Our first monthly editor's newsletter of 2012 highlighting new content on warc.com features a selection of key papers on innovation and media insights, together with winning cases from the UK DMA and IMC European awards. And there's a reminder that the Warc and Admap Prizes are still open for entries.

Sign up to receive this newsletter by email at:
Your Warc > Email Alerts.

Innovating for growth

With economic uncertainty likely to be the prevailing macro trend of the 2010s, marketers are increasingly looking to innovation to strengthen brands and drive revenue growth. But, as these articles demonstrate, innovation comes in different guises.

Some of these guises are revealed in Mars' 10-point guide to innovation (open access) which offers insights from the company's Chief Consumer Officer on developing new products, businesses and overall ways of working.

Meanwhile Retail renegades spotlights some of the mould-breaking brick-and-mortar retailers whose strategies are fending off the threats of online-only rivals.

Never waste a good crisis comes from former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy, who explains how to use economic adversity as an opportunity for taking a fresh look at your business.

And Cultural innovation rejects a purely functional approach to innovation ('better mousetraps') and instead champions the use of disruptive ideologies for brand success.

If you have a remarkable story demonstrating innovation in communications, remember that The Warc Prize for Innovation is still open for entries (see below).

Media insights

Keeping pace with contemporary developments in the world of media has been an exhausting activity over the last decade, and there's little sign of any slowdown. But a clutch of new articles offer some useful insights for media strategists.

The globalization of social media reports on research from Universal McCann, now in its fifth annual 'wave', on the evolving online activities of consumers around the world.

10 lessons for media planning (open access), derived from an analysis of IPSOS tracking data of some 2,500 campaigns, looks across the media mix to offer some key pointers.

And How to write a good media brief, an extract from the new book Spending Advertising Money in the Digital Age, stresses the importance of the collaboration between strategists and clients to produce the best briefs.

Winning in tough times: case evidence

The top winners of the latest UK DMA and IMC European awards demonstrate how smart thinking – often on a low budget – can reap rewards in the harshest business climates.

The leading cases from the UK DMA awards include campaigns from the Grand Prix winning mother-and-baby retailer Very.co.uk, as well Gold-winning work from the upmarket Freggo ice cream, airline  British Airways, insurer MORE TH>N and automaker Nissan.

Winners from the IMC European awards, which recognise integrated communications, are headed by the Dutch beer brand Bavaria which picked up the Grand Prix for its DutchDress campaign. The Gold awards include Irish campaigns from the automaker Audi and cereal producer Kelloggs as well as De Bijenkorf, the Dutch department store chain.

Warc and Admap Prizes

The deadline is looming for the The Warc Prize for Innovation, your chance to showcase your work to a global audience – and win $10,000. You have until the end of January to submit entries demonstrating innovation in communications. Email us to receive a reminder nearer the time.

And The Admap Prize, for bold thinkers writing on the future of planning in brand communications, remains open until 6 February. The winner gets a lifetime subscription to the magazine. Email us to receive a reminder nearer the time.