Happy's marketing news - 26.05.17
It’s been a busy week in the marketing world, here’s what has caught our eye!
A Walkers campaign has been hijacked by consumers on social media, after the brand asked people to upload a selfie to potentially win tickets to the Champion’s League final.The #WalkersWave campaign allows consumers to tweet in a picture, after which a video is created automatically on the Walkers Twitter feed showing Gary Lineker holding up their picture and showing the individual doing a Mexican wave.However, instead of uploading selfies people have been sending in pictures of unsavoury people.
Social media firms are “shamefully far” from tackling illegal and dangerous content, says a parliamentary report. Hate speech, terror recruitment videos and sexual images of children all took too long to be removed, said the Home Affairs Select Committee report. The government should consider making the sites help pay to police content, it said.
Marks & Spencer has cut its marketing budget as it looks to get ‘more bang for its buck’ through an increased focus on social media and its Sparks loyalty card. The retailer spent £162.7m on marketing in its financial year to 1 April, £23m or 12.6% less than the year before. And while its CFO Helen Weir would not be drawn on budgets for this year, she said effectiveness is improving, with M&S getting more for less from its advertising campaigns.
Agencies are failing to evolve at the rate brands need. That is the clear conclusion of a new study into the client/agency relationship and how to make it fit for the future of marketing. The report, by UK-based market intelligence firm Creativebrief, questioned 50 agency CEOs and 50 brand CMOs about the changing role of agencies. It found that 68% of agency respondents and 72% of brands believe that ‘agency structures, processes and pace of delivery’ are not developing at the same rate as a brand’s needs.
As it continues to evolve its Stories function, Instagram is now testing direct response ads for the Snapchat-esque feature. It means consumers who look at ads in Instagram Stories can now be prompted by brands to sign-up for a service or install an app.
