The Media Online’s weekly round-up of need-to-know, global media stories.
North Face apologises to Wikipedia after major marketing bloops
US outdoor recreation company North Face has apologised to Wikipedia after making a marketing bloops of note. The company decided to announce publicly earlier this week how it gamed Google Search results to promote its products by uploading photos of them to high-traffic Wikipedia entries.
“North Face even gloated about its success with a short, two-minute video detailing how shots of famous locales were swapped for similar-seeming photos featuring North Face product placement, inorganically juicing North Face visibility in Google results,” The Verge reported. “The opening of the video showed a graphic of a Google Search bar filling up in real time with the words, “How can a brand be the first on google without paying anything for it?”
Yesterday, we were disappointed to learn that @thenorthface and @LeoBurnett unethically manipulated Wikipedia. They have risked your trust in our mission for a short-lived consumer stunt. 1/ https://t.co/aIl5XEkS3z
— Wikipedia (@Wikipedia) May 29, 2019
North Face has now apologised for the move.
For the full story on The Verge, click here.
England and Wales cricket boards launch ICC marketing campaign
South Africa might have lost to England in the first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup on Thursday, but the English and Welsh cricket boards lost no time in launching their ‘Express Yourself’ marketing campaign in an effort to attract young audiences between the ages of 16 and 24. The intent is to build a connection with the team, highlighting its diversity.
The campaign, developed by the Matta agency and publicised by PR firm Freud Communications, is pairing with individual team members to highlight their off-field hobbies. Tom Curran is paired with a travel photographer while batsman Jason Roy has taken part in a video with a drone racer.
For more on this campaign, check out the story on WARC.
Global threat to press freedom
Many journalists and media organisations globally are facing a serious threat to their credibility, as they are being labelled as peddlers of fake news.
A panel discussion at the 2019 Global Media Forum unpacked this threat further as well as what can be done to combat it.
Focusing on media in Asian countries specifically during the discussion, both government-imposed censorship and self-imposed censorship to toe government lines are problematic.
To read the full story, published by DW, click here.
Internet to dominate global media ad spend by 2020
WARC’s latest Global Ad Trends report has revealed that internet ad formats will account for over half of all media spend globally next year, if current trajectories are maintained.
Looking at eight major markets, including the three largest, internet advertising already takes the majority of media dollars. It became dominant in America last year, while it arrived earlier in China and the UK, starting back in 2016.
It seems that concerns around brand safety, return on investment transparency, and the duopoly of Google and Facebook have done nothing to dampen advertisers decision to spend their money on digital platforms.
To read the full story, published by WARC, click here.
Electronic Arts picks m/Six as its global media partner
While still handling the majority of its media in-house, gaming giant Electronic Arts (EA) has named GroupM’s m/Six as its global media agency partner.
m/Six came out on top, beating incumbent Starcom, Hearts & Sciences and Havas for the account.
EA will continue handling all strategy, planning and digital – including search, social, programmatic and digital out-of-home – in-house, while m/Six will oversee linear, broadcast and out-of-home media.
AdAge has more information, here.
Forbes targets Europe’s under-30s
Global media brand, Forbes, is hosting cross border business and entrepreneurship celebrations across Europe to “highlight Europe’s entrepreneurial culture and the strength of the free market”. Part of its strategy is to take its Under 30 franchise to Berlin to co-incide with the 30th anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall. A four-day gathering of 1 000 young business leaders is planned.
“Such events have become crucial to the century-old media business that is now majority-owned by the Hong Kong investment firm Integrated Whale Media Investments and bucked the trend in publishing by declaring a 42% uplift in annual profits in 2018, its best performance for more than a decade. The company makes its money from a combination of the print magazine, website, app, podcasts, video and live events,” The Drum reported.
Forbes produces 19 local language editions across Europe, under licences with publishing partners. Randall Lane (above), Forbes chief content officer, said young entrepreneurs don’t see borders.
For the full story on The Drum, click here.
Citroën chooses Havas Creative India for launch in that country
Citroën, owned by European auto major Groupe PSA, has given Havas Creative India the integrated communication mandate for its launch in that country. The mandate includes creative, social, digital and reputation management.
Mumbrella Asia reported that the account was awarded sans pitch after Havas Creative “went through multiple rounds of meetings and presentations with the team at Citroën”.
Citroën is handled by Traction globally, a dedicated unit within BETC Paris which is owned by the Havas Group.
For more on this, click here.
