Julian Douglas

A dragon accent favourite from BBC's latest advert: The power of an #accent should not be undermined - ⭐ Accents hold significant influence in #advertising, captivating and resonating with audiences on a deep emotional level. ⭐They evoke cultural connotations, triggering memories and #associations unique to each listener. ⭐Accents infuse #authenticity and #credibility into brand messages, fostering trust and rapport with diverse demographics. ⭐They inject personality and charisma into advertisements, making them #memorable and compelling.

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👀 Sally Weavers Craft Media London 💛 🧠 In a profile for Campaign, Publicis Media UK chief executive Niel Bornman set out his vision to "disrupt the media model" as he claimed media plans are too often a “copy, paste” exercise and lack creativity. Generative AI is one of the ways he proposed to improve the model to help planners unlock their creativity. He said: “We're in this space now, where it's a bit of art, a bit of science and where we're going with it is this idea of the human bringing the art and the AI bringing the science. We’re not in that space where the human can bring the science any more because it's just too much data.” Sally Weavers, founder, Craft Media  Yes… but there are probably a few things at play. No-one ever goes to work to do an average job. Is the brief the same? It often is and if clients “copy, paste” briefs from the previous year and the (often too junior) agency team just answer the brief without interrogation, then I can see how media plans start to look the same year on year. Is there an assumption that the answer is classic advertising? Because it often isn’t. Modern marketing challenges require more than an advertising campaign to solve their issue. It should be comms strategy, not channel, first. We turn down clients who ask us to plan their (radio) campaign. Is it planning by numbers? If the client is a disciple of Byron Sharp, a slave to econometrics and beholden to like-for-like sales then there’s often not much wriggle room for planners. If you fancy seeing how we 'craft' a plan that is bespoke to you then get in touch https://lnkd.in/eJMgFxfN

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2.3m people working in the Creative Sector await bold policies after the election, for an industry that contributes 6% to goods and services. Sir Peter Bazalgette explains why more investment is needed. The UK economy resembles Rip van Winkle, awakening slowly. Despite many policy promises in this election, realising them hinges on achieving better growth. The creative industries are crucial to this. Recognised as a priority by the previous government, the sector has responded, recovering significantly from Covid. The creative sector contributes 6% to the UK's goods and services and employs 2.3 million people. Positioned at the core of the digital economy, it has immense potential with support policies; gaming software, immersive screen productions, AI in advertising, fashion's 3D printing, and university spinouts in "createch." But the UK hasn't fully embraced its potential. Public investment in the creative industries is a mere 1%, lower than other growth sectors, despite yielding substantial returns. In 2018, UK Research and Innovation invested £56 million in nine creative clusters across screen, games, fashion, and AI. Over five years, this investment attracted an impressive £252 million from industry sources.  A second "creative industries clusters programme" with backing from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, was approved, pending a review. The Science and Technology Council has also explored investment opportunities by visiting key organisations last year. Their conclusion: public investment should mirror the sector's size and growth potential. The inquiry also called for better R&D definition for tax credits. The UK lags behind Germany, France, and South Korea. The British Business Bank, tasked with attracting private investment into SMEs, isn't meeting the creative sector's needs. Its criteria don't align with creative businesses' models. To tackle this, Creative UK, suggests a Bank of Creativity, modelled after Better Society Capital, which has successfully leveraged £3 billion into social enterprises with an initial £925 million. This idea merits consideration by the next government. When the creative sector thrives, it benefits the broader economy: advertising and music enhance national brands, fashion boosts retail, design is vital to manufacturing, and game software aids in developing autonomous cars. The sector's annual exports exceed £50 billion. The sector's influence extends beyond economics to culture and society. It reflects national values and enriches public discourse, exemplified by artists like Adele and Ed Sheeran, socially positive games like Runescape and LittleBigPlanet, architectural achievements like the John Morden retirement centre, and impactful media like ITV's Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which sparked national outrage. This sector is the nation's heartbeat. If the UK fully recognises the creative sector's potential, the rewards will be remarkable.

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⚠️Risk taking - a key theme of Media 360 day 1. 🤖Covering everything from AI to customer insight the sessions have had some great commentary including a brilliant discussion on how brands can embrace risk in a pannel with Victoria Simpson - Clarke Ndubuisi Uchea , Linn Frost, Vicky Handley Dom Hyams Dave Edwards Todays nuggets: 💥 brands don’t just need to stand out against competitors, or in their category. They need to stand out against the noise of content consumers are surrounded with, the risk of being ignored is great if brands don’t consider this 📣 brands should think about engagement and attention, not just reach to make sure their messages are heard. Bold thinking with strong creative is the best way to capitalise on this 💯70% of people feel brands get it wrong when representing marginalised communities - inclusivity and diversity doesn’t have to be complex to be effective. It is risky for brands to NOT reflect their customers 👶 focus on the lived experience of your brand - take a risk, don’t just think beautiful creative, think about what the people who buy your brand (or you want to buy your brand) think 📰 15-29 year olds are actively dedicating deep attention to news content - particularly on social media. Take risks and break out from traditional advertising methods to engage this audience #Media360 #BrandBuilding #SocialMedia

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Jaguar UK launched its latest logo and branding for it’s line of…….. of what? (That’s the question). After watching this video a few times I am still puzzled as to what they are trying to do with the brand. “Copy nothing” means absolutely nothing (no pun intended) when most people don’t even know what Jaguar stands for anymore. It used to stand for an English luxury car in the 80s and 90s and then it went nowhere. Now, with this branding exercise they had blurred their branding even further moving it from the cars/vehicles category into…. Fashion? Clothing? A runaway company in SoHo? Quite curious to find out how other marketers feel about this latest rebranding effort from the former English high-end car manufacturer.

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💪 Just Do It: A Call to Action for the Ad Industry Drawing on lessons from Nike’s founder, for his latest column in Campaign UK, our Founding Partner and Chairman, Charles Vallance challenges the common criticisms of the advertising industry; he emphasises that these claims can be contradicted by positive metrics like export growth and increasing employment. He notes that the criticisms include low morale, declining relevance, a broken business model, and slipping standards. He says "These claims make headlines and may have some truth to them. But they are seldom backed up by concrete evidence. They tend to rely on assertion more than metrics." Some of the contrary metrics and positive trends include an increase in export growth.  “Notwithstanding a claimed decline in relevance, we're doing surprisingly well as an exporter, with annual growth running at 17% (according to UKAEG).” Despite talks of the Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting, our workforce is also growing (2022 vs. 2023 IPA Census). He advocates for focusing on solutions and maintaining high creative standards, citing successful initiatives and the competitive excellence within global agencies. Speaking for VCCP he notes “Our creative standards have never been higher. We're part of a global network of agencies producing excellent work, driving us to continually improve. We thrive on optimism, embracing new technologies and platforms. When faced with issues like social mobility or regional divides, we seek solutions, such as Upriser or our Stoke Academy, with plans to expand to the US.” Charles emphasises the importance of a clear vision and manifesto, saying, "Something all successful enterprises have in common is a clear north star. A profound grasp of why they exist, the agenda they are here to set and the creative vision they will accordingly deliver." He cites the timeless advice of Nike's founder, Phil Knight: 'Assume Nothing,' 'Perfect results count—not a perfect process,' 'This is as much about battle as about business,' and 'Your job isn't done until the job is done.' In the spirit of 'Just Do It, Charles calls on the industry to produce work we can be proud of, leveraging our strengths, and embracing future opportunities. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eUpGQjTQ

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A really good piece today in The Media Leader UK from EssenceMediacom UK's Chief Strategy Officer, Richard Kirk. Sharing an unpublished chart (see comments) from our £1.8bn econometrically-fuelled Profit Ability 2 study, he suggests that "spend in paid social for large brands may be treble the optimal level for growth" and that "Linear TV for big brands could be delivering much more with a boost in investment, with online video also offering headroom for growth." Addressing the "Well, obviously Thinkbox would say that" elephant in the room, Richard states: "...the dataset here is collated from brands’ own econometric data, across a series of agencies and auditors. No data capture or analysis has been undertaken by Thinkbox itself. Ebiquity and WPP, brands that trade on their neutrality in media, have done the work and built this tool." #TV #TVAdvertising #Advertising #MarketingEffectiveness Jane Christian, Olga Zaitseva, Dominic Charles, Matthew Chappell, Nic Pietersma Thinkbox | ITV Media | Channel 4 Sales | Sky Media UK

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The UK feels really heavy right now and it's hard to know how you can help when you work in advertising, essentially encouraging people to buy more stuff. But I encourage my network to take a minute, check in on your colleagues and then get down to business, ensuring that you are investing your ad budgets intentionally and meaningfully. First things first, drive revenue to publications that give voice to communities being affected by the carnage, secondly ensure that the media you are buying delivers on your brand's core values and ensure your brand is showing up in an authentic and well judged way. And when you're done with all that, here are some amazing charities you can support either personally or through corporate donations: Refugees at Home Hope at Home Stand Up to Racism Hope not Hate Migrant Voice Women for Refugee Women Refugee Action Choose Love Amnesty UK Unicef British Red Cross Refugee Council Care4Calais Runnymede Trust Be well and keep safe xx

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Just a little bit excited to get this out into the world today! We've been busy working in the background on our brand positioning refresh and the launch of our new Offectiveness™  measurement tools and methodology. Head to our website to find out more https://o.agency/ 🙌🏻 As the glue that holds everything together, Offectiveness™ is a new way to understand the impact of your marketing and challenge the ordinary when it comes to marketing ROI in the earned and paid space. #ChallengeTheOrdinary

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🤔 How can agencies adapt to serve the changing role of CMO? Our Senior Provocation Partner Wander Bruijel joined the debate on The Drum to share his views on the matter. He argues that, whilst CMO’s are being propelled to the centre of organisations (or even out of them), there is a danger this will shift their focus to the short-term. Although agencies need to support CMO's in delivering the short-term, he thinks agencies should aim to challenge them to keep their heads out of the weeds. Read more through the link below. ⬇ #bornugly #thedrum #cmo

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Who needs information when you have advertising? The OOH mavens say the great thing about outdoor is it can't be skipped, blocked avoided etc. But you know what? If people want to skip, block and avoid your ads, well, eventually they'll figure out a way (see below), even with outdoor. People love great content, which sometimes happens to be advertising... https://lnkd.in/eahAmPtt

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Executive Director Nick Blythe features in PRWeek to discuss the key areas of investment for PR companies as part of the annual PR Week Top 150 consultancies report, which BLUE has featured in for the past eight years.     Nick comments on the need for organisation to effectively position themselves on the right side of the sustainability debate, particularly in markets that are experiencing such dynamic change.    Nick said: "The specialist marine and renewable energy sectors are being driven by the drive for decarbonisation and sustainability…more and more organisations are now recognising the importance of investing in their brands to stand out, influence, protect reputation and effectively manage this change.  That’s why we’re investing in a properly integrated approach to ensure that we have as much control as possible over our clients’ brands and that they are effectively represented at every touchpoint.”    https://lnkd.in/ezPuD5TJ   #MaritimePR #RenewableEnergyPR #PRWeek #Top150 

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A lot of industry talks seems to be going on at the moment about how marketing should work to reduce carbon footprint in digital advertising campaigns 🌳 📣 🌍     At the same time there seems to be a gap between this stated will and actual actions taken by most advertisers. Despite saying quality and green aspects are important in the media buying, I most often see brands end up prioritizing quantity over quality. That being more reach and cheap impressions and ad contacts over sustainable campaigning. You can actually take some easy actions to reduce carbon footprint in digital advertising. Here’s a guiding top 10 list of actions to look into:    1. Demand use of local server distribution of ad impressions 2. Demand “green ad hosting” in general. Pay a little extra and feel good.  3. Leverage programmatic and geo-contextual opportunities to minimize unnecessary data transmission instead of hammering everybody  4. Invest in optimizing landing pages more  5. Run fewer campaigns and leverage owned and earned media opportunities more  6. Invest in green sustainability projects to compensate for your digital CO2 emissions  7. Reduce ad frequency. Spam and hyper-frequency are not God (and users hate it btw) 8. Use super light ad formats based on WebGL instead of HTML (less load on transmission) 9. Compress images, videos and multimedia to hit technical and visual sweet spot 10. Run campaigns with 25% fewer impressions but with better creatives that deliver +25% better performance (and better memorability)    Actions 1 to 7 is on you. We at I Love Mobile can help you on 8 to 10. And it is very easy to make it happen. We actually provide a calculated number for how much CO2 you have saved on your campaign, when running NEXD formats vs. standard ads.   What are you doing to “become more green” in your own or your clients digital media campaigns?    I’m curious to find out how much the green topic is actually reflected in the media buying. Is it just talks and hot air, or is the mentality changing out there? Thoughts? #advertising #sustainability #digitalmarketing 

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Do you want to talk about elephants in the room like advertising x consumption x sustainability? In this new report from the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) we’re beginning to. We hope this is the start of a meaningful debate about the powerful influence lateral problem solvers have in a just transition to a low carbon economy.

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Bla bla Tesco yadda yadda OOH bla bla brand equity yadda yadda logo recall. 🤪📢 I can’t help but think we, in the marketing and advertising industry (particularly here on LinkedIn), get a little too caught up in over-analysing things🧠🧐📈. A pretty simple, well executed brand billboard campaign here, sure, but I can’t help but think it’s just our echo chamber analysing and celebrating (or criticising) it. Joe Public will walk or drive past and be more subliminally reminded that Tesco sell a range of food. Y’know, like a supermarket should. And maybe they’ll have their ego massaged for working out the “O” via “Okra” and “Oyster Mushroom” (cos, you know, Tesco does some international/quirky ingredients too). 🤯 As Matt W - Webster pointed out, there’s a lot of people getting “frothy pants” over this… but I’d ask, is it the people that actually matter? Anyway, bla bla etc. Happy Humpday. #advertising #ooh #billboard #brand #tesco #retail #marketing

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Always great to do a joint piece with The Drum, however it's especially meaningful when it concerns the welfare of our planet (link in comments). Without meaning to sound like a broken record, we do need to take a look at ourselves in marketing, technology and digital and ask what our work could be doing to the world. Sustainability should not be a trend, or indeed a punchline, it should be considered in everything we do. Alongside our article with The Drum, we have been exposing the digital sustainability gap and how to close it in our latest white paper report (link also in comments). Enjoy!

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Rich and powerful people/corporations have opinions they can assert. Opinions don't change facts. Work will continue to establish 'The Global Media Sustainability Framework' or GMSF Thanks Ad Net Zero https://lnkd.in/eeeNWCyG

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Extremely proud of this work based on a killer insight. The Challenge: Why don't British people seem to really care about germs? The Insight: Because they've been conditioned to not really *believe* in them. They think their homes are mostly germ-free, most of the time. The Creative Response: Well they might not think there are germs in their home, but there are other people, and those people have habits that spread germs... This small pivot has lead to a huge unlock for Dettol UK - no longer a brand just about killing germs, but a brand focused on human behaviours. Very excited for the new creative platform; Spread The Love, Not The Germs. Focusing on all the germy behaviours that the people we share a life and home with have. A HUGE team effort from everyone at Reckitt and McCann London. Watch this space for more great work.

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