New subcategories also launched specifically for single posts, ads and campaigns using Snapchat.

Reflecting the fast-growing use and importance of augmented reality and virtual reality in creative marketing programs, The One Club for Creativity announced that Snapchat will now sponsor a pair of submission categories covering those areas for this year’s ADC 98th Annual Awards (http://www.adcawards.org), one of the world’s longest-running and most prestigious global competitions celebrating excellence in craft and innovation in all forms of design and advertising.

Under the new agreement, Snapchat is official sponsor of the show’s Interactive-AR/VR (http://www.adcawards.org/categories/interactive/#ar-vr) and Experiential Design-Digital Experiences (http://www.adcawards.org/categories/experiential-design#digital-experiences) categories.  

In addition, The One Club has this year created new ADC Annual Awards subcategories for Snapchat single and campaign entries for posts, ads or campaigns utilizing the platform’s individual qualities and strengths (http://www.adcawards.org/categories/interactive/#social-media).

"Snapchat and The One Club share a passion for celebrating craftsmanship and creativity,” said Augie Chun,Head of US West Coast Creative Strategy at Snapchat, who is on this year’s ADC Interactive jury.  “I'm excited to partner with the ADC Annual Awards on the Interactive and Experiential AR/VR categories as a way to highlight world-class Augmented Reality Lenses on Snapchat."  

“AR in particular has opened the door to an exciting whole new world of creative possibilities,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club for Creativity.  “But what we’ve seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg, as creatives and brands continue to explore new ways to reach and captivate their target audiences.  The market is ready to take off, and we couldn’t have a better partner than Snapchat to elevate and celebrate the great AR/VR creative work.”

Juries for the ADC 98th Annual Awards have just been announced.  PJ Pereira, co-founder and creative chairman, Pereira O’Dell, San Francisco, CA, is chair of the Interactive jury, and Ann Harakawa, principal, Two Twelve in New York, NY and Honolulu, HI, is chair of the Experiential jury.

The ADC 98th Annual Awards are part of The One Club for Creativity, the world’s foremost non-profit organization celebrating creative excellence in advertising and design.  Entries can be submitted via http://www.adcawards.org, deadline for entry is January 31, 2019. 

Geometry, the world’s most international brand activation and shopper marketing agency unveils ‘Loft 36’. The new Dubai creative hub to maneuver itself up the omni-channel world and elevate brand experiences, signaling another milestone in the growth and evolution of the agency since its February 2018 re-brand.

Under one roof, the new dynamic office space is powered by data-driven research and shopper journey mapping, alongside a Geometry-built collaborative and interactive operating system for planning and ideation. The office also includes a purpose-built retail space for testing and fine-tuning of the agency’s creations.

The launch of ‘Loft 36’ marks the literal and figurative ascendancy to the ‘Next Level’ for Geometry, providing a space for the agency and clients to collaborate on identifying and enhancing the pivotal moments that influence customer behavior. ‘Loft 36’ therefore embodies the evolution of Geometry’s expertise by the industry’s leading creative minds paired with the latest tech innovations.

“What we offer here in-terms of technology and facilities are at the forefront of MENA’s changing retail landscape,” commented Nick Walsh, Managing Director of Geometry MENA. “We see this new space paving the way for brands to be more effective in the way they conceptualize, test and deliver purchase journeys, which is ultimately positive for the consumer. They gain a more rewarding and enjoyable customer experience with the brands they interact with every single day,” added Walsh.

Creative pathways, genuine engagement and replicated consumer experiences are important elements of two core facets of the new space: The Experience Room and The Geomart.

Initial research into profiling of regional consumption trends and consumer intent takes place within the Experience Room. As a virtual interactive bubble, the Experience Room facilitates seamless agency and client collaborations. Fitted with an operating system developed in-house by Geometry, multiple teams globally connect to conceptualize the entire journey from touch-point to delivery, in real time, sparking transformative ideas.

Complementing the Experience Room is The Geomart - a first of its kind shopper experience testbed in MENA. Modelled on a small grocery store, The Geomart is real life in a lab, where sensors record anonymously the attention, actions and choices of a purchaser’s behavior. By studying this recorded behavioral data, Geometry tests reactions and interactions to brands, fine tuning the purchase decision journey they create for customers by simulating the environment they purchase products in. Onsite instant analytics allow Geometry to tailor-make solutions to shape customer behavior for their clients. The agency has also provided a platform for a number of budding shopper-technology startups to continuously curate the Experience Room and The Geomart, therefore enhancing customer and brand engagement.

“12 years ago we identified the opportunity to introduce a specialist network brand activation agency to the market, which has now developed into a world class agency with remarkable achievements. We are proud to showcase the ‘Next Level’ of Geometry, a place where we master our craft and prepare for bigger challenges. An agency that converts by creating experiences for the moments that matter,” commented Edmond Moutran, Chairman of Geometry.

New agreement between Shamal Communications and Andy Owen Copy & Creative, will enhance and strengthen client sales through the combination of quality public relations and world-class direct marketing 

Dubai-based, full-service public relations consultancy Shamal Communications has signed an exclusive partnership with UK-based Andy Owen Copy & Creative, one of the world’s leading direct marketing consultancies, led by a Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Hall of Famer.

Owen is recognised as one of the most influential direct marketers of his generation and is renowned for his exceptional copywriting expertise for direct and digital campaigns. With over 31 years of international experience covering three continents, Owen’s career has seen him work across several industries with leading blue-chip companies.

The new partnership will see the amalgamation of Owen’s expertise in direct marketing with Shamal’s strong public relations and social media presence in the UAE and GCC, which includes an impressive portfolio of clients across several market verticals, including real estate, construction, facilities management, security, and tourism. 

Shamal Communications’ General Manager. James Lakie said: “The combination of Andy’s unique ability to provide dynamic and incredibly influential direct marketing campaigns and Shamal’s market leading PR and digital offering, gives us a really strong competitive advantage in the regional market.

“We can now extend our offering from editorial to marketing messages aimed directly at targeted audiences, designed to sell,” he added.

Owen’s illustrious career began with a marketing role at Sony-owned American record label, RCA Records. He then went on to open a series of direct marketing agencies, including The Direct Marketing Organisation, Andy Owen & Associates and Andy Owen Copy & Creative, which has its Head Office in the UK.

During his career, Owen has travelled the world, regularly presenting conferences, seminars and masterclasses on all aspects of contemporary direct marketing – including several occasions in the Middle East. To date, he has presented in 29 countries. Owen is also a highly respected contributor to several international marketing and advertising publications. 

“As one of the top three marketing copywriters in the world, it was vital for me to partner with an agency who shares the same integrity and high standards of written content, while also having a thorough understanding and in-depth insight of the Middle East region. Shamal Communications fits the criteria perfectly.

“Together we will deliver cutting-edge, dynamic and incredibly influential copy – a complete contrast to the inconsistent content and delivery of brand messages in ads, emails, websites and social media campaigns, that can often be found in this region. 

“We will deliver copy that connects, reassures and most importantly, sells,” said Owen.

A full range of copywriting packages will be available, including, amongst others, direct marketing emails and social media post creation; webpage copywriting and editing; and a copy critique service. 

Founded by Nathalie Visele and Steven Jones in 2004, Shamal Communications is an independent, full-service agency and a founding member of the Worldwide PR Affiliates, a strategic alliance of well-established, independent public relations companies in key locations around the world.

The Gender-Equality Index identifies companies committed to advancing women in the workplace

WPP was today named an industry leader in the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) which recognises companies committed to transparency in gender reporting and advancing women’s equality.

Bloomberg’s 2019 index includes 230 firms from 10 sectors, headquartered across 36 countries and regions. Assessing information against a globally-established threshold, the GEI looks at how companies promote gender equality across four separate areas: company statistics, policies, community engagement and products and services.

WPP is the only company among its peers to be included in the list.

Mark Read, CEO of WPP said: “As we continue to build a culture at WPP that is inclusive, collaborative and diverse in our talent and in the work we create, we’re proud to be recognised in the Gender-Equality Index as a leader in our industry.”

Peter T. Grauer, Chairman of Bloomberg and Founding Chairman of the U.S. 30% Club said: “WPP’s GEI inclusion is a strong indicator to its employees, investors and industry peers alike that it is leading by example to advance ongoing efforts for a truly inclusive workplace.”

In 1979, Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter launched his Five Forces framework with a powerful statement: “The essence of strategy formulation is coping with competition, yet it is easy to view competition too narrowly and too pessimistically.”

Modern marketers have a number of tools to drive growth in the competitive environment which are supported by data to make confident decisions—like pricing, promotion, assortment and media.  But when we talk to marketers about growth, no lever is cited more often than innovation.

The trouble is, innovation is still a mystical artifact of strategy in today’s competitive environment—meaning the same marketers who say it is important also cite a lack of visibility to innovation activity and a lack of basic performance measurement. Unfortunately, this trouble only increases because of constant evolution among competitors, new entrants and substitutes—especially in pools of emerging consumer demand.

So, how can we more effectively invest in innovation as a growth engine? We tend to think it comes down to three seemingly simple things: measure, monitor and manage. Let’s look at each individually.

MEASURE

The fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry has access to plenty of hard metrics, where past performance is used to predict the future. But is there a better way to see the future competitive landscape?

In 2016 and 2017, Nielsen reported liquid tea as the No.1 growth category in the U.S., rounding out two straight years of 10%-20% growth. That sounds like good news for anyone in the category, right?

Our 2017 data on innovation in tea found that new entrants flooded the future of the category. Meanwhile, the marketers who controlled 60%+ share in the current category were getting less than 35% share of innovation sales. Smaller players were driving about $70 million in innovation sales, as market needs were shifting.  For example, new entrants were bringing new-to-category features like kombucha and exotic flavors in more accessible packaging. Caught off guard and remaining static, several established sub-brands fell almost 25% during that time.

Understanding innovation performance could provide a more holistic view on how the competitive environment is changing in the quest for growth. But it needs to be fast, granular and always on.

MONITOR

Marketers try to understand successful innovations from the past, while conducting ongoing searches for emerging trends. But what can we learn from innovations that are hitting the market right now?

The beer category is a good example of how potential substitutes (across non-alcohol and alcohol beverages) can change competitive dynamics. And it shows: Between April 2018 and July 2018, more than 1,200 innovations entered the U.S. beer category, which was about 2x to 5x more activity than any other major beverage category. Outside of sheer magnitude, how beer marketers were responding provides insight into the trends:

20% of the innovations were less than 5% alcohol by volume (ABV; also lower calorie), but another 20% had more than 8% ABV—providing insight into bifurcation in market forces

65% of the innovations were in cans, offering a number of benefits to consumers like the opportunity to enjoy the beverage during outdoor occasions

20% of the innovations led with fruit flavors, and 59 new flavors entered the category with dessert flavors (“pastry beers”) and multi-flavor combinations, which mirrors other beverage trends

Competitive innovation activity is a source of learning that enables marketers to adapt, respond and/or adopt new trends before they scale. Without facts, fiction prevails. We need a way to see high-level trends, navigate thousands of new entries in the competitive scene, and see real examples in real time.

MANAGE

Most marketers manage launched innovations through a series of tracking mechanisms for distribution, sales, promo, etc. The processes are at varying levels of maturity and consistency, but enable management against pre-launch goals. But is there a better way to manage innovations?

Let’s start with an $8 billion problem. Yes, with a “B.” Our BASES team found that 27% of new product launches were not viable with consumers in pre-market testing. Not counting the cost of development, these launches were supported with $4 billion in marketing spend—and almost all of them failed due to a lack of consumer demand. Meanwhile, another 27% of launches that were viable with consumers failed due to a lack of marketing support. Opportunity cost and irony just doubled.

It’s arguable whether this type of failure is caused by poor planning or poor execution. Nevertheless, few would argue that it is a big, expensive problem. And rather than choose between planning and execution, marketers should strive to address both:

Set goals and marketing plan expectations using data on similar innovations in the market

Track launch performance against internal and external benchmarks, and best-in-class forecasts

Take targeted, corrective actions quickly using consistent metrics and tools

Advancements in any one area of measure, monitor, manage would enable better innovation performance at an organizational level. Each involves taking a broader and optimistic view on competition in order to formulate effective strategy. It also involves keeping the information flow constant in a changing environment to bring agility to strategic decisions.

The real power will come when businesses can harness all three areas, and integrate them into the ongoing decision-making processes throughout the organization.

Authored by Matthew Senger, SVP, Product Leadership, Innovation Measurement

When it comes to purchase behavior, it’s become abundantly clear that consumers care. In fact, the majority (73%) of global consumers say they would definitely or probably change their consumption habits to reduce their impact on the environment. As consumers become increasingly aware of what they put in and on their bodies, they’re also interested in buying—and sometimes paying more—for products that simultaneously help the environment. In fact, almost half (41%) of consumers from around the world say that they’re highly willing to pay more for products that contain all-natural or organic ingredients.

According to our Consumers Buy The Change They Wish To See in The World report, we found that natural and organic ingredients and certifications serve as the entry level point for nearly every market when it comes to sustainability attributes consumers are searching for. From there, it becomes more specific and fragmented.

MORE UP-AND-COMING CARE-FULL CONSUMERS

Many sustainable trends in new markets start with beauty and personal care. In Taiwan, for example, where 88% of surveyed consumers said that it is extremely or very important that companies implement programs to improve the environment, there is evidence of a growing trend in natural in personal care.

In fact, an analysis of retail sales data indicated that natural products were seeing growth in otherwise declining categories. For instance, while the overall shampoo category saw declines of 3.4% over a year long period ending April 2018, natural shampoos, which own 11.2% of the value share, are steadily growing at 2.2%. In this category, catering to consumer demand for a more sustainable shampoo not only benefits the environment, but it also bolsters the bottom line of companies smart enough to give them what they want.

We see the impact of similar sentiment around shower gel, a category where naturals own 10.3% of the value share, and the overall category saw sales decline 0.8%. Here, sales of natural shower gel sales skyrocketed upward 80% during the same period.

Natural Drives Personal Care Growth in Taiwan

IN BURGEONING SUSTAINABILITY MARKETS, NATURAL AND ORGANIC ARE PAVING THE WAY FOR MORE DETAILED AND SPECIFIC CLAIMS

As companies look to break into new markets, they must understand that each market demands its own approach. In burgeoning sustainability markets, however, natural and organic are paving the way for more detailed and specific claims.

TBWA\Worldwide has elevated Cem Topçuoğlu to President, International, after serving as President, TBWA\Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, for the past four years.

In his expanded role, Topçuoğlu will continue to report directly to TBWA\Worldwide President and CEO Troy Ruhanen, adding a number of markets in Western Europe to his purview, including Finland, Ireland, Italy, Manchester, Spain and Sweden, among others.

“Results speak for themselves,” said Ruhanen. “Cem has been instrumental in driving innovation and reinvention in key markets across EMEA. He’s not a fix-it man, but a builder for sustained success, helping to architect tailored visions for each operation. We’ve seen his impact from Turkey to Dubai to South Africa to Russia, and we’re looking forward to him bringing the same energy to more markets in Western Europe.”

After founding his own agency in 1993, Topçuoğlu partnered with TBWA in 1999 to form TBWA\Istanbul, which today remains the dominant agency in Turkey. He was promoted to President, TBWA\CEE, Middle East and Africa in 2015, and has driven numerous innovation initiatives across the region, including a custom training program with Facebook and scaling TBWA’s best data practices across markets. In 2018, TBWA saw creative and business success across all corners of the region, with TBWA\RAAD named Agency of the Year, as well as Network of the Year at Dubai Lynx; TBWA\RAAD ranked the #1 MENA Agency at Cannes 2018; TBWA\Group in South Africa winning 2018 Regional Agency Group of the Year at the Loeries; Grid Worldwide named Specialist Agency of the Year at AdFocus Awards; TBWA\Istanbul recognized as the Most Awarded Agency at the Crystal Apple Ceremony and named Creative Agency of the Year by the MediaCat Cat Report.

“One of the best things about TBWA is the collective philosophy of working together to help build our markets,” said Topçuoğlu. “We have best-in-class digital and data capabilities, innovation initiatives and the best talent in the business. Throughout the region, our creative product has improved and helped our client business grow rapidly. I look forward to working with our agencies to unlock even more success.”

Originally from Istanbul, Topçuoğlu graduated from Marmara University and began his career in advertising at Grey. He spent time working in Grey’s New York office, gaining experience in fast-moving consumer goods for clients such as Procter & Gamble and Bristol-Myers, before moving back to Istanbul, where he rose to the position of Executive Vice President.

A Brain Trust of International Creatives Representing 65 countries from 6 Continents Poised to Select the World’s Best Advertising

New York Festivals International Advertising Awards® announced its world class Grand Jury. To date, NYF’s powerhouse 400+ Grand Jury represents the most diverse brain trust of global creative minds in the advertising industry from 65 countries. 

From Argentina to Vietnam, this peer-nominated panel provides a comprehensive view of the advertising world today. This year’s Grand Jury, recruited from top global agencies and the hottest new boutique shops, is comprised of prominent award-winning Chief Creative Officers, Executive Creative Directors, Creative Directors, Art Directors, Copywriters, Executive Producers, and Marketing/PR pro’s all playing a pivotal role in selecting the World’s Best Advertising® winners.

“We’ve assembled a truly international jury with high level talent that spans the globe.” said Susan Glass Ruse, Executive Director of New York Festivals International Advertising Awards. “NYF has always been about recognizing the work and the individuals who create it. Our juries and our competition categories are designed to reflect the diversity of great work and the people that produce it.”

The Grand Jury will be appointed to panels that correspond with our newly revised categories.  New panels include Artistry & Craft in Advertising, Collaborations & Partnerships, Social Media & Influencer and Positive World Impact. You can see all the exciting category changes HERE.

“We’re honored to have such an exceptional and eclectic jury judging this year’s work” said Heather Abrams, Associate Executive Director of New York Festivals Advertising Awards. “Not only are we excited to provide our entrants with highly-regarded creatives to honor their work, but we’re delighted for our jury to see some of the fresh and bold ideas that come through in our new categories.”

Using New York Festivals online judging platform, the Grand Jury will review global entries through two rounds of meticulous judging and select the creative work that merits Shortlist and Finalist Status. The Finalist entries will then move on to the medal rounds. NYF’s Grand Jury is also the first line of defense, scrutinizing ads to provide security against possible scam ads.

2019’s trophy winning entries will be determined by the 9th annual Executive Jury, an elite panel of 22+ CCO’s from around the globe. The Executive Jury will gather this April for 5 days in New York City for four rounds of judging across all mediums to select 2019’s winners for First Prize, Second Prize, Third Prize, Grand Awards and Best of Show. The members of the 2019 Executive Jury will be announced soon.

The 2019 competition entry deadline is January 31st

Breaking the pattern of football boot releases through an invite-only app

adidas GLITCH is a new football boot concept and a unique route to market. With a new generation of players to connect with, POSSIBLE set out to disrupt everything.

The answer for launch? A mobile product and experience that was created, designed, and launched by POSSIBLE. The goal was to attract a new audience of street/league players, a cynical inner-city audience that isn’t swayed by celebrity sponsorship and the traditional marketing mix. They’re mobile only, not mobile first, and heavily vested in social media. The GLITCH app was designed to reach young players where they spent most of their time – on their phones, online, on the move.

GLITCH is now live in London, Berlin and Paris. The GLITCH app houses everything in the customer journey from their first interaction with the product, booking and purchasing, to delivery and rewards. The product can ONLY be bought through the app – even today. These boots aren’t available in stores or even online.

At launch in each country, POSSIBLE and adidas deliberately started small and kept it personal. They locked the fitting and purchase functions of the app, making it invite-only. Codes were only available through a small community of influencers and then only available from purchasers of the boots. Our influencers were part of the design of the boots and fed into the concept. Then they led the launch activity, handing out invite codes, uploading content to build community in the app and answering customer questions – online and in the app itself.

GLITCH is now adidas’ second biggest-selling football franchise online behind Predator, a boot that has over two decades’ history and budgets that are well over 10 times those for GLITCH. Achieved without the usual big budgets, big-name online stores, global sales, and without any Premier League football stars, GLITCH turned the industry upside down and created a completely new relationship between brand and consumer.

Gartner Reveals Six Predictions to Guide Marketing Leaders Through Uncertain Times Ahead

Shifting consumer behaviors, mounting regulatory pressures, organizational shifts and disruptive automation combine to pose a real and destabilizing threat to many marketing leaders and their strategies for the years ahead, according to Gartner Inc.

In the report titled, “Predicts 2019: Marketing Seeks a New Equilibrium,” Gartner analysts predict six critical changes that will help guide marketing leaders while navigating this new terrain.

“These are exciting, but uncertain times for CMOs (chief marketing officers) and marketing leaders. From the promise of data and analytics, to the lure of customer experience (CX) and everything in between, marketers have vast opportunities to set themselves apart from the competition, but equal challenges to overcome in order to do so,” said Charles Golvin, senior director and analyst at Gartner. “Finding the right balance to successfully leverage marketing technology and emerging trends will be critical to marketing’s success over the course of the next couple of years.”

Gartner analysts said these predictions will help marketers better understand and prepare for the uncertain times ahead:

By 2022, profitability will replace customer experience as the CMO’s No. 1 strategic priority, reducing investment in marketing-funded CX programs by at least 25 percent.

Brands that put in place user-level control of marketing data will reduce customer churn by 40 percent and increase lifetime value by 25 percent in 2023.

By 2022, content creators will produce more than 30 percent of their digital content with the aid of AI content-generation techniques, increasing productivity and advertising effectiveness but also disrupting the creative process.

By 2023, 60 percent of CMOs will slash the size of their marketing analytics departments by 50 percent because of a failure to realize promised improvements.

By 2023, autonomous marketing systems will issue 55 percent of multichannel marketing messages based on marketer criteria and real-time consumer behavior, resulting in a 25 percent increase in response rates.

By 2023, consumers will watch 20 percent fewer minutes of video advertising per day than they do today. Brands will adapt by embracing short-form video ads.

These predictions grow out of four key forces that are buffeting marketers today:

Behavioral Changes: As voice interfaces continue to improve, consumers are beginning to embrace the convenience. However, concerns about how marketers use this information and where it is all stored continue to mount. Gartner research reveals that 44 percent of consumers would be more willing to use a virtual personal assistant app if they knew that all their personal data would only remain on the device.

Regulatory Pressures: In the wake of consumer advocates shedding light on customer data-powered overreach and missteps, regulatory changes on the use of customer data now threaten to hinder many common marketing practices. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was the first of many more regulations to come.

Organizational Shifts: Marketing leaders are attempting to satiate their appetite for data by hiring new talent that can extract insights from the vast amount of data they have acquired. Meanwhile, while marketing analytics teams continue to inflate, so have investments in CX. Executive scrutiny and expectations in these investment areas is rapidly intensifying.

Disruptive Automation: Now a core functional element of nearly every category of marketing technology, machine intelligence carries the promise of increased efficiency. As automation makes its way into new areas, these changes will have a disruptive impact on what marketers do and how they do it.