Simon Cole

The use of AI to deliver strategic insights provides a competitive advantage to brands as well their retail partners. Couple this with the opportunity it provides to deliver personalisation with real purpose to improve customer experience across all touch points and you have a real game changer.

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In the highly competitive UK dog retail industry, standing out from the pack is more crucial than ever. With a growing number of brands vying for attention, it’s essential to elevate your marketing strategy. Print advertising, when integrated with multi-channel digital options, can create a powerful, cohesive brand presence that reaches your audience at every touchpoint. By blending traditional print with innovative digital campaigns, you can ensure your message is both memorable and effective, driving customer engagement and boosting sales. Don’t just compete—lead the way in the market. #DogRetail #MarketingStrategy #PrintAndDigital #BrandAwareness

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Thank you Hugh Stevens for sharing the stage with me yesterday at #RetailMediaSummitUK. Who knew we could have a simple (and honest) conversation on a topic full of complexities. Thanks to SMG and Path to Purchase Institute for hosting us. 👂 *Collaboration*: Unity and empathetic collaboration are necessary conditions for extracting mutual value 🏆 *Maturity & Competitive Excellence*: How do retailers continue to prove  incremental value and build data advantage to be on par with digital incumbents 🎛 *Insights*: Could the new frontier of retail media be about "audience as a  service"? 🖇 *Activation & Brand Planning*: How to deliver on Retail Media's 'full-funnel'  promise? 🔬 *Measurement*: Unlocking spend is a function of robust, consistent measurement

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Not everyone likes to hear this I know but standardisation and getting the fundamentals right are key to the success of retail media. Let’s work together as an industry to make this happen

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Welcome to “In My Humble Opinion”, a podcast collaboration between The Marketing Society and Publicis Groupe UK agencies that creates a space for marketing leaders to discuss their opinions on topics affecting our industry which they think about but may not always say out loud. You will hear industry leaders and experts talk about their views and opinions on deliberately provocative subjects such as the impact of technology on brands and consumers, the future of our industry, the generational divides, diversity and inclusion and more. This is Episode 1 - ‘In My Humble Opinion...nobody ever got fired for buying the safest brands.’, a deep dive into the often-overlooked importance of brand in B2B marketing and purchasing decisions. We're joined by Billy Hamilton-Stent, Chief Strategy Officer at Publicis Pro, and special guests Mimi Turner and Jann Martin Schwarz from Marketplace Innovation at LinkedIn Marketing Services. What do we cover? 💡The challenges of measuring brand impact in B2B marketing 💡The need for a more holistic approach to B2B marketing strategies Whether you're a B2B marketer, sales professional, or business leader, this episode offers valuable insights into the power of brand in driving B2B growth and success. Enjoy! https://lnkd.in/eZGG_Rxc #B2BMarketing #IMHOPodcast

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Brands drive economic growth - and let's face it the UK needs as much of that as it can. This is an article by my colleague Rob Allen about how we can ensure the success of British brands. #BritishBrands #immersivebranding #branding

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Today's Q1 2024 @IPA Bellwether report showcases a resilient UK marketing landscape, with events and experiences remaining the standout performers with a record expansion. This resilience demonstrates businesses' strong desire to connect with customers, recognising the power of experiences to enable them to achieve this, as well as being a powerful tool to drive their bottom line. Long-term brand building should remain at the forefront amid rising promotional spending. Aligning brand experiences across the different touchpoints with core values and harnessing authentic content created from experiences fosters trust and engagement, and is crucial for navigating the dynamic marketing environment. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/eGTDPyN4 #ImaginationGLBL #IPABellwether #UKmarketing #brandexperience #experientialagency #creativeagency

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It’s exciting to read in the The Wall Street Journal, the announcement that Interpublic Group (IPG) has acquired Intelligence Node a Mumbai-based retail analytics firm, in a deal valued at nearly $100 million. This strategic move will enhance our ability to provide real-time data on pricing, promotions, and product availability, empowering brands and retailers to better understand shopper trends and drive sales. By integrating Intelligence Node’s capabilities with our existing consumer data from Acxiom, we continue to strengthen our commerce offerings in the rapidly growing e-commerce and retail media sectors. #IPG #RetailAnalytics #Ecommerce #DataDriven #BusinessGrowth #Acquisition #MarketingInnovation https://lnkd.in/emzTXJkQ

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What do clients really want (and need) from agencies? During a recent CIM | The Chartered Institute of Marketing panel event, Sharon Jiggins emphasised the critical role of consumer insights and the responsibility agencies bear in genuinely engaging with their target audiences. #CreativeAgency #AudienceInsight #Advertising

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The bar for personalised, omnichannel experiences keeps rising. 77% of retail customers say it’s important for brands to provide consistent, seamless interactions across channels. Check out this report on the trends retailers are pursuing to stay competitive. 👉 https://ow.ly/Ml7v30sHamL #AdobeReport #DigitalTrends #OnlineRetail

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Really enjoyed running our "Winning at Shelf" Webinar this morning - demonstrating how our proprietary creative process solves a range of Shopper Marketing challenges. We identify the unconscious cues, we all look for, to nudge us to buy one brand over another - which we use to create solutions for Promotions, Category Theatre, Point of Sale, Retailer Media, Branded Bays and On Pack Messaging etc. for a wide range of FMCG brands. Anyone who wants the recording link please ask.   #Winningatshelf #KHWS #Behaviouralscience #Shoppermarketing #Salestriggers #Shoppermarketingsummit #FMCG

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Out of Home advertising is proving to be the perfect balance between reach and retail, even as first-party data and precision targeting dominate the conversation.⚖️ At the recent Retail Media Summit UK, Colin Horan, Clear Channel UK’s Strategic Partner, FMCG, sat down with Cyndi Loza, Senior Editor at Path to Purchase Institute, to discuss the vital role Out of Home plays in today's omnichannel landscape. The full episode is available to view here: https://okt.to/9rM5i0 #OOH #RetailMediaSummitUK

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Its nearly Q4 (!!!) and I know lots of you have been (and still are) deep in planning and imminent activations! If you are looking for some festive insights download our report and talk to one of the team! A great write up from #performancemarketingworld and Sarah Tsirkas #winningQ4 #digitalfootfall #ecommerce #blackfriday #cybermonday #gifting #mediaplanning #mediabuying #teads #ctv #omnivideo #mediabuying

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📊 September 2024 Benchmarking Report Our latest September Benchmarking Report is here, packed with insights from various market sectors. Here are some of the key takeaways: 🏡 Homeware, Home Furnishings & Gardens: One of the largest sectors in the index, showing a year-on-year growth of +20%. Bedding, Linen & Textiles led with a remarkable +58%, while Furniture saw a slower increase of +7%. 💄 Health, Fitness & Beauty: Experienced a decline of -24%, mainly due to a drop in Haircare sales, though Fragrance saw a positive +21% growth. 👗 Fashion/Apparel & Accessories: Mixed results, with 63% of brands growing. Clothing surged by +28%, while Accessories remained flat at -1%. 💍 🍔 Jewellery and Food & Beverages: Both sectors saw modest growth, with Food & Beverages reporting notable increases in AOV and ASP. IMRG reported a +3.2% overall cohort growth, with top-performing categories including Makeup, Fragrance, and Footwear. However, Beer & Wines and Gardening faced declines. 📉 Read the full report by clicking the link below to dive deeper into the data. 👇 https://lnkd.in/ee6nyYmH If you would like to access powerful sector and subsector insights and learn how  your own performance measures up, then join Sweet Online Retail Index. It’s a free service, 100% secure and anonymous. Sweet is ISO 27001 compliant so you can be assured your data is protected. Get started today! https://lnkd.in/eUYq-XmN

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Loved this 😍creative impact learnings session from our incredible qualitative Head Carolyn Reid, and colleagues. Fascinating learnings on how AI and Agile qual can come together in early stage development to enable marketers to make braver more confident decisions on comms👍. Matching 450 Kantar Link evaluations with 💵💵WARC Return on Marketing (ROMI) database reveals that the most effective creative ads yield almost 5 times more profit. Well done👌to Mariko Aoki and the BankWest team on cutting through the ‘BS’ (bankstuff of course) with your humorous memorable parody ad. Other learnings from the analysis shared on the webinar: 1. Humanise your brand (personify with compelling stories that resonate) 2. Find emotion in Function and visualise progress through people (human stories) 3. Prioritise authenticity over authority (make it relatable) 😎 🔗Watch now: https://loom.ly/SV_Gubs Great job Tara Prabhakar Carolyn Reid Priya Dudeja and Mohamed Nabil Hayek #AIinMarketing #Creativity #MarketingInnovation #CreativeDevelopment

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Yet more ammunition for B2B marketers who are pushing for increased focus on brand. A report from Berkeley Communications Group, featured by WARC finds that half of B2B brands in the UK fail to be distinctive. Other key insights include: - Just 51% of B2B brands in the UK are thought to be truly distinctive, according to a majority of senior decision-makers in the UK. - 86% agree that branding is extremely influential on their own purchasing decisions. - 92% feel poor video can do serious damage to a brand.

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I find it exciting to work on innovation for FMCG brands, shaping and building categories. Yet, let’s not underestimate how exciting private label innovation can be - in recent years, they’ve become a force to be reckoned with. Private labels have gotten much better at leveraging their control of the value chain, enabling them to respond more quickly to consumer feedback and drive category innovation. In this interview with PLMAlive.eu, my The Forge colleague Daniel Quinn shares his insights on how private labels are shaping the future of consumer goods. He delves into how tools like generative AI are transforming product innovation, while highlighting the importance of human judgment, collaboration and transparency between retailers and manufacturers. Check out Daniel’s full interview here: https://lnkd.in/e-fUq7cE

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For brands, managing the relationship with key retailers is a challenging task. But establishing truly collaborative, business-building partnerships is a strategic imperative for brands looking to drive sustainable growth. Join us for this webinar on May 14 as The Mars Agency's Kandi Arrington and Meghan Heltne will discuss how brands can elevate the relationship and unlock growth that's transformational for both parties. Learn more and register here 👇 #brandstrategy #retail #retailerrelationship #webinar

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