Jo Cooke

Omar Oakes in The Media Leader UK on the increasing gulf between the media that produce content with its attendant cost and risk versus those that take their content from users, without risk and where the 'cost' is revenue share (hardly the same thing). Advertising spend performs several functions including provision of the funding for high quality content to advertise in. Making good content is a risky business and if media owners don't get the ad revenues they need, they will rely more heavily on lower cost and less risky content. Or eventually disappear. Too much of advertisers' money goes into their extended supply-chains, intermediaries and media that has no content cost or risk and which is less effective at reaching audiences and delivering business. Time to reassess... https://lnkd.in/emDgMxQN

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As ever an insightful article in The Media Leader regarding the GB News and Ofcom situation from Ray Snoddy There is a possibility that GB News are actively undermining the right wing vote by adding to the split between the Conservatives and Reform, thus helping Labour. The presence on GB News of Nigel Farage, a vocal critic of the Conservatives, will reinforce this rift. If so, the losses that Ray refers to in the article will have been even less well-spent.

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UK consumers cut their entertainment spending by £3 over the last year according to the latest Video Trends Report from TiVo. Surprising to me at least is that 43% of those surveyed still buy or rent content transactionally (so-called TVOD) & spend £18.91 a month on buying an average 7.4 titles a year - a finding that will please Liz Bales & the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) which has tirelessly championed that business model. The £3 reduction in overall entertainment spending was the result of 18.7% significantly cutting their expenditure & another 37% slightly reducing it.

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Time, please Government statistics show that on average 50 pubs a month in England and Wales closed their doors for the final time in the first half of 2024. Pubs have a long and storied history in the UK, stretching back over a thousand years. They are a central part of British culture and identity. Their origins can be traced to Roman taverns and Anglo-Saxon alehouses, where locals would gather to drink ale and cider. By the Middle Ages, these establishments had evolved into inns and public houses, where travellers would rest and refresh themselves. Over time, pubs became a cornerstone of community life, serving not just as places to drink but as venues for socialising, exchanging news and conducting business. As Britain industrialised, the number of pubs grew, particularly in urban areas where they became a focal point for working-class social life. Local pubs became part of the fabric of communities, often tied to specific trades, sports clubs or even political movements. The pint is as much a part of British pub culture as the pub itself. A pint has been a legally defined unit of measure since 1698. It is though much more than a unit of measure. There’s something distinctly British about ordering "a pint"—it’s not just about the volume, it’s the ritual of sharing a drink. The glass itself - sturdy yet simple - is there to be held, clinked and refilled. A pint is part of what makes a pub a pub. While many countries serve beer in smaller or varied sizes, the British pint (568 ml) is a symbol of consistency and tradition. Its continued use underscores the enduring appeal of pub culture and the importance of preserving age-old customs in a rapidly changing world. Pubs and pints remain a defining part of British identity. Even in an age of global chains, homogenised high streets and modern bars, the traditional pub—with its wooden interiors, cosy corners, and familiar faces—remains a beloved British institution. And though pubs are closing at an alarming rate, it’s too soon to call last orders.

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Ads, ads, ads - now in Roblox at scale (as announced this week) and they’re ALL over Meta, but there’s a problem… for Gen Z at least. Firstly, I’ve seen people share the chart below citing its significance in terms of the shift away from TV advertising. Big news indeed, “Meta is set to OVERTAKE global linear TV in adspend in 2025 with the average user Reels session now featuring 7 or more ads” But those of us that work with young media users have seen the shift to social search instead of Google search, and crucially we’ve seen something else, how Gen Z don’t much like ads. 7 or more ads in a Reels session? According to NCS, 58% of this generation doesn’t like advertisements that interrupt their enjoyment of content. And per Adweek - “Gen Z consumers are notoriously ad-averse, with 99% hitting “skip” on ads and 63% using ad blockers to avoid advertising” OK… So whilst we know this group spend huge amounts of time on Roblox it’s not enough to stick up a load of ads and connect with them authentically. The ad load on Facebook has grown hugely 👇🏻 (one of the reasons I no longer use it) and the ad load on Roblox is about to increase too. Will that increase churn with this younger group? It’s a real possibility, and will they take any notice of ads in Roblox? As adept ad dodgers perhaps not. One thing is certain, it’s going to require a completely different strategy and creative. So how to make them resonate with this audience? The creative has to be spot on - culturally relevant, aligned with their values and funny. There needs to be UGC reward for engaging with a video ad - they’re giving you their attention, it doesn’t come free! And perhaps most importantly ads should prompt or encourage users to tap into their community by sharing on social. The era of mass advertising on Roblox is upon us. Will Gen Z embrace it or flock elsewhere? 🤔🤔

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Vorsprung durch Technik. Last week, while washing the pots, a familiar yet elusive voice on BBC Radio 4 caught my ear. It was Sir John Hegarty on 'The Media Show,' discussing AI. His voice & words catapulted me back in time. Reminding me about an anecdote about Audi’s legendary slogan, 'Vorsprung durch Technik,' which means 'progress through technology.' Interestingly, this slogan was serendipitously discovered on a wall during a factory tour in Germany. This line has long resonated with me, but its significance has deepened amidst the current surge in emerging technologies and the dramatic shifts we’re witnessing in consumer behaviour, media, and marketing. Today, as we navigate these changes, reactions vary widely. Some view rapid technological advancements as a threat, akin to a horror movie peering through their fingers, terrified that AI might replace their jobs or that blockchain is merely a scam. Others, however, are the adventurers who embrace these innovations, using them to enhance and transform their work, creating better rewards, experiences, relationships, ideas, and deliveries. What excites me the most is how emerging tech combined with evolving brand values is crafting a vast new playground for creativity. Marketing is no longer just about selling, it’s about creating genuine connections and sparking meaningful conversations with communities. It's about resonating with fans through active participation, engaging experiences, rewarding behaviors, and sometimes even shared ownership. To me, 'Vorsprung durch Technik' has evolved from a mere slogan to a personal mantra. It’s a call to arms in this brave new world of brand interaction, continuously pushing my thinking towards innovations like Immersive Access, Blockchain, and Advanced Computing. It challenges me to question how and if these advancements can truly enhance our outcomes. Embracing this philosophy is where the magic happens. Progress through technology isn’t just a pathway, it’s the journey I’m excited to be on. #Marketing #Advertising #Web3 #AI #Blockchain #ImmersiveAccess #Community #Audi

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52 Quintillion Eno Films: How Technology Unlocks Our Creative Potential As Vivid Sydney drew to a close this weekend for another year, it continued to deliver on its unique experiences. My favourite visit this year was the Brian Eno documentary produced by Gary Hustwit at the Sydney Opera House. Each viewing of the film was and will forever be unique, thanks to a computer aptly named BrainOne. With 52 quintillion potential variations, the film draws a parallel to Brian Eno's approach to creativity, who is known for embracing unpredictability and randomness to foster innovation. Similarly, the film uses technology to introduce variability, allowing viewers to make their own unique connections and interpretations. This concept of leveraging the unexpected was highlighted through the use of Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategies’ used to punctuate the film. A creative tool designed to push boundaries and encourage the exploration of new directions. An example referenced in the documentary I watched appeared during a recording session with David Bowie, where the oblique strategy card reading "Use an old idea" inspiring Bowie to revisit earlier riffs and explore new creative territories. Hustwit’s approach to this documentary underscored the value of unpredictability in creativity. And as I reflected on this in relation to my day to day experience of AI at Meta, it served to remind me of the dual capability AI has both to predict with accuracy, but also relax these predictive thresholds and enter a more exploratory mode, working alongside human imagination to build new connections, transforming randomness into creativity.

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New NTIA Consumer Survey Results - Supported by Adam Smith Institute and Obsurvant we received over 2000 respondents to the survey! With some really interesting results which will debunk the idea that there has been a significant market shift!! The reality is that people cannot afford to go out due to a shift in financial circumstances... Snapshot Results below.... *52% Not Being Able to Afford to Go Out *44% Say Labour Stands Out as Most Supportive of Nightlife & Culture *68% for 18-24 year-olds respondents participate in social activities several times a week or more. *43% attended cultural events at least once a month over the past six months. *76% felt impacted by the inability to go out during the COVID-19 pandemic *37% indicated that lower drink prices would encourage them to go out more frequently, with better late-night transport cited by 23%. *Dining out is the most popular activity (55%) / Younger respondents favour going to the cinema, playing sports, and attending nightclubs. If you want to read more click the link below: https://buff.ly/3VIJ0Ad

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New NTIA Consumer Survey Results - Supported by Adam Smith Institute and Obsurvant we received over 2000 respondents to the survey! With some really interesting results which will debunk the idea that there has been a significant market shift!! The reality is that people cannot afford to go out due to a shift in financial circumstances... Snapshot Results below.... *52% Not Being Able to Afford to Go Out *44% Say Labour Stands Out as Most Supportive of Nightlife & Culture *68% for 18-24 year-olds respondents participate in social activities several times a week or more. *43% attended cultural events at least once a month over the past six months. *76% felt impacted by the inability to go out during the COVID-19 pandemic *37% indicated that lower drink prices would encourage them to go out more frequently, with better late-night transport cited by 23%. *Dining out is the most popular activity (55%) / Younger respondents favour going to the cinema, playing sports, and attending nightclubs. If you want to read more click the link below: https://buff.ly/3VIJ0Ad

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“You're making suggestions of how to change market share on the basis of a model that cannot handle change, or whose main assumption is that the market share won't change. So that’s a problem in application.” Thomaz suggests that’s why large CPG firms and the multinational brewers that followed the Sharp/Ehrenberg-Bass playbook, because it tallied with their short-term sales data, were ambushed by nimble differentiated start-ups, direct-to-consumer players and microbreweries.

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You can hear my audio description (written for eps 2, 4, 6 and 8) in the latest season of Clarkson's Farm!

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And here we have it. The #DisabilityPayGap as outlined by Dr Shani Dhanda. From today, #DisabledEmployees will be working for free until the end of the year. This Disability Pay Gap has reached £4,300 per year. Looking at it another way, it’s 17.2% with non disabled employees earning on average £2.35 more per hour. Read the details below & then take action! Anyone can invest in / back / buy from #DisabledLedOrganisations #DisabledLedBusinesses #DisabledSoleTraders #DisabledEntrepreneurs

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Has the use of QR codes to engage with TV ads already peaked? This North American consumer survey data from TiVo seems to suggest so. Over 25% claimed to have scanned a QR code in a TV show or ad a year ago, but that has now dropped to less than 20%. Unsurprisingly it is the younger demographics who are most likely to engage with any form of interactive ad but willingness to scan a QR code is consistent across all income levels. #advertising

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It's been a busy week! What started as a bit of personal curiosity turned into a full blown analysis of voter and party search interest, culminating in a geo-mapped constituency-level prediction of today's results. So many interesting points. From the breadth of reach across economically disenfranchised audiences for Reform (it's the economy, stupid - not immigration!), through to the 1200% uplift in tactical voting search as Best For Britain released their guide to getting the Tories out (and blocking Reform). Not everything made the final edit, but hopefully you find the below as interesting to read as I did to research. So. 217 seat Labour majority is my prediction. Let's see how far off we end up!

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This is a shocking stat. About 1 in 7, or 14%, of people are neurodivergent. This means that **10% of the entire UK workforce** doesn't feel comfortable disclosing their neurodivergence to their employer. It should be a sobering wake-up call to all employers in the UK: you might think you have a disability-friendly environment, but you probably don't. Not disclosing is sometimes because employees want to avoid the stigma of having a "label". But more often, and I know this from speaking to people who haven't, it's because they don't see any way in which their employer might help them. As an employer, the best things you can do are: ✅ educate yourself about the various neurodivergent conditions - 14% of your workforce are ND, so take the time to understand it ✅ speak to the charities and support bodies about possible adjustments ✅ figure out the adjustments you could provide for each condition ✅ proactively announce the available adjustments to the whole company ✅ regularly state in all-company meetings that you want any ND employees to know they can disclose and will have immediate support to help get the best out of them As an individual, navigating your own neurodiversity can be daunting. Trying to assess your own behaviour and pick apart what is your condition and what's just your personality is incredibly hard, never mind figuring out what support you might need to address particular elements of it. The more employers can demonstrate an ability to be proactive in their support, the more ND employees will feel able to disclose, leading to greater productivity for all.

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Do you believe that segmenting media into brand v performance is "the most unhelpful bit of language the industry has come up with"? Its for sure that the ProfitAbility 2 study has come up with some really interesting debates and suggesting that instead of looking at performance versus brand, marketers should be considering the three dimensions of effectiveness being scale, efficiency and time is definitely one of them. #mediaplanning #results

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New NTIA Consumer Survey Results out today - Supported by Adam Smith Institute and Obsurvant we received over 2000 respondents to the survey! With some really interesting results which will debunk the idea that there has been a significant market shift!! The reality is that people cannot afford to go out due to a shift in financial circumstances... Snapshot Results below.... *52% Not Being Able to Afford to Go Out *44% Say Labour Stands Out as Most Supportive of Nightlife & Culture *68% for 18-24 year-olds respondents participate in social activities several times a week or more. *43% attended cultural events at least once a month over the past six months. *76% felt impacted by the inability to go out during the COVID-19 pandemic *37% indicated that lower drink prices would encourage them to go out more frequently, with better late-night transport cited by 23%. *Dining out is the most popular activity (55%) / Younger respondents favour going to the cinema, playing sports, and attending nightclubs. If you want to read more click the link below: https://buff.ly/3VIJ0Ad

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