Our Monthly Round-up of the key articles in Marketing for February – we’ve chosen six key articles, centred on brand building. If you missed any of them – have some time, they are all worth a catchup. As ever, we look forward to catching up with you, to see how we may assist your teams. Do drop us a line with anything we can help you with.
Our February Highlights:
1. Our Top Pick this month is an article from Mark Ritson, Marketing MBA guru, produced for Marketing Week. Ten years since The Long and the Short of It was published, new evidence shows that while sales-driven ads deliver few long-term effects, brand advertising achieves both. It’s a good read.
Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-brand-building-boost-short-term-sales/
2. Secondly, we’ve picked a piece by Les Binet produced for the Drum on digital attribution and the need for econometrics. Here he explains what marketers need to know as digital attribution degrades.
Here is the link: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2023/02/23/digital-attribution-dead-les-binet-tells-us-why-marketers-need-econometrics-2023
3. Thirdly, we’ve picked a substack and a piece on the Retail revolution from the US. It’s in the Digital Native substack by Rex Woodbury. Rex’s excellent trends piece is so good – it’s in two parts.
Here is the link: https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/the-retail-revolution https://digitalnative.substack.com/p/the-retail-revolution-part-22?
4. Fourthly, a new substack, we recommend you follow is called Movingtribes.com, Ian Shepherd, Chairman of Benson for beds, writer, and local retail expert has written this one. In it, Ian outlines the three layers to protecting the British High Street from doom and gloom.
Here is the link: https://movingtribes.substack.com/
5. Fifthly, we have picked a piece from the Harvard Business Review January/February magazine on the naming your product, as we have just handled a Naming brief for a new client. When an established consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) company introduces a new product, it faces a potentially make-or-break decision: how to brand it. Tying it to an existing brand (as was the case for Cherry Coke and Avon Hand Lotion) is tempting. Customers are more likely to try a new product with a familiar association, and companies have to expend fewer marketing resources to launch it. But the strategy has risks, too: Weak or failed brand extensions can harm the parent company.
Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2023/01/the-best-way-to-name-a-new-product
6. Sixthly, we have been following ChatGPT – which heralds an Intellectual Revolution. This is an excellent piece from the Wall Street Journal. Generative artificial intelligence presents a philosophical on a scale not experienced since the start of the enlightenment. You may find this sits behind a paywall, but if you email me I will send you a personal copy.
Time for the Work: It’s congrats to Uncommon London and Nike this month. Wow – take a bow, simply brilliant! Nike’s Jordan Brand portrays the uplifting story of an aspiring female baller in a spot that debuted during the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend. The spot, the first work in a new global campaign for Jordan Brand by Uncommon Creative Studio, it shows the young woman on court as her mom looks on, with scenes flashing back to her childhood. https://adage.com/creativity/work/nikes-jordan-brand-portrays-aspiring-female-baller-uncommon-ad/2475471
Media: ‘Vive le pitch’, we are seeing a bit of a creative pitch frenzy in London with JLP/Waitrose, Nationwide and Sainsbury’s looking to change agencies. Gideon Spanier writes for the Times: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gideon-spanier-its-pitch-perfect-for-ad-agencies-as-clients-look-to-build-brands-s5nj5p32g On the media front agencies are vying for Weetabix. But it’s more about empathy, according to Maria Tudor at The Kite Factory. Empathy is the force that will power media relationships in 2023. https://the-media-leader.com/empathy-the-force-that-will-power-media-relationships-in-2023/
Book Alert: Former TBWA CEO Sara Tate and Anna Vogt have a new book out. The Rebuilders: Going from Setback to Comeback in Business and Beyond. Failure…we’ve all been there. In business and in life. Whether you’ve done it to yourself or have been negatively impacted by external situations, this book is a guide to building resilience and turning obstacles into opportunities. And it’s available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rebuilders-Setback-Comeback-Business-Beyond-ebook/dp/B09RVH6GZF
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 Chris Hogan, CEO of Phyllis Court. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/henley-on-thames/178327/chrishogan.html
We’re here to help you review your marketing ecosystem and improve marketing performance, so do call us or email us with any questions you may have, big or small, we’re here to help you when we can.
Kind regards,
Will