Over the course of this week, we are revealing The Drum’s pick of the top brands, campaigns, agencies and individuals to have made an impact over the course of the last 12 months, looking at what work we will cherish and the . The full list is also published in The Drum’s 8 January issue, which is available to purchase here from today.
Here, we take a look at the industry, strategy and media honours, including the most exciting start-up of 2013, the most exciting media launch and the best ads featuring cats or dogs.
Appointment of the year
Marissa MayerWhen Yahoo appointed Marissa Mayer as its CEO in July 2012, a sense of hope was instilled in the company. Following a steady decline of its reputation and a string of different CEOs, this once trail-blazing search engine needed reinventing, and it soon became clear Mayer was the woman to do it.The first female employee of Google, Mayer’s vision built on Yahoo’s strength as a provider of products geared towards mobile use. Her objectives were to make Yahoo ‘mobile first’, build on its existing products and reinvigorate the working environment of its employees. Her redesign of the strategy has seen a rise in Yahoo’s shares and now Silicon Valley is watching to see whether Google’s ‘first lady’ can work her magic on Yahoo.
Deal of the year
Publicis OmnicomClearly the jury is still very much out as to what this coming together of international behemoths will mean for the marketing industry around the world, but the announcement of the deal certainly caught everyone by surprise.It could change everything – but it hasn’t even been officially cleared as yet, and won’t be until later in 2014 – so all talk is speculative other than it solving the succession problem for Maurice Levy, although The Drum doubts anyone’s money was on it being Omnicom CEO, John Wren. Expect this story to run and run and run, and run.
Most exciting start-up
Innovate7Innovate7, launched in the latter half of 2013, certainly caught everyone by surprise when Topshop’s highly respected chief marketing officer Justin Cooke announced his intention to depart to do his own thing. He told The Drum at the time that he wanted to work with clients on real innovation, and indeed the motto of the agency is ‘disrupting industries’. He has big ambition for the agency, going so far as to compare it to another potential Apple. We await the outcome with baited breath.
Most exciting client win
Asda for VCCP‘You're better off at Asda’ chimed the recent Christmas campaign, but it was the retail giant who decided that it was better off with Messrs Vallance, Coleman, Carruthers and Priest back in August, moving its £100m ad business out of Saatchi & Saatchi and into VCCP Blue, with the agency shaking off stiff competition from the likes of JWT, Beattie McGuinness Bungay and Grey London to land the account.The review came on the back of what was described by many as a disastrous 2012 Christmas campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi, who had held the Asda account since 2009, with the ads lambasted for reinforcing outdated gender stereotypes and attracting some 620 complaints. A bout of internal restructuring soon followed at the supermarket chain, during which it brought in Molson Coors’ Chris McDonough who had previously worked with VCCP. While it is still too early to say how successful the relationship will be, if the measure is Christmas campaigns and ASA complaints, Asda has already proven better off at VCCP.
Sudden strategy change
Ryanair“We should try to eliminate things that unnecessarily piss people off,” Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary told the company’s annual general meeting in September. Quite a change of tack from a man who has previously threatened to charge customers for going to the toilet and once memorably declared: “People say the customer is always right, but you know what – they're not.”A 20 per cent fall in the company’s share price prompted O’Leary to promise shareholders he would reduce the budget airline’s punitive baggage charges and, most surprisingly, rethink his contempt for passengers’ grievances by introducing a customer service team. Perhaps this year the new happy, friendly Ryanair might not come bottom of the Which? league table for customer service – again.
Online media brand
BuzzfeedIn a list of the best things about 2013, it would be remiss of us not to include Buzzfeed, the web phenomenon that has built its success on the back of ‘listicles’ such as ‘17 Incredibly Depressing Office Christmas Decorations’, ‘25 Amazing Moments from the Early Days of Girls Aloud’ and ‘The 28 Most Flawless Emma Watson Moments of 2013’. Call it low-brow if you will, but you can’t deny it’s an unqualified success. The site has enticed advertisers with its enthusiasm for native advertising and in November recorded its record month for traffic, racking up 130m unique visits.Since launching on these shores in March, its UK offshoot has grown traffic by 400 per cent. The traditional media establishment may sneer at its silly words and pictures, but they can only look enviously at Buzzfeed’s seriously impressive numbers.
Most exciting media launch
BT SportThere has been no shortage of contenders who believed – to their cost – that they could compete with Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV empire by buying up live football rights. Whether BT Sport will ultimately succeed where ITV Digital, Setanta and ESPN failed remains to be seen, but it certainly ruffled Sky’s feathers with its aggressive launch campaign in 2013. A canny deal – ‘take our broadband and get Premier League football free’ – gave Sky something to think about. And having already secured some of the top Premier League matches, blowing Sky out of the water with a £900m bid to secure exclusive Champions League rights from 2015 was a real statement of intent. Sky has never faced a challenger quite like this.
Most exciting traditional 'media owner '
ViceIt may come as a surprise to have youth media brand Vice as the winner of this category, but the reason is more to highlight just how far and fast a print publisher can evolve from a print magazine to a rich digitally-driven content ecosystem in its own right. No one can deny the battering publishers have had in the last few years as the full effects of digital have sunk their teeth into bottom lines. Yet Vice is among the few who can boast a commercial strategy as smart as its editorial. A leader in advanced branded content partnerships, and premium video strategies, Vice’s ad network AdVice has opened its production facilities to publishers who want to produce their own premium branded videos. The Emmy nomination for its show on HBO has cemented its reputation as a pioneering brand that is leading the changes taking place in the digital media space. Many in the industry will be keenly awaiting its next move.
Ads with dogs or cats
Be More DogO2’s Be More Dog campaign, which launched in July, featured an array of furry felines, but the highly entertaining TV ad was fronted by one particularly charming ginger moggy that endeavoured to become a bit more doglike. It played with balls, chased its tail, and boldly ran after cars, sending the message that not only is it much more fun to be a dog – but more exciting to be an O2 customer as well. The VCCP ad went viral, pulling in nearly 3m views on YouTube.
Marks & Spencer Christmas adFor its fairytale inspired Christmas ad, Marks & Spencer didn’t hold back on the famous factor, featuring model of the moment Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, David Gandy and Helena Bonham-Carter. But the real star of the spot was a little West Highland Terrier called Sparkle, a name decided by the brand’s social media fans. After his TV debut, Sparkle found himself celebrated in a parody Twitter account and immortalised as a cuddly toy being sold to the masses by M&S this Christmas.
MoneysupermarketScouring the internet for the best insurance deal is up there as one of the most arduous tasks for car owners, but somehow Moneysupermarket made it seem alright, exciting even, with an advert from Mother London. Despite coming out on the back of O2’s similarly cat-heavy campaign, the advert managed to hold its own in the ‘funny ads with cats’ category of 2013.
Marketing Weak choice of the year
TruviaOooof – where to start. A bad advert usually at least makes some modicum of sense – some. This…well we really don’t know what is going on. Two very snarky and annoying actors dressed as pink plants attempt to make fun of the voice over guy, who gives them a cup of tea and some Truvia to try it, they then talk to each other, apparently recognising the off screen actor as ‘the good doctor’…you know what, we can’t even bear to write about it. Horrible.
Coolest thing we’ve seen in 2013
Neil Harbisson, ‘The Human Cyborg’Last year The Drum met a real-life cyborg, and it blew our minds. Neil Harbisson is the world’s first legally recognised cyborg, and he even has the passport picture to prove it. Using a specially developed device, known as the Eyeborg, the colour-blind artist can hear colour. Born with achrimatopsia, meaning he only sees shades of grey, Harbisson developed the Eyeborg in 2003 and has since established the Cyborg Foundation to help others who want to extend their senses using cybernetics. Harbisson started to feel ‘Cyborg’ when he began to have emotional responses and dream in ‘colour’; he now hears music in everything around him. This morning, The Drum looked at the biggest PR triumphs and disasters of 2013, as well as the biggest events in social.
Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company. One of the oldest and largest marketing and communications companies in the world,...
