The London Weekly: my verdict

The London Weekly freesheet has launched (although it’s almost impossible to lay your hands on a copy). Even earlier this week, some were suggesting the freesheet could even be a hoax, suggesting that it might not even exist as potential advertisers had heard so little from the team.

But no, it appears that it is not a hoax. Although the content seems so laughably bad to me that anyone associated should probably pretend immediately that the whole thing is an elaborate art project commenting on media in the modern age.

Why am I being so harsh? Well, @jenniferesque posted a picture of the paper’s front page first thing this morning, revealing the embarrassing misspelling of cricketer Phil Tufnell’s name – see it below – photo credit to @jenniferesque. Other misspellings in the issue include “Cowell is king of immitation” and “Serve them with New BAILEYS Extra Thick Crea”.

The rest of the paper doesn’t look much better. I picked up an edition of its rival freesheet theblogpaper too this morning. I found the content pretty weak (one article is called “Porn: It’s All Wank Really”).  But at least it is an interesting idea and the layout suggests that the people involved care about their product. I might not really care what a blogger calls “Bangs and a Bun” thinks about the forthcoming Sex & The City film, which they haven’t actually seen, but perhaps other people do. Anyway, crowdsourced content as a concept – at least it is trying something different.

The problem with The London Weekly is that its first edition just isn’t any good. The layout is terrible. Aside from the misspelling on the front page, the design looks tired and cheap. A page on showbiz uses a huge yellow arrow which looks like it came straight out of my Word Clip Art collection. (Although that might be an insult to Clip Art. Sorry, Microsoft.)

YOU CAN SEE MORE OF THE PAGES HERE.

When thelondonpaper and The London Lite closed last year, I did feel a little sadness. I felt that thelondonpaper at least had managed to find a few editorial niches, such as the reader’s column each day, which were entertaining.

But I can’t say I’ve missed those publications too much, especially now The Evening Standard has become a freesheet. I really hope that The London Weekly is some elaborate crazy hoax pulling the wool over my eyes. I think it’s fair to say that based on this early view, if The London Weekly didn’t come out ever again, I wouldn’t even miss it for a second. Actually, I’d probably celebrate on behalf of any trees getting saved as a result.

***UPDATE***

Time Out’s music editor has allegedly just pointed out that The London Weekly’s top five albums only has four in it……SURELY this must be a spoof? Step forward, Chris Morris, please……

Marketers and their money

A couple of weeks ago, we ran the Marketing Week/Ball & Hoolahan Salary Survey, which presented a comprehensive study into how marketers are paid and rewarded in 2010.

(My particular fact of choice from the survey? A female marketing director earns £17,000 less than her male counterpart. So much for equality.)

Now data from the Higher Education Careers Services and Graduate Prospects has produced their figures on what happens to young marketers at the start of their careers. It follows what those marketing graduates from 2008 did next.

The split of graduates from the 2008 crop was 42% male as opposed to 58% female.

Apparently 70% of those with marketing degrees have entered employment, 5% undertook further training, 4.3% are working and studying, 9.6% are unemployed and 10.8% are ominously “other” (which I assume means they left marketing to do something else or went travelling for a year).

Sector-wise, 30.6% went into marketing, sales and advertising; 17.9% entered commercial/industrial/public sector management; 13.5% entered clerical/secretarial jobs; 12.6% started in retail/catering; and 25.4% went into other areas.

Of those people starting off in marketing, sales and advertising, 59% entered the world of being advertising/marketing executives; 10.5% went into other marketing, sales and advertising roles; 8.2% became public relations officers; 7.5% became sales reps or agents; and 14.8% did other things.

So it seems that at the start of their careers, more women than men are engaged by the joys of marketing and most people choosing a career in this area do want to hold pure marketing/advertising positions rather than some of the positions that touch on the same skills or management but are not core roles. With that in mind, I hope that by the time the 2008 graduates become marketing directors, the pay inequality of today is a thing of the past.

An udder-ly lovely new design

This is a lovely little piece of packaging for milk. Designed by Ashley Linnenbank, this udder-shaped design brings back the link between the source of the liquid and the end product to consumer minds. Not sure we’ll ever see this make it to the shelf as this seems to be a student prototype, but a nice idea really shaking up the design in the dairy category nevertheless.

Via PSFK.

Tesco buys into the movie business

Supermarket Tesco has moved into movie-making (sort of). Not content with opening its Fresh & Easy shops in California, it appears that a little of Hollywood has rubbed off on the firm.

The retailer has formed a joint venture with US media firm Amber Productions to create a range of straight-to-DVD films that it will sell exclusively under the deal’s initial terms. The first movie is understood to be an adaption of Jackie Collins’ book Paris Connections. Other authors apparently under discussion for a Tesco release include Judy Blume and Philip Pullman.

Tesco says its role will involve marketing and sales rather than the creative process, but this is an interesting idea. Will you be keen to watch Tesco book-DVDs?

The 10 brands to watch over the next decade

Design consultancy Further has released its predictions for which brands will be the ones to watch over the next decade. It nominates:

1. United Breweries Group. The Indian conglomerate markets everything from Kingfisher beer to Scotch brand Black Dog and bought Whyte & Mackay back in 2007. Headed up by Vijay Mallya, it looks set to grow over the next few years beyond its current size as one of the world’s largest spirits businesses.

2. Build your Dreams. Originally established as a battery maker, its new automotive division is taking this Chinese brand to new heights. It is aiming to become one of the most well-known manufacturers of electric and hybrid cars in the world – there is ample opportunity in China.

3. MTN. The South African mobile phone brand has more than 40 million subscribers and with African mobile ownership set to rocket, it is well placed to grow significantly over the next decade.

4. Natura Cosmetics. Otherwise known as the South American “Avon”. This direct-to-consumer Brazilian beauty business has trebled its revenues since 2001. Using Brazil’s biodiversity as the base for many products, it combines environmentalism and fashion.

5. Virgin Galactic. The space venture from Richard Branson already has thousands of bookings and its philosophy of being a “clean-tech” project mean that it may throw up numerous other more efficient, greener innovations that can be used in multiple businesses.

6. Kapersky Lab. This Russian business makes products and technologies for more that 250 million computer users globally already. Its internet-security products are set to grow in demand as more people than ever before log onto the net.

7. Westover Clinics. This London-based concept for healthcare which blends “wellness”, fitness, nutrition, life coaching, dentistry and GP services could become huge if the concept takes off.

8. OnLive. This on-demand video service still faces some question marks over whether it will work but the brand insists its technology can help millions of gamers stream their games in real time over the internet with no need for consoles. If broadband can cope, this could be the future of gaming.

9. Climate Exchange. Aims to own, operate and develop exchanges to facilitate trading in environmental financial currencies, such as emissions reduction credits. With being green expected to be increasingly important over the next 10 years, this could be a very important business plan.

10. Plastic Logic. A spin-off from Cambridge University’s Cavendish Laboratory, its principle product is an electronic display the thickness of a credit card, which will be used in eReaders later this yera. It is intended as a paper replacement, allowing for documents to be read easily on the flexible screens.

What do you think?

Kraft and Cadbury: the chocolate war begins to melt….

So it appears that Kraft Foods has finally achieved its takeover of British confectioner Cadbury. Some say the price – nearly £12bn – is at the low end of what many financial analysts felt the brand was worth. We should not be surprised, however, that Kraft seems to have got its way. Since Irene Rosenfeld, Kraft’s chief executive, had already sold its North American frozen pizza unit to rival Nestle for $3.7bn to raise extra cash, she desperately needed the Cadbury deal to go through. Without winning any new business as a result, it could be asked why on earth you would sell a profitable frozen pizza unit during a recession, at a time when such products are more lucrative than ever before?

But what does this mean for the brands?

1. Debt. Kraft has a heavy debt, which will increase now so that it can execute the Cadbury takeover. It is certainly a worry for Cadbury how much debt will be passed on. After all, look at the case study of a fellow British icon that has passed into American ownership: Manchester United.

When football club Manchester United was bought by the Glazer family in 2005 in a £790m debt-financed takeover, the club took on some of the debt of its new owners. Statements from 2009 show that the club paid £41.9m in interest and without selling player Ronaldo for £80m, the club may well have made a loss. Its owners are seeking a bond issue to raise £500m to ensure the club meets its financial targets over the next few years. This is a very different situation from a few years ago, when the club regularly topped the richest football club in the world tables and appeared debt-free.

2. For Brits, Cadbury is more than a company; it’s a British icon. By passing into American corporate hands, Cadbury’s 186 year history as an independent business based on Quaker ethics – something which runs strong in the business even today – comes to a close. Now, rationally, that might not make much difference to your average shopper, but emotionally, it’s a blow for many Britons.

Brits are some of the world’s highest spenders on chocolate (sales were up 5.9% in the UK last year, compared to just 2.6% in the US) and the sweet brown stuff has a particular resonance with shoppers here. We are chocoholics. Kraft will have to tread very carefully so as not to threaten this. The business should take note of Unilever’s purchase of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. At the time, there was an outcry that the small brand had been swallowed up by a huge multinational, but consumer complaints seem to have largely fallen away – Unilever has always been careful to run the brand as a separate division (with its own location) and stayed relatively true to the brand’s quirky philosophy.

3. Potential overseas growth for Kraft. Cadbury has operations in emerging markets such as India and Latin America, where Kraft’s portfolio has yet to make an impact. For example, in Latin America’s Cadbury’s Trident gum has helped it to sales of around $500m, outpacing Kraft’s $350m. And in places like Thailand, Egypt and other Asian countries, Cadbury is the largest confectioner, with international markets making up around 38% of its global sales, compared with around 20% at Kraft. By combining its own operations with Cadbury’s presence in these markets, it gives Kraft the chance to be a truly global brand, rather than merely an American one with outposts in other markets.

The longer-term implications of the deal will take time to show. Well, unsurprisingly, the British are anxious about potential job losses. Kraft is known for its cost cutting and unions reckon as many as 30,000 workers could be at risk. And what of Cadbury’s move towards making its products fair trade? This is a very important step for the business and incredibly important to UK shoppers, but will it be meaningful to the new American bosses?

We can only hope that since many of Kraft’s own products has brands dating back to the 1700s, the firm will understand the importance of preserving Cadbury’s legacy (as well as its workforce and ethics). We shall have to see.

In the meantime, I’m going to spend some time working out just what some of the products in the Kraft portfolio actually are…….Miracle Whip? Dream Whip? Cool Whip? “Whipped non-dairy topping” – just what is this stuff? Anyone?

An “agency scrappage scheme”?

The Marketing Week editorial team got a nice little letter promoting an agency called the New Adventure Group today. Now, we get hundreds of press releases each week about why certain agencies are different/more skilled than others/doing the best work around/cost-effective/more creative and so on…..but this one actually made us visit the website.

The letter was a spoof communication from a “government department” which was heralding the “agency scrappage scheme” where marketing departments can trade in their old agencies for new ones. Signed by the “Rt Hon Steve Miliband MP, minister for marketing and communications”, it raised a few smiles with its tongue-in-cheek humour.

You can see a web version of the letter by clicking on this link.

You can see the spoof logo for the “Department of Marketing and Communications” below too.

I like it. Perhaps the government should start this department for real……

Spoof David Cameron and Conservative marketing

Some left-wing wags have set up a new website – My David Cameron – to spoof the Conservative Party’s recent election marketing posters. Now, while some are a bit silly, some are very, very funny indeed.

You can even download your own blank poster and create your own spoof marketing.

I think The Labour Party (or even Cameron) should perhaps sign up some of the contributors to this site as a few of the posters are a lot more hardhitting than the real political marketing we’ve seen from either party so far. And almost everyone on My David Cameron is proving to be a more skilled user of Photoshop than the people doing the actual marketing for both Labour and the Tories – who created these two clunky “Jedward” posters.

Haiti brand relief rumours spread

The horrendous earthquake in Haiti, believed to have killed as many as 50, 000 people, has started a series of rumours about brands’ relief efforts. While some brands have been very proactive in helping aid efforts in the region, it appears consumers have been getting confused as to the truth of various reports. Now marketers are being forced to set the record straight so as not to give people false hope.

AdAge reports:

American Airlines and UPS became victims of their own benevolence, as consumers came up with relief efforts that sounded more fitting. UPS, which announced one of the more ambitious donation programs — $500,000 in cash and $500,000 worth of in-kind donations to UNICEF, the American Red Cross, CARE and other relief organizations — soon heard that it was also offering free shipping to Haiti for any box with a postage fee of $50 or less.

American announced that consumers donating at least $50 to the American Red Cross by February 28 could earn 250 frequent-flier miles, or 500 miles for a donation of $100 or more. In addition to free American miles for consumers, three American Eagle planes yesterday brought 30,000 pounds of water, food and other nonperishable goods to Haiti. Three more missions are planned for today and three more for tomorrow.

But news spread on Twitter that American was offering free travel to doctors and nurses wanting to help out in Haiti. The company was then forced to announce to its nearly 23,000 followers that free flights weren’t on the table. But the rumor persisted.

The marketers for American Airlines and UPS are apparently using social media as the quickest and most efficient method available to clear up any confusion. If you want to know exactly which advertisers are doing work for Haiti and what they are doing, do please visit the full story here for the full information, including news on Wal-Mart donating cash and supplies; and Amazon creating a microsite for donations to Mercy Corps.

Opt-in, opt-out or no choice?

Iain Tait from the digital agency Poke has posted an interesting item on his blog. Apparently, when sitting in Starbucks to use the Wi-Fi while having a coffee, he discovered that to log on and use it, you have to agree “I accept the terms and conditions and agree to receive email marketing from BT Group companies”.

See the screengrab from the blog here:

Tait asks: is it allowed for companies to offer you no choice but to receive marketing if you choose to use the service? Or do they HAVE to offer you an opt-out? If anyone from BT Group or a lawyer with experience in data protection is reading this, do let me know!

PS. A useful guide sheet on the website of lawyer Pinsent Masons says that ”the user must be provided with an opportunity to opt-out of their details being used for this method. The best way of achieving this is to include an opt-out tick box as a part of the data protection notice. Failing to opt-out alone is unlikely to constitute valid consent, however, in context, it can indicate that consent has been given if a clear prominent message is provided, in the data protection notice or otherwise, such as, ‘By submitting your details, you are indicating your consent to receiving marketing emails from us, unless you have ticked the box below to indicate your objection to receiving these messages’.”

This seems to suggest that companies SHOULD at least offer the chance to opt out in a “clear prominent” way. I think it is worth mentioning that regardless of legalities, offering an opt-out at the very least (in best cases, an opt-in) is what every good brand should do. It informs the consumer that you take their right to privacy very seriously and can only be a good foundation for future relationships. Worth thinking about!