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#MarketingTitbits – Aldi’s Christmas Campaign, Marketing Moments, Periscope For Business

aldi-marketing-periscope1. Aldi’s ‘agile’ Christmas campaign wins first round of Christmas ad battle
With just 3 weeks to go until Christmas, Aldi has definitely run the most effective festive campaign of 2015, adopting an agile approach and social engagement to defeat their rival retailers. Aldi’s ‘man on the moon’ ad compared two telescopes – one John Lewis and the other Aldi which included Jean the infamous star of Aldi’s previous ads.

Aldi has managed to top a list of 13 retailers; scoring 154 compared to John Lewis’ lower score of 142. WE’s head of digital and insights, Gareth Davies, says “ If there’s one thing that the Aldi advert has shown us it’s that being agile and creating on-the-fly content can be a hugely successful strategy”.

Would you like to see the top 13 Christmas ads of 2015? Click here.

2. The top 10 marketing moments of 2015

With 2015 now coming to an end, us marketers have seen some of the most controversial, ground-breaking and, at times, baffling campaigns of the year. As we recap to some of the top marketing campaigns, Nicola Kemp unveils this year’s biggest marketing stories – enjoy!

There are no surprises here as Google have reached the #1 spot with their rewritten structure of Alphabet – their new holding company! Closely following Google was Apple and their new ‘Apple Watch’, as well as Moneysupermarket.com and their ‘Epic strut’ campaign which featured Sharon Osbourne.

Click here to view the top 10 marketing moments of 2015.

3. What is Periscope and how can you use it for business video streaming?

2016 is approaching and businesses are looking for the next tool to experiment with to advance their business strategy in the new year. For many, the next tool at the top of the list is Periscope – a video streaming/broadcasting service from Twitter which allows businesses to have video conversations through their network!

Anyone who follows your broadcast will be able to see your live video, like it, comment on it and even share it to other followers on Twitter. From a business perspective, Periscope is an excellent way to gain visibility. It’s important for businesses to be active on the platform to create a community with their target audiences – the more interactive, the better.

Want to learn more about Periscope? Click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Influential Brands, Marketing Predictions, Success Advice

microsoft-predictions-success1. Microsoft ‘surprises’ as it tops The Guardian’s poll of the most influential UK brands
Surprisingly, it beat the likes of Amazon and Google in a new poll by The Guardian, subsequently being named the UK’s most influential brand – who would have thought? Microsoft’s move to imbue more social values in its marketing is being offered up as the the ‘primary driver’ for its success in the poll.

Surveying 2,000 UK consumers, covering 200 of the biggest brands, the results were unexpected. The results were defined by the respondent’s perception of a brand’s position for each of the following criteria – commercial influence, how a brand impacts purchasing habits and its impact on society and their audience. Not only did Microsoft surprise us marketers with their winning score of 58.3, but the runner up, with 54.7 points, was TripAdvisor, perhaps equally unlikely, closely followed by Amazon with 53.9 – more expected!

To read more about Microsoft’s success, click here.

2. Marketers’ 2016 predictions: from the video explosion to the next ‘new normal’

The marketing industry is changing rapidly and shows no signs of slowing down, forcing marketers to adapt to thrive. 10 of the industry’ best and brightest have been asked to share their predictions for 2016 – enjoy!

Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive at BT, predicts that the year ahead is full of ‘busy-ness’, where marketing will be an important way of communicating with consumers and businesses. On the other hand, Nicola Mendelsohn, Vice-president of Facebook, believes that video will become even bigger, where people can discover the world through sharing content.

Click here for the full 10 predictions for 2016.

3. 20 entrepreneurs share the advice that made them successful

Regardless of how success is defined, it can be a gruelling task for businesses to achieve it. Entrepreneurs can generally agree that it takes confidence, passion and drive to accomplish goals, and to recognise success once achieved. With this in mind, 20 of the most successful entrepreneurs share their best advice on how to succeed in business.

The renowned Bill Gates believes “success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can’t lose”, meaning success is worked for, not given. Other business fanatics like Steve Jobs says “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future”.

Want more advice on how to achieve success? Click here.

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#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 – 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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#MarketingTitbits – Marketing CEOs, Business Books, Dulux Reality App

ceo-books-dulux1. Over 20% of FTSE 100 CEOs now come from a marketing background
British companies are gradually becoming marketing experts when it comes to filling the top job, as 21% of all FTSE 100 CEOs now come from a sales or marketing background. The UK’s tendency to employ former marketers is far greater than international companies, where only 10% of CEOs are former marketers.

Over the last few years, Tesco has led the way here and in July 2014 they appointed former Unilever marketer Dave Lewis – who was responsible for Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaigns – to help rescue their dwindling sales and profits.

There are plenty more examples, so click here to view the full list of marketer CEOs.

2. 5 books to read before starting your business

Starting up a new company can be a tricky business, and there are many factors which need to be considered. With 80% of businesses failing within the first couple of years, it’s important for budding entrepreneurs to prepare as much as possible in advance, and with so many business books out there now, reading has got to be the place to start.

Building a business can be a daunting task, and Ken Dunn from Entrepreneur has shared his 5 top books to read before entering on the challenging journey. The Founder’s Dilemmas is a particular favourite, a book that focuses on helping entrepreneurs reduce the risk of mistakes.

To see the full top 5 list, click here.

3. Dulux puts augmented reality app at the heart of e-commerce plans

Dulux is investing heavily in its app with a view to helping shape how decorators – both amateur and professional –use their mobile device to improve their home.

Key new features include the ability to sync up a user’s virtual scrapbook on the Dulux site, the ability to buy testers from the new app and perhaps most interestingly, an augmented reality feature that allows users to view how a room will look if painted a particular colour, through the camera on their device.

Click here to view the new Dulux updates

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Blow Away those Marketing Cob Webs and Get Your Marketing in Order for 2016

blow away event-1
TLC Business have teamed up with renowned inspirational speaker Simon Harmer and his company Blown Away, to deliver an insightful and inspirational working-lunch session for businesses who are looking to get better results from their marketing in 2016.

Not only will the session include marketing tips, cheats and ideas, but it will give you an insight into marketing trends for 2016, provide advice on how to get the biggest bang for your marketing buck, and inspiration to actually make those necessary marketing changes for 2016.

So when is it? The FREE session will be held on the 25th November 2015 at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, between 12-2pm. As well as this, the networking session will include lunch and two presentations.

We guarantee you’ll leave with lots of fresh ideas and feeling motivated to put them into action. Places are limited, so reserve your seat now to avoid disappointment. To reserve your ticket, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Market Research, Instagram Guide, Internet Facts

research-instagram-internet1. How to do market research on a small budget
Ever wondered how to carry out market research on a small budget? When launching a new product or service, companies must understand their customers’ needs and wants, and this is achieved through research and development. Companies such as Unilever and Coca-Cola spend millions each year on their R&D; however, Marketing Week have shared six ways on how to keep those costs down.

According to Jane Frost, CEO at the Market Research Community, brands should always opt for quality over quantity. With this in mind, read on for tips on how to keep those market research costs down – Click here.

2. A marketer’s guide to Instagram video

Instagram, without a doubt, brings out the visual appeal of brands across the world. No matter what the industry, a brand can find its place on Instagram and create some really eye-catching, innovative content.

Brands such as Red Bull rely on Instagram to promote their product through original content. For Red Bull it’s a simple case of reflecting its association with extreme sports through the sharing of relevant video clips. As well as originality, playing to the emotions is also a successful way of grasping a consumer’s attention. Clips from Save the Children prompted an emotional response from consumers, making it one of the most shared clips on Instagram to date.

Click here for Instagram marketing tips.

3. 10 facts, and clever observations, about the internet that will blow your mind

When thinking about how far the Internet has come in the last 20 years, it’s mind-blowing. Consider, for instance, that it took the telephone 75 years to reach 50 million users around the world, whereas it only took the Internet 4 years, as well as the Angry Birds app just 35 days (thanks to the Internet).

Not blown away by that impressive fact? There are 3.2 billion Internet users worldwide, accounting for almost 44% of the global population. As well as that, 950 million households worldwide own a television, but twice as many people access the Internet from a handheld device. After this incredible evolution of technology over such a brief period of time, what will life look like in just a few short years?

To read 10 mind-blowing facts about the Internet, click here.

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#MarketingTitbits – Innovative Entrepreneurs, British Brands, Facebook Emojis

innovation-british-emojis1. 10 traits of the most innovative entrepreneurs
Entrepreneurship fits perfectly with innovation – producing new ideas, providing better solutions and pioneering new products. The most successful entrepreneurs aren’t just the hardest working, but the most innovative too.

If entrepreneurs aren’t flexing their innovative muscles, then success and breakthroughs are difficult to achieve. Innovation is becoming more and more important to brands as markets are becoming more demanding. To this end, Entrepreneur have put together 10 ways to be more innovative, to help get you innovating.

If you want to learn how to be more innovative, click here.

2. 32 classically ‘British’ brands that aren’t actually British

British brands are recognised all over the world for their authenticity and quality; however, these days many are now not owned by British firms or individuals. Many think that Harrods is a quintessentially British brand, but previous owner, the enigmatic Egyptian Mohamed Al Fayed sold it to Qatar Holdings, who currently own it.

HP is the most British brand around, and has been for quite some time. It has been the most popular sauce in the Houses of Parliament; nevertheless it is now owned by Americans – purchased by Heinz in 2005.

To see the 32 iconic ‘British’ brands – no longer british-owned, click here.

3. What Facebook’s new emojis mean for marketers

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last through years, the chances are you will have used an Emoji or two to compliment a post or message. Finally bowing to pressure to introduce a ‘dislike’ function, Facebook have turned to the Emoji to satisfy a demand amongst Facebook users to convey more than a ‘thumbs up’ in response to a Facebook post. The new feature on the platform will enable users to reply to a post with one of 5 emojis: Love, Yay, Wow, Sad and Angry.

The new emoticons provide brands with a real opportunity to encourage their users to reply with a feeling or emotion, rather than just a like, comment or share. Facebook are always looking for ways to improve their user’s experience, and this new feature will be ranked as a major update to the platform.

Click here for more information.

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#MarketingTitbits – Instagram Followers, CoolBrands 2015, Google’s 18th Birthday

instagram-coolbrands-google1. Instagram now has 400 million users
It’s been 5 years since Instagram’s release, and the image sharing app’s growth shows no sign of slowing down. Earlier this week Instagram announced that it now has 400 million monthly active users, compared to just 300 million in December last year.

Instagram has now doubled its user base in the short span of just 18 months, which stands in sharp contrast to Twitter, which continues to struggle with user growth. Of course, Instagram still has a long road ahead of them before they catch up with Facebook; however, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom previously credited Facebook for helping the company achieve such a rapid growth.

Click here for more information.

2. Luxury brands lose their ‘cool’ status as digital challengers climb the ranks

Whilst luxury brands appear to be losing their ‘cool status’, digital distributor brands like Netflix and Instagram are moving up the CoolBrands list, according to a survey of 2,500 British consumers and a panel of 36 key influencers.

Apple has managed to retain its position as the UK’s coolest brand for the fourth year running, and Ray-Ban continues to climb high; however, new-comers such as Spotify, Instagram and Netflix are notable inclusions.

To see the top 20 CoolBrands, click here.

3. Celebrating Google’s 18th Birthday

Google’s domain name was first registered in 1997, making this year its 18th birthday. To celebrate this special occasion, Google shows us what each algorithm update was designed to achieve and their influence on content marketing today.

The algorithm updates have been demanding and disruptive to say the least; however, the impact has astounding. In theory, businesses are able to differentiate their brand from the competition, increase traffic to their website and customer loyalty, just by meeting or exceeding Google standards for content quality – it all sounds so easy right?

To see the algorithm updates since 1997 and the impact they have had, click here.

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