Mike G.

An insightful read as always from Will Page in Music Business Worldwide (MBW) on the tricky festival landscape. ‘Consumers in the UK spent just over GBP £2bn on live music and £2bn on recorded music, taking the total spend in 2022 to £4.1bn. That was up by almost a billion on pre-lockdown 2019. Impressed? Now add another £700m in spend across 2023 – 10% growth in recorded and a reported 24% in live – and we’re soaring towards £5bn (£4.9bn, see below). Not only that, music’s share of consumers’ ‘recreational’ wallet in 2023 rose to 3.3%. In other words, music’s getting a bigger share of a fatter wallet.’ https://lnkd.in/ewGGvQ2B

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The decisions we make are impactful

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Did you know that almost half of TikTok users who bought a cinema ticket did so within a day of seeing a film advert on TikTok? That's right! A whopping 49% of users made their purchase within 24 hours of seeing an ad on the platform. What's the key to successful film campaigns on TikTok? It's all about creating content that's native to the platform. Studios engage with the community and fans by letting them stitch and duet film clips, using creators to drive relevancy and endorsement, and highlighting the theatrical scale of each title through live moments with their stars on the red carpet. TikTok is truly a unique space where entertainment advertisers can connect with their audiences and drive action. As the film industry continues to evolve, it has so much to gain by leveraging TikTok's unique co-creating fan community when it comes to promoting films. If you're interested in learning more, check out this unique research piece based on 12 theatrical campaigns in the EU conducted by Liveramp together with TikTok: https://lnkd.in/dipnjyZf or read Vievo Media's research on how participation from fans drove the box-office success for Dune: Part 2 as reported in Variety VIP+ here: https://lnkd.in/d3xWmjN3

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Campaign giving the new PG Tips spot a 'Turkey of the Week' label shows just how out of touch the UK's supposed leading trade rag has become. Especially when System1 & Andrew Tindall have proved its exceptional performance among consumers, who love it. We absolutely need ways to benchmark good/bad work so that we can collectively continue raising the bar. Critique the work by all means, but either do it objectively or from a position of credibility. Where's the byline on Campaign's Turkey column? Hiding behind a click-bait title and subjectively dumping of the hard work of the agency, brand and its people serves absolutely no-one. PS: Well done to CALLING - it's an awesome piece of work. I will buy buying more PG Tips.

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The news is always at its most interesting when it challenges our assumptions. The IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) reminds us in ad land of the importance of checking our bias; it is so easy to slip into using short cut stereotypes. Our most recent data on young people aimed to check in on a few classic myths that exist around young news readers. So have you seen the news!?! Turns out young people read A LOT of news.

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Travis Lusk Good to see you highlighting this report again. It needs to remain in the spotlight even at the risk of repetition for those already aware. Bill must be able to recite this blindfold. Yes, we need more advertisers adopting the extremely comprehensive playbooks in the report and hopefully they will. Education is the key. But more than anything we need the big agency groups to gradually wean themselves off the drug of easy money from programmatic trading, arbitrage and undisclosed margins. No agency group has supported the study and they won't, so advertisers have to make it clear that they won't allow this to continue and then work through new compensation methods that work for both parties. Trying to fix this problem without addressing fees and performance-led rewards is not going to shift the needle. Bill Duggan Association of National Advertisers

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Really interested to hear from talent management agencies/ managers/ creators who are consistently chasing incredibly late payments for completed services in the influencer/ celebrity marketing world. Already in conversation with a few key players who have identified the same repeat offenders, so keen to see if this is becoming too standard within the industry and how we can tackle collectively. Please DM me, there is a conversation to be had to make change! #influencermarketing #celebrity #marketing

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Does it work?  Is it interesting? The only two things humans care about when buying. (or maybe more technically, the first two things...) I’ve been lucky enough to build a fair few brands during my time in agencies. They’ve all been broadly in the health and wellness space.  And during that time, I’ve always been a huge advocate for brand personality. Moreso, I’m a huge advocate for brand personality when it actually leaves the workshop, leaps off the pages of the brand book and actually shows up on the real world. Even if that real world is the weird world of B2B2C healthcare comms. That’s why I have a list of banned words from any healthcare brand-building exercise I’ve ever run. It’s why I’ve coached MLR review teams on what being ‘on brand’ sounds like, not just being 'on Code'. And it's why I'll nudge, cajole and downright insist that we're not leaving the room until we've got a better term than 'empower' for what our brand is here to do in the world. That’s why I loved this post so much. https://lnkd.in/eC88Z88d Unearthed via DO Lectures ever-excellent Chicken Shed Chronicles The world is full of things that work, but are boring.  That's definitely true in healthcare comms. Being interesting is therefore critical.  And it's brand personality can make you interesting. Interesting gets you attention Interesting gives you distinction Interesting makes you worth being friends with Interesting makes you memorable. Even if you think 'interesting' doesn't matter in your category. I can assure you it does. In fact, the opportunities which spring from being interesting in a boring space are even higher. And interesting brands, are interesting to work on. Which usually means you can get the most interesting people to work on them. And so a virtuous cycle ensues. Interesting people, building interesting brands, for interesting people. Let's build more of that.

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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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🚀 Navigating the Job Market Post-Redundancy 🚀 Since being made redundant back in April, it's been an interesting experience with challenges and insights into how the current job market is operating. Here are a few things i’ve observed: 1️⃣ Role titles are becoming increasingly blurred between Project Managers, Content Producers, and Creative Producers (like me): If I'm spending most of my day resourcing internal teams and using PM tools, then it's a Project Manager role. Equally, if you're looking for a self-shooter, need video editing experience, and an established content creator on TikTok, then you're looking for a Content Producer. What you'll get from working with me: 🎨 A truly creative producer with skills in branding, agency work, photography, retouching, fine art, art direction, and production studio management within fashion and beauty. You won't find me debating whether to use a waterfall or agile approach. Instead, I'll be leading casting, location scouting, sourcing crew, building shoot schedules, working hand-in-hand with an Art/Creative Director to bring our vision to life, and collaborating with product dev, marketing, VM, and social teams to ensure the strongest and most cohesive campaign possible. 2️⃣ A number of roles are looking for "assertive" people who can "push back": While I believe a blend of personality types yields great results, many of these roles signal issues with leadership, collaboration, and processes between internal and external teams. Creative people thrive on "blue sky thinking," and the quickest way to dampen that is conflict and a lack of collaborative negotiation. What you'll get from working with me: 🤝 A conscientious, collaborative, and human-first approach. There's no need for unnecessary conflict and asserting dominance. Those who work with me appreciate and respect my craft because dignity and respect remain paramount. Job titles and seniority can have their place, but hierarchical environments do not. 3️⃣ Competitive salaries are rarely competitive: If you're asking for senior experience, pay a senior salary. ROI for an employer comes from a senior's ability to execute quickly (saving time) and with an informed approach (using fewer resources). Unfortunately, it seems that brands are capitalising on the number of skilled people out of work. What you'll get from working with me: 💡 With my extensive experience as a senior, I ask the right questions and creatively challenge and support creatives, helping them uncover the best version of their concept and visualize it on set. And because I can shoot, retouch, and art direct, we can truly talk shop. 🤔 Have you experienced similar? What are you doing to navigate landing a role? 💼 I'm available for work, get in touch and let's discuss how I can bring your vision to life. www.jamesfickling.co.uk

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At Duga Digital we've simplified server side data collection. With amazing partners like Addingwell , the perceived effort and risk associated with server side proposition is minimised. There's an awful lot you don't have to do! That means you get onto the exciting and profitable tasks sooner (like data enrichment - https://lnkd.in/eQSPwZg4)

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OH: You don't have to be right all the time to succeed. You only have to be right when everyone else is wrong But how do you know you're right at the right time? Start by having more confidence in your data. Have confidence in the volume, and quality of the signal in your data. Have confidence in trusting your data through transparency, durability and accuracy. You can calibrate and audit your server side collected data with more confidence compared to pure client side tagging. Once you have the confidence in the data, use it to your advantage - make sure you activate the asset. As Dan Truman said on our latest blog post (https://lnkd.in/eFYxCXr9): Our specialism is enabling Google Cloud Platform-based businesses to thrive and utilise their Google Marketing Platform connectivity to levels they can’t reach themselves. Data enrichment, value-based bidding, profit-based reporting, margin-led decision making are the areas we engage in. No fuss, no hassle, no extras. Straight up value.

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I'm attending the Advertising "Who Cares" Summit https://lnkd.in/ekAJYJGS in London on Thursday 12th September The manifesto of the initiative, kicked off by Brian Jacobs & Nick Manning, highlights how the "advertising industry is by common consent a less attractive place to be these days. It has become a place where machines have replaced people, jobs have become soul-less, and data is treated as royalty." and that "It abuses the privacy of the public and treats them as ‘product’." In my opinion one of the major issues is Adtech / Madtech #JingleJangle terminology regarding Personal Data - common phrases which are often used without suitable context. They often provide a veneer of Assurance for stakeholders within the ecosystem, whilst beguiling the intended audience and providing a "get out of #Accountability free card". As an example the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) website has a cookie banner titled "Privacy settings" offering 1) Information " Our use of cookies : We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We'd also like to set analytics cookies that help us make improvements by measuring how you use the site. These will be set only if you accept. This tool helps you to select and deactivate various tags / trackers / analytic tools used on this website." 2) Ability to Deny or Accept All However it appears that the tool is misconfigured enabling multiple data points to be shared with 3rd party advertising organisations. This plot shows the calls made when visiting the page on Privacy & Data Protection - https://lnkd.in/eBRdcGpt before any interaction with the cookie banner. Phrases such as "Your privacy is important to us" and "We are committed to protecting your personal data" in the Adtech space need to move from being platitudes to attitudes - Don't just tell me that you love me show me!

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The best ad school in the business is also the best internship in the business. 

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🧶 Threads: one year on 🧵 The introduction of Threads this time last year was met with much fanfare - particularly in amongst the tumult of rival platform, X. Amongst announcing some new features, the platform has shared some insights around its current usership: 1️⃣ 50m 'Topic Tags' have been created thus far 📚 although Meta haven't released any usage data on them 2️⃣ 67% of Gen Z users use the platform for entertainment-related news. Similar true of music, food and fashion 👠 3️⃣ 63% of all posts are text-only ✏ rare for Meta's suite but not not dissimilar to X's usage data 4️⃣ Over 60% of users love voice note functionality 🗣 How is your brand incorporating Threads into its marketing mix? #threads #socialmediamarketing

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Live on stage at the Future of Brand in London Matt Bryan leads a discussion with ISBA Bobi Carley and LongTerm Digital Jonathan Longhurst on the TV Advertising landscape! Today they discuss the importance of breaking down silos so that brands can capitalise on the new data rich data landscape and optimise their total TV Strategy. #FOB #samsungAds Samsung Ads Europe

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Advance warning...Google's AI Overviews Will Change the Whole Internet — Again 🌟🚀 The introduction of AI Overviews (formerly Search Generative Experience) is set to revolutionise search by minimizing the time users spend searching and providing instant, comprehensive results. 🔍 Key highlights include: ✨ AI-powered search results for quicker, more efficient answers. ✨ Advanced features like Ask Photos and multi-step reasoning. ✨ Enhanced personalisation with tools like Gmail and Notebook LM. 📈 Businesses should focus on: 👉 Producing comprehensive content 👉 Improving E-E-A-T 👉 Staying updated with technical SEO What is E-E-A-T??? Comment EEAT and I will send you details to help your business be ready before the BIG change!! 🌐💡 #GoogleIO2024 #AI #SEO #Innovation

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