Mediatel News’ Top 10 most-read features and interviews of 2021

Media agency names, cautionary tales,  TV advertising inflation, and retailers becoming media companies were our most-read topics among this year’s features and interviews.

1. Where did media agencies get their names from? (August)

Did you know what OMD stands for and what the “Six” in m/Six refers to? Mediatel News created a comprehensive guide of where media agencies got their names from, which media leaders were responsible for them, and what alternatives were almost chosen…

2. Making Sense of it All: Bob Hoffman on why the ad industry never learns (September)

“We just don’t learn anything. There’s no arrow of progress in the advertising world.”

That’s the verdict of Bob Hoffman, also known as The Ad Contrarian, who appeared on the Making Sense of It All video series in association with Crater Lake & Co.

3. Cautionary Tales: Angry 1am emails can land you in hot water (August)

Conker co-founder Liz Jones told What’s Possible Group CEO Martin Woolley why doing the right thing is no excuse for doing it in the wrong way, particularly when it’s 1am and “lemonade” is involved.

4. Cautionary Tales: Paul Frampton-Calero’s media firestorm (October)

Back in 2017 Paul Frampton-Calero, then CEO of Havas Media UK, learned a valuable lesson about putting his head above the parapet in a media firestorm.

5. Five questions with News UK’s Dominic Carter (February)

News UK’s group chief commercial officer discussed the company’s plans in TV, how UK publishers combatted the digital duopoly, and why advertisers needed to change the way they think about media.

6. Early Christmas spend in October drives ‘biggest ever’ TV trading month (October)

Figures from BARB, produced by Mediatel Connected, and agency estimates shared with Mediatel News, showed that the surge in advertiser demand in the run-up to Christmas was happening much earlier than usual.

7. 10 weeks until Christmas: what is the most important consumer trend right now? (October)

With so much uncertainty, what was the most important consumer trend that brands and media planners needed to be conscious of with 10 weeks to go until Christmas? We asked a range of industry media leaders for their insight.

8. Boots Media Group: how retailers are maturing into media companies (September)

Boots Media Group is part of a maturing trend of retailers becoming more like media companies, industry leaders told Mediatel News.

9. Five questions with Kinetic WW’s UK CEO, Alistair MacCallum (January)

The UK CEO of WPP’s specialist OOH agency reflected on how different lockdowns’ impact, the wider impact of Publicis Groupe’s split from Posterscope, and why the media industry needed to embrace neurodiversity.

10. Five questions with: Nick Wright, MD, Havas Entertainment (January)

Nick Wright, managing director of Havas Entertainment, chatted to Mediatel News about the restructure within the Vivendi-owned group, accelerated entertainment trends and Dua Lipa.