Advertising best practice, evidence and insights

Financial analysts recognise advertising industry pressures

News • 28 February 2018

LONDON: The City of London and the financial markets are facing some of the same pressures from technological innovation as advertising, with both pushed towards prioritising short-term metrics, but the need for long-term brand growth is ...

What investors look for in brands

Article • Sam Peña-Taylor, Event Reports, Newsworks’ Shift, February 2018

The nebulous entities of the City and Wall Street are often to blame for the short-termism that has afflicted marketing budgets in recent years, but analysts' outlook is changing.

Corporate Social Responsibility and Marketing Performance: The Moderating Role of Advertising Intensity

Research Paper • Mahabubur Rahman, M. Ángeles Rodríguez-Serrano, and Mary Lambkin, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 57, No. 4, 2017, pp. 368-378

The link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives and company performance has been researched extensively, but the findings have been inconclusive or even conflicting.

How HP's marketers increased their influence

News • 23 October 2017

ORLANDO, FL: Marketers who want to exert a greater influence in the C-suite must ensure they “speak as businesspeople” rather than using the language of “artisans”, according to Antonio Lucio, Global Chief Marketing & ...

How HP Inc.’s marketing team built its in-house influence

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, October 2017

HP Inc. faced a distinctive brand challenge as half of the former Hewlett-Packard, a company which split in two in late 2015.

Aussie marketers need to do internal sell

News • 04 October 2017

SYDNEY: Four in ten senior marketers in Australia and New Zealand feel they aren’t getting enough support at board level, according to a survey which argues they need to do a better job internally of selling their role in engaging consumers.

Are you insured, Scarlett? 'I can't think about that right now … I'll think about that tomorrow': How MetLife imagined a new future for the insurance industry … and is delivering it today

Research Paper • Carlos Fonseca, Adam Riley and David Smith, ESOMAR, Congress, 2017

This paper explains a research-led, three-pillar transformation that took place within the business of MetLife, the global insurance provider, to create a more customer-centric organisation.

Unilever, PepsiCo move to report non-financial performance

News • 29 June 2017

GLOBAL: A collection of the world's largest companies, representing $20tn under management, are coming together to push for a different way of reporting company performance to investors to include "intangible assets" including brand value and ...

Boardroom strategy: Keeping the board on board

Article • Ruth Saunders, Market Leader, Quarter 3, 2017, pp. 42-45

This article offers advice to marketers on how they can successfully negotiate pitching to the board of their company.

How Verizon’s Chief Media Officer is driving change

Article • Geoffrey Precourt, Event Reports, ANA Media Conference, March 2017.

This event report outlines how Verizon, the telecoms group, is seeking to enhance its media strategy.

Marketing multiplied: The macroeconomic and microeconomic impact of marketing communications

Article • Alan Cox, Jim Power and Chris Johns, Research on WARC, April 2017

This report provides evidence of how advertising - with an estimated global spend of $542 billion in 2016 - plays a crucial role in driving national economies and generating growth.

Australia's ad industry grapples with transparency challenges

Article • Brooke Hemphill, WARC Exclusive, February 2017

The article explores how the Australian advertising industry is tackling ongoing challenges around transparency.

Marketing is important, marketers often are not

Article • Patrick Barwise and Thomas Barta, Market Leader, Quarter 1, 2017, pp. 28-31

This article examines why marketers often are not seen as important in a company and how they can become company leaders through developing leadership skills.

Status report: marketing effectiveness measurement

Article • Janet Hull and Bart Michels, Market Leader, Quarter 1, 2017, pp. 48-49

This article reports on the findings of Effectiveness Week 2016, an IPA event that brought together senior marketers and decision-makers from both agencies and clients, and examines the opportunities it provided.

CMOs struggle with growth demands

News • 08 December 2016

SAN JOSE, CA: There is an increasing expectation among the C suite that chief marketing officers (CMOs) will drive growth and create business value, but a new study suggests that CMOs themselves are uncertain as to how they can best deliver on ...

PwC: Annual Global CEO Survey

Research Paper • MRS Awards, Finalist, International Research , 2016

This paper provides an overview of the Annual Global CEO Survey by PwC, the professional services group which, having run for 20 years, examines how CEOs respond to prolonged disruption in the market.

Ten things digital agencies need to know about their clients

Article • Brian Carruthers, Event Reports, IAB Engage, October 2016

This article reports ten facts about CMOs that agencies wouldn't necessarily know, with the aim of shining a light on running the public arm of massive organisations in the UK and beyond.

P&G's Pritchard: Three priorities for the future of advertising

Article • Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, ANA Masters of Marketing, October 2016

This article outlines three pressing issues for marketers to resolve, based on the views of Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at Procter & Gamble.

Could prediction market science improve boardroom decision-making?

Article • Jon Puleston, Market Leader, Quarter 4, 2016, pp. 13-13

This article asks how groups of people make decisions about the future accurately, suggesting ways in which boardroom decisions can be improved with a little science.

Million-Dollar Snackables: Money talks! Driving investment decisions with new experience metrics and snackable outputs

Research Paper • Catherine Moger Rickwood, Caroline Smiley, ESOMAR, Congress, New Orleans, September 2016

This paper explains how the US-based Delta Air Lines introduced Snackables, a new report format, in order to change the perception of research within the organisation and provide increased value, without increased research spend.

What Do Agencies Need to Do to Prove Their Value in the Boardrooms of Tomorrow?

Article • Susanna Cousins, WPP Atticus Awards, Merit, Advertising, 2016

This essay explores agencies' value to boardrooms, considering what they need to change in order to remain relevant and prepared to face business problems.

Reframing the role of agencies: From brand builders to brand immunisers

Article • Scott Brenman, WPP Atticus Awards, Joint Winner, Branding and Identity, 2016

This essay argues that agencies are fundamentally optimistic, while boardrooms are rather more glass-half-empty; agencies look to optimise while boardrooms prefer to limit damage, so agencies should use this paradigm to prove their value as 'immunisers'.

Brands and the CEO: What marketers need to know and do

Article • Patrick Barwise, Market Leader, Quarter 3, 2016, pp. 20-24

This article describes how marketers must work to create brand equity while always keeping in mind what is most important for CEOs.

Why being adventorous demands calm reflection rather than raw courage

Article • Jeremy Bullmore, Market Leader, Quarter 3, 2016, pp. 18-19

This article argues that the advertising industry is built upon a misplaced unease and that marketers and brands should be encouraged to be more adventurous because a failed campaign is rarely a disaster.

Avis’s long digital road to new customers

Article • Sonia Paul, Event Reports, EyeforTravel's San Francisco Summit, March 2016

This event report addresses how Avis, the car-rental company, found new customers by looking beyond tried and tested marketing techniques.

Marketing & brand management