100% Media Round-up: 6-10 December 2021
A round-up of stories from around the media world, updated by the Mediatel News team, to ensure you’re 100% up-to-date.
Friday, 10 December
ITV and Vodafone launch ‘ReBoxing Day’ campaign to donate pre-loved tech
ITV and Vodafone are launching a multimedia campaign to encourage people to donate pre-loved phones, tablets and laptops to redistribute to “digitally disconnected” young people and families via Vodafone’s Great British Tech Appeal.
A series of 30 and 10 second TV spots and social videos will start on 10 December, hosted by radio host and TV presenter Roman Kemp (pictured above).
Part of Vodafone’s “everyone.connected” initiative, the campaign will culminate on 26 December on ITV’s main channel and ITV Hub which will be rebranded “ReBoxing Day”.
Guardian revamps newsletter team
The Guardian has announced changes to its editorial newsletters team to refresh its newsletters offering to “make them more compelling and easier to discover for readers”.
Archie Bland, Hannah J Davies and Craille Maguire Gillies will become daily newsletter editor, deputy editor and newsletter production editor respectively.
The broadsheet plans to update designs and formats and will also launch a new video game newsletter, Pushing Buttons, later this month.
Future Publishing tells staff full working from home ‘is not something we can do’
Future Publishing, the owner of magazines Marie Claire, Metal Hammer and Women’s Weekly amongst other titles, has emailed its 1500 members of staff in England saying prolonged working from home would affect business performance, creativity and teamwork.
The company said it would “ideally” want staff in at least two days a week despite UK government recommendations to work from home where possible as of next Monday.
Integral Ad Science integrates with Mediaocean
Integral Ad Science (IAS) announced it would integrate its media services with global omnichannel advertising platform Mediaocean providing “a new level of automated campaign management.”
Media buyers and planners can now use both Mediaocean’s Prisma workflow and IAS Signal in the same place to help at each stage of launching and adjusting digital campaigns.
GroupM chooses new chief people officer
WPP’s media investment group GroupM has announced Marie-Claire Barker as its new global chief people officer.
Barker will start in the role in January 2022 and be responsible for “people solutions operation” across its 36,000-strong organisation.
Previously she worked at Ogilvy, MEC/Wavemaker and Edelman.
She succeeds Jennifer Remling who was promoted to WPP’s chief people officer in October.
Wavemaker wins Zwift media consultancy account
WPP agency Wavemaker has been chosen as “media consultancy partner” for Zwift, an at-home fitness company with virtual multiplayer environments, after a competitive pitch.
It will work alongside agency SHIFT Active Media and Zwift’s internal paid media team on addressable TV, biddable media, audience science and strategic planning.
Zwift has four million accounts registered in over 190 countries.
Thursday, 9 December
Ros Atkins frontrunner to replace Andrew Marr
BBC World News presenter Ros Atkins is backed 1/6 favourite to replace Andrew Marr on his Sunday morning show.
Andrew Marr is leaving the BBC’s flagship political show in early 2022 for shows on Global’s LBC and Classic FM along with a political editor position at The New Statesman.
BBC broadcaster Sophie Raworth will replace Marr on a temporary basis.
Global will stream Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball on TikTok
Global will livestream its two-day Christmas concert on TikTok it announced today.
TikTok users will be able to watch Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball with Barclaycard from multiple territories and shop for clothing and accessory merchandised designed exclusively for the app from 6pm this Saturday and Sunday.
Global said more than 40 TikTok creators will be at the event over both nights adding their stories to the platform.
Sienna Miller believes The Sun obtained her medical records for pregnancy story
Actor Sienna Miller told the High Court in a phone-hacking hearing yesterday that she believes her medical records and phones calls were obtained illegally by the then editor of The Sun, Rebekah Brooks.
She said the paper knew about her pregnancy before she was able to tell close friends and family which the publisher has denied.
Miller previously won damages from News of the World for similar accusations and has opted to accept a pay-out from News Group Newspapers.
Instagram CEO testifies in Congress over leaked internal documents
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri appeared before a Senate panel for the first time yesterday to answer questions about leaked internal research that showed the platform was aware teenagers mental health and body image were negatively impacted.
The hearing focussed on child protection online but lawmakers were “disappointed” and “frustrated” that Mosseri refused to say he would discontinue plans to create a version of the social media platform for children under 13.
He said he would ensure no child between 10 and 12 years old would have access to any version of the platform without “explicit parental consent”.
Wednesday, 8 December
ITV names cinch as sponsor for new musical game show
ITV has chosen cinch, the UK’s largest online B2C marketplace, as its sponsor of new musical game show, Walk The Line, debuting on ITV and ITV Hub at 8pm Sunday 12 December.
This is the online car sales platform’s first entertainment sponsorship but it has previously had partnership deals with ECB, Tottenham Hotspur, LTA, NFL, Scottish Professional Football League and Northampton Saints.
Rylan Clark will host its idents as he has done previously on the brand’s TV and radio spots.
WPP’s GroupM confirms Say It Now as ‘UK partner in voice’
WPP’s media buying arm GroupM has partnered with London-based Say It Now, a voice app and chatbot developer.
So-called “v-commerce” or “voice commerce” is set to be the next step in the evolving UK and global audio market, according to Mediacom’s Charlie Yeates.
Say It Now founder and CEO Charlie Cadbury said voice commerce will “shake up the traditional ways that brands speak with their customers”.
BuzzFeed stock falls 11% on first day on NASDAQ
Online media company BuzzFeed’s shares surged up to 20% and then fell as much as 31% on its first day of trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol BZFD on Monday.
Following its merger with a blank cheque company (SPAC) in preparation for its public debut, the company saw multiple investor withdrawals as it raised $16m of its $288m target.
The company was started 15 years ago by its current CEO Jonah Peretti and is most well-known for its listicles, quizzes and videos.
Consumers ‘cynical’ about green marketing
The hype surrounding COP26 and other initiatives promoting sustainable consumerism has failed to move a large proportion of UK consumers, with many cynical about green marketing, a study by WPP’s Mindshare has found.
Mindshare found almost half (49%) agreed with the statement: “Many brands that associate themselves with more meaningful causes are just doing it for publicity stunts”
Awareness of sustainable brand initiatives is also still a major challenge – approaching half the public (46%) say that they have not even noticed brands trying to promote a more ethical image.
The research was carried before COP26 when coverage of the global environmental conference was at its peak paints a complex picture for brands.
Twitter widens access to Spaces and makes first acquisition under Agrawal
Twitter is now letting all users listen to recordings of Spaces, no matter if they have an Apple or Android device or are accessing from the Web. Spaces is the only audio-only chatroom that Twitter launched after Clubhouse burst onto the scene last year.
Twitter is also giving “some” hosts the ability to record Spaces on iOS and Android. Previously, only iOS users could listen to and record Spaces.
The company has also made its first acquisition under new CEO Parag Agrawal. Twitter has acquired Slack-like messaging app Quill in an apparent move to improve messaging services, including direct messages.
Agrawal replaced Jack Dorsey as CEO last week.
Dyson picks IPG to handle global media account
Dyson, the home appliance brand founded by Brexit supporter Sir James Dyson, has appointed IPG Mediabrands to handle its international media-buying account.
The business has been with Mindshare for eight years and will move in April 2022.
Tuesday, 7 December
Publicis Groupe will allow employees to work abroad for six weeks
Publics Groupe is piloting a “Work Your World” initiative where employees can choose to work in more than 100 countries where it has an office for six weeks of the year.
This flexible scheme will commence in January 2022 and be available for around 85,000 global employees but travel costs will not be covered.
Alongside this, Publicis has introduced an exchange platform, Marcel, that can provide recommended destinations based on role and experience and home swap opportunities with colleagues.
Amy Caven moves from Tesco to Boots media management
Amy Caven, née Butterworth, has started in her new role as senior media manager at Boots yesterday.
On a Linkedin post, she said: “It’s been a year full of change- new name, new city, new house and now a new job! End of a fantastic four years with Tesco but very excited to be starting with the Boots UK team today.”
Previously Caven had positions at Match.com, MG OMD and VCCP Media and is currently Mediatel’s Future Media Leader of the Year.
Pinterest predicts goth, tooth gem and octopus hair trends in 2022
Pinterest has published its 2022 trend predictions across beauty, celebrations, fashion, home, pets, well-being, auto, finance, parenting, hobbies and interests, food and drink, and travel.
The platform said 80% of last year’s trends proved true and some of the top contenders for next year included tooth gems, galaxy nail art, octopus haircuts, mullet hairstyles, animal-first architecture, goth fashion and mindful menstruation.
Facebook being sued £150bn for negligence over Rohingya genocide
Victims of the genocide of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar in the UK and the US are taking class legal action against Facebook as they maintain its algorithms and delay in taking down inflammatory posts and accounts failed to prevent violence, human rights abuses and hate speech.
The platform launched in Myanmar in 2011 and in an independent report in 2018 it said it had “become a means for those seeking to spread hate and cause harm, and posts have been linked to offline violence.”
Despite this, no compensation has yet been offered or paid to victims or survivors.
Billion Dollar Boy and Meta launch Creators for Causes
Creative agency Billion Dollar Boy and tech giant Meta have launched a study into purpose-driven campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.
The initiative will measure how campaigns with and without creators promote charity donations with the aims to share findings with non-profits to help with future campaigns and add $5bn to funds already raised.
Both companies are working with Malaria No More, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Breathe for India and B Corp.
Mindshare wins £10m government strategy contract
WPP agency Mindshare has won a strategy and planning brief to coordinate cross-department government campaigns until October 2022.
Mindshare will work on short and long-term initiatives including the government’s response to Covid, COP26 and its Build Back Better manifesto.
OmniGov, a division of MG OMD, is the government’s current media buyer.
iProspect adds to strategic leadership hires
Dentsu company, iProspect, has appointed Shenda Loughnane (pictured above right) as global managing director and Dan Friel (pictured above left) as global client president & head of iProspect global.
These are strategic moves in its global leadership to cement its “digital-first end to end” media agency position.
These changes come as Danielle Gonzalez was chosen as iProspect CEO in North America.
Monday, 6 December
Tess Alps and Dawn Airey join Channel 4 board
Culture secretary Nadine Dorrie has approved the appointment of Tess Alps and Dawn Airey and to the board of Channel 4.
Alps spent 14 years at Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial TV in the UK, as CEO and then chair, after having worked at Omnicom’s PHD, where she became UK chair.
Airey has previously worked as chair and CEO of Channel 5, and was previously managing director of channels and services for BSkyB (now Sky), and managing director of global content at ITV.
They join David Kogan and Sarah Sands as the newest appointees, with all four serving a term of three years commencing “as soon as is practicable”.
BBC launches ‘fly on the wall’ Christmas ad
The BBC has launched a fly on the wall-style film that portrays a family enjoying a Christmas launch in its festive marketing campaign.
BBC shows and talent are woven into the script of the four-minute film as a family curls up o the sofa to watch a Christmas special or listen to a festive classic on the radio.
Vewd and Vestel claim world first for Smart TVs
Vewd, an OTT software solutions provider, and the European TV manufacturer Vestel, unveiled the Vewd Operator TV – a Smart TV alternative to set-top-boxes (STBs) for Pay TV operators.
The Software-as-a-Solution (SaaS) based device will allow Pay TV operators to roll out their own branded (or co-branded) Smart TVs, and, Vewd argues, cut back significantly on the CapEx costs associated with STBs while distributing development time and risk. While the Operator TV is manufactured in line with the specifications of Pay TV operators, customers who choose to unsubscribe will still have access to a standard Smart TV product.
READ MORE on this story by our sister title Videonet
Clarke exits as MailOnline chief
Martin Clarke, the 13-year editor of MailOnline, announced his resignation from the publication on Friday to “pursue new challenges” but will remain available to the company until the end of 2022. This comes as Geordie Greig stepped down as editor of The Daily Mail two weeks ago and Ted Verity, editor of The Mail on Sunday took over to manage both newsbrands. Majority stakeholder Lord Rothermere is also fielding talks to take the group private. MailOnline is one of the world’s biggest news websites with over 23m monthly readers.
Merkle launches cryptic ads for brand campaign
Dentsu agency Merkle has launched a a recruitment campaign to highlight “the curious nature of its people”.
The ‘Me in MErkle’ campaign, which initially launches across digital out of home, asks the question: “Curious?” and invites people to click on a digital ad or scan a QR code from the DOOH to take them to the website, to read an ode to Merkle about what it means to be a good fit for the company.
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