are required. The closing date for applications is 20 June.
A consumer PR account manager position is available with de Winter Marketing in Chester. Responsibilities will include managing a portfolio of regional and national clients and applicants should have previous consumer client experiences alongside a grip on issues management, new business and staff development. Candidates will ideally have extensive agency experience.
The National Trust for Scotland is seeking a digital media assistant, offering a salary between £17,200 and £18,105. Candidates should have strong copywriting and editing skills and SEO knowledge. Previous experience with content management systems and publishing is required for the role, which will involve publishing, moderating and editing content on The Trust's digital channels. Applications should be submitted by 7 June.
A partnership and digital manager is required at Channel 4's expanding Manchester team. Applicants should have a thorough knowledge of digital, interactive and sponsorship deals, including the commercial process, and will be responsible for leading sales of digital and non-spot linear revenues. The broadcaster is looking for a creative thinker with the drive to offer fresh and innovative solutions. The closing date for applications is 27 May.
Blue Skies Marketing Recruitment is looking for a head of 3D for an integrated/experiential agency in the Midlands. Offering a salary of £40,000-£50,000, candidates should have Vectorworks and Cinema 4D experience; be educated to degree level in architecture, retail or exhibition design; and have demonstrable experience creating groundbreaking visuals for events, exhibitions or shows. The closing date for applications is 20 June.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) has today announced that Stephen Waddington, European digital and social media director at Ketchum, as President elect.
Waddington, who will take up his role next year, gained 68 per cent of the vote.
He said: “The CIPR, as the professional body representing public relations in the UK and further afield, stands at a moment in time. We have a real opportunity to assert our value as a management discipline that enables organisations to engage in a two-way conversation, and ultimately a relationship, with audiences both internal and external. We also have the opportunity to improve the reputation of our industry via professional development.
“Huge thanks to Dr Jon White for a contest worthy of the opportunity that our profession faces, and to everyone that got behind my campaign. The hard work starts now.”
Waddington currently serves on the CIPR executive board and is chair of the institute’s policy and campaigns committee.
Peter Hook, a communications manager with Accor Hotels in Asia and the Pacific, has been caught posting a series of boastful reviews on TripAdvisor for his own hotel group, while leaving critical reviews for a number of the company’s competitors, following the introduction of the TripAdvisor Facebook app.
Where on the TripAdvisor website a reviewer is only identified only by their username, the new Facebook app displays the reviewer’s real name as well their photograph and location.
As such, online reputation management firm Kwikche quickly discovered that Tavare, a user who has anonymously contributed 106 reviews including several five-star reviews for Accor hotels, was actually Peter Hook from Sydney.
Hook said of Accor Hotel’s Sea Temple Surfers Paradise that he “took advantage of a good price and really loved it from start to finish” and at the Sofitel Phnom Penh Phokeethra he “didn't know much about the hotel scene so booked a brand I knew well. It turned out to be a good choice.”
Meanwhile he said that the “very ordinary bar food, high prices and ordinary service” of rival hotel the Park Hyatt Sydney “didn't match the music or the light show”. Similarly, the InterContinental Adelaide was “stuck in a time warp and rather expensive”.
Defending his reviews, Hook told Telegraph Travel: “Every review I have written has resulted from personally experiencing the product.
“There have been 5-star reviews of competitors – most recently Four Seasons’ excellent Sydney restaurant The Woods – as well as less-than-favourable comments about our own properties.”
He continued: “Because I cover such a wide range of travel experiences, it would not be appropriate to review them as a company representative, hence the pseudonym. However, it is a fair to say that my professional position should have been mentioned in any reviews of hotels."
A spokesman for TripAdvisor, which has rules prohibiting reviews “written by ownership or management”, said: "It would clearly be inappropriate for a senior executive of a hotel company to review hotels within their own company. All hotel reviews posted by this member are being removed pending investigation.”
We're all slaves to our phones these days, aren't we? We find ourselves checking them endlessly to see whether we've been messaged, tagged or tweeted... occasionally we even find ourselves wondering whether someone may have used the device to phone us.
And even when we're not expecting an important call, it can be enormously frustrating to discover we've moved outside the range of our network and one of the few remaining points of difference between the various networks is the range of their coverage.
Vodafone could have made an ad showing someone taking a call in a remote location to emphasise the breadth of their network's coverage... but they didn't.
Instead - in this ad out of Grey London - they've opted to show us a woman who has decided not to answer her phone as she enjoys the sunshine at the foot of a lake.
It's fiendishly clever. She's not a slave to her phone because her network is dependable. She's in control of her phone and can choose whether or not to take the call. That's real freedom and it's been beautifully captured by Academy's Frédéric Planchon. Hats off to everyone involved.
Agency: Grey London
Creative Director: Nils Leonard
Creative: Jonathan Marlow
TV Producer: Angela Eleini
Production Co: Academy Films
Director: Frédéric Planchon
Producer: Simon Cooper
Photography: Alex Barber
Production Manager: Bugs Hartley
Post Production: MPC
Grading: MPC
Editor: Sam Rice-Edwards
Audio: Factory
PhotoBox, the online personalised product company, has launched its most expansive seasonal TV ad campaign to coincide with Father’s Day, airing in both the UK and France.
The 20 second advert, created by Wordley Productions, will be aired during primetime shows on channels including E4 and Sky 1 from Sunday 26 March and has aimed to target women aged 25-49.
Two versions of the ad are being launched simultaneously in order to drive awareness and sales for its Father’s Day promotions.
The first version of the ad ends on a reduced-price personalised smartphone case while the second version of the ad ends on a personalised mug promotion.
Lee Farrer, PhotoBox’s marketing director, commented: “At PhotoBox we are always looking to go bigger and better and Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to kick off a new campaign as it’s a time when we want to share and showcase precious moments in a meaningful way.
“The ads, which reinforce our Father’s Day promotions, let people know that not only is PhotoBox a platform for turning favourite photos into great gifts, but that additionally we provide the best possible value for personalised presents.”
The Sun is supporting charity Missing People by taking part in the Big Tweet for Missing Children today, Saturday 25 May 2013.
As part of the online 24 hour search, Missing People tweet an appeal for a missing child every 30 minutes under the hashtag #bigtweet.
The Sun is supporting the campaign by retweeting the charity’s appeals to its 900,000 twitter followers and has also pledged to donate £10,000 to Missing People if 50,000 retweets are reached.
Dominic Mohan, editor of The Sun commented: “We are delighted to be able to use the great reach of The Sun and its loyal followers to support this unique appeal and be part of the opportunity to bring good news to the many thousands of family members and friends desperate to hear that loved ones are safe and well.”
Last year three children were found after the Big Tweet.
Stephen Fry, a patron of Missing People also pledged his support. He said: “A staggering 140,000 children go missing in the UK every year. On International Missing Children’s Day I will join the charity Missing People in harnessing the power of social media to help find missing children.”
Meanwhile the Outdoor Media Centre has supported the charity with a digital outdoor campaign, streaming Missing People's tweets direct to a network of digital billboards across the UK over the 24 hour period using OpenLoop.
It is hoped the outdoor campaign, which covers London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow and is supported by JCDecaux, CBS Outdoor, Primesight, Ocean Outdoor, blowUP media, and Outdoor Plus, will extend the reach of Missing People's twitter feed and help raise awareness and participation amongst the out of home audience.
Bill Wilson, operations director at the Outdoor Media Centre said: “We are delighted to be on board with The Big Tweet for Missing Children. Digital Out of Home media now has the technology and infrastructure to deliver timely and responsive campaigns nationwide. The Outdoor Media Centre and our members feel strongly about this cause and are committed to helping to extend the search for Missing Children.”
JELL-O, the American snack brand, has launched a new campaign aimed at turning the negative ‘FML’ abbreviation into something more positive – Fun My Life.
Supported by a digital ad campaign and dedicated website, from now until June 14 everyone on Twitter who uses the hashtag #FML could win a prize from the company.
Meanwhile, the website has a real-time counter of tweets with the hashtag 'FML' and then JELL-O's personal responses to a select few.
In the past eight days, over 50,000 tweets with the hashtag #FML have been sent.
JELL-O said of the campaign, developed by developed by CP&B: “Most people think #FML stands for something negative, but JELL-O sees these tweets as a cry for help. A cry to: Fun My Life.”
So far one Twitter user has received a prize from JELL-O. This week, @grantpoopypants tweeted: “Almost 3:30 and I'm still at school #fml.”
A day later JELL-O sent the reply: “@grantpoopypants would a whoopee cushion help? Because you’re getting one.”
Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefónica UK, and John Paton, CEO of Digital First Media, have been appointed as non-executive directors by Guardian Media Group.
Dunne has been CEO of Telefónica UK and a member of the Telefónica Europe board since April 2008. Prior to this he was chief financial officer and head of finance, having joined O2 prior to its demerger from BT in 2001.
He said of his appointment: "I am very much looking forward to joining the GMG board. The media sector is changing which presents enormous opportunity as the true potential of digital services and interaction becomes a reality."
In addition to his role as founder and CEO of Digital First Media, Paton is also the co-founder of impreMedia, the news and information company for Hispanics in the US, a director of Canadian newspaper company, Postmedia Network, a member of the Board of Advisors for the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism and member of the board of directors of Spanish newspaper, El Pais.
Paton commented: “It is a privilege to be joining the board of one of the most innovative digital news companies in the world. The Guardian is a powerful global voice for progressive societal change. All forward-thinking people have a vested interest in its future and I am excited about playing a small role in that future."
Amelia Fawcett, chair of GMG, also commented on the appointments: “We are delighted to welcome Ronan and John to the GMG Board.
“The depth and range of expertise on the GMG Board means we are fully equipped to support our transformation to a digital-first organisation, strongly placed to ensure a long-term, commercially successful future for our journalism.”
Facebook executives met with advertising heads from Unilvever, EE, Barclays and Tesco as well as a host of other media agencies last week in a bid to show how its advertising products can lead to increased sales.
According to the Telegraph, Facebook is developing measurement tools it claims will show how its advertising products can lead to increased sales, even if its members do not click on them, and is working with third-party measurement firms in an attempt to get independent verification of its influence.
Brad Smallwood, Facebook’s vice-president of analytics said of the move: “In the branding world, the direct connection between a page impression or a click and the actual purchase doesn’t exist.”
He continued: “When people look at things online and then purchase things in store, it’s hard to attribute that. That’s the challenge that TV had for a while and they solved it.”
In the pitch to the UK advisory board, Facebook put forward an example in the form of Old El Paso. According to a measurement tool provided by WPP’s Millward Brown, Facebook’s 19 per cent share of a branding campaign across TV, online and other media accounted for 27 per cent of sales for the Mexican food brand.
It comes as Facebook continues to try and develop long-term relationships with major brands beyond click-based web advertising.
Amazon has launched Kindle Worlds, allowing fans to publish and earn money from fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games.
Amazon said in the announcement: “With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds, engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy Entertainment for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries, with licenses for more Worlds on the way.”
However, many are dubious about Amazon’s latest venture.
The Guardian’s Mathilda Gregory writes that “that royalty offered is a lot less than Amazon's normal cut for other self-published authors who use their own characters. Franchise owners will be getting a chunky cut and authors also won't own the copyright to their ideas. If the owners of the characters you play with produce something similar and earn squillions, you'll apparently have no comeback, it seems.”
She also states that “fan fiction exists to create what the original work is failing to offer” and “doing what's reasonable for the franchise isn't really what fan fiction is about. Fanfic is more, "whatever, franchise, I'm doing this". In fan fiction there are no rules. And here, oh, are there ever going to be rules.”
Similarly, Wired’s Rachel Edidin states “On the surface, it seems like a sweet deal. After years of conflict over the copyright issues and ethical conundrums of non-licensed works, fan writers finally have an official OK to not only write, but possibly profit from their work.”
However, she continues to explain that it could be short lived excitement as numerous clauses in the contract grants Amazon and the licensor rights to the text of the stories and any original elements they might contain.
Amazon, meanwhile, provided dozens of examples of fans pleased by the new initiative, citing Trish Milburn, who wrote in The Vampire Diaries.
She said: "There's probably not an author/fangirl alive who hasn't fantasized about being able to write about her favorite show. The fact that you can earn royalties doing so makes it even better."
Described by some as the digital industry’s ‘best kept secret’, affiliate marketing generated £9bn in sales in the UK in 2012, commanding an average return of £11 for every £1 spent, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau in its first ever study conducted on the UK online performance marketing industry.
Over £800m was spent on affiliate marketing and lead generation last year in a market in which 3,500 advertisers and 10,000 publishers partake, making it one of the most effective performance channels around.
The affiliate sector has worked hard alongside the IAB over the past years to rebrand as online performance marketing, freeing itself from former murky connotations and reasserting itself as a vital, trusted part of the marketing mix – at least in the UK anyway. In contrast the US affiliate marketing sector has earned the nickname of the “wild west” by many in the industry, with far less rigorous regulation than the UK. eBay is the latest high-profile case to fall victim to dodgy undertakings in the US.
The e-retailer worked with the FBI to bring down two fraudulent affiliate marketers Shawn Hogan and Brian Dunning, who had been siphoning off tens of millions of dollars over the years from the company by dropping cookies on unknowing users, then taking a cut of any subsequent sale on eBay without having promoted eBay themselves, according to reports.
However, UK agencies and affiliates are confident the UK market would never suffer from the same problems due to the tight measures put in place over the years.
Mobile: Challenges and opportunities
Mobile is being eyed by many of the leading affiliates as the device that can help retailers drive in-store sales.
Cashback affiliate TopCashback is among the innovators in the space having launched its first in-store mobile cashback solution Snap & Save, designed to drive in-store sales while providing more transparency around redemption rates. Once a shopper has bought an item in-store they photograph their physical receipt via the app and receive instant cashback once validated by TopCashback.
Yet although there are countless opportunities for affiliates in the mobile space there is one glaring issue which, unless rectified, could lead to a significant loss of revenue. Mobile tracking is not being built in where it should and affiliates are losing out on revenue because advertisers can’t tell when a sale has been driven by an affiliate on a mobile device.
James Little, partnerships director at TopCashback, says merchants have “no excuse” when it comes to not using the proper mobile tracking, given it is easy to implement. Although networks such as Affiliate Window have been active in addressing the issue with advertisers there remains a level of apathy when it comes to honing their mobile tracking.
“I wonder if they [merchants] are really incentivised to do it or if they are given too much of a soft approach. Mobile is still only a small percentage of sales after all, even though it drives an increasing amount of traffic,” says Little.
Affiliate publisher VoucherCodes co-founder Max Jennings believes there are even bigger concerns relating to mobile tracking than lost revenue.
“As sales from handset devices grow in share, we’ve identified a far bigger threat in the risk that this poses to the accuracy of the data we use every day, and that our industry thrives on. Without these insights, our innovation will become stunted and at the most practical level, the partners we work with will no longer be able to forecast and budget for the work we’re doing together,” he says.
Most affiliates agree that suspending advertisers from their sites until they add mobile tracking would be counter-productive, and instead would rather work with them on a case by case approach to help them incorporate mobile tracking. However, advertisers should be at least aware of the issue, so they can be ready once mobile sales start rocketing.
Market disrupters
In all areas of digital the development of increasingly sophisticated technologies can prove disruptive to existing models and affiliate marketing is no exception.
The arrival of platforms such as Performance Horizon Group (PHG) and Convertr, which are designed to help advertisers track, manage and optimise conversions driven by partners across multiple channels in real time, have caught the eye of several brands in the UK including Netflix and Marks and Spencer.
These companies provide a platform through which brands can have a direct relationship with their affiliates as opposed to working solely with an affiliate network. The top affiliates drive eye-wateringly large volumes of traffic and sales, and with marketers’ increasing focus on extracting quality data from their activity to inform future strategies, many are favouring more direct relationships so they can manage processes more closely.
The traditional performance marketing model can lend itself to wastage and Convertr claims this can see advertisers inadvertently squander an average 70 per cent of their initial lead generation budget.
It maintains that with an average initial budget of £100,000, a media agency will take about 30 per cent. An affiliate network will then take 60 per cent of the remaining budget; affiliates will then take a 20 per cent cut, leaving £22,400 for buying leads once everyone in the chain has taken their cut.
Convertr’s head of marketing Phil Haslehurst says: “What this means is that either the publisher is going to get a very poor commission for their lead, or the advertiser isn’t going to get as many leads as they could out of their budget. That’s not performance marketing – it’s wasting your money.
“We’re not criticising any single one of these parties for taking their commission or being part of the model. We are, however, saying that the model could clearly be more efficient and technology can facilitate that.”
John Bohan, head of sales, M&S for Business agreed performance marketing models can be “overcomplicated” and wasteful. “We were looking for a solution that created a streamlined, direct route to prospective customers. Because the data we generate through Convertr is exclusively ours, we’re able to communicate with those prospective customers with confidence that they’re genuinely interested in engaging with us – and that’s a great foundation on which to build a successful CRM programme,” he says.
VoucherCodes’ Max Jennings believes companies like PHG have carved a niche that he says is “highly relevant” for partners looking to engage with their affiliates directly. Yet he also says many merchants don’t have the resource to take on a direct relationship with each of their affiliates and here, the networks will continue to be a vital tool.
“This is particularly relevant for our international partners that use the networks, their contacts and their scale when looking to launch in new territories. Therefore while companies like PHG challenge the status quo, I’d hope that longer term this simply serves to entice more players to the market by offering something different,” he says.
The terrorist attack in Woolwich seems to have reignited the Conservative Party’s desire to introduce the controversial Communications Data Act which they claim could have helped prevent the situation, offering the Intelligence Services the ability to intercept electronic communications sent by the public.
The Act, nicknamed ‘the Snooper’s Charter’ was discussed by Home Secretary Theresa May while appearing on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, claiming that it was “essential” that the Intelligence Services be allowed to monitor communications data in an effort to combat terrorist plots.
Said May: "There is a reducing capability in relation to access to communications data and as far as I'm concerned I think this is a very important thing we need to ensure we are giving our law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies access to the tools that they need to fight crime, paedophiles and terrorists."
May also warned that thousands of people were in danger of being radicalised and said that she intends to tighten internet regulation that would allow for action to be taken to ensure that extremist views and messages preaching Jihad would be moved from online.
“One of the issues we need to look at is whether we have got the right processes, the right rules in place in relation to what is being beamed into people's homes,” she added.
She revealed that these issues were part of the work being taken up by a taskforce being set up by Prime Minister David Cameron.
The introduction of the Communications Data Bill failed earlier this year when Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg opposed it.
Interview by Dave Birss
Words by Angela Haggerty
Digital technology has put advertising in its strongest ever position to change the world, according to Patrick Collister, the new head of design at Google.
“Howard Luck Gossage wrote in the late 1950s that the only fit occupation for a man was to change the world,” says Collister. “I think in our business now we actually do have the opportunity to change the world, and that’s through digital media.”
Collister is well qualified to have an opinion; he’s worked above-the-line, below-the-line, been sacked, misunderstood and emerged successful. He has been in the business for 25 years and enjoyed stints at Ogilvy & Mather and EHS Brann (now Havas EHS), as well as setting up his own business, Creative Matters, and editing and publishing Directory magazine. He’s worked through huge changes in the industry brought about by digital and he’s remained determined to stay in on the act.
“Let’s not beat around the bush; the reason I moved from above-the-line to below-the-line is because I got fired,” Collister explains. “I partly got fired because I was misunderstood; at Ogilvy in the 90s I set up the first ever digital creative unit of any agency in London with Alun Howell, an incredibly clever copywriter who’s still at Ogilvy.”
Collister says their primary aim in the earlier digital days was functionality, design and using digital to build brand profile. But not everybody got it.
“At the time Martin Sorrell was really interested in what I was doing. When we did Guinness’s first ever website he rang me up to tell me he thought I’d made a mistake, it was all wrong.
“For him, the internet was all about transaction, so he wanted to know why the website wasn’t selling Guinness sweatshirts, glasses, etc. I had to explain to him how incredibly complicated and expensive it is to set up systems for receiving currency online.”
Rather than opt to take British and European currency only, the digital creative team instead went for the brand experience in an attempt to avoid “pissing off a global audience”. For Collister, digital has changed the structure of marketing, but he doesn’t believe that every agency is taking the message on board, needlessly throwing money and resources away in the process.
While direct marketing viewed digital as an opportunity to extend the goal of transactions, Collister says marketers needed to understand the importance and benefits of digital brand building in the long-term instead of just old-fashioned direct selling.
“I developed vertical line theory – the line still exists but it’s no longer horizontal, it’s no longer above and below-the-line. It’s vertical,” he continues. “You move it left and right, and the axes are from transaction on the left all the way through to emotional response on the right.
“My theory is that any piece of communication now needs to do three jobs: first of all it needs to be supportive of and build the brand; secondly, if it’s picked up by any of your existing customers, then it needs to be a retention device; but thirdly, it also needs to be acquisitive. Direct marketing saw all of those three things as completely separate silos.
“There would be wonderful brand advertising happening from Abbott Mead Vickers but the direct marketing would be handled by a completely different agency with different messages, typefaces, type styles, tones, all the rest of it. So I spent a couple of years saying ‘look guys, you are wasting a huge amount of money’. In fact, most brands in the UK are still doing that, wasting huge sums of money.”
Chief executive at WPP Martin Sorrell recently accused Google, Facebook and Twitter of being “media owners masquerading as tech companies”, adding that he predicted WPP would spend more on advertising with Google than with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire by 2014. With the hiring of Collister, Google is investing more energy into its creative thinking and he seems to agree with Sorrell.
He began his new role at Google last month, where he was understood to be the replacement for Google’s head of design Irene Au, who handed in her notice to the company in June last year. But Collister’s not so sure.
“I think there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding about this,” he says, “in America I was reported as being the head of design for Google, and Google did have a head of design but that’s somebody who’s completely responsble for the way Google pages look online, responsible for the way the software programmes open up – that’s definitely not me, that’s a very big job and I couldn’t design my way out of a paper bag. Jingles and slogans is my background.
“My role here is really to bring ad thinking to what is essentially a media agency. Google is filled with some incredibly clever people, but they look at platforms and they look at the way different media opportunities knit together.
“They’re aware that you still need to have ideas to fill these spaces, whatever they may be, and they’ve got people inside the building who are quite capable of filling it. My role is to come here and actually fill it with stuff that is inspiring and is best in class. Now that’s not to say that Google is turning into an ad agency, because it’s not.”
For someone so fired up about digital, he is surprisingly upfront about his technical shortcomings, admitting that using O2 YouTube videos on how to outsmart your smartphone became a great lesson in how brands could use technology to offer services and develop relationships with customers that weren’t just about selling something in the moment.
He also offers up some strong moral fibre, bordering on vigilante, when it comes to advertisers’ responsibility to the public and how technology has enabled creatives to bring accountability to the public domain. An iPhone app from Oslo agency Try – which allowed users to scan and upload the chemicals in Norwegian beauty products suspected to be harmful to users to a warning website – was one of Collister’s favourite pieces of work submitted to the Directory.
“As an advertising guy I believe I have a moral responsibility to my clients to tell them not to do evil,” he explains. “And here are big companies like L’Oreal and Revlon doing evil because they’ve been motivated by profits rather than actually by building brands through better products that consumers really want.
“[The app] forced the cosmetics companies to change their behaviour. They’re now modifying the nature of their products, taking out the damaging chemicals – which they should have done in the first place. What I really love about it is that now clever people inside advertising agencies are coming up with platforms that are making brands behave themselves.”
Collister counts a Goldman Sachs incident as one of his favourite examples of moral creativity – an individual with a simple idea inspired by the Hollywood stars map refused to accept big bonus plans at the bank while the rest of the world struggled to cope with the financial crisis.
“This guy came up with a map: where the bankers live,” he says. “The great thing about being a banker was that you were invisible, you were behind gated walls. What he did was he exposed these people, and so bricks started going through people’s windows.
“They didn’t like this at all and, of course, the site got taken down and injunctions were taken out. But actually what had happened was really, really important, which is that a group of people who thought they were inviolate discovered that they weren’t; they were accountable.
“As a result of that, in the UK Goldman Sachs agreed that it would reduce the size of its bonus pool and in the UK it has created – or they said it was going to create, I’ve yet to see evidence of it – a billion dollar scholarship fund for education programmes. One creative guy had one idea and it brought this bank down onto its knees asking for forgiveness.”
Getting back to current business, Collister’s next big idea concerns data. While he believes, as most now do, that data will be a central part of future marketing strategies, he’ll happily admit he doesn’t yet know what any of it means. He does have a concept though, and his plan now is to define and refine it.
“I’ve got this concept of branded data; big data itself is a meaningless phrase, what it just means is that there’s so much information we don’t know where to start looking for it,” he explains.
“I haven’t actually wrapped my brain around how analytics work but I can tell you that sitting on my desk there are three people with PHDs and I know that between us what we’re going to be able to do is come up with a tool that allows us to be able to look at data in such a way that it allows us to extrapolate from it information that is relevant to a brand and its personality,” he adds.
“I don’t mean relevant to customer behaviours but actually to the brand personality, and from that we’re going to be able to develop insights that will be incredibly motivating. At the moment it’s just kind of a hazy vision. In the fog of my rather feeble brain I can see a shape, but that shape is going to be informed by data, I know it.”
Google requires big ideas and innovation to stay ahead of the big data game. With 90 per cent of all the data stored in the world being created in just the last two years, only time will tell how many of the big opportunities Collister can transform into big results.
Several Android apps for Sky, including Sky News, Sky Sports and Sky+ were hacked into over the weekend by the Syrian Electronic Army.
The Google Play download pages for the Sky Go, Sky+, Sky WiFi, Sky News, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports News apps were replaced with the SEA logo and the words ‘Syrian Electronic Army was here’.
Sky Help Team appeared to tweet a warning telling users to uninstall the app, but it has now been revealed that the Twitter account itself was compromised.
UPDATE: All Sky's Android apps were hacked and replaced... please uninstall it, And we will let you know when it will be available
— Sky Help Team (@SkyHelpTeam) May 26, 2013
Sky is assuring the public that "Sky Android apps previously downloaded by Sky customers are unaffected and there is no need to remove them from their Android devices."
This comes shortly after Sky claimed their account was hacked following a mysterious tweet that read ‘Colin was here’.
The National Readership Survey Ltd (NRS) has appointed David Hart, previously senior insight executive at IPC Media, as its new research manager.
Hart will work with IPSOS Mori and RSMB, research contractors for the NRS, to ensure timely delivery of accurate data for reports.
Hart said: “NRS is renowned throughout the publishing industry as the leading currency for media planning. The organisation has done a great job of evolving to meet the demands that come with changes in how magazines and newspapers are consumed. I look forward to playing a part of this continued development using 12 years’ experience gathered across both agency and client side.”
Hart will report to Alison Finch, director of client and insight.
Tattoo care brand Forever Ink has launched its first ever cinema campaign with Digital Cinema Media (DCM).
The campaign, which will run until 6 June, will be headed by cinema and will also include VOD, digital and press.
Roopa Malhotra, senior product manager at Forest Laboratories UK Ltd, which owns Forever Ink, said: “We chose to use cinema to promote Forever Ink as it offers a highly impactful, yet cost-effective way to reach our target audience.”
Looking to target the 18 to 35 year old market, the ad will play before films such as Star Trek Into Darkness 3D, Fast & Furious 6 and The Hangover Part III.
Joe Evea, commercial director at DCM, said: “Cinema advertising is now more accessible than ever before. While lead times have been cut from four weeks to five days and production slashed to a fifth of the cost, cinema still remains the most impactful, immersive medium and it is fantastic that Forever Ink has chosen to work with DCM on this exciting campaign.”
The cinema screen time was booked by TCS Media.
WPP looks set to avoid the shareholder pay revolt it faced last year over the pay of Sir Martin Sorrell, as two key shareholder advisory bodies have decided not to oppose WPP's remuneration report.
This comes ahead of the company’s annual meeting on 12 June, which last year saw 60 per cent of shareholders opposing the £13m pay for the chief executive.
Last year, Co-operative and Standard Life were among shareholders who voted against the increase, with the reason given that it exceeded the scale of returns enjoyed by investors.
In April, WPP added four new non-executive directors to its team as part of a ‘radical’ shake-up.
Sir Martin took a pay-cut of £150,000 earlier this year as well as a 20 per cent reduction in his potential bonus in an effort to avoid the scenes from last year.
One of the 21st century’s greatest marketing stories, Brand Beckham, reached a crossroads this month with the announcement by David Beckham that he was to retire from professional football. Beckham's absence in the Paris Saint Germain squad at the weekend was confirmation that the football star's playing career is now at an end. The Drum spoke to Jamie Matthews, CEO and founding partner of marketing agency INITIALS, which has been involved of late with Brand Beckham through supermarket client Sainsbury’s, for his views on the impact Beckham’s retirement will have on his marketing prospects.
How is David’s retirement going to impact ‘Brand Beckham’?
Not a lot I don’t think. I’ve been thinking about this. He retired from the English game when he left for Real Madrid and a lot of the comments, bar the English performances, talk about all the great stuff he did when he was in England, playing for Man United. We haven’t had that much football exposure to him since he left to play for Spain and then LA Galaxy.
In the UK’s eyes our exposure's been around Brand Beckham, so in effect he’s already managed that transition. That’s where his home is and that’s where his roots are and where he’s going to get the most traction initially anyway.
I can’t see it affecting his brand in the short term because he’s already managed the transition really well, particularly in light of the role he played in 2012.
I do think that the main things that will affect Brand Beckham will be if he decides to go into coaching and management. I just go “Oh God!” - I think he’s too nice to do that, he hasn’t got the streak in him to be a brilliant manager. And that among anything is going to affect his brand – if he decides to move into management.
Given what he has achieved in football and marketing terms you can’t see him in a management role for anything other than premiership. His management of the media has been manifested over many years and I can’t see him managing a set of players in the cut and throat business of premiership football.
How did he manage this transition initially?
Probably through switching his target audience. If you look at who hated him it was the England diehards and the people that have been buying into Brand Beckham are not those people. They don’t want H&M pants.
How has he been important to Sainsbury’s?
Sainsbury’s was very important given the way the Sainsbury’s brand has evolved. Jamie Oliver was taking a step back out of the Sainsbury’s brand and Beckham and Ellie (Simmonds), in terms of the Paralympics, have really helped to fill the gap that was left by Jamie Oliver. But he obviously performs a really crucial brand ambassador role for the likes of Active Kids.
What will be his role in Sainsbury’s moving forward - will he still be as involved in the sporting ambassador role?
I can’t comment on whether Sainsbury’s will continue to work with him in a sporting role, but a lot of his contracts are ongoing. And obviously all of these contracts will be more important going forward as he does move into whatever role it is that he begins to play. I can imagine him taking time out and thinking “What is the next move?”
You mentioned Beckham as a fashion brand as well as a sporting one, do you think he’ll move towards the fashion stuff now that he will be seen as a retired footballer?
I think he’s got to get the balance right [between the fashion and the sport] because he has got the balance right up until now in terms of what’s important to him, but if he goes too far toward the fashion he will lose all credibility as to what he stood for.
Read here about David Beckham's rise to a global icon and brand ambassador worth millions and some views on how he achieved itas well as further opinions on where he goes now.
