Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for December – we’ve chosen six key articles, a piece on Media, and a Podcast – as well as our regular Back to Henley slot. We’ve spent Christmas in Santiago, Chile, so this review comes to you from 38,000 feet passing the Andes on our way home. A lot to Round-up in terms of Year reviews, Leadership, & Christmas ads. TLDR: All our monthly reviews are available on our website. www.haiconsulting.com

Our December highlights:

1. Our top pick this month is a good presentation from Mark Ritson who highlights the Top 10 Marketing moments from 2024. We like Mark’s banter – he simply says it ‘as it is’. In the poker game of Marketing he states how System One is capable of giving the Campaign journo’s a run for their money when it comes to scoring the new AI Coca-Cola ad. It’s an hour long piece, packed full of goodness where he highlights some key findings from McDonald’s and McCain, the short and the long, and ads that work. His key summary, ‘If you’ve got a good ad, keep running it.’

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpwdwr5SRcM

2. Secondly, it is the list of the Top 10 Most popular/read articles from Mckinsey which they published last week. Generative AI has sparked a renaissance in business innovation—and this year, the boldest leaders have started to realize value from it. There’s room for more to blaze a trail. CEOs, boards, and top executives across industries can transform their organizations with gen AI as their copilot. To get started, explore the most-read AI piece of the year.

Here is the link: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/year-in-review

3. Thirdly, we pick a piece from the Marketing Week reporters on the Marketing trends of 2024. From the growth of ad-funded streaming and winning the argument for pre-testing, to gen AI entering the mainstream, 2024 has been a good year for committing to consistency.

Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/2024-year-in-review-good-year/

4. Fourthly, it’s a ‘Pepp talk’ – we had to include it this month. Jon Peppiatt writes on Culture, Strategy, and Industry Change and given he is now working in and out of the Growth House in Henley, we look forward to catching up with him soon.

Here is the link: https://www.lbbonline.com/news/the-view-from-both-sides-of-the-table/?mc_cid=7dd190abb1&mc_eid=b087a45a16

5. Fifthly, we pick a report produced by System One on consistency and familiarity in Christmas advertising. According to creative effectiveness platform System 1, the 2024 festive season is set to be the most “consistent Christmas for advertising” it has seen to date. The consultancy has published its 2024 Test-Your-Ad scores highlighting how campaigns from six major brands – Cadbury, Amazon, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, M&S Food – have already received its highest available score of 5.9 stars.

Here is the link: https://www.marketing-beat.co.uk/2024/11/08/system-1-christmas-ads/

6. Sixthly, Rishad Tobaccowala is back this month, and this is his piece from the Christmas break on ‘Paradox.’ The world is changing, setting up a situation in which organizations must learn to take two seemingly opposite actions – in order to be profitable. As we move to distributed work, as technology advances, and as other trends transform society, a set of opposing but connected forces have emerged: Fragmentation and Integration.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/paradox

Media: A good perspective - 2024 was a difficult year for many media agencies. 2025 looks like being a tough year too, a transparent, responsible and accountable advertising environment is needed, as this piece in the Media Leader explains. https://uk.themedialeader.com/2025-wont-be-business-as-usual-so-we-must-change-with-the-times/

AI: Enterprise technology’s next chapter: Four gen AI shifts that will reshape business technology from Mckinsey. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/enterprise-technologys-next-chapter-four-gen-ai-shifts-that-will-reshape-business-technology

Podcast: Jon Evans produces the Uncensored CMO series, in December he interviewed behavioural science guru Rory Sutherland of Ogilvy – ‘Jaguar: Madness or Marketing Genius?’ https://uncensoredcmo.com/bonus164

Time for the Work: Well with so many good Christmas ads to pick from. We had to pick one and say congrats to John Lewis and Saatchi’s as our pick. Here is the link to the free System One report. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrew-tindall_system1-have-tested-the-new-john-lewis-activity-7129732156246913024-8TXR/

Back to Henley: Our weekly column in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs. It’s called Let’s Get Down to Business. We were delighted this month to interview Chloe and James Brownbill, who own and run the Marlow Cheese Company. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/let-s-get-down-to-business/194213/lets-get-down-to-business-chloe-and-james-brownbill.html

According to a Uk based Intermediary, following a study of 500 Senior Marketers, 98% of brands are planning to either, definitely, or probably initiate a pitch for some or all of the marketing within the next twelve months. If you know someone who is looking to review their agency relationships and resourcing structures in 2025, please do recommend us to help them.

Kind regards

Will