Bader El Houssami has joined Nissan Saudi Arabia as Chief Operating Officer, effective July 1st. Based in Jeddah, Bader takes over responsibility for Nissan’s day-to-day operational functions as the company continues to consolidate its robust position within the Kingdom’s fiercely competitive automotive market.

A graduate in Business Studies specialising in Marketing from Beirut University College in his native Lebanon, 48-year-old Bader has an impressive track record in the automotive industry and a wealth of experience in the Kingdom itself. His appointment comes at a time when the Saudi market assumes ever greater significance for Nissan’s Middle East business.

“We are delighted to have secured the services of Bader for Nissan here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Kalyana, Sivagnanam, Nissan’s Regional Vice President, Marketing and Sales for the Africa, Middle East, and India region. “Bader’s CV and track record in the industry speak for themselves and we are confident that he will make a significant contribution to maintaining Nissan KSA on its current trajectory of continued sales growth, excellent customer satisfaction levels and a high degree of motivation within our highly trained workforce. His considerable experience of successfully managing people, combined with the breadth of his knowledge and hands-on experience within the industry made him the standout candidate for this challenging position.”

Bader gained much of his experience in both the Kingdom and the wider Gulf region with General Motors, including most lately as Head of Operations at MEBCO Middle East and Africa, a joint venture manufacturing batteries for GM’s AC Delco brand in Damman.

Based in the same city in his new role, Bader will seek to strengthen Nissan’s network, further improve customer satisfaction levels and ensure continued sales growth in the key Saudi market in order to contribute to the carmaker’s regional Mid Term Plan. He will be helped in this task by his product retail knowledge and experience gained with GM while based in Dubai as Regional Manager for Vehicle Sales in the Middle East. Further senior level experience in parts, aftersales and servicing positions help complete the picture of an automotive executive with a 360-degree view and understanding of the industry’s operational functions.

“Joining Nissan in this position marks a very exciting moment in both my professional career and personal life and I am very much looking forward to getting started in my new role,” said Bader. “Nissan’s operations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are complex and varied. My job will be to ensure that we, as a company within the Kingdom, continue to perform at the top of our game, always pushing to achieve more. However, my role really is helped by the fact that we have an outstanding product line-up, and one that I’m immensely proud to be associated with.”

Bader will report to Kalyana Sivagnanam, Nissan’s Regional Vice President, Marketing and Sales for the Africa, Middle East, and India region and additionally President of Nissan Middle East.

For the seventh year in succession, WPP has been named the world’s most creative parent company at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

The Group accumulated the highest number of points of any of the advertising and marketing services holding companies, thanks to yet another strong performance from its agencies.

Companies from 42 different countries contributed to WPP’s Lions tally, with winning work including:

“The Refugee Nation” by Ogilvy New York for Amnesty International; J. Walter Thompson New York’s “Unsafety Check” for Black Lives Matter; “Google Home Of The Whopper” and “Flame Grilled Since 1954” for Burger King by DAVID Miami; Tigo Une’s “Payphone Bank” from Grey Colombia; “A Love Song Written By A Murderer” by Circus Grey Peru Lima for Vida Mujer; Ogilvy Johannesburg’s “The Sad Man Meal” for KFC; “Handle With Care” from Grey New York for Gillette; “Pitching French Films to Hollywood” by Ogilvy Singapore for Alliance Française de Singapour; Johannes Leonardo’s “Original Is Never Finished” for Adidas Originals; “Equal Pay Billionaires” by Ogilvy Brasil for Forbes Magazine; DAVID Miami’s “Pass The Heinz” for The Kraft Heinz Company; “Savlon Healthy Hands Chalk Sticks” from Ogilvy Mumbai for ITC Savlon; and “The One Moment” for Morton Salt by Ogilvy Chicago.

Sir Martin Sorrell, founder and CEO of WPP, said: “As ever, this award simply reflects the achievements of our wonderfully talented people all around the world, and of course the support of our clients.

“In the year of our seventh successive win, the industry appears to be experiencing a collective seven-year itch in terms of its relationship with Cannes.

“The importance of recognising the outstanding creativity of our people and the work they do for clients is not in doubt. The question is whether the festival does that in the most effective way, and we look forward to playing our part in finding the best solution.”

John O’Keeffe, Worldwide Creative Director of WPP, said: “Cannes Lions 2017 draws to an end tinged a little with sadness. I’m personally sorry that so many good friends from Publicis won’t be at the awards next year. The festival is the poorer for their absence.  

“My congratulations of course go to my friends and colleagues throughout WPP, but also to all the winners, and indeed to every great client who bought all the brilliant work on show this week.

“Over the past ten days I’ve seen, writ large across the categories, the myriad ways now at our disposal to create fame for our clients. But equally I’ve seen proof of what I said last year: no matter what the platform, The Big Idea will always be The Big Winner.”

Keeping its promise of introducing path-breaking and disruptive formats, the leading Tamil GEC channel Star Vijay is all set to launch THE MOST ANITCIPATED SHOW in South India- Bigg Boss.

Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan will soon be making his television debut as host of Bigg boss. The 10 sec teaser featuring the Ulaganayagan has already been released and has gone viral in all social media platforms, which has created a lot of buzz among the audience and the industry. The teaser has also been shared by various celebrities like Actor Suriya, Director Atlee, Actor Udhayanidhi Stalin, Vishnu Vishal and Director AR Murugadoss, only to further substantiate its mass appeal.

The next most anticipated event is the Promo launch. In the Promo, Kamal speaks about the various roles he has played in his glorious acting career, to name a few that of an Indian, American, Lover, Father, Women. But however, the versatile actor considers the common man (each one of us) a better actor than himself. The various roles we portray in our day-to-day life, the way we are with our friends, family, colleagues, the way we are on social media all different roles we carry with ease. He goes on to say that he wants to see the real person in each one of us and that person is seen only when we are under pressure. In this case, under constant surveillance with 14 strangers under one roof for 100 days, with no source of communication with the outside world.

A reality show where contestants from all walks of life are locked in a common house. They compete with each other to win a cash prize by saving themselves from eliminations based on public votes.

Tune in to Bigg Boss Tamil only on Star Vijay from Mon – Sun @ 9pm. The show starts from 26th June 17 

Marketing Week’s 100 most disruptive brands were upstaged quickly this year when Amazon announced it was buying Whole Foods. Now that’s truly disruptive! And, as a result, the longer-term implications are hard to predict.

I may never have heard of the 100 brand names on Marketing Week’s list and a quick glance suggests that few of them will be as disruptive as Amazon. There I was cheerfully reviewing the company’s retail experimentation a couple of weeks ago, little knowing that these were just testing the retail waters before Amazon jumped in the deep end. The deal to acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion has already affected grocery retailer share prices and seems likely to have far wider impact in future.

Unfortunately for traditional U.S.-based grocery stores, the news of the Whole Foods acquisition came hard on the heels of two other announcements: first that hard discounter Aldi was set to expand its store count in the US to 2000 and second that arch rival Lidl would be entering the market for the first time. With grocery prices already on the slide the pressure will only mount as Amazon, Aldi and Lidl fight for customers and companies like Walmart, Kroger and Costco fight to keep them.

So what are the implications for brands? If there is going to be a retailer price war then brands sold through those retailers are going to feel the squeeze, that much is obvious. But with Aldi and Lidl focused on delivering good quality products at a good price, and with Amazon already selling its Wickedly Prime and Happy Belly lines, and now Whole Foods’ 365 line, the pressure will only spread. Customers who try the store brands and like them will add them into their repertoire.

Of course not everyone values cheap prices. While big name brands make up a fraction of Aldi’s sales in the UK it lists them because enough people still want Coca-Cola and might be lured to shop elsewhere if they cannot get it along with their other groceries. Well-known and well-liked brands need to play to their strengths and try to ensure that they are on people’s ‘must have’ lists.

This is particularly true when it comes to online sales. To succeed online brands must to get onto people’s shopping list. According to Kantar Worldpanel 55 percent of online shoppers use the same list from one purchase to the next. This behavior almost doubles the repeat purchase rate for many grocery categories. But while big brands may survive the coming retail battle it is tough to see how many smaller brands are going to survive unless they have something truly different to offer.

Written by Nigel Hollis, Executive Vice President and Chief Global Analyst at Kantar Millward Brown.

Entertainment Lions, Entertainment Lions for Music, Media, Design and Product Design Lions winners revealed

Day five of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity ended in a red carpet awards show to honour the winners of the Entertainment Lions, Entertainment Lions for Music, Design, Media and Product Design Lions.

The Entertainment Lions recognise creativity that turns content into culture. From 1793 entries received, 78 Lions were awarded - 12 Gold, 22 Silver and 43 Bronze - and ‘Beyond Money’ by MRM//McCann Spain, Madrid for Santander Bank took the Grand Prix. Jury President, PJ Pereira, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer Pereira & O'Dell, said the work was “a perfect example of how a brand can make a statement, but also conquer and earn precious consumer time”.

The Entertainment Lions for Music celebrate creative musical collaborations and original music content. 511 entries resulted in 33 Lions being awarded: 5 Gold, 11 Silver and 16 Bronze, and the Grand Prix went to ‘Original is Never Finished’ by Johannes Leonardo, New York for adidas Originals. Jury President, Olivier Robert-Murphy, Global Head of New Business for Universal Music Group, and his jury chose the work, which reinvented the classic hit, Frank Sinatra’s My Way, with the sound of a new generation of artists. The work cleverly reinvents the past to create meaning for young audiences and form authentic connections with today’s consumers.

The Design Lions recognise visual craftsmanship, demonstrating how design defines a brand or communicates its key messages. From 2780 entries, 112 Lions were awarded: 20 Gold, 33 Silver and 58 Bronze, and a first Grand Prix for Thailand went to ‘The Unusual Football Field’ by AP Thailand, Bangkok / CJ Worx, Bangkok for AP (Thailand) Public Company Limited. Jury President Sandra Planeta, Founder & Creative Director, Planeta Design, Sweden said “It’s clever, smart, simple, purposeful and useful design. And the best part is that I’d love to try it myself.”

The Media Lions celebrate the context of creativity, enhanced and amplified by a game-changing channel strategy. From 2949 entries, 95 Lions were awarded - 9 Gold, 28 Silver and 57 Bronze - and ‘Innovating Saving’ by R/GA, New York for jet.com took the Grand Prix. President Mike Cooper, Worldwide Chief Executive Officer, PHD, led the jury who chose the work by a then start-up retailer for its highly sustainable communication strategy. Driven by price and consumer data, it utilised social media and search insight to produce the commercial results of big brands.

The Product Design Lions recognise creativity that fuses form and function. The Product Design jurors, led by Ruth Berktold, Owner, YES architecture, Germany, selected ‘Payphone Bank’ by Grey Colombia, Bogotá for TigoUNE for the Grand Prix. A purposeful, useful and ultimately world-changing work, it transformed the interface of a payphone into micro savings accounts to support Colombian communities. From 435 entries received in Product Design, 22 Lions were awarded including the Grand Prix - 4 Gold, 6 Silver and 11 Bronze.

Sir Lucian Grainge, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Universal Music Group (UMG), was honoured as this year’s Cannes Lions Media Person of the Year. The award recognises an individual who has shaped the future of creative communications and stands as an influential figure in today’s media landscape.

Media Network of the Year was also announced: 1st place went to OMD Worldwide; 2nd place to Mediacom; and 3rd to Starcom.

Lions Entertainment, the Festival’s two day-specialist event,  kicked-off today, bringing the worldwide entertainment industry together with global brands for a programme of speaker sessions, live performances, curated roundtables and networking. Focussing on the future of entertainment and the role that brands will play within it, A$AP Rocky, Ellie Goulding and Jason Reitman shared knowledge and insights on the stages. 

How will employers reach generation Z job applicants?

As teenagers begin to age into the workforce, social networks are finding increasingly sophisticated uses among companies hoping to connect with this tech-savvy demographic. For generation Z, social media is always the most intuitive way to connect—even when it comes to a job application.

In Australia, McDonald’s and Snapchat partnered this summer for the “Snaplications” lens. A first for both companies, the sponsored lens lets Snapchatters apply to a job directly through the app. The branded lens shows the user in a McDonald’s uniform and asks them to record a 10-second video showing their personality, which is sent directly to McDonald’s. After the application is reviewed, candidates may be invited into a more traditional application process.

“As a business, McDonald’s is constantly evolving its approach to digital technology, for both the customer and employees,” said Shaun Ruming, COO of McDonald’s Australia, in a release. “Snaplications was born out of the growing desire to enable people to interact with the brand on their own terms, in their own time and in an enjoyable way.”

The partnership is an intuitive one for both companies. McDonald’s (or Macca, in Australia) can connect to potential millennial and generation Z employees, while also boosting its presence on the still-trendy app. In Australia, Snapchat has more than 4 million active daily users, with more than half of those (54%) under the age of 25. According to a release, McDonald’s is currently the biggest employer of millennials in Australia, and is seeking to create 6,000 new jobs per year.

“For most young people who apply for a role with Macca’s, this is their first entry into the workforce,” Ruming continued. “As such, their personality, positive attitude and enthusiasm are characteristics that are focused on and traits that this tech innovation captures in a simple, yet effective manner.”

Although the first to create a dedicated lens, McDonald’s is not the first to use Snapchat to boost its recruiting profile. Citibank is using Snapchat’s Spectacles to showcase a day in the life of its employees. In 2016, online retailer Everlane encouraged applicants to apply through a 60 to 90 second Snapchat story. AOL has previously used the app’s Discover section to show life at AOL and the company’s #BuiltByGirls program. Views of AOL’s job posting spiked by 40% the month of the video.

“Diversity and talent is how we’re going to compete in the future, so it was important for us that we focused in on women,” Monica Cepak, senior marketing manager at AOL, told AdWeek. “Because Snapchat reaches over 40 percent of the millennial audience globally, we felt that this was the best avenue for talking to millennials in a meaningful way and showcase to them what it’s like to work here at AOL.”

Gen Z is reshaping the workplace in other important ways. Companies are using automated chatbots, such as Mya or Canvas, to reach millennials who are more comfortable answering questions over text than on the phone. And beyond the application process itself, student loan repayment has been called the “hottest employee benefit of 2017,” with companies adding the benefit to attract and retain millennial talent.

Generation Z will bring many changes to recruiting, and brands and retailers will have to adapt—not least by creating ads that simultaneously promote products and boost applicant pools. Stay tuned for more on how this hyper-connected generation stands to change the workplace moving forward.

Source:JWT Intelligence.com

Many associate the term ‘summer’ with vacations, beaches, time off work and in many parts of the world, a slower pace of business. But to those in the digital industry, the term merely describes a season, since the industry is always active and changing. New apps, new websites, even new methods to bring offline industries onto online platforms are constantly being developed and introduced as part of the digital trend.

Every season, there are new trends identified in the digital world that highlight the success of digital innovations. But, what factors lead to a trend?

A trend in itself usually signals a development into a certain direction that is adopted by an increasing user-base. In digital, we have seen many trends such as social media marketing and mobile-first, which are manifesting themselves. This means that they are initially declared as a trend as companies and individuals utilize them, and in most cases, becomes part of a consumer’s day-to-day operations. Take social media as an example, five years ago, it was a trend, now it is a critical component of a business marketing program.  In the digital space, we usually have a correlation between general availability, implementation cost and skill. This means the market needs to be ready to consume enough social media users. The cost for implementation needs to result in a return on investment and the skills and resources to implement the trends available.

Virtual reality and omnichannels reigned the digital trend list last summer. This year sees a shift towards bots, digital ads and content, specifically in the development of video content:

Personalization with bots

With bot technologies becoming cheaper and easily accessible, the adoption of bots has become increasingly common. Chat bots in mobile messaging apps have been getting a lot of attention lately as the next innovation in customer engagement and personalization. Bots such as Siri and the kind of automated text message exchanges are the new trends. The hype around Artificial Intelligence will also do its part to create more buzz around bots and messenger apps like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

Immersive content with videos

Creating instant impact, online videos have become the go-to for marketing pros in the digital world and has seen a dramatic increase in audience numbers ranging from 13-50.   For small businesses, video is an inexpensive way to level the playing field with answering customer FAQs, demonstrating products in action and featuring video testimonials.

Influencer marketing with online Ads and content generation

According to a recent study by Global Web Index, 3 out of 4 mobile users worldwide are blocking ads or are interested in doing so. This in itself has turned into a trend, indirectly leading to a higher investment in content marketing, another common trend in the digital world. 

Written by Alexander Rauser, CEO of Prototype

WPP announces that it has taken a minority stake in Celtra Technologies, Inc. (“Celtra”), a digital advertising creative management platform for distributing content across multiple screens, that is based in the US. 

Celtra’s clients include Unilever, Kargo, Netflix and Opera Mediaworks. It employs over 160 people and is based in Boston with offices in Slovenia, New York, London, San Francisco and Sydney. It was founded in 2009. Unilever is investing alongside WPP in the US$15 million financing round.

Celtra has developed and maintains its AdCreator platform which allows for the creation, production, management and distribution of digital display ads, video and native advertising across multiple screens and devices by advertisers and agencies. Text and graphics can be updated and customized automatically without human intervention. Since 2011, Celtra acquired over 400 clients across the digital media and advertising landscape. Its platform powers advertising for more than 3,500 brands from two-thirds of the Fortune Global 500.

The investment continues WPP's strategy of focusing on three key areas that differentiate the Group's offering to clients: technology, data and content. WPP's digital assets include companies such as Acceleration (marketing technology consultancy), Cognifide (content management technology), Conexance (data cooperative), Deeplocal (innovation studio founded as a spin-from Carnegie Mellon University), Salmon (e-commerce), and Hogarth (digital production technology). WPP also has investments in a number of innovative technology services companies such as Globant and Mutual Mobile, as well as ad technology companies such as AppNexus, comScore (data investment management), mySupermarket, Percolate and ScrollMotion.

The Group has invested in digital content companies like Russell Simmons' All Def Digital, Fullscreen, 88rising, Indigenous Media, Imagina (a content rights and media company based in Spain), MRC, Mic, Mitú, Refinery29, Uproxx Media Group and VICE. WPP's roster of wholly owned digital agencies include AKQA, Blue State Digital, Essence, F.biz, Mirum, POSSIBLE, Triad Retail Media, VML and Wunderman. 

WPP's digital revenues were over US$7.5 billion in 2016, representing 39% of the Group's total revenues of US$19.4 billion. WPP has set a target of 40-45% of revenue to be derived from digital in the next four to five years. In North America, WPP companies (including associates) collectively generate revenues of US$7.5 billion and employ almost 29,000 people.

Global adspend will grow 4.2% to US$559bn in 2017, according to Zenith’s new Advertising Expenditure Forecasts, published .

That’s down from 4.8% growth in 2016. However, 2016 was a ‘quadrennial year’, and benefited from extra adspend stimulated by the US elections, Summer Olympics in Rio and the football championships in Europe, making the annual comparisons tougher for 2017. These events added about US$6bn to the global total in 2016; after adjusting for this, underlying growth will actually strengthen from 3.6% in 2016 to 5.4% in 2017. This growth is coming from acceleration in Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe, and continued strong expansion in Asia Pacific.

Recovery in Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe

Conditions in Latin America are improving: Brazil has emerged from its longest recession since the 1930s, while Argentina is finally tackling inflation as its economy starts to recover too. Central & Eastern Europe is gathering speed after conflict and sanctions hit Russia and connected markets in 2015. We forecast 4.1% growth in adspend in Latin America this year, up from a 0.2% decline last year, and 7.3% growth in Central & Eastern Europe, up from 4.1% growth last year.

Asia Pacific is leading global adspend growth

Advertising expenditure in Asia Pacific will grow by US$30bn between 2016 and 2019, contributing 43% of the global growth in adspend over this period, Asia Pacific will contribute nearly 50% more ad dollars than the next region, North America, which will grow by US$20bn (29% of global growth). Western Europe will grow by US$8bn (11%), Central & Eastern Europe will grow by US$4bn (6%), and Latin America will grow by US$3bn (4%).

By 2019 Asia Pacific will account for 33.4% of global adspend, up from 32.1% in 2016. This will be the first time it will account for more than a third of the global total. The Asia Pacific ad market will still be smaller than the ad market in North America, which will account for 36.3% of global adspend in 2019, but the gap between the two is narrowing. In 2013 the North American ad market was US$35bn larger than Asia Pacific’s, but by 2016 the difference had dropped to US$27bn, and we expect it to fall to US$18bn in 2019.

Weak growth in the UK drags down Western Europe

The UK was the stand-out growth market in Western Europe from 2011 to 2016, growing at an average of 7.3% a year while the rest of the region grew by just 0.4% a year. However, a slowing economy, gathering inflation, and political uncertainty over the mid-year elections and upcoming Brexit negotiations have all contributed to a sharp drop in adspend growth in the UK in 2017. We now forecast just 0.9% growth in UK adspend this year, compared to 2.4% growth for the rest of Western Europe, and down from 9.6% growth in UK adspend in 2016. This drop in UK growth, together with the quadrennial comparison, will drag growth in Western European adspend down from 4.6% in 2016 to 2.0% in 2017.

Media & entertainment advertisers most confident of growth this year

In the run-up to the Cannes festival, we conducted an exclusive survey about brand growth among key Zenith clients. As part of this survey we asked advertisers around the world how confident they were in the prospects for growth in their category this year. We then ranked each category on a scale from 0 to 100, where 0 means everyone expects substantial decline, 100 means everyone expects substantial growth, and 50 means the average expectation is for no growth.

The results were as follows. Media & entertainment advertisers came out on top, with a score of 82.1, followed by pharma/healthcare and alcohol. The lowest-scoring category was telecommunications, at 33.3, followed food & drink and FMCG (excluding food).

“Latin America and Central & Eastern Europe are improving, but Asia Pacific remains the main engine of global adspend growth,” said Jonathan Barnard, Head of Forecasting and Director of Global Intelligence at Zenith. “China may be slowing, but it’s still growing at US$5bn a year, while India, Indonesia and the Philippines grow at double-digit rates.”

“Global advertising budgets are rising steadily but cautiously, and are falling slightly behind overall economic growth,” said Vittorio Bonori, Zenith’s Global Brand President. “After a decade of cost-cutting since the financial crisis, we believe brands now need to focus on top-line growth. Our survey shows that brands are looking to data and technology as the main driver of business growth, closely followed by business transformation and new competitive positioning.”

Salmon joins Wunderman adding commerce expertise to Wunderman’s global offering

Wunderman, the leading global digital agency, today announced the launch of a new division, Wunderman Commerce with Salmon, an award-winning ecommerce consultancy as its foundation. Salmon, which joined WPP in 2013, provides market-changing digital commerce solutions to retail, CPG, FMCG, B2B and financial services brands including, Argos, Sainsbury’s, Selfridges, Ted Baker and Xerox. Sales across its clients’ platforms drive €7.4B in revenue annually.

The launch transforms Wunderman’s offering to include enterprise-level retail and mobile commerce capabilities. Recognised as one of the world’s most successful ecommerce services providers, Salmon’s expertise is in delivering strategy, platform integration and customer experience solutions across platforms including IBM Watson Commerce, SAP Hybris, Intershop and Magento. Salmon will gain access to Wunderman’s clients, global scale, world-class CRM capabilities and offshore marketing automation centres.

Salmon, which has operations in London, Amsterdam, New York, Seattle, New Delhi, Beijing and Melbourne, has won numerous awards including the Online Retail Awards’ ecommerce and mcommerce provider of the year. Salmon will continue to operate as a standalone brand within Wunderman, working with both Wunderman and other WPP companies.

Taken together, Wunderman now offers clients world-class technology strategy and delivery capabilities across campaigns, commerce and content allowing its clients to build a seamless customer experience underpinned by data. This is supported by more than 2,500 certified marketing technology and data experts.

“This development allows us to deliver our award-winning expertise to global brands and retailers and to work jointly with clients that are looking to achieve true digital transformation,” said Neil Stewart, CEO of Salmon, who will head up the new division. “We are delighted to join Wunderman to extend our capabilities and improve our offer to clients.”

Mark Read, Wunderman’s Global CEO, said: “With an increasing share of retail growth coming from online channels and rising disruption from Amazon, Wunderman’s clients are increasingly looking for strategic and technical ability in building ecommerce solutions. Salmon’s expertise has been built in the UK, by many metrics the world’s most competitive ecommerce market, and we look forward to offering it to our clients around the world as we roll out Salmon’s capabilities globally.”