Our Monthly Round-up of the key pieces in Marketing for November – we’ve chosen six key articles, a piece on AI, Media, and a Podcast – as well as our regular Back to Henley slot. A lot to Round-up this month – Christmas ads, Retail woes, Ritson, Jaguar, the future of media. All our monthly reviews are available on our website. www.haiconsulting.com

Our November highlights:

1. Our top pick this month is an interview on ‘Understanding Marketing Effectiveness’ with Les Binet. Balancing short-term wins with long-term growth is crucial in the fast-paced marketing world. In this interview, Coen sits down with Les Binet, Head of Effectiveness at adam&eveDDB, to discuss how brands can navigate this landscape. Les has profoundly influenced modern marketing strategies, primarily through his work on “The Long and the Short of It,” co-authored with Peter Field.

Here is the link: https://www.alpha.one/blog/understanding-marketing-effectiveness-with-les-binet And he also has an Apple podcast out this month. https://podcasts.apple.com/cy/podcast/les-binet-uncovered-surprising-secrets-of-ad/

2. Secondly, a piece from Marketing Week – with a continuing focus on effectiveness – Brands shouldn’t leave it to their agencies to prove marketing’s impact, but working closely with them creates a virtuous circle of learning and improvement.

Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/who-owns-effectiveness-culture-brands-agencies/

3. Thirdly, with a bit of a retail feel this month, we have picked two retail pieces, the first written by Mark Ritson on Brand of the Year – Marks and Spencer.

Here is the link: https://www.marketingweek.com/ritson-marks-spencer-brand-year/

The second by Ian Shepherd who writes his own substack called Moving Tribes – Reading the runes of 2025

Here is the link: https://open.substack.com/pub/movingtribes/p/reading-the-runes?

4. Fourthly, we like the WARC feed and there are several great articles in here. We particularly like the Marketer’s Toolkit for 2025, the fourteenth edition of the report draws out five major trends that will define strategic planning, based on an extensive global survey of practitioners.

Here is the link: https://www.warc.com/content/feed/PGs_threestep_formula_for_meaningful_insight/

5. Fifthly, we had to have a piece here this month for the Jaguar rebrand, but as an Intermediary we never negate new work, we try to help clients and agencies develop better work.

Here is the link: https://www.attitude.co.uk/life/how-hate-and-homophobia-made-a-genius-of-jaguars-rebrand-476326/

6. Sixthly, we pick a great substack that has been gaining momentum all year. Written by Sir john Hegarty – its called the Business of Creativity, and there are some great musings here. And a free subscription.

Here is the link: https://businessofcreativity.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Media: Who better to give you this report than Nick Manning on the future of media and the arrival of tech innovation. One media highlight this month we must mention, that we attended was the Goodstuff Media showcase – a fantastic view on upcoming media tech. https://uk.themedialeader.com/the-future-of-media-agencies-is-long-overdue-innovation-on-its-way/

AI: Love this, Saneel Radia talking from Proto New York on AI on growth, these guys are super smart, a great listen. AI could be the first technology revolution that better serves client incumbents and established players, than it does the startups looking to disrupt them.  https://vimeo.com/1030917474

Podcast: We’ve picked the Uncensored CMO and this version by tradition is the episode with Mark Ritson. Mark Ritson is back for a review of the most read stories this year. He debates if Liquid Death is more than just water in a can, why Nike’s focus on DTC was a mistake and what we can all learn from KitKat’s perfect positioning.https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/mark-ritson-on-the-fall-of-nike-kitkats/id1486335987?i=1000676731785

Time for the Work: A difficult choice this month with so many good Christmas ads. Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Tesco and John Lewis, even Waitrose, creatively very worthy contenders. But in the end, we like an ad that tugs on the heart – so its congrats to Apple and TBWA\MediaArtlabs for producing this fantastic ad for their AirPods – it’s Apple Heartstrings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvnJhwIwqds

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 Liz Darran, the Chief Brand and Creative Officer at Fortnum and Mason. Time to do your Christmas shopping folks. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/news/henley-on-thames/193556/lets-get-down-to-business.html

According to Campaign, almost half of marketers plan creative or media agency review in next 12 months. If you are looking to review your agency relationships and resourcing structures in 2025, please do get in touch now, so we may plan ahead and help you.

Kind regards

Will