Most read: MEC wins Media Agency of the Year at ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 Media Awards
after picking up awards in four categories, ±±¾©Èü³µpk10's Gurjit Degun writes.
MEC won gongs in the Financial, Corporate and Utilities, and the Chairman’s Awards for Innovation for "how a radiator key unlocked a whole new market" for HomeServe; The Bloomberg Data and Creativity Award for "sugar accumulator" for Public Health England; and Best Use of Research for "the fomometer" for Netflix.
PHD and Talon took home Media ±±¾©Èü³µpk10 of the Year for "the Oreo eclipse" for Mondelez International.
Read on for a and watch interviews with some of the winners below.
Men on the moon: Aldi created John Lewis spoof 'spontaneously', reveals marketing boss
Aldi's spoof of John Lewis's Christmas ad continues to interest Brand Republic readers (especially ).
Marketing's Shona Ghosh has and discovered the idea was reactive, taking a mere ten days from script sign off to airing. Here are the quotes from the story:
A wry sense of humour is one of the key elements of our brand identity and something that has helped us resonate with consumers since 2011, when our very first ‘Like Brands’ campaign was launched.
Adam Zavalis, UK marketing director, Aldi
[...]
We have a strategy and a defined vision for the brand, but in such a competitive landscape we need to be flexible and dynamic to be able to react to appropriate opportunities.
[...]
We can’t comment for other marketers, but at Aldi, we focus on putting customers first and creating content that consumers will find engaging and enjoy.
[...]
The overwhelmingly positive responses across social media seem to suggest that this execution has resonated with customers up and down the land.
Black Friday: Who on earth is taking part in this mess?
We stayed well out of the Black Friday bunfight. Many didn't though, as evidenced by the number of websites that struggled with the volume of traffic ().
It seems had little effect. may be paying dividends.
But just who is responsible for this craziness? It's the consumer, obviously, it's always their fault, but in this age of segmentation and targeting let's be more specific. On The Wall, Experian's James Miller . Here are the tendencies of today's marauding spender:
Experian data reveals that the participants of the Black Friday shopping spree tend to be between 36- and 55-years-old, and live in family groups, often with children. They are likely to earn mid-range salaries or be affluent (£50k+ per year). This group is also more likely to live outside the city centre in suburban or residential locations, placing strain on delivery networks. The Black Friday shopper is a Facebook user and a regular consumer of content on mobile devices, making it easier for them to seek out the latest online deals.
Read on for the spotters .
Lads' mags: Post-mortems
The dust has settled since , and two of the men's publications still standing have weighed in on what caused former titans of the sector to topple.
Speaking in the week that his stylish, aspirational magazine hit 400 issues, Shortlist's editor Martin Robinson spoke with ±±¾©Èü³µpk10's Gideon Spanier and explained that :
Equality in the workplace, the new feminism and the rise of social media mean men are very aware of the image they’re portraying. You don’t want to be showing yourself off as a ‘lad mag face’ [on social media]. You want to give that message you’re a professional – a bit stylish and aspirational.
Earlier this week, Mimi Turner, marketing director of viral behemoth The Lad Bible, argued that :
Our audience see themselves as good lads, smart lads, clever lads, determined lads, brave lads, resourceful lads, dad lads and funny lads. The vast majority want to do good things, get on, have fun with their mates and try to be good people. That’s their definition of what a "lad" is.
Under the microscope, they are probably little different from their 90s counterparts. The problem for FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo is that their emphasis on print meant they were unable to build an accurate map of who the audience really was and what they cared about.
Strange that no-one mentioned the "P" word, no? Soft or otherwise.
Virals: A heart-warming Christmas ad from Spain
Unruly bring our attention to this Pixar-esque tale of a security guard who works in a mannequin factory. It's , which Unruly explain "is the second longest continuously running lottery in the world and its payouts (the largest of which is known as ‘El Gordo’, the fat one) are famed for their size." It's well worth a watch, and perhaps a little weep. Damn you gentle piano music.
Read , or see what ranked on this week.
Compiled by Jonathan Shannon
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