Pitching is always a bone of contention for agencies (and clients of course), a practice to outsiders that seems like some kind of fetish imported from an ancient civilisation.
All industries have their beauty contests but none where it’s ramped up to the same degree. Agencies moaning about it raises a wry smile: if it’s so wrong and stressful why do it? Interesting to. note that the recent Sainsbury’s pitch was reportedly held under new ‘Pitch Positive’ guidelines, devised to streamline the process and one in which the agencies even got paid (we don’t know how much.)
Mother, which lost out to New Commercial Arts for Sainsbury’s, has won Jägermeister globally, utilising its new ‘Pitch it forward’ offer of donating the first year’s profit on the business to something which promotes creativity. The Great Pitch company has been looking into the hopes and fears of the cannon fodder who inhabit the trenches of new business. Its findings include, on competition: Competition is up across on three counts (‘agencies similar to us’, ‘new agencies’ or ‘in-house agencies’) with:
New business staff would like: *More respect for the role of business development: “A thank you once in a while.” There are lots of others but you get the drift. In practice there seems to be only one sure-fire way to win pitches: make clients want to hire you. If clients think you’re a winner, as they clearly do with James Murphy and David Golding at New Commercial Arts and, before that, adam&eve, then they’ll want to be a member of your club. Sadly this isn’t an option open to very many. via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/XSA0xGz
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Nomad is pleased to welcome award-winning editor Raj Ramnauth to their roster for US representation. Ramnauth is a celebrated creator of exceptional music videos such as “Life is Good” and “God’s Plan” with Drake, as well as “Con Altura” by Rosalia. He has lent his talents to several noteworthy film and brand initiatives, including Jason Day’s short documentary “Never Say Die” and campaigns for Budweiser and the Hockey Diversity Alliance, such as “Tape Out Hate”. Recently, Ramnauth edited the latest Hanes campaign, “The Invention of Comfort”, which was launched in early April, after joining Nomad. Ramnauth says, “It’s a very exciting time to join Nomad. While the company continues to expand, there is so much positive energy, creativity and growth happening.” “Raj’s addition to Nomad is well timed as the industry continues to blend entertainment and advertising, and he brings that in his work,” notes Nomad New York EP Julia Williams, who is thrilled to welcome him to the team. Glenn Martin, Partner and Director of Nomad, is thankful to have Raj Ramnauth on board as a part of their team. They have been keeping an eye on his career for some time now and have been impressed with the remarkable growth in his talent. Raj’s expertise in producing music videos is exceptional as he has the ability to perfectly synchronize visuals with the beats and rhythms of the music tracks. This unique skill is also evident in his commercials, making his work highly compelling. Ramnauth takes a very collaborative approach to the craft and looks forward to getting involved early in conceptual development. “My style is inspired by books I read on method acting. I immerse myself in the project and get into a flow state while cutting to produce something visceral; something people feel when they watch it.” Ramnauth is also a co-founder of Toronto-based editorial company Nimiopere. Additionally, Julia Williams remarks, “Raj embodies our enduring goal of producing visually compelling work for our clients. We are proud to have him as part of our team and look forward to seeing his continued growth and success.” via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/jOW8TX3 The changes mark the latest shakeup at Vice, a former media darling that has struggled to live up to its lofty valuation. In February, Vice said Nancy Dubuc was leaving the company after five years as CEO. Digital media companies are struggling as advertisers pull back from spending in an uncertain economy, and their remaining dollars go mostly to tech giants like Facebook and Google. Journalism can be expensive and less profitable than other forms of online content, making the business an easy target for cost-cutting. Last week, BuzzFeed Inc. shut down its news operation, and online publisher Insider Inc. said it’s cutting about 10% of its staff. —Bloomberg News via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/bwpDgaO Italy’s tourism ministry has launched a €9m travesty of a campaign that reimagines Botticelli’s Venus as a mini-skirted “virtual influencer” and includes stock footage of a Slovenian vineyard.
Venus is pictured taking a selfie in an empty St Mark’s Square in Venice, inviting people to come to the city even though, in real life, it’s so overcrowded that there is talk of introducing people counters and charging tourists an entry fee.
Agency Armando Testa is keeping quiet about the whole debacle, but plenty of prominent Italians are speaking out.
Florence’s Mayor, Dario Nardella, said: “We’re fighting against commercial exploitation that ridicules our artistic jewels, like the aprons showing the statue of David’s private parts and grotesque reproductions of works of art in stupid poses.” The Italian tourism minister, Daniela Santanche, a member of the far-right Brothers of Italy party, called critics of the campaign “snobs” and said the campaign is all about attracting young people. The slogan is “Open to meraviglia,” which means “Open to wonder.” Italy has plenty of wonders and deserves so much better than this.
via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/18y5eSB It’s hard to believe, but IKEA has been in Singapore for 45 years now. If you’ve ever been to one of their stores, you’re probably familiar with their famous free pencils. And let’s be honest, who hasn’t taken one home with them?
So what better way to celebrate a really long history, than to launch a long version of the iconic IKEA pencil? In fact, a really really long one – so long that it needed to be posted as a carousel on Instagram. From April 27th to May 1st, supporters of IKEA can head to any of their stores located in Singapore. By doing so, they will have the opportunity to win a unique long pencil, as well as participate in other long-themed social events and in-store experiences. via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/3La4u2E “We anticipate that it will take time for some of our advertisers to fully recover and for our models to become better tuned to their new objectives,” the company said. The stock is up 17% this year through Thursday’s close. The company posted a net loss of $329 million, compared to the $360 million average analyst estimate. More news: Levi’s hires Snap CMO Snapchat had 383 million users daily in the first quarter, in line with analyst estimates. The time people spend watching content on Snapchat, with the majority of the increase on the short video feed called Spotlight. Still, average revenue per user fell to $2.58 from $3.20 in the quarter a year earlier, impacted by less spending by marketers on digital ads. via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/e5IL7SE Anti-ageism may be gathering force in the ad industry. Beck’s has now introduced a new 70+ beer, suitably packaged in a silver-grey can and made with a new formula that caters to pensioners’ palates.
The accompanying campaign by AKQA shows a “mature” woman having her ID checked, to make sure she meets the 70+ age limit for customers. Rodrigo Barbosa, creative director at AKQA, said: “With new behaviours in everyday life, maturity takes on a different meaning in today’s society. Today, ageing well is being able to continue enjoying all the most delicious experiences in life – including a great beer.”
He goes on to talk about the work being “a dialogue with the pro-aging culture movement,” although a bunch of OAPs behaving badly has a lot in common with Ron Howard’s 1985 film “Cocoon.” It’s hard not to look patronising when you put elderly ravers on screen, but full marks for keeping the issue of ageism on the agenda. The video is age restricted, so the curious will have to go on to YouTube to watch the full 60-seconds.
MAA creative scale: 6 via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/jX3DfQl Full-Service Creative Studio Welcomes Back Filmmaker Known For His Work In Automotive and Fashion Worlds Proving wrong the old Thomas Wolfe quote about how ‘you can never go home again,’ Hudson – the full-service creative boutique founded in 2013 by director Larry August, his late business partner, EP Audrey Pask, and Managing Director Kristin Redman – has reunited with acclaimed commercial director Anthony Garth. The Detroit native joins a directorial roster that includes August, as well as directors Brett Warkentien, Peter Klein, Jacob Reed, Rachel Harms, Jako, and Cale Glendening. See Garth’s reel here on Hudson’s website August notes that Hudson’s relationship with Garth goes back to 2007 when he was a leading director at production company Avalon Films. In 2021 Avalon Films and Hudson Edit merged to form the current Hudson – a move that brought in Wiebke Engel as Executive Producer. “We’ve been hoping to bring somebody like Anthony, but to actually have him here drives home the relevance of the production side of our studio,” August says. “Anthony is incredibly well-respected in the Midwest for his jaw-dropping car spots, but also around the globe for his incredible fashion and music video work. We see this as a huge step forward for our production arm that immediately puts us on every agency producer’s short-list for that challenging assignment that needs expertise in production and post.” August adds, “The level of great work that Anthony has done over the years, some of that work in collaboration with the post artists here at Hudson, we feel like this begins a new chapter in the history of Hudson, and we’re all happy to get Anthony back in the family.” Balancing Imagery, Mood, and Storytelling But from Garth’s perspective, automotive and fashion directing are similar in many respects in terms of their marketing approach. “Just like fashion, automotive is a lifestyle brand, the marketing often is not just about the car driving down the road and you envisioning yourself driving that car,” Garth says. “It’s about living the lifestyle that the car signifies, in much the same fashion marketing does. Fashion, cars, music videos – it all comes full circle under ‘lifestyle.’” Garth adds the exciting part for him is returning to a company he helped build. “I was there helping get Hudson off the ground, working with Larry and Audrey in the beginning, and to see it grow into a respected company and force in the Midwest market is gratifying. They have built a polished, well-run machine, and I’m looking forward to adding to its well-earned reputation.” via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/gnrqXcb Amazon.com Inc. reported quarterly profit that topped estimates on its cost cuts and surprisingly strong sales in the cloud-computing division, a sign the retailer’s business is weathering an uncertain economy. The shares gained about 8% in extended trading. First-quarter revenue increased 9.4% to $127.4 billion, the Seattle-based company said Thursday in a statement, above expectations for $124.7 billion. Operating income was $4.8 billion. Analysts, on average, projected $3 billion. More: Amazon DSP measurement—what brands are getting wrong The world’s largest online retailer and cloud-computing provider has been working for more than a year to streamline its businesses to adjust to slowing sales growth in online shopping and its Amazon Web Services division. The company is cutting 27,000 jobs, the largest such cull in its history, with the latest round of layoffs announced Wednesday landing mostly on employees of AWS, its cloud unit. via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/05Ox9pe Interpublic’s organic growth went into reverse in Q1 2023, down 0.2% with revenue of $2.18bn, a 2.3% decrease on 2022. It’s worth emphasising that the ad holding companies measure organic growth in slightly different ways, important when the difference between the seemingly good and bad is so narrow.
CEO Philippe Krakowsky blamed technology client cutbacks (Microsoft is a biggie), a sector that suffered generally in the US late last year. The cutbacks likely prompted redundancies at IPG’s digital agencies, including R/GA. Krakowsky (above) says: “In our first quarter, the services and capabilities that have led our substantial multi-year growth, notably media, healthcare and data-informed practices, continued to perform well, with strong growth that was offset by certain areas of softness, notably among marketers in the technology sector. The result was a slight decline in first quarter organic revenue.
“Financial results in the quarter are consistent with our internal forecast of pacing for the full year, both overall and across each of our operating segments. Since the start of the year, we have won a number of the industry’s most competitive account reviews, encompassing a diverse set of services and client sectors, which increasingly benefits our outlook as we move further into the year. During the quarter, we also demonstrated ongoing strong expense discipline. “We continue to expect full-year organic growth at the midpoint of our range of 2% – 4%.” The numbers from Publicis, Omnicom, WPP, Havas and now IPG suggest that Publicis is well ahead of the game with a growth rate of 7.1%. Omnicom is up 5.2%, WPP 2.9% (it says that if computed like Omnicom’s the figure would be 4.9%) and Havas, now part of Vivendi, 1.1%.
With an uncertain economic outlook (to put it mildly), cutting costs is likely to be as big a part of what they do in 2023 as fuelling growth – as IPG’s Krakowski acknowledges. via Digital Marketing Education https://ift.tt/dFnfJHL |
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