W’round up - 22 February 2017
The Raven’s arrived this Woden’s Day — marketing, media, tech and related stories that have sparkled in the roost, and sparked my interest…
This inaugural WroundUp should have appeared a little earlier but you know, some things CAME UP. GREAT things - like sales launches-GREAT, year starts-GREAT, start-up-GREAT. A busy couple of weeks of full-on roller-coaster of pitching, planning and dazzling which you’ll hear more about soon (and there might just be a bit at the end of this WroundUp…)
But what can you do when this year’s pelting past like a rabbit with a whippet’s nose for a tail! So to kick off, this is a slightly broader look at some interesting pieces from the last month on Planet Earth…
Elemental BBC: Y&R London pulled off the BBC’s first distinctive campaign of 2017, early in the year, with this deliberate oddity. Tom Lehrer’s periodic table song The Elements channeled through Olivia Colman’s dulcet tones, pulling together the vast swathe of BBC education in an eye-catching gallop. Kicking off with David Attenborough? That’s just showing off.
Dramatic Confidence: Keeping on Auntie, an intriguing element in their flagship channel’s typical drama waggling: Toasting the drama of 2016 as much as the highlights heading to the small on online small screen this year, The Last Kingdom seems a little out of place. Having double and triple checked, BBC Two have of course managed to keep their hands on it and away from their stable-mates. Quite right 2.
Ketchup Song: In the cold harsh reality of winter it’s refreshing that Sainsbury’s haven’t only jumped into a new campaign following their bloated Christmas effort, but are trying something brand new. That orange flash works wonders… Struttin’ up to the kitchen.
‘Steam work: I’m a little biased, having donated to the blue train’s coffers this year, but it’s worth noting a first for a classic. Mattel have launched the inaugural global advertising campaign for what used to be known as Thomas the Tank Engine — about a hundred years after the chipper engine’s creation. This astonishingly well done advert, a fine twist on oft-seen biographical ads, sets the Thomas and Friends ‘Friendship in Motion’ series going in great style. Seems extraordinary? I’ve never quite got over Ringo’s departure.
Political Bowl: It was a disappointing year for the Super Bowl half-time (Radio Times ran a healthy summary of the not so healthy trailer spots), but it certainly threw up some tropes. In the week prior, Airbnb had offered its business model solution for refugees in response to the wavering American immigration ban at the time.
Even Unilver’s Dove took the scrubbing brush to Trump’s #AlternativeFacts, publishing a a print ad full of lies — although it’s unclear if that’s where Kraft Heinz’s interest was piqued. If there was a winner though,it proved to be that most short-lived of controversies, certainly internationally, via Budweiser. They weren’t the only drinks company who couldn’t keep it bottled up: Coca Cola were deceptively vanilla with their choice of re-run. Still, the brand that used to say “Whassup?” made up for it in the UK over the last weekend by supplying football fans with free beer.
In the background to the Bowl, the growing, vocal suits from some tech conglomerate corners of America that built against the POTUS’ executive orders, before the judiciary intervened, gave a hint of the gamut of implications that this administration could have. It’s early days.
Branding the Future. Back to the small screen and reassurance — there’s was some warmth to be found in the recent trailer that launched production for the new Star Trek show Discovery. Set 10 years before the show’s Original 1966 series, was there any doubt that the uniforms would change? Or that iconic emblem, now rusted with its odd and quite probably plot-propelling split? Among the pages and pages of trailer analysis that followed, it was great to see some things won’t change come the 23rd century. There will always be a need for a great rebranding. (Just ask the Klingons…)
Raining marketing. Back to Blighty and with a sense of fitting pride, the campaign that’s seen London Pride rope into their brand not only the British weather, but the eminent and much missed-from-the-screens Michael Fish as well. I mean, just take a look via The Drum: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/02/03/london-pride-taps-legendary-weatherman-michael-fish-rainy-day-beer-give-away
Uncertain future. Perhaps as nostalgic as it’s entirely relevant, elsewhere in Britain speculation over the effect of Brexit on UK advertising continued… Speculation as indecisive as ever. Another long-running political process with no easy answers that can’t hep but shape the industry. Yet… http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/brexit-damaging-uk-advertising-market/1422896
SNAP! While social network of the past year has to go to Snapchat, following news of it doubling its userbase in 2016 and hitting 2017 on full-steam, there was a timely reminder for investors in the perilous and tricky world of digital start-ups and social networks. A number of them mistook fast swimming minnow Snap Interactive for its near namesake.
Print mirth: Not so much a mix-up as a cluster* — one to keep an eye on is The Guardian’s ongoing struggle with costs. Just 12 years after forking out £60 million for its Berliner printing press, the idea of a switch to a tabloid format, especially if it falls off presses owned by Murdoch’s News UK, is giving great mirth to… The Daily Mail.
Pop crash. Ending with the arts, there was something wonderfully reassuring that the Tate’s new David Hockney exhibition not only became its all-time fastest selling exhibition… But that their website crashed under the ‘unanticipated’ demand.
Good Knight. And finally on the external Wroundup, a nod to one of January’s great losses. The Drum ran a rather thoughtful nod to Sir John Hurt’s extensive career in advertising.
And on my side. Currently heading back from a jaunt the coal and biomass Drax power station in Selby, North Yorkshire. I was very (too) excited to tour the place and frankly, it was awesome! Stay-tuned for more…
For the past two months I’ve been laying out a new digital strategy for Open Energy Market — and you’ll see that roll-out over the next few months. This week we’re pleased as punch to have kicked of OEM’s Market Updates. The start of something big, we’re giving commercial energy buyers insights straight from our trading desk. Watch this one evolve right here.
Oh and really keep up-to-date by following @mattketing
See you next Raven Delivery!
