A new boutique technology communications consultancy, Duet London, has launched to make senior communications expertise truly accessible for fast-growing startups and scale ups that need an ‘A team’ to compete with larger and more established incumbents. Duet London operates with an inclusive mindset to help technology founders, particularly those from diverse backgrounds, to find and use their voice effectively. Duet London is led by two veterans of technology communications based in London, UK, who have over 33 years’ experience between them in helping to establish and grow the profiles of B2B technology brands in the UK and Europe: Lucie Bickerdike and Jazz Gandhi. Duet London aims to become the partner of choice for ambitious technology brands who need to diversify their portfolios and teams through their skilled communications expertise, especially as the sector continues to be heavily criticised for its lack of race and gender diversity in funding decisions. Duet London offers strategic counsel on maximising all investment and assets across the growth value chain.
Bynder has announced its partnership with THG Ingenuity, THG’s proprietary technology platform specialising in taking brands direct-to-consumers (“DTC”) globally. The partnership will support THG Ingenuity clients in delivering personalised digital experiences at scale across all stages of a multi-channel buyer journey. Brands can now access Bynder’s DAM platform through THG Ingenuity’s end-to-end DTC and digital services, assisting them to centralise and manage digital assets in one place.
South Korean automobile manufacturer, KIA, has partnered with Incubeta to drive its future marketing strategies through insightful data usage. The partnership will allow KIA to create a more detailed picture of their audience, by diving deeper into their collected data, ultimately leading to a higher level of engagement across its campaigns. The collaboration with Incubeta, an international marketing agency with teams in 22 locations worldwide, will primarily focus on developing an Audience Analysis Model in Big Query and defining a best-in-class foundation for Google Cloud projects. This will provide KIA with the opportunity to enhance its audience understanding, with actionable insights that will help create better customer and user experiences. The announcement follows a monumentally successful 18-month period for Incubeta, in which it has doubled in both size and profitability. Having already partnered with a number of internationally recognised brands, including the L’Oréal group and Les Mills, the digital marketing agency is well positioned to help drive future growth for KIA.
TheSoul Publishing, the largest short-form digital content publisher in the world, acquires a majority stake in Underscore Talent, the next-generation management firm within the creator economy. The deal was announced jointly by TheSoul Publishing CEO Arthur Mamedov and Underscore Talent Co-CEOs Reza Izad and Dan Weinstein. The investment allows Underscore Talent access to TheSoul Publishing’s proprietary, world-class tools, technology, and production resources. This will provide creators access to exceptional content production and distribution capabilities, further cementing TheSoul Publishing as a complete creative ecosystem in today’s fast-evolving global entertainment landscape. As part of the acquisition, Izad and Weinstein will join TheSoul Publishing Board of Directors and further drive TheSoul’s business growth and expansion globally.
SoundOut, a specialist in sonic branding testing, has revealed the most effective advertising soundtracks of the 2022 Christmas season – with discount stores Aldi, Lidl and TK Maxx leading the charge. SoundOut tested the soundtracks of 24 Christmas ad campaigns and analysed how well they matched the parent brand personality, as defined by thousands of consumers. For each one, SoundOut also measured their emotional impact across 200 emotional brand attributes. Aldi takes first place, with an advert soundtrack that holds a 90% match to the Aldi brand. The soundtrack follows a clear Rebel/Hero archetype and delivers emotions such as ‘fun’, ‘alive’ and ‘amazing’ – but also comes across as ‘confused’. Lidl takes second place – the personality of the soundtrack is an 84% match to the Lidl brand, as defined by consumers. From an archetype perspective it’s also a Rebel/Hero and features emotions such as ‘contemporary’, ‘innovative’, ‘alive’ and ‘cheerful’. Third is TK Maxx at 83%, with its top attributes including ‘amazing’, ‘wonderous’, ‘cheerful’ and ‘refreshing’. However, John Lewis only gains 13th position in this year’s league table, with a brand match of 68%. Despite this, the music’s Companion/ Caregiver archetype is a perfect accompaniment to the ad’s story arc. The top attributes being delivered are “sincerity”, “positivity”, “kindness”, “family orientated” and “compassion”.
Wavemaker has secured two client wins that will be led out of the agency’s Manchester office – this includes a new contact with the smart home security system, SimpliSafe and the retention of legal and financial advisors, Irwin Mitchell. SimpliSafe appointed Wavemaker to handle all media planning, buying and measurement, and has tasked the media agency with regional brand testing across TV, audio and OOH throughout the Midlands. Wavemaker was awarded the multi-million contract for its passion, expertise and comprehensive understanding of SimpliSafe and the category it operates in, as well as its ability to define and demonstrate an actionable strategy to positively provoke growth. It follows a competitive two-month pitch. In addition, Wavemaker has retained Irwin Mitchell following a competitive pitch. Wavemaker’s role will be to continue to lead on and deliver stand-out media planning and buying across partnerships, AV and paid digital. As part of the brief, it will be tasked with delivering its fifth campaign to promote Irwin Mitchell’s partnership with the RFU (Rugby Football Union). The agency has achieved significant prior success with similar activity, specifically across online video and YouTube – further building brand awareness and aligning closely with the rugby community. While the account will be Manchester-led, it is additionally set to include activations across London.
Currys launches a month-long content partnership with Jungle Creations titled Currys. The home of gaming, brokered by Spark Foundry and SPP Media. The identities of gamers who log on to public forums are often shrouded in mystery, with many players interacting in the same digital arena without any in-person contact. As a result, there is a tendency to assume that all players fit a similar demographic, even within the community itself. This campaign combats preconceptions by removing anonymity from these forums and revealing the true faces of gamers through three content episodes, each featuring a major gaming brand – Xbox: Squad Goals, Nintendo: Switch it up, Intel: Guess the Gamer. The bespoke content will be housed on Jungle Creations’ people-focused entertainment brand VT for the duration of the four-week campaign and seeded across additional social platforms – Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. This will be accompanied by interactive Instagram Stories shot in a Currys store, featuring a Currys expert advising on how to identify the right console and set up for different types of gamers.
VCCP, the challenger agency for challenger brands, has unveiled its inaugural RX Performance Index, giving brands valuable insights into the modern buying experience, and which brands are winning with customers and why. Signalling further investment into VCCP’s retail and commerce capabilities, the index is being unveiled alongside a new senior leadership line-up. In an environment where a disconnection between brand and buying is rife, VCCP conducted extensive research to identify brands which are winning when it comes to their buying experiences and the emotional connection customers felt post-purchase. The inaugural RX Performance Index, compiled in partnership with Watermelon, the research and insights division within VCCP, surveyed 3,000 people in the UK and overlaid their findings with YouGov ‘brand popularity’ scores. Balancing many components of success in omnichannel retail experience, the index takes into consideration functional, emotional and inspirational factors.
Let’s GoDo, a new online platform offering curated experiences by passionate individuals, has appointed LOTUS to help launch the brand in the UK. Founded by London-based entrepreneur Juliana Chies, Let’s GoDo offers curious locals and intrepid travellers a new way to discover a destination. Launching with over 80 activities in locations across the UK and Europe, guests can take part in everything from scuba diving to sushi making led by enthusiastic hosts. LOTUS’ launch strategy will focus on creating and building awareness of Let’s GoDo in the UK market. PR efforts will target both hosts and guests, encouraging host sign up and helping to drive consumer bookings. Activity will also support promotion of a travel trade commission structure and evolution of the experience portfolio.
Ecotone has appointed isobel to the Clipper Tea brand across Europe. Clipper is one of Ecotones stable of purpose driven brands, growing rapidly across European markets. Other Ecotone brands include Whole Earth, Bjorg and Kallo. isobel won the account without a formal pitch.
Acxiom, the customer intelligence company whose data-driven solutions create business growth by enabling better customer experiences, in partnership with Treasure Data, an award-winning enterprise customer data platform (CDP) provider, have announced the launch of HCP Engage, a healthcare professional engagement platform. HCP Engage combines Acxiom’s best-of-class consultation, implementation, and professional services, and unified data intelligence with market-leading technology from Treasure Data. HCP Engage is designed to provide better experiences for HCPs by connecting data from multiple sources and bringing it together in one platform to offer pharmaceutical marketers an easy, no-code way of customizing and delivering personalization efforts. Using Acxiom’s data management and identity layer, pharma marketers can create a unified view of HCP users based on their engagement history, demographics, and interactions with content. Treasure Data’s Customer Data Cloud uses this unified HCP view to help advertisers build audiences rooted in products, behaviors, and insights. Marketers can then activate this data across marketing platforms, including web, apps, social, and CRM, allowing HCPs to receive truly relevant communications regardless of channel.
BigCommerce, an Open SaaS ecommerce platform for fast-growing and established B2C and B2B brands, has announced an exclusive tech partner integration of StagingPro, a comprehensive staging and deployment suite that gives enterprise merchants and agency developers a collaborative, near-production level environment to easily test and deploy code to a BigCommerce store. Purpose built for BigCommerce, StagingPro provides an easy-to-use staging environment for merchants, agencies and third-party developers to create one or more replica sandbox stores without the need to reproduce and duplicate work onto a production store. Teams can now efficiently manage every aspect of the build and then test with confidence.
