Time Out has announced it will be an official media partner for the inaugural SXSW London. In the lead up, Time Out’s editors and writers will feature exclusive announcements, and create festival guides and explainers. During the event, they will be on the ground creating content to showcase the talks, performances, screenings, art, and fashion. Time Out will be based out of a branded junket zone, where staff will produce exclusive video and social content with performers, VIPs, and attendees. Content will be shared across Time Out’s editorial newsletter, social media channels, WhatsApp channel, and on timeout.com. Commercial support will include digital display ads and an editorial newsletter takeover. In return, Time Out’s branding will be integrated across SXSW London’s digital platforms and event collateral.
The Brandtech Group has announced a pilot programme with Imperial College Business School to enable MSc Strategic Marketing Online students to be trained on how to use its Gen AI marketing platform. The pilot programme will be part of the university’s MSc Strategic Marketing Online on-campus week and has been designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice, offering the next generation of marketing leaders real-world experience in AI-driven content creation. Students will have the opportunity to try Pencil to replicate real-life marketing scenarios for the Unilever brand, Knorr.
A new report from Criteo, ‘The spark of discovery – Reigniting the emotion of ecommerce,’ has revealed that 76% of consumers say online shopping lacks excitement, with 29% describing it as a chore. Today, 61% of shoppers turn to online shopping purely for convenience, while 36% lament the loss of ‘unexpected finds.’ When it comes to celebrating major life milestones, only 18% of consumers choose to do so through online shopping. Instead, they prefer to mark memorable occasions with in-person experiences that online shopping has yet to replicate. 79% of consumers feel online shopping is lonely, and 78% say they are overwhelmed by too many product choices. Worse still, only 50% find online shopping relaxing or enjoyable. 55% of brand leaders believe influencers drive traffic, but only 29% of consumers say influencer content makes them feel positively towards a brand. Instead, 73% of consumers say visiting a brand’s website contributes to their excitement.
Food and beverage company Danone has adopted the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to serve as its core data intelligence foundation for analytics and AI. Danone will leverage the full capabilities of the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform alongside its partner ecosystem, to create a new foundation for data and AI-driven services called ‘OneSource 2.0.’ The foundation is expected to reduce ‘data-to-decision’ time by up to 30%.
The Advertising Producers Association (APA), a trade body for creative production companies creating commercial content, has announced the launch of a new industry initiative, ‘Production Unplugged,’ presented in partnership with ISBA, IHALC, and Inside Out. The initiative is designed to foster direct partnerships between multi-disciplinary creative studios and the UK’s leading brands. Kicking off with an event on 1 May 2025 in London, Production Unplugged will serve as an ongoing initiative, creating a year-round community focused on knowledge exchange and creative discovery. Post-event, Production Unplugged will be launching a digital directory, making production partners and their capabilities easily searchable to brands. Waitrose, Diageo, Estée Lauder, Channel 4, Vodafone, Sainsbury’s Zest, Merlin Entertainments, Reckitt Benckiser, Pernod Ricard, The Mix, Sky Creative, and what3words have pledged their support as event curators.
Little Dot Studios, a content studio and digital media network, has announced a four-year extension of its YouTube agreement with Team GB, under its sports-specialist label, Little Dot Sport. As Team GB prepares for both the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina 2026 and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles 2028, Little Dot Sport will continue to manage and produce content for Team GB’s official YouTube channel. Little Dot Sport will support Team GB to connect with global audiences through behind-the-scenes access, athlete-led original formats, interviews, and YouTube Shorts.
Meta has made a series of product updates to Instagram’s Creator Marketplace that aim to make it easier for businesses to discover, evaluate, and partner with creators who align with their campaign goals. Brands using the Creator Marketplace can now access AI-enabled content recommendations within the Partnership Ads Hub in Ads Manager. These suggestions surface branded content from creators that is likely to perform well as a paid ad. Meanwhile, creator recommendations now factor in creators’ platform presence, content performance, and brand affinity, and a new keyword search enables brands to find creators using specific terms. Also, creator profiles will now include playable Reels.
Shopify has announced that Sidekick, its AI-powered commerce assistant, is expanding from English-only to 20 supported languages. Sidekick now automatically detects and responds in the merchant’s language – no manual switching needed. In Europe, Sidekick now supports a further 12 languages, including Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
Research from customer engagement platform SalesManago has found that European marketers are being asked to achieve more with less, as 73% report feeling stretched due to increasing 2025 targets and shrinking budgets. The research, conducted with over 150 ecommerce marketing leaders in the UK, Poland and Italy, found that AI is no longer optional, with 71% of marketers reporting that they now couldn’t hit their goals without the automation and intelligence delivered by AI. However, the rise of AI is also creating new challenges, with 55% admitting their tech stack has become more complex and difficult to manage. Additionally, the advent of AI has also created other pressures with 63% of eCommerce marketers being asked to downsize teams due to automation-driven expectations. The UK is facing the most constraints, with 92% of marketers feeling pressure to shrink teams, followed by 60% in Italy and just 36% in Poland.
A membership programme designed to help new and accelerating businesses grow by broadening access to outdoor advertising has been launched by 75Media. ‘Ignite’ will give businesses up to two times amplification of their media budget, alongside a series of dedicated support and creative guidance. The programme will also offer members networking opportunities, brand building workshops, and access to year-round events.
Beauty and wellness is the top social commerce sector in the UK, with almost half (46%) of social commerce users in the UK making a purchase in this category over a 12-month period, according to analysis from Money.co.uk. Clothing and footwear is the second most popular social commerce category. Over a 12-month period, two in five users (40%) purchased in the clothing and footwear sector. In 2024, just under a quarter (24%) of social commerce users in the UK bought products from home and DIY retailers, making this category the third most popular.
