Global creator marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy (BDB) has released a major new study which sheds light on the opportunities offered to brands by creator marketing in the era of the metaverse. The new study reveals that many UK consumers are already engaging with the metaverse (defined in the study as the collective term for a current and future immersive form of the internet), with younger audiences the most involved, but older age groups also engaging. 40% of UK Gen Z respondents (aged 16 to 24) say they are already active in the metaverse, while 32% of UK millennials (aged 25 to 34) say they are already active. However, only 22% of UK respondents believe they could confidently describe the metaverse to someone else (the figure is highest for those aged 16 to 24, at 39%), and 31% describe themselves as feeling ‘ambivalent’ about the metaverse, while 19% say they are ‘confused’. In contrast with consumer sentiment, UK brand marketers are feeling both excited and hopeful about this new era of the internet. When asked to choose the emotion they attribute most to the metaverse, almost a third (30%) chose ‘excited’ and a quarter (25%) selected ‘hopeful’.
Media agency Starcom and Channel 4 have collaborated to produce a six-part short film series titled Brave Stories. First launched in September 2021, the series encourages people who identify as coming from diverse backgrounds or marginalised communities to open up about their personal experiences of working in media. The final instalment of this six-part series highlighting the journeys of Starcom individuals in interviews with representatives from Channel 4. Episode six features Katrin Schlenzka, Managing Partner in Starcom’s PGOne team (the dedicated client team for P&G) discussing ageism with Channel 4’s Deputy Head of Clients, Claire Peters. Katrin details how she doesn’t see many people over the age of 45 in the media industry and in leadership positions and how this isn’t fully representative of people in the wider world. The six 20-minute films can be found on Starcom UK’s YouTube channel, and Channel 4’s 4Sales website.
Havas Media Group (HMG) has launched Havas Business, a new, reimagined, global division designed to disrupt B2B marketing. Havas Business has been developed to be a ‘boardroom-ready’ marketing solution that unlocks meaningful value and growth for brands in B2B. The division will draw from HMG’s extensive experience in making a meaningful impact in the B2B space, which has seen it establish Maersk as a leader in 3PL Logistics and winning awards such as the Grand Prix from WARC in association with Lions for the second year running. Based in the UK and supported by the full scale of HMG’s global network, as well as Havas Group’s integrated Village model, Havas Business offers both strategy and end-to-end media execution to global and local B2B brands. Havas Business will now be integrated into HMG’s global offerings across 150 markets.
Doggy day care business, Bruce’s, has launched the UK’s first ever advertising campaign made specifically for dogs. Consisting of bus stop ad placements and a range of guerrilla marketing tools, the ads have been launched to promote Bruce’s new North London site. The new site will offer owners the chance to have their pooches picked up and dropped off in one of Bruce’s custom-designed doggy buses. The ad creatives feature basic human eye-level copy “nothing to see here human” with the bulk of the ad’s attention focused further down, with dog eye-level messaging encouraging North London’s pooches to try Bruce’s out and enjoy days spent socialising, learning, and having fun with a range of activities and constant love, attention, and supervision from the adoring Bruce’s team.
