Category: In the News

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Americas In the News USA

Learn to Lead, Engage, Analyze and Optimize at major US event

Conference to take place June 3-4 in NYC.

At the USA Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Integrated Marketing Week (IMW14) conference, attendees will immerse themselves in winning IM Weekstrategies and tactics through three dedicated program tracks: Lead, Engage, and Analyze & Optimize — as well as special ‘Funnel’ sessions focused on B2B topics. IMW14, The Event for Integrated Marketing in the Customer Experience Era, will be held June 3-4 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City.

Paul McDonnough, the USA DMA’s vice-president of conferences and events, said: “At IMW14, we’ve set out the roadmap every marketer needs to follow to start, reboot, or fine-tune their integrated marketing.

“This isn’t theory and projection — it’s about proven routes to success. IMW’s three-track agenda features keynotes, industry leaders, and tech entrepreneurs covering the key disciplines for delivering great customer experience.”

Lead: Making It Happen

Thought leaders from top companies such as Nutrisystem, Forrester Research, The Weather Company, and Canon USA will show attendees how to transform their businesses and implement successful change; create winning budgets; and grow their brands across channels.

Lead topics include:

  • Business Agility – or How to be Open to Change
  • CMO or CIO? How Technology is Changing the Marketing Landscape
  • Engagement with a Purpose: the Power of B Corporations
  • How CMOs Can Unlock “Power of One” Marketing
  • Implementing a Global Business Transformation Strategy for the Future
  • Expansion versus Cannibalization: Managing Across Products & Channels at Nutrisystem
  • Getting Buy-In from the C-Level: A Roundtable

Engage: From Customer to Fan and Advocate

Industry leaders from The Economist, OgilvyOne, New York Life, 1to1 Media, Citigroup, Havas Worldwide, Cabela’s, eM+C, Reebok America, and appssavvy will show attendees how to engage across channels for loyalty, retention and advocacy, and how to keep customers in play through branded content, personalization and conversion drivers.

Engage topics include:

  • Logic & Magic: Data-Driven Creativity to Drive Customer Engagement
  • The Secret to Seamless Customer Experience: Responsive Design
  • Understanding Your Customer through Analytics
  • The New Rules of Engagement
  • Connecting with Consumers in an Omnichannel World
  • Timing: The Missing Ingredient in Mobile Advertising
  • Using Behavioral Modeling to Engage Customers Throughout the Decision-Making Process

Analyze & Optimize: Unlocking Data for Actionable Insight

How do you get relevant, timely insight for personalization and targeting? What are the best strategies for delivering high-impact, revenue-generating experiences? Experts from leading companies, including Google, Cisco Systems, Inc., The Martin Agency, Penske, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Target Marketing Magazine, Didit, Scholastic Books, Time Warner Cable, and more, will show you how.

Analyze & Optimize topics include:

  • Integrating the Offline with the Online
  • Creative by the Numbers: Can Great Creative and Numbers Coexist?
  • Turning Big Data into Right Data
  • The New Online Marketing
  • The Profit Driven Marketer: Being There in More Moments that Matter
  • Data Attribution or Media Mix Optimization?
  • Data-Driven Innovation: The Future of Integrated Marketing

In addition to these three tracks, IMW14 offers Funnel sessions: where marketing meets sales in the new B2B, where attendees will learn how to align sales and marketing around a single set of metrics — and gain strategies, tactics, and tools for automated lead nurturing, content marketing, and revenue performance management.

For a full list of tracks, topics, and descriptions, click here

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Europe In the News UK

Coupon craze reaches new heights

coupon41UK shoppers redeemed 603 million coupons in 2013 – up 35% from 2012 and worth £1.7billion

UK shoppers’ appetite for coupons has reached new heights, increasing by over a third (35%) in 2013 compared to the previous year.

According to coupon experts Valassis, coupons and vouchers worth £1.7billion were redeemed last year, showing that the coupon craze is far from over even though the economy is strengthening. This means the average household redeems coupons and vouchers worth approximately £64 in a year. (26.4 million households in the UK in 2013: National Office of Statistics)

Figures from Valassis retailer clients reveal the following:

  • Coupon and voucher redemptions increase by 35% with 603 million coupons redeemed in 2013, up from 448 million in 2012
  • The total value of coupons and vouchers redeemed is £1.7billion
  • Retailer-issued coupons have driven growth, but manufacturer-issued coupons are increasing

The figures from Valassis, which works with 85% of the market, show that coupon redemption is continuing its upward trend, with volumes increasing by 223% since 2010. Retailer-issued coupons are driving most of the growth and account for 71% of redemptions or 466 million coupons.

Charles D’Oyly, managing director of Valassis, commented: “The 35% increase in coupon redemptions in 2013 is exceptional. Bearing in mind that retail sales in 2013 grew by just 1.6% compared with 2012, such growth is remarkable.

“The recent increases in retailer-issued redemptions are primarily due to the popularity of coupon-at-till promotions and price matching promises which mean the consumer would not have been able to buy certain items as economically elsewhere.”

Compared to 2012, and indeed any of the last five years, redemption of manufacturer-issued coupons is rising once again and 2013 saw a 50% jump in the volume of such redemptions, compared the previous year.

D’Oyly continued: “What’s behind this growth? Our recent research indicates that consumers’ use of coupons is widespread across all demographics (*), and supermarkets have responded accordingly by increasing their use of coupons as the promotion of choice for targeted consumer offers.

“We were also encouraged to see that part of the overall growth was driven by manufacturer coupons which have been largely flat for a number of years. We attribute this resurgence partly to increased awareness of couponing’s efficiency and effectiveness as a promotional tool, as well as the tendency for manufacturers to take their lead from retailers’ promotional activity. In 2013, average face value decreased from £1 to 85p, which suggests that manufacturers are refining their coupon tactics and trying to find optimal offer points that trigger behavioural change with consumers.”

* Valassis Gfk NOP research findings in November 2013 showed that 39% of ABs planned to use ‘everyday low price promises’ as part of their Christmas grocery shop, compared to 51% across other demographics.

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In the News

Australia: line up of speakers announced for ADMA Global Forum.

The Association for Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) has announced the line-up of speakers for this year’s ADMA Global Forum, taking place July 28-30 in Sydney. This year, the international contingent features speakers from the USA, the UK, Canada, Japan, China, India and Korea.

ADMA CEO, Jodie Sangster (pictured below), said: “ADMA Global Forum has changed this year to reflect the growing footprint of the marketing, advertising and media landscape. This is why we now have four conferences under the ADMA Global Forum banner which reflect key aspects of the new data-driven world.”Jodie Sangster (WEB) ADMA CEO 2013

In addition to ADMA’s annual Marketing and Advertising Forum, there are the new ADMA Creative Fuel, ADMA Media Connect and ADMA Business Intelligence and Analytics Lab conferences.

“Everything is becoming data-driven and we felt that media, creative and data analytics needed their own conferences to explore the latest ideas and trends,” said Sangster.

“Gone are the days when we can just benchmark ourselves against our Australian peers. We are now competing globally. Therefore, we need to have a broader perspective. For each of these conferences we have secured the world’s foremost innovators in marketing, creative thinking, analytics, innovation and technology. Delegates will learn how these world leaders are engaging customers and delivering ROI,” she added.

Global speakers confirmed for the ADMA Global Marketing and Advertising Forum taking place at Sydney Hilton Hotel include:

  • Bruce Rogers, chief insights officer, Forbes Media (USA)
  • Jordan Fiksenbaum, VP Marketing and Public Relations, Cirque du Soleil (CANADA)
  • Michaela Brockstedt, executive creative director and VP of marketing, Westfield Group (USA)
  • Cory Surovek, head of Common Area Design, Westfield Group (USA)
  • Jörg Dietzel, head of marketing, Audi (KOREA)
  • Tim Donza, director Consumer Insights, Netflix (USA)
  • Brian Wilt, senior data scientist, Jawbone (USA)
  • Rohildev Nattukallingal, CEO, Fin (INDIA)
  • Andrew McKeon, Global Customer Marketing lead, Facebook, Inc. (USA)
  • Bryan Kramer, CEO, PureMatter (USA)
  • Ethelbert Williams, global director  Integrated Marketing, Kimberly-Clark Professional (USA)
  • Laston Charriez, SVP Marketing North America, Western Union (USA)
  • Scott Brinker, author/editor, chiefmartec.com (USA)
  • Kim Clarke, chief marketing officer, Vodafone Hutchison Australia (AUSTRALIA)
  • Anna Griffin, SVP Global Marketing, CA Technologies (USA)
  • Michael Scott, general manager marketing, Virgin Australia (AUSTRALIA)
  • Joseph Jaffe, CEO and co-founder, Evol8tion (USA)
  • James Kirkham, co-founder and managing partner, Holler (UK)
  • John Scott, CEO, DrinkWise (AUSTRALIA)
  • Aseem Badshah, founder and CEO, Socedo (USA)
  • Alex Burrows, director of Scientific Marketing and Analytics, Optus (AUSTRALIA)
  • Alex Topaloski, founder, Proximiti (AUSTRALIA)
  • Andrew Haussegger, co-founder and managing director, Green Hat (AUSTRALIA)
  • Chris Dickey, SVP director of data strategy, The Martin Agency (USA)
  • George Gallate, CEO, RKG (USA)
  • Gery Pollet, CEO and founder, ZapFi (USA)
  • Jon Wuebben, founder and CEO, Content Launch (USA)
  • Jonas Jaanimagi, head of media, REA Group (USA)
  • Mark Pollard, VP Brand Strategy, Big Spaceship (USA)
  • Matt Tindale, director, Marketing Solutions for Australia and New Zealand, LinkedIn Corporation (AUSTRALIA)
  • Michael Weeding, digital director, AMP (AUSTRALIA)
  • Milosh Milisavljevic, partner, McKinsey & Company (AUSTRALIA)
  • Peter Biggs, CEO, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne (AUSTRALIA)
  • Richard Broug, general manager Global Retail, Paspaley Pearls (AUSTRALIA)
  • Tony Davis, director, Quantium (AUSTRALIA)
  • Uwe Gutschow, VP Digital and Engagement Strategy, Innocean (USA)
  • Christopher Shields, head of International Banking and Growth Segments, ANZ (AUSTRALIA).

Speakers for the ADMA Media Connect Event, supported by the Media Federation of Australia, and taking place Tuesday 29 July at Sydney Hilton Hotel, are:

  • Jeff Chu, editor at Large, Fast Company (USA)
  • Bryant Chou, CEO China, VICE Media (CHINA)
  • Bob Garfield, columnist, MediaPost (USA)
  • Helen Kellie, marketing director, SBS (AUSTRALIA)
  • Jorge Urrutia del Pozo, VP Operations, The Huffington Post (USA)
  • Shigeyuki Tomomatsu, EVP, managing director, MarketShare (JAPAN).

Speakers for the ADMA/IAPA Business Intelligence and Analytics Lab, taking place Wednesday 30 July for the professional analytics industry, are:

  • Jean-Paul Isson, author and VP Predictive Analytics and BI, Monster Worldwide (CANADA)
  • Minakshi Srivastava, VP, Bank of America (USA)
  • Anthony Smith, deputy CEO, St John Ambulance Ltd. Western Australia (AUSTRALIA)
  • Greta Roberts, CEO, Talent Analytics (USA)
  • Brian Wilt, senior data scientist, Jawbone (USA)
  • Michael Gassmann, executive manager Business Pricing, Suncorp (AUSTRALIA)
  • Dr Pek Lum, VP of Solutions and chief data scientist, Ayasdi (USA)
  • Hurol Inan, founder and managing director, Bienalto Consulting (AUSTRALIA)
  • Emma Giammarco, marketing manager, CFS Retail Property Trust Group, Chatswood Chase Sydney (AUSTRALIA)
  • Andrew Lowe, managing director, Pointpal Australia (AUSTRALIA).

The speaker line-up for the ADMA Creative Fuel conference (July 28, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia) will be announced in early June.

Each conference runs from approximately 8.45am-5.45pm with networking drinks to follow. Keep up with the news on Twitter @admaforum and connect using #admaforum. More information is here. 

There will also be networking and social events during the conferences as well as an Innovation Zone showcasing the latest in products and services for the industry.

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In the News

Seven key lessons for brands to boost their value

Researcher Millward Brown shows how the rise and fall of key global brands are both a warning and a model to follow for marketers.

Analysis of the fortunes of some of the world’s most famous brands by brand research company Millward Brown has revealed seven key approaches that companies can use to boost brand value.

Based on the performance of brands such as Apple, Amazon and Visa over eight years of the BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study, these learnings demonstrate the power of the annual ranking and its ability to identify brands that are making waves.

The lessons, revealed in advance of the 2014 BrandZ Top 100 ranking launch on May 21, the ninth annual release, are based on the fortunes of clusters of similar and often competing companies such Vodafone, Samsung and Nokia, and demonstrate how a brand and its portrayal via communications have been critical to company financial success.

The seven key lessons:

Lesson 1: Identify a human truth. You can rise incredibly fast, but when you get it wrong you can fall equally quickly. Apple’s rapid rise from No 29 in the first BrandZ ranking in 2006 with a brand value of $16.0bn to No 1 in 2012 with a value of $183.0bn comes off the back of a universal truth that people want technology to work simply and easily. By contrast, Nokia lost its consumer connection at around the same time, thinking its then-superior technology would be enough to beat the challenge of the iPhone. It has since dropped from $44.0bn at No 9 in 2008 to $10.7bn and No 81 in 2011, exiting the ranking altogether in 2012.

Lesson 2: Make your own connection. You can go so far as a fast-follower, but ultimately to be a great marketer you need your own connection. Samsung has risen remarkably far and fast, and has had flashes of marketing excellence, including the recent Oscar selfie campaign. As a brand, though, it still has an opportunity to unearth its own universal truth. When it does, it should continue its rise from its No 30 position in the 2013 ranking with a brand value of $21.4bn.

Lesson 3: Technological superiority on its own is not everything. In fact it’s not even 90%, because people aren’t rational. The technological gap between Apple, Samsung and their competitors is fairly small, but their relative business fortunes have been miles apart. The significant difference is brand love and an affinity with consumers driven by Apple’s and Samsung’s ability to meet the needs of consumers in a way that is meaningful.

Lesson 4: International expansion isn’t the only way to grow. Quite often leveraging your brand into other categories can be more effective. Walmart’s purchasing power hasn’t ensured a smooth global expansion and its BrandZ ranking has declined slightly over the last eight years, ranking No 18 with a brand value of $36.2bn in 2013. Other retail brands have driven brand growth by expanding their footprint into other categories, most notably with Amazon’s stretch from books to appliances to universal retailer.

Lesson 5: Disruptive innovation and reinventing yourself drives tremendous growth in almost every market. Disruptive innovation is the spiritual heartland of Amazon, which has changed the way we buy everything from entertainment to appliances, and in the process moved from No 92 in 2007 to No 14 and a brand value of $45.7bn in 2013. Other brands have also taken a similar path, including Vodafone, which is now moving from a provider of mobile services to a rounded broadcast provider focused on Europe and BT, entering the ranking at No 94 in 2013 and storming up as a result of successful expansion beyond calls and lines into broadband, television and finally entertainment and sports.

Lesson 6: Often your competitors aren’t who you think. The success of Visa and MasterCard demonstrates that brands compete not only against those that provide the same services. Quite often, key competitors come from areas where they can provide substitute services and products. For Visa, MasterCard and American Express, the common enemy over the past few decades has been cash and cheques; however slowly but surely, both are becoming less important. Visa has been particularly successful in gaining traction, moving from No 36 and $16.3bn in 2009 to a spot in the BrandZ 2013 top 10, at No 9, with a value of $56.1bn.

Lesson 7: Learn to live locally. Simply because you are from one country doesn’t mean you can’t also be a local brand in another. Some of the most iconic American brands such as McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have successfully transcended their origins to become global brands that feel local around the world. McDonald’s and Coke have become part of the community wherever they operate and connect via their universal truths such as Coke’s Happiness message. This strategy has helped both brands retain top 10 positions (and further gain places) even as the brand value required to stay in the top 10 has increased by 18%.

Anastasia Kourovskaia (pictured), vice-president EMEA at Millward Brown Optimor, said: “Smart marketers seek to learn from the successes of their peers and avoid the failings of brands that have ceased to be as effective. This analysis of BrandZ Top 100 data over eight years highlights essential learnings that all brands need take on board.Anastasia Kourovskaia (WEB)

“The path to brand growth isn’t always obvious and marketers sometimes need to look beyond the day-to-day business to see the wider opportunities.”

The 2014 BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking will be launched on Wednesday May 21.

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In the News UK

UK political groups warned to play by marketing rules in lead up to local and European elections

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has written to the main UK political parties warning them about the need to follow data protection and electronic marketing rules ahead of the European and local elections on May 22.

The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham’s letter follows a number of concerns raised with the ICO about the political parties’ use of market EU flagresearch surveys to gain political support.

Genuine market research can be carried out in order to help inform a party’s positioning and formulate policies. However, communications claiming to be research that are also intended to canvass support now or in the future are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. The regulations apply to all electronic marketing, including texts, calls and emails.

Christopher Graham said: “This is about the political parties demonstrating best practice, and being open and upfront with voters about their marketing activities, explaining to people in an open and transparent way how their personal details will be used.

“The rules apply to political parties, just as they do to businesses and charities. In communicating with voters, the parties need to be clear about what their intentions are and why they are asking people for their information. We don’t need election campaigns featuring nuisance calls, spam texts and canvassing under the guise of ‘research’.”

The ICO has produced detailed guidance for campaign groups explaining the data protection and electronic marketing rules. The guidance states that campaigning organisations must:

  • only send marketing emails, texts or make automated telephone calls to people who have consented to being contacted;
  • identify themselves and provide an easy way to opt-out of future direct marketing at all times;
  • be clear on whether they are carrying out market research (seeking someone’s opinions) or political campaigning (seeking to persuade them to vote a certain way); and
  • be extremely careful when using ‘viral marketing’ that encourages individuals to contact friends and family on the organisation’s behalf.

Read Christopher Graham’s letter in full, here.

 

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In the News UK

DPD to launch new Sunday delivery service for retailers

Online retailers get Saturday collections for ‘next-day’ Sunday delivery

UK delivery company DPD is set to become the first UK carrier to provide a nationwide express Sunday delivery service for all its customers. The service, which will start on July 20, will help create more than 500 new jobs around the UK as DPD’s depot network expands to accommodate a seven day week.

The new service will also mean that, for the first time, DPD will be able to collect from business customers on a Saturday for next-day delivery on Sunday. Equally, on a Friday, online retailers will now be able to specify either Saturday or Sunday delivery. Deliveries will be made between 9am and 5pm on a Sunday and DPD’s network of more than 50 UK depots will be open during those hours.

From launch, DPD will have the ability to deliver to more than 98% of the UK population on a Sunday and the service will include DPD’s award winning one hour Predict timeslot deliveries, where parcel recipients are notified by text or email of their one hour delivery timeslot in advance, and can then track their driver in real-time all the way to their front door.

Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO, said; “I’m delighted to be able to announce our new Sunday service. We know from talking to retailers and recipients that there is a real demand for Sunday deliveries. The majority of our larger customers in the retail sector are moving to a 24/7 operation, so we wanted to make sure that they have a trusted delivery partner that can provide a full collection and delivery service every day of the week too.

“Saturday has long been the busiest retail day of the week, but with the blurring of the offline and online retail boundaries it can now also be the busiest day for e-tailers. Therefore it is very appealing for e-tailers to be able to offer next-day delivery for those customers who buy on a Saturday.

“The launch of DPD’s one hour timeslot service Predict was a game-changer for the delivery market. Now customers are far less tolerant of having to wait in all day for a standard courier to turn up. But the market has moved on and shoppers want immediate delivery, seven days a week. Predict gives you complete control over when and where your parcel is delivered – from the initial notification on your smartphone on Saturday evening, to tracking the driver to your door or being able to relay alternative instructions to him in real-time. As a result, I think most people will see this kind of smart Sunday delivery service as an excellent addition to their options.

“We are committed to an unrivalled programme of investments in the UK to ensure we have the smartest technology, the most up to date network infrastructure and the best people. Our weekend service is proof of how this can all come together to provide an unbeatable package for retailers looking to differentiate their delivery service.”

With DPD’s Predict service, recipients receive a notification of their delivery the evening before and are able to access five ‘in-flight’ delivery options, including; ‘Change the delivery day’, Deliver to a specific neighbour’, ‘Deliver to a safe place’ and ‘Collect from nearest depot’. These can be accessed via a smartphone, tablet or desktop at any point during the delivery if the customer can’t be at home on the day to accept their parcel. DPD now send around 1.1 million Predict notifications every week and approximately 10%, or over 100,000 recipients, use one of the in-flight options.

DPD recently announced its most ambitious expansion plans to date with the development of 15 new depots in the UK in 2014, including three new ‘super-depots’ capable of handling 25,000 parcels a day. Construction of DPD’s new £100m parcel hub at Hinckley Commercial Park in the East Midlands is well underway. The facility, which will be the largest of its kind in Europe and capable of handling 70,000 parcels an hour, is on schedule to be completed in 2015, creating up to 1,000 permanent full-time jobs.

DPD is a member of one of Europe’s leading parcels groups GeoPost, wholly owned by France’s La Poste, the second largest postal group in Europe.

The company employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, operating more than 3,000 vehicles from over 50 locations and delivering 1.6 million parcels per week.

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In the News UK USA

Online and on the loo! The 10% of UK consumers who shop in the lavatory

DID you know that ten per cent of UK online shoppers have made a purchase while sitting on the loo?u8_toilet-smartphoneb

Not only that, but 72% of mums are most likely to make a purchase while in bed.

New research has pinpointed many consumers’ shopping preferences while concluding that 60% of UK consumers shop online every week.

Sailthru, a provider of personalised communications technology, has just announced the results of its market research focusing on consumer online shopping preferences.

The study was conducted by Redshift Research during March 2014. Key takeaways from the findings indicate that UK consumers not only have a very positive response to personalised communication, but actively understand the concept and today are demanding more tailored marketing communications from brands.

In fact, 63% of UK online shoppers are likely to read a personalised message they receive from a brand they know and then complete that purchase (51%) following a personalised offer.

Other key statistics include:

  • 57% of online shoppers prefer to make a purchase on their home computer or tablet, with the most popular place to make a purchase (56%) being from bed.
  • 64% of online shoppers prefer it when a brand recommends products the consumer has previously shown an interest in – such as items on the wish list or in a shopping basket.
  • 60% prefer it when a brand sends personalised communication with reference to a past purchase or browsing history. With almost two fifths confirming that branded emails are ‘very’ or ‘sometimes’ helpful when tailored to their interests.

With individuals now interacting with a brand across multiple mobile devices, every brand experience needs to be optimised for mobile to mitigate low conversions and/or basket abandonment. In fact, 42% of online shoppers have abandoned a purchase because it was too complicated to complete on a mobile device and 60% still prefer to use a laptop over a mobile device, due largely to a poor mobile experience.

Consumers are telling brands loud and clear that they want their online browsing experience optimised for mobile. They would be more likely to increase both average order value and purchase frequency if every brand experience were optimised for their chosen device – 45% of shoppers said they were likely to make an online purchase if the website was easy to navigate on a mobile.

Neil Capel, founder and CEO of Sailthru – which has its HQ in New York City – said: “The research shows that consumers are very clearly demanding personalisation from their online and in-store shopping experiences. In order to meet this demand, brands must understand their customers on an individual level, deliver content that is interesting, timely and relevant to each user and also optimise that content to render on any device. It’s about giving every individual what they want, when they want it and recognizing that need even before they do.

“This is the future of successful brand to consumer marketing.” Capel concluded: “Now, more than ever, brands need to stop toying with the idea of personalisation and make moves to provide relevant and platform specific communications to their customers or risk being left behind. The innovative brands that we work with have moved away from ineffective segmentation and instead created personalised experiences for each of their customers that tailors content across any device – whether that is via email, mobile or web.

“The results our clients are seeing speak volumes about the power of personalisation.”

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In the News

Craft brewer’s 'indifference and nonchalance’ to industry body’s criticism of its marketing message

A London-based craft beer brewing company which has been been accused of irresponsible marketing for the slogan ‘drink fast, live fast’ by an industryBD_Logo_White watchdog (read that article here), has issued a sarcastic message in response.

The message reads:
Following the official announcement from the Portman Group that BrewDog’s Dead Pony Club pale ale is in breach of the alcohol marketing code, BrewDog would like to issue the following statement:

James Watt, co-founder of BrewDog commented: “On behalf of BrewDog PLC and its 14,691 individual shareholders, I would like to issue a formal apology to the Portman Group for not giving a sh*t about today’s ruling. Indeed, we are sorry for never giving a sh*t about anything the Portman Group has to say, and treating all of its statements with callous indifference and nonchalance.

“Unfortunately, the Portman Group is a gloomy gaggle of killjoy jobsworths, funded by navel-gazing international drinks giants. Their raison d’être is to provide a diversion for the true evils of this industry, perpetrated by the gigantic faceless brands that pay their wages. Blinkered by this soulless mission, they treat beer drinkers like brain dead zombies and vilify creativity and competition. Therefore, we have never given a second thought to any of the grubby newspeak they disseminate periodically.

“While the Portman Group lives out its days deliberating whether a joke on a bottle of beer is responsible or irresponsible use of humour, at BrewDog we will just get on with brewing awesome beer and treating our customers like adults. I’m sure that makes Henry Ashworth cry a salty tear into his shatterproof tankard of Directors as he tries to enforce his futile and toothless little marketing code, but we couldn’t give a sh*t about that, either.

“We sincerely hope that the sarcasm of this message fits the Portman Group criteria of responsible use of humour,” he added.

More information on BrewDog and Dead Pony Club can be found at brewdog.com. 

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Europe In the News

Within Europe, cost of a standard letter in Germany remains reasonable: DHL report

Letter Price Survey 2014 shows higher rates in Europe

Even though the German postal rate for a standard letter rose by 2 cents to EUR 0.60 in January, the price of a stamp continues to rank in the mid-range among European prices and below the European average, according to the latest European postal-rate comparison.

The 13th version of the annual European postal-rate study analyses the rates for standard letters in all 28 EU member countries as well as those in Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

Since the 2013 study was conducted, postal rates have been raised in 14 European countries. The rate for a standard letter in Norway is currently EUR 1.28. By contrast, it is only EUR 0.26 in Malta.

When such fundamental factors as dissimilar purchasing power and labour costs found in individual countries are taken into consideration, Germany’s postal rates rank among the most favourable in Europe.DHL postman (WEB)

Over the past ten years, postal rates have risen by nearly 20 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis. By contrast, the German rate for a standard letter has fallen since 2004 by nearly 8 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis. A sharper decline was seen only in Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia.

Deutsche Post also charges favourable rates for a letter sent from Germany to other European countries (the Europabrief): While Europeans pay an average of EUR 1.03 for an international letter, the cost of the German Europabrief remains EUR 0.75.

The study can be downloaded here. 

Categories
In the News USA

USA DMA: ECHO awards competition now open

Deadline for submissions Is May 23.

In recognition of the world’s top data-driven marketing campaigns — measured by strategy, creative, and results, the USA Direct Marketing Association echo(DMA) has announced that the 2014 International ECHO Awards competition is underway.

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in October in San Diego, California. The deadline for submissions is next month: May 23. Registrations received before Friday May 2, will receive a $100 discount.

Linda Woolley, DMA’s president and CEO, said: “The ECHOs exemplify the heights of success that can be achieved through great data-driven marketing and equally great creative.

“As the incredible wealth of data available to us increasingly fuels our economy and our data-driven lifestyles, and when combined with superb creative that snags us and holds our attention, it’s truly exciting to see how these things drive outstanding results in exceptional marketing campaigns.”

Winners will be selected in 15 business categories — automotive; business and consumer services; communications and utilities; consumer products; education; financial products and services; information technologies; insurance; nonprofit; pharmaceutical and healthcare; product manufacturing and distribution; professional services; publishing and entertainment; retail and direct sales; and travel and hospitality/transportation.

The ultimate team award

Jenny Abreu, DMA’s director, awards & recognition programs, said: “This year’s call for entries competition continues the theme, ‘The Ultimate Team Award,’ and new tag line ‘Achieve the Ultimate with a Common GOOOAL!’ honouring this year’s BIG game — which couldn’t be more fitting.

“After all, ECHO-award winning campaigns exemplify outstanding team work — as they incorporate the ECHOs’ three pillars — for creative, strategic — and game-winning results.” The integrated marketing effort supporting the entries is developed by Quinn Fable Advertising, Inc. (New York).

This year’s ECHO competition will honour excellence in integrated and single-channel direct-response campaigns spanning a diversity of channels, such as alternative media, banner ads, catalogue, direct mail, email, mobile, print, search marketing, social media, telemarketing, television/video/radio, web advertising and web development.

Tedd Aurelius, vice-president, director 1-2-1 engagement, The Martin Agency, is chairman of the DMA International ECHO Awards Board of Governors. He said: “We’re seeing that the best customer engagement efforts are coming from all over the world, not just the US — and each year, the winning ECHOs serve as a benchmark for direct response brilliance that is both measurable and accountable.

“Our Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO winners are selected from hundreds of entries, ranging from acquisition, to penetration, to retention programs, which showcase brands using data-driven insights to power their strategy, generating fabulous creative ideas that achieve amazing results.”

Each year, ECHO entries include data-driven campaigns from the US and more than 50 countries – and 2014 entries will be judged later this spring and early summer in Australia, Denmark and the US.

This year’s Awards Ceremony and Gala will be held on Tuesday October 28, during the DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition: The Global Event for Data-Driven Marketers, at the San Diego Convention Center.

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO awards, four special awards will be presented: the Diamond ECHO Award for the most prestigious and, considered, the top campaign overall; the Personal Connections ECHO Award sponsored by Pitney Bowes; US Postal Service Gold Mailbox Award; ECHO Green Marketing Award; and Henry Hoke Award.

For more information about the International ECHO Awards, which will be presented Tuesday evening, October 28, 2014, during DMA2014m click here. The DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition will be held October 25-30 in San Diego, California.