Strepsils is getting ready to roll out a £2.5m campaign next month, with focus on its Honey and Lemon variant.

The campaign is set to include a tie-up with The X Factor, which will see a winner and three friends receive tickets to the final of the show, with the ad to run on TV as well as utilising online, point of sale and social media.

Following the end of The X Factor element in mid-November, the campaign will also promote the benefits of Strepsils Extra Strength for severe sore throats.

The campaign looks to raise awareness of the Reckitt Benckiser brand and will focus on educating consumers about the benefits of Strepsils over sweets for effective sore throat relief.

Weber Shandwick's chief creative officer of digital, James Warren, has left the PR firm and Gabriela Lungu has been appointed its first chief creative officer for EMEA.

The Drum understands that Warren left the agency earlier this week as it was announced that Lungu, who joined the agency seven months ago as EMEA consumer practice leader, would take up the new role, which covers the UK.

“James was an early evangelist for digital in our business,” the agency said in a statement. “Now, with our digital business firmly established, a growing senior team, award-winning campaigns and expanding client base, James has decided to explore new career opportunities.

“We wish him well and thank him for his contribution over nearly a decade.”

Announcing Lungu's appointment, Colin Byrne, Weber Shandwick EMEA and UK CEO, said: “As consumer practice leader for EMEA, Gabriela’s passion and objective right from the start has been to promote a culture of creativity.

“In her new role of chief creative officer, UK and EMEA, she will now be able to do this formally and for the entire agency.”

Meanwhile, UK group MD of brand marketing, Rachel Friend, will take on Lungu’s former duties by the end of the year and Fiona Battle, who recently joined Weber Shandwick as senior digital and content creation strategist, will take on the role of head of EMEA digital practice.

Search marketing specialist Epiphany is on course for another record-breaking year after announcing impressive half-year figures this week.

The half year results for February to July 2013 mean that this year will represent yet another year of significant growth.

Epiphany has exceeded its challenging half-year targets through high-client retention and by securing an additional £2.55m of new business since February 2013. The agency is on track to significantly overachieve against its 2013-14 revenue target of £8m from management fees. Epiphany made £6.2m from management fees in the 2012-13 financial year.

A compound annual growth rate of 43% means that Epiphany has been one of Europe’s fastest-growing search marketing specialists since 2009. The agency has also announced that it appointed its 130th member of staff in August in response to new account wins and a very strong new business pipeline.

Epiphany has won new business in the 2012-13 financial year from both existing and new accounts. The agency has won a host of well-known clients in 2013 including Virgin Holidays, which Epiphany won following an extremely competitive pitch process. Epiphany is releasing details of other key account wins over the next five weeks.

The agency ranked in the UK top three for client satisfaction in the recent Drum Digital Census and was awarded top ten Elite Agency status.

Epiphany’s H1 figures also reflect strong performance from the two subsidiaries, Shackleton PR and Epiphany Digital Australia, which it created in September 2012.

Epiphany Group CEO Rob Shaw commented: "Building on what was an amazing year in 2012, earning awards like Digital Agency and Creative Team of the Year at the MiAwards and DADI Awards, we’ve moved into new offices in both Leeds and London and we’re forecasting an extremely positive second half of the year as you’d expect from these results."

Epiphany is a member of MiNetwork, the organisation for ambious marketing services agencies. To find out more about how MiNetwork can support your agency visit the MiNetwork website or email Chris Morton.

Initiative managing director Anna Watkins will move to the Guardian next month to take on the same position at Guardian Labs.

Watkins will be responsible for growing revenues across both UK and international markets for Guardian Labs, a new venture from the Guardian which launches later this year. The project will focus on client collaboration and cross-media partnerships to develop digital-first solutions for clients.

David Pemsel, chief commercial officer at Guardian News and Media, said: “Anna is an excellent hire for us and we are thrilled to have her on board.

“She brings with her incredibly strong global positioning and planning experience which will be vital as we continue our ambitious plans to expand into international markets and pioneer innovative, market-leading solutions for our clients.”

Watkins said it as an exciting time to join the Guardian “as it transforms into a truly global media company”. She will begin the role on 10 October.

The Mission Marketing Group has today announced its half year figures, showing pre-tax profit of £1.7m, down from £2.1m in 2012.

The interim dividend follows further net debt reduction to £8.8m (down from £12.3m in 2012) and the acquisition of Balloon Dog and Addiction.

“The first half profit is more or less where we expected but was negatively impacted by the losses incurred following the significant scaling back of activity on the Aviva account at Bray Leino and poor performance within the Addiction Agency which required a major management restructure,” David Morgan, group chairman for The Mission, said.

He added: “We will continue to pursue our growth strategy and are also looking to invest this autumn in San Francisco and Singapore.

“With the difficulties of Addiction and Aviva now behind us, profitability is much improved and tracking in line with last year, no mean feat given the volatility in the market. We anticipate a strong second half and expect a similar result to that achieved last year.”

The half year results revealed that net finance costs have been reduced by over 40 per cent to £0.4m (2012: £0.6m).

Littlewoods has launched a £3m autumn/winter 2013 campaign with an ad featuring brand ambassadors Myleene Klass and Towie star Mark Wright.

The ad was created by St Luke’s and was directed by Partizan’s Michael Gracey. In it, Klass uses ‘the Littlewood’s touch’ to transform fairground-goers outfits.

The brand will test this campaign on mobile ad platform Adfonics and it will feature direct response TV marketing alongside media and social advertising. Media planning and booking was done by Carat.

Gary Kibble, retail brand director at Littlewoods, said: “We have been thrilled with the success of ‘the Littlewoods touch’ concept. The idea has really caught the imagination of our customers, who rely on Littlewoods to help them get the good things they want for themselves and their families.”

The ad will launch in 30” format during tonight’s edition of Emmerdale and a 40” version will air during Coronation Street tomorrow night. A 10” version will run from the second week of the campaign featuring a weekly trading offer.

Welcome to The Drum's weekly new business round-up, this week featuring; TSB, McCormick, KP Snacks, Cobra, Stewart Milne Homes, and Dr. Wolff.

Accounts under review: TSB, McCormick, Birds Eye

TSB's £30m media planning and buying account is up for grabs. A spin-off of the Lloyds Banking Group, where the account is held by MEC, the bank now operates independently and is looking for an agency to handle its media planning before entering IPO next year. Joint has been appointed to manage TSB's advertising and Havas EHS to handle direct marketing.

McCormick, owner of the Schwartz spice brand, has announced a review of its EMEA digital and media accounts. Starcom MediaVest has held the European account since 2008. A decision is expected by the end of this year.

Birds Eye is set to repitch its advertising and design accounts as the new chief executive of the Iglo-owned brand looks to overhaul the label.

Account wins: KP Snacks, Cobra, Nintendo, The Scottish Widows, Stewart Milne Homes,Scottish Rugby, Dr, Wolff, Dublin Clothing, Lomond Audi

KP Snacks has moved its £10m creative account from Publicis London to Beattie McGuinness Bungay. BMB beat Ingenuity, M&C Saatchi, Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Karmarama to win the advertising for the snacks brand. KP continues to search for a digital agency.

Cobra has named Karmarama as its lead creative agency after a competitive pitch process involving JWT London, VCCP, and CHI & Partners. An integrated campaign is expected early 2014.

Nintendo has announced that Interpublic Group’s Deutsch LA has joined its roster of creative agencies. The agency will lead digital and social media marketing across the brand’s video games, as well as helping to create traditional ads and work on the brand's e-commerce.

TK Maxx has appointed Exponential for its first ever cross-platform ad campaign as it looks to increase the number of visits to its stores.

The Scottish Widows advertising account has gone to 101. It comes as the brand, owned by Lloyds Banking Group, plans a re-launch following a four-year hiatus.

Stewart Milne Homes has appointed Stripe Communications to manage its six-figure PR account across the company’s entire Scotland and North England portfolio.

Scottish Rugby has announced the appointment of MediaCom Edinburgh to handle its media planning and buying following a three-way pitch. Additionally, MediaCom Edinburgh has also won Velux's media planning and buying account, previously held by Carat.

German hair care manufacturer Dr. Wolff, owner of the Alpecin Caffeine Shampoo brand, has appointed Driven to launch its Plantur 39 shampoo brand in the UK.

Dublin Clothing has tasked Cogent Elliott with handling its strategic branding recommendations, a new brand identity and subsequent roll out of all marketing and sales materials globally including the USA, Australia and New Zealand; including online and offline communications.

Scottish car dealerships Lomond Audi and Taggarts have appointment Ardmore Advertising to deliver new advertising campaigns, design and media initiatives.

TK Maxx has appointed Exponential for its first ever cross-platform ad campaign.

With the aim of increasing the number of visits to its stores and communicating its store locations, TK Maxx’s ads will contain a Google map locating all stores in the user’s proximity overlayed on videos showcasing the brand’s fashion ranges. The ads will run across both desktop and tablet.

“Awareness isn’t an issue for TK Maxx so it’s about generating interest, consideration and ultimately a visit to a store,” explained Niki Stoker, Exponential’s UK managing director. “The target audience has a strong profile – such as Grazia-reading Masterchef fans who are light TV/cinema watchers – so I’m confident we’ll be able to find and target these shoppers with great success.”

The video campaign will run in two phases; autumn and Christmas.

The world's media may be focusing on Jony Ive's new iPhones, but a lesser known Dutch designer by the name of Dave Hakkens has shot straight to the top of this week's Viral Video Chart with his ingenious customisable smartphones concept.

The PhoneBlocks video introduces the idea of a new type of DIY smartphone that could last for life (and therefore be more eco-friendly) by allowing users to upgrade parts - or bloks - of their phone at a time rather than having to upgrade their whole device.

Hakkens' prototype certainly seems to have caught the imagination of the public, with the video amassing more than 300,000 shares in the last week. Apple's promo videos for its iPhone 5s and 5c devices, by contrast, languish in eighth and ninth position in this week's chart.

Network Rail has unveiled a film and online game – ‘Track Tests’ –with rapper, Wretch 32, and spoken word performer, George the Poet, which looks to stop death and accidents on the tracks.

Created by M&C Saatchi, the campaign sees a series of tests highlighting the difficulty of hearing approaching trains to see if the pair can identify the direction of an oncoming train – and react in time. Viewers are then prompted to take part in an online game.

Nicole Quayle, marketing services specialist at Network Rail, said: “Too many people think they would hear a train in time to move clear - tragically with more than 40 deaths in the past year, we know this isn’t the case. We hope that Track Tests will help people think twice about taking a chance and reduce the number of incidents we see each year.”

A previous Network Rail viral campaign by M&C Saatchi, released in May 2012, featured Welsh Olympic hurdler, Dai Greene, testing the speed and agility needed to move out of the way of an oncoming train in time.

“It’s one thing showing people how difficult it is to tell where a train is coming from, but it’s quite another giving them the chance to try it for themselves,” Camilla Harrison, CEO at M&C Saatchi, said, explaining the campaign.

She added: “The combination of the film and the game will engage the public, help them to understand through their own (virtual) experience how hard it is to recognise the direction of moving sounds, and demonstrate how dangerous it is to walk on railway lines.”

The game features three levels, each becoming more realistic.

Mini has unveiled a new stage of its Not Normal campaign: an auction where bidders have to use their own creative thinking instead of cash.

A poll by Mini found that 77 per cent of Brits use ‘creative currency’ to fund purchases; with trading a DIY skill and leveraging a social media profile or creating a blog to gain cash in exchange for assets both techniques used.

The research also discovered that 30 per cent of Brits said they would love to use creative currency to get their hands on a new car.

Mini therefore decided to launch an auction where bidders offer their creative thinking, rather than cash, to get their hands on a car.

“Brits are now more willing than ever to put themselves out there and to deploy unique ways to get what they want,” Michelle Roberts, general manager for Mini brand communications said. “At Mini, we find this inventive spirit really inspiring and want to celebrate and showcase it through the auction.”

In August, Mini turned a car into a roller coaster as part of its global Not Normal campaign.

A further 75 jobs are to be cut at BBC News as part of the Delivering Quality First programme, head of news James Harding has announced.

Harding refused to rule out the possibility of compulsory redundancies and warned that further “substantial savings” will need to be made over the next two years.

In a letter to staff, Harding said: “These cost savings will result in the closure of up to 75 posts across BBC News and the English regions.

“I also need to be clear that this is not the end of the process. Last year there were significant cuts to the BBC World Service. The closure of 75 posts this year is spread across news and English regions.

“I am determined that, where we can, we will avoid compulsory redundancies, but we cannot guarantee that will always be possible.”

Up to 2,000 jobs are under threat at the BBC as a result of the cost-cutting Delivering Quality First (DQF) programme, which aims to cut the broadcaster’s budget by 20 per cent. More than 7,000 jobs have already been lost since 2004 as a result of a freeze on the licence fee until 2017, a deal that was agreed by former secretary general Mark Thompson.

BBC News and Current Affairs employs over 8,000 people and Harding said the department had committed to finding just over £60m in annual savings towards the BBC’s target of £700m savings by 2016/17.

The NUJ's national broadcasting organiser, Sue Harris, said the union would do all it could to stave of forced redundancies and highlighted the continuing pressure on staff.

"We will be working hard to ensure there are no compulsory redundancies and that redeployment arrangements work," said Harris. "However, it those left struggling under ever-increasing workloads that I am concerned about. This salami-slicing year after year is creating departments that are too lean to be effective – quality will suffer and staff will be put under stress."

Harding expects BBC News to save £25m in the current financial year and a further £11m next year, leaving more than £20m still to find.

Harding added: “I recognise that an announcement such as this adds to uncertainty after what has been a trying year. I also appreciate the concern that cost saving come at a time that so many people are working hard to make the most of new technologies and striving to deliver the best journalism in the world.

“The reality is that we have to live within the terms of the licence fee settlement, requiring us to deliver more for less.”

The news comes just a month after the BBC settled a pay dispute with the NUJ, Unite and Bectu, which included in the terms an agreement from the broadcaster to scrap proposed changes to redundancy consultation terms.

Royal Mail has unveiled a new set of Merchant Navy stamps to commemorate its contribution to British life over the last 200 years.

Designed by Silk Peace, one set of six stamps features different merchant ships spanning two centuries. A miniature sheet of four further stamps explores the vital role taken by the Merchant Navy during the Second World War.

Both sets of stamps go on sale from today along with some of the associated collectors' products that have also been designed by Silk Pearce.

“We believe this commemorative stamp issue will be valued by anyone with an interest in Britain’s nautical history, its development as a trading nation or the essential part played by the Merchant Navy during the Second World War,” said Catharine Brandy, design manager for stamps and collectibles at Royal Mail.

One of the principal design challenges for the main stamps was to identify paintings of six historically-significant ships that could work together as a set. Some images already existed in national collections or were privately owned but there were no suitable images of the diesel-powered, bulk cargo carrier ‘Lord Hinton’ that entered routine service in 1986. The design team therefore commissioned a new painting by marine artist Ted Walker, who also painted the ‘RMS Britannia’ image used on one of the other stamps.

Creative head, Peter Silk, said: "It's always an honour to be asked to design Royal Mail stamps but we're particularly excited about this project where we have worked on two complementary sets as well as the associated collectors’ products.”

The collectors’ products include: a special presentation pack holding both sets of stamps, a first day cover and two special postmarks.

A report has warned that high street retailers could be losing more than three quarters of a billion pounds in sales due to poor in-store stock levels.

Digital commerce solutions provider Venda commissioned a YouGov poll of more than 2,000 adults and found that 38 per cent had left a store in the last month without making a purchase because items were either not in stock at all or not in the correct colour or size.

The result, according to Venda, is an estimated loss of up to £43 worth of sales per month for every adult in the UK. In addition, one in 10 people said they would be likely to complain to friends and family or directly to brands via social networks.

Eric Abensur, group CEO at Venda, said: “In a climate of tough trading, retailers need to go back to basics and re-evaluate core aspects of their business’s operations.

“Although promotional activities and flash sales have helped retailers boost bottom lines in recent months, focusing on these strategies should be in line with optimising stock management and order fulfilment.

“Stock management systems that only marginally work are costing retailers millions of pounds worth of sales, which if captures, could be considered as the saving grace of the high street.”

According to the survey, two per cent of customer left stores without an item up to five times in the last month, while four per cent said they would stop shopping at retailers if the problem happened repeatedly.

Many marketers are still focusing on the wrong metrics when it comes to defining the value of social media to a brand’s business, according to The Body Shop’s head social media Rowan Standfield.

Speaking at Brighton Digital Marketing Festival, for which The Drum is media partner, today Standfield said: “I hear people talking about great creative ideas for social media but they don’t have meaningful way of measuring it. Effective measurement is the only way to know if a social media strategy is working.

"One of my pet hates is the Facebook Like measure, which people still obsess over. Forget about them – they have no context and don't mean anything.”

Standfield's focus for the past year has been on seeking alternative methods of measurement to better understand how social media can help the brand achieve its wider business goals, which include boosting awareness of its beauty and make-up products and widening its customer base to reach people aged between 18 ad 35, which the brand refers to as “Gen Y”.

It identified YouTube as being the platform in which the majority of conversations about beauty were occurring, as a result of the rise of independent female video bloggers, according to Standfield.

“People assume Facebook is the be-all-and-end-all but actually YouTube has proved to be a really successful channel for us. We are now creating content people really want and have searched for – like practical how-to videos on skincare and make-up..

“What also led us to YouTube was the fact that beauty brands were seeing declining referrals from Facebook to their websites from beauty ‘vloggers’, whereas these were growing on YouTube. We realised YouTube had more commercial possibility for us than Facebook,” she said.

The Body Shop has ploughed “at least 50 per cent” of its resources into commissioning content for and managing its YouTube strategy, creating content to meet the high volume of searches for beauty content already occurring, according to Standfield.

It has now launched a guest blog site to provide a hub for its social media community to engage with the brand and each other, and which is contributed to by beauty vloggers and its own staff members. This helps ensure its brand remains topical and up to date with all the latest conversations around beauty.

Ensuring content is mobile-ready is also vital to ensuring a good customer and brand experience. "You might as well not bother if you are producing content that then can't be accessed via mobile because that's where people are," she added.

Meanwhile, although it uses both Pinterest and Instagram, it has found that the latter is most effective for attracting its target Gen Y demographic, according to Standfield.

“When I first started at The Body Shop [a year ago] there was a lot of hype around Pinterest so we did look into it, but we find it’s used more by a slightly older demographic than our Gen Y. Whereas Instagram is a much better fit and so this is where we are focusing.

"We are still new to it so we still only have a small audience of about 4,000 followers [on Instagram] but the engagement is much higher than Facebook,” she said.

In August The Body Shop saw YouTube views spike 198 per cent month-on-month and channel subscribers grew 11 per cent month on month, as a result of its new focus on original video content, bolstered by paid social media advertising, including YouTube's Trueview ad formats.

Navigate Digital has appoint radio DJ and broadcaster Ben Jones as a non-executive director.

Jones will work with the agency on new business and development and on refining the company strategy. He brings with him 13 years’ experience in broadcasting and content creation and has enjoyed stints at Absolute Radio, the BBC and ITV. Jones will remain in his current position of creative director at Maple Street Studios, a producer of audio and visual advertising and content.

John Kimbell, managing partner at Navigate Digital, said: “The lines between digital and audio/visual media are blurring, and brands need content and campaigns that extend across multiple platforms. It’s really exciting to be working with Ben as he helps us to establish our credentials across the full range of media channels.”

Jones added: “People are demanding a more creative advertising approach and better content, whether through digital, audio or video. As a result the media space has utterly transformed in recent years.

“I’ll be working with the team at Navigate in an advisory capacity, helping steer brands through this new environment and help them engage with consumers across the entire spectrum of media at their disposal. It’s an exciting time to be a consumer and creator of content.”

Prior to the appointment, Jones worked with the digital agency in June on a campaign for Park Resorts.

Digital Cinema Media (DCM) has appointed former Aegis Media global brands CEO Nigel Sharrocks as non-executive chairman.

Sharrocks has been brought in to help the cinema advertising company grow cinema’s share of the media market and he brings previous experience from his roles at Warner Bros Pictures UK, Grey Advertising and MediaCom.

Simon Rees, CEO at DCM, said: “The appointment of Nigel reflects our commitment and ambition to grow and innovate within our company and the cinema sector.

“His experience, contacts and reputation across all aspects of our business will be invaluable in driving us forward.”

Sharrocks added: “The opportunity to work with Simon, his team and the DCM board has tempted me back into two industries that I love – media and film.”

During his time at Warner Bros, Sharrocks oversaw the release of the Harry Potter and Matrix franchises and in his time at Aegis Media he was responsible for global brand networks Carat, Vizeum and Posterscope.

It has been a frustrating wait for some, but many iPhone users are now finally getting their hands on Apple's iOS 7 software update - described by CEO Tim Cook as “the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone”.

The new look is the brainchild of Apple's product design guru Jony Ive, who has been ripping up and reimagining the iPhone's interface and apps since displacing former iOS head Scott Forstall in an acrimonious executive shake-up in 2012. The resulting 'flat' design is a radical departure from what iPhone users have become accustomed to.

So is it a success? We asked some top designers to give us their first impressions, and it's fair to say the responses were mixed...

Luxury brands are “terrified” of the impact of online, but the reality is pureplay and physical retail cannot exist in isolation, but must be multichannel to survive, according to founder and brand director of luxury watch retailer Watchfinder.

Speaking at Brighton Digital Marketing Festival, for which The Drum is media partner, Amsdon said it is consumer confidence in the brand which drives sales – not website traffic – and to build this confidence the former pureplay retailer had to launch a physical boutique.

“Consumer confidence in our brand is what drives conversions. We don’t care so much about website traffic, it doesn’t have an effect on net sales. A physical store is what gives customers confidence in the brand – they want a physical store when buying luxury items.

Watchfinder launched its first boutique in the Royal Exchange in London earlier this year, and saw sales spike as a result, according to Amsdon.

“Luxury brands are terrified of the impact of online but the reality is it doesn’t work unless it’s used within a multichannel mix, and that means physical experiences.

“People talk about younger generations not wanting the same experiences as middle-aged people like me, but the reality is middle-aged people like me can afford the [luxury] product and by the time they can they won’t necessarily want their £5,000 watch couriered over to them the same day, they will want to visit the store and maybe take a day out to do it, it’s all about the experience,” he said.

It has started investing some of its £35,000 monthly marketing budget towards geo-based email and paid search targeting to drive in-store footfall and sales.

“We have just started doing this within a five-mile radius of the Royal Exchange store and we have since sold £240,000 worth of watches just as a direct result of that one campaign, which only cost us about £1,600 to run,” he said.

Alongside its physical stores it has six production service centres which it uses to run events, in which it invites customers to come and watch the watched being made, which also builds respect and trust in the brand. Its boutique features restaurants to encourage people to take time when purchasing, and enjoy the experience of buying a luxury watch.

Watchfinder also has a digital magazine, which Amsdon said has helped the brand cultivate a voice and authority in the luxury watch market, and has led to opportunities to swap audience data with other media owners.

"We realised the key to ecommercce is not just product, it's important to provide a voice and the heritage of the brand, that's why we moved into publishing," he added.

The BBC is inviting design agencies of all sizes and specialisms to join its new BBC Digital Design Services roster, with up to seven agencies expected to be chosen

The agencies, which will be appointed from 1 April 2014, will be on the roster for between two and four years, over which time the BBC expects to reward between £3m and £4.5m in contracts.

Announcing the move, Colin Burns, executive creative director for BBC user experience and design, said: “We expect every agency selected for the roster to offer outstanding visual design and interaction design, but we also want our selection to show a diversity of other specialist skills, such as design strategy, design for children, prototyping, brand development, and so on.

“We are eager to be an excellent client, not just on paper, but also when working together day-to-day. We expect to start building strong working relationships with you right from the outset as you work through our selection process.”

Agencies selected will handle a number of the BBC’s digital products, as well as developing innovative new digital features and contributing to the BBC’s UX&D strategy.