#MarketingTitbits – #ManOnTheMoon Launch, Retro Christmas Ads, Google+ Social Publishing

johnlewis-retro-google1. John Lewis sees a significant sales uplift following ‘Man on the Moon’ launch
The latest John Lewis Christmas ad, #ManOnTheMoon, appears to have generated an increase in the most important metric for any marketing campaign – sales. After its first week of release, the department store reported its first weekly sales total to surpass £100m this season – an increase of 1.5% from the previous year.

The much hyped Christmas ad received 22 million views in its first week – a total which makes it on track to become “even more popular” than last year’s ‘Monty the Penguin’. This Christmas, John Lewis teamed up with Age UK to raise awareness of the 1 million elderly people that go for over a month without speaking to anybody over the holiday period and beyond.

To read more on the success of #ManOnTheMoon, click here.

2. Are these the best retro Christmas ads of all time?

According to Anne Carpen, creative director of 18 Feet & Rising, some of the best Christmas ads are from a bygone era. The most challenging part for brands preparing their Christmas ad isn’t wading through numerous clichés, but instead finding the festive cheer during the summer season, when the campaign has to be prepared to get them ready to implement in the run up to Christmas.

One brand that didn’t fail to entertain their audience was OfficeMax with their ElfYourself campaign, and is still extremely popular today. DirecTV also managed to bring out the pleasant side of characters like Darth Vader, Chucky and Hannibal during the festive season with their Silent Night Christmas ad – even this would put a smile on any Scrooges face at Christmas.

Click here for the best retro Christmas ads of all time.

3. The new Google+ seeks the middle ground in social publishing

Many marketers are still confused as to what Google+ actually is; however, a major revamp has occurred in yet another effort to convince its most loyal users to log on. From the new change, Google+ is seeking a middle ground between Twitter and Medium, a place which revolves around an individual’s interests and a desire for micro-blogging.

Collections have been available to users for five months, but are now at the centre of focus on the revised network. The Collections will allow users to group posts together, encouraging users to create and share further content. In much the same was as Medium, Google+ have reinforced Communities on the network to inspire users to get involved through popular groups.

To view other Google+ changes, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – The Economist, Social Media Hacks, Brands For Millennials

digital-hacks-brands1. How The Economist injected digital into a 172-year-old magazine
The 172-year-old publication, The Economist, has recently embraced digital technology, with help from Iain Noakes, The Economist’s Global Digital Acquisition Journey and Performance Director. With this new revolution, Noakes was keen to stress that despite its recent efforts, The Economist is not a digital brand.

The Economist team researched their potential market and found that their circulation could grow from 1.6m to 73m, just by making their magazine accessible online. According to Noakes, a large proportion of people subscribe once they’ve browsed the content, and those who unsubscribe are retargeted through further content.

For more information, click here.

2. 30 days’ worth of social media hacks and experiments

Marketers like us are always keen to find new ways to improve our social media numbers, and the best way to grow in the social media world is to try new things. To inspire change, entrepreneur Kevan Lee has drummed up 30 new, small and simple experiments.

One of the favourite recommendations for getting more followers and engagement on social media is to embed a tweet at the bottom of a blog post, making it easy for readers to engage with the blog. Not only this, but posting during non-peak hours can also boost recognition, as well as pinning a tweet at the top of a Twitter profile.

To read Kevan’s top 30 social media hacks, click here.

3. The top 100 brands for millennials

Millennials make up a large consumer group, and 3,500 people aged between 20 and 35 have been asked by Moosylvania for their favourite brands over the past three years. Some of the brands that came out on top were surprising – others, not so much.

With 91% of Millennials owning a smartphone, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the top brand was Apple. However, you might be surprised to see Nintendo, reaching #11, elevated by the nostalgia Millennials feel when playing the games they enjoyed when they were kids. Some brands didn’t fare so well though, Subway being a prime example, given that Millennials make up a key target audience, occupying a lowly #92.

Click here to view the top 100 brands for Millennials.

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#MarketingTitbits – John Lewis’ Christmas Ad, Google Analytics, Marketing Predictions

christmas-google-predictions1. Is John Lewis playing with fire with its annual Christmas advert?
With the combination of John Lewis Christmas ads being the second most shared of all time, will #ManOnTheMoon be another unqualified success? According to BrandWatch, the ad was mentioned more than 23,000 times on social media just two hours after its launch. With such huge expectation, is there a risk associated with pursuing such campaigns year after year?

John Lewis has definitely caught our attention with their Christmas ad, and the top marketers from the Post Office, eHarmony and Virgin Games have given their verdicts. Romain Bertrand, eHarmony’s marketing director, states “#ManOnTheMoon delivers all the things we’ve come to expect from a John Lewis Christmas ad”, but will the leading brand be able to keep up with the hype each year? We will have to see.

To see what the other marketing magicians thought, click here.

2. Should we dare to leap beyond Google Analytics?

It doesn’t come as a surprise that many marketers use Google Analytics as their primary website analytics tool, but are there others out there? With the tool being part of the Google family, we feel that we can trust it; our peers use the tool, its free, and provides top level website performance statistics.

The question is – should we leap beyond Google Analytics? There are a many of tools available to you which help to form an insight into your website data. Behavioural insights from the likes of Decibel Insight and Hotjar are a ‘must’ for marketers, as well as testing tools such as Optimizely and Visual Web Optimizer. These tools vary in cost and each offer different insights. Whether you feel you need them as an addition to Google Analytics is very much down to your specific requirements. What we can say is that there is a whole world of web analytics tools out there beyond Google’s offering, make sure you explore them.

Click here to find out more.

3. 16 marketing predictions for 2016

With the internet turning into television and mobile turning into our new browser, have you wondered what will happen to marketing in 2016? For an expert perspective, some of the leading marketers, including CEOs, authors and executive recruiters have been asked for their thoughts – enjoy!

IBMs Chief Marketing Officer, Deepak Advani, believes the key for marketing in 2016 is cognitive commerce. Brian Kardon, CMO of ThinkingPhones, believes real-time marketing analytics will unite online and offline behaviour for richer lead scoring and nurturing in 2016. However, Michael Schinelli, CMO of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, states that digital marketing will cease, as marketers move towards a concept of marketing in a digital world.

Do you have a prediction for marketing in 2016? Share it with us today! Or click here for the full list of predictions.

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#MarketingTitbits – Google AdWords, Marketing Humour, Creepiest Campaigns

adwords-humour-halloween1. Google AdWords at 15: moving beyond the last click
The success of AdWords for Google, launched 15 years ago, is undeniable. Now, the search giant is keen to build on the success and add even more functionality for advertisers and benefits for searchers. Back in 2000 when AdWords first launched, it had just 350 advertisers, now that number is more than 1 million and the success of AdWords shows no signs of abating.

For those marketers who don’t know, AdWords is Google’s paid search service, whereby advertisers can pay to have their ads shown for specific keywords on Google search network, as well as on partner websites, apps and videos.

Click here to find out more information about AdWords plans for the future and developing their service.

2. The dangerous art of using humour in marketing

Content that pulls on the emotional strings is powerful and humour is no different. However, getting it right can be the difference between being derided and loved for a brand. Being funny through social content can be tricky, but get it right and the rewards are compelling. Get it wrong; however, and the awareness it generates will be unwelcoming.

KFC experienced this with their recent reconstruction of pro surfer, Mike Fanning’s, much-publicised shark attack. Fanning’s family took offence and they were forced to take it down. But for every comedic backfire, there is an example of comedy gold.

Take a look at the pros and cons, as well as some great examples of humour in marketing here.

3. Halloween 2015: the creepiest campaigns

Trick or treat? We have TREATED you to the creepiest Halloween marketing campaigns this year, and they didn’t fail to disappoint.

Once again, brands like Tesco have been trying to spook us this Halloween, and they certainly excelled with their ‘Spookermarket’ campaign. Tesco launched their online film set in one of their supermarkets which were given a spooky makeover. Hidden cameras were able to capture the reactions of customers as they encounter a series of scary situations.

Click here to view the results along with some of the other spookiest Halloween campaigns of 2015.

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