Luxury brands and the role of digital in building them are among the latest highlights on Warc. We also have case studies from the Jay Chiat and DMA ECHO awards, event reports from the US, Europe and Asia, the next dates in our series of Warc Webinars and news of two new Prizes now open for entries.

Read on for all the news - and to receive content updates like this by monthly email, visit: Your Warc > Email Alerts.


Luxury branding

"The future of luxury brands is very much about technology," concludes Colin Grimshaw, introducing a range of articles on luxury branding in the latest issue of Admap magazine.

Making a luxury brand (free to read) sets out the key components of high-end brands, like desire, happiness, differentiation and price.

The seamless consumer journey shows how digital can engage luxury shoppers throughout the purchase process.

Create a different experience reveals how classic brands such as Cartier and Chanel are embracing these new platforms.

And The art of luxury explains what brands can learn from art culture in balancing exclusivity and accessibility.

Admap also has a new study on multi-screen viewing, a look at how Big Data can be integrated with market research, a best practice guide to brand positioning and a summary of 10 global trends in alcohol.

Browse the full issue at warc.com/admap.


Jay Chiat Awards for Strategic Excellence

The many guises of strategic planning were celebrated in Nashville last week with the announcement of the winners of the Jay Chiat Awards, held during the 4A’s Strategy Festival.

Reflecting on the judging process that she had just chaired, Mullen’s Kirsten Cavallo told Warc: “I think [planning] is truly becoming one of the hardest jobs in the agency.”

Vodafone Egypt led the entries meeting this challenge, winning the Grand Prix for Innovation with its "How to make small seem big" campaign by JWT Cairo. (Samsung also won a Grand Prix – for strategy – with "The Next Big Thing Is Already Here" by 72andSunny).

Gold winners included the Thai Health Promotion Foundation’s The Smoking Kid anti-smoking campaign (Ogilvy & Mather Bangkok) and Cole Haan’s Chelsea Pump campaign using innovative OOH media in New York (BBH NY/Deep Focus).

Among the Silvers were Sprite’s Cricket Stars (targeting Indian expats in UAE) and Axe’s Fear no Susan Glenn campaign in the US.

Browse selected winners from the Jay Chiat Awards 2013.


DMA International ECHO Awards

The DMA’s ECHO Awards now extend beyond direct marketing – and the United States – to recognise business-changing campaigns from around the world.

Tip Top, an ice cream brand, won the Diamond award for a New Zealand campaign (by Colenso BBDO/Proximity) that enabled people to use social media to nominate ice cream deliveries to friends.

Google won Gold for the promotion of its Chrome browser in Thailand (by Ogilvy & Mather Singapore) where usage increased usage over 50%, as did Pond’s for the creation of a series of educational videos (by OgilvyOne) for teenage girls in the Philippines. 

Silver winners included GEICO: Maxwell - Radical Accessibility (US, The Martin Agency) and Dove: Reflections (Canada, OgilvyOne).

Browse all 81 winners from the DMA ECHO Awards 2013.


Event round-up

Our recent event coverage includes reports from the US, Europe and Asia.

  • At The Market Research Event in Nashville we heard insights from Kimberly-Clark, UBS, Pernod Ricard and Disney.

  • At the Shopper Marketing Expo in Chicago, we reported on the strategies of Coca-Cola, Unilever, Clorox and P&G.

  • At ANA Masters of Marketing in Phoenix we learnt the innovation approaches of Dunkin’ Brands, Hennessy and USPS.

  • At the Print & Digital Research Forum in Nice we summarised the challenges of measuring audiences in a multi-platform age.

  • At IPA Eff Fest in London, we revealed social media campaigns from BT, O2 and a host of other brands.

  • At IAMAI Digital in New Delhi we shared the latest ecommerce trends in India.

  • At the Festival of Branded Content in Sydney we revealed the latest thinking on content marketing in Australia.

Browse all of the latest coverage in our Event Reports section.


Warc Prize for Social Strategy

The Warc Prize for Social Strategy - a new case study competition from Warc - is a global search for the best examples of social ideas that drive business results.

Pete Blackshaw, Global Head of Digital and Social Media at Nestlé, is chairing a panel of judges that will be awarding a total prize fund of $10,000. The entry deadline is 5 December.

Visit the Warc Prize for Social Strategy website for full details.


Warc Webinars

Register now to attend our upcoming free Warc Webinars (even if you can’t attend the live event, you’ll still be sent a link to a recorded version):

The Long and Short of It (12 November, 1600-1700 GMT): Les Binet (Adam & Eve DDB) and Peter Field (independent consultant) will provide evidence-based recommendations on how to invest in advertising more effectively.

The Future of Shopper Marketing (18 November, 1100 EST): An expert panel from Geometry, Saatchi & Saatchi X and The Futures Company will reveal the future trends and developments in shopper marketing.


Admap Prize 2014

The Admap Prize, inspired by Kantar, returns for its third year, and is again seeking thought-leading essays, this time on: How brands are built in the digital age.

The winner of this free-to-enter competition will receive a $5,000 cash prize. The entry deadline is 31 January.

Visit the Admap Prize 2014 website for full details.


Next Generation Research 2014

Warc's annual conference 'Next Generation Research' returns on 16th January 2014 in London with speakers from Reckitt Benckiser, CBS Outdoor, Avery Dennison and many more.

Book before Friday 8th November, to save with the super early bird discount.


Laurie Young: 1955-2013

Laurie Young, who died on 18 September, was a highly respected marketing practitioner, consultant and writer. He wrote several papers in Warc's Best Practice series and was a regular contributor to Market Leader, the journal of the Marketing Society published by Warc.

A selection of his papers and articles are listed here. His latest – and, sadly, final – book, Thought Leadership, was published in early October.