Campaign‘s newest cover star: Brexit leader Nigel Farage
Last week, we reported on a study out of the U.K. called The Empathy Delusion, which stated that marketers and agencies are out of touch with the so-called “modern mainstream,” particularly as it relates to hot-button political issues like Brexit and climate change.
British trade magazine Campaign seems to be testing that finding this week by putting controversial Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on its cover.
In the accompanying story, the divisive politician—who has said that he will campaign for U.S. president Donald Trump in 2020— bluntly stated that the ad industry has “no idea” what is going on in people’s lives. He also mused about a possible career in advertising. “I might fancy it myself one day,” he says. Unsurprisingly the decision by Campaign generated a lot of anger on social media.
Kahlúa celebrates Instagram misfires with “Bottom Nine” campaign
Social media plays an outsized role in millennials lives, with the “like” emerging as a key barometer of social currency. But what about those unloved Instagram photos that disappear into the ether, never to be heard from again?
Liqueur brand Kahlúa is giving all of those passed-over pics a second chance with “Zero Likes Given,” a new campaign that features an exhibition of Instagram photos that didn’t garner a single like. The New York exhibit features the oldest zero-liked Instagram photo, posted the day after the social media site’s 2010 debut.
Hosted by Orange is the New Black star Jackie Cruz, the campaign is encouraging millennials to live in the moment and take their social media “likes” a little less seriously.
A study of U.S. millennials commissioned by Kahlúa found that more than 60% feel it’s important that their photos get likes, with more than one-third (34%) checking for a like less than one minute after posting.
The campaign from Droga5 also features a web site called #BottomNine which will identify a visitor’s worst performing Instagram photos (The Message editor Chris Powell’s bottom nine—and deservedly so—are shown above).
Brands celebrate the Apollo 11 moon landing
Brands are using the 50th anniversary of one of mankind’s greatest achievements, the Apollo 11 moon landing, as the launchpad for a series of lunar-themed activations.
They include Nabisco’s cookie brand Oreo, which has introduced a limited-edition cookie called Marshmallow Moon, which includes glow-in-the-dark packaging, purple-coloured cream and cookies stamped with space-themed designs like a crescent moon and a rocket blasting off.
Earlier this year, Budweiser announced a limited-edition beer called Discovery Reserve American Red Lager it says is inspired by an archival recipe from the late 1960s.
Automaker Nissan recently introduced a U.K. spot called “Moon Landing” which juxtaposes images of a man skateboarding in a zero-gravity environment with a voiceover by a man recalling the moon landing. The spot, which features the Nissan Qashqai, uses the tagline “Technology is beautiful, when it moves us.”
And Velcro Companies, which created the fasteners used by the Apollo 11 astronauts, recently commissioned a cover of the Police song “Walking on the Moon” by the appropriately named band Walk Off the Earth. The song features the instantly recognizable sound of a velcro fastener opening as one of its “instruments.”
Who knows what the 50th anniversary of the Space Force will bring.
Omnicom revenues fall 3.6%, although Canada appears strong
Omnicom Group released its Q2 numbers Wednesday, and worldwide revenue was down 3.6% to $3.72 billion, from $3.86 billion in the same quarter last year. Organic revenue was up 2.8% in the same period however, with Canada appearing particularly strong. The report noted that while organic revenue was up 3.2% in the U.S., it was up 11.8% in “Other North America.”
During the earnings call, CEO John Wren talked about Omnicom’s inaction around adding data assets while his competitors make big moves. “We prefer to rent the right data and technology that can improve our agility and client integration at any point in time rather than investing in legacy data assets and platforms that can easily become obsolete,” he said, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
