LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Internet ad spending is forecast to keep growing despite the recession, but the mix of online spending is changing as display falls further out of favor with marketers, leaving online alternatives to fight for the marketing dollar.
L'Oreal has been taking a beating on blogs and Twitter worldwide today after a ruling by the French Supreme Court upheld a previous ruling finding the marketer guilty of race discrimination in seeking to hire only white women to represent its Garnier Fructis brand in supermarkets there.
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- With the recession being felt worldwide, London Advertising, along with ad-translation agency Textappeal, surveyed 109 strategic planners to get a read on how countries are responding. Its findings yielded some interesting ways, detailed here, in which marketers around the globe are trying to get consumers spending again -- while taking into account local culture.
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- With the rollout of an "augmented-reality" app for Android phones, IBM is bringing state-of-the-art technology to the U.K.'s most traditional sporting event, the Wimbledon Tennis Championships.
Besides crafting ads for marketers such as Coca-Cola, Cadbury, CNN and Ponds, Prasoon Joshi, executive chairman and regional creative director, Asia/Pacific, at McCann Erickson, has written song lyrics and dialogue for Bollywood films. It's not surprising then that he comes to look at creativity from the point of view as an artist as well as a ad creative.
New Zealand-based Derek Lockwood is in charge of design for Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi. As such he has a different take on the future of global creativity. Here he talks to AdAge about it.
Derek Lockwood
Ad Age: How has the recession affected creativity?
Mr. Lockwood: The impact is huge. It places a great deal more pressure on creative effectiveness. While recessions are certainly the time to turn to creativity for innovative solutions beyond the obvious or the traditional, the difficulty is that the propensity for risk is considerably lower. This, of course, in and of itself can create conflict -- how do you choose the right creative solution when traveling down the unknown road.
As difficult as it is to accept, the answers more likely lay at either end of a spectrum. At one end is the fast, quick-fire solutions that can be tested in the market, adapted and changed as consumers respond, and at the other -- where fortune favors the brave -- is the amazingly audacious big ideas, the highly engaging creative solutions, that have never been done before but will likely create immense impact and connectivity.
The challenge is in accepting that playing it safe just simply doesn't work in tough times. Those who try to tread carefully, who overly research or formulate their ideas, opting for the previously safe territory will be lost. Consumers are clearly seeking out new value from their experiences discounting the unnecessary, the average, and the bland, hence in recessionary times there will be little room for mediocrity in the mix. So be brave or be fast. Just don't be average.
LONDON (AdAge.com) -- Consumer-package-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser is trying to combat low awareness of its corporate brand by targeting younger consumers and challenging them to come up with ideas for a new product.
The company, which makes products from Clearasil spot cream to French's Mustard, found that only 3% of U.K. consumers recognize the Reckitt Benckiser brand.
As a heavily awarded creative working in the heavily awarded city of Buenos Aires, Pablo Del Campo, regional creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi, Latin America, and CEO of Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Buenos Aires, knows whereof he speaks when it comes to predicting what will work at Cannes. This is the second in a series of creative Q&A's this week in advance of the 56th International Advertising Festival next week.
A veteran of global networks such as Lowe and JWT, Fernanda Romano is now global creative director-digital and experiential design at Euro RSCG. Two years ago, she was one of Ad Age's Women to Watch. Here she offers her predictions for Cannes and weighs in on the state of global advertising. This is the first in a series of creative Q&A's we'll publish this week in anticipation of the 56th International Advertising Festival.
Just like the rest of the world, Japan has been hunkering down. Unfortunately, the latest economic issues here are just an extension of what has now been a 20-year slump. So how are Japanese people reacting? The luxury-bag-rental business is booming. It seems everyone has a "zero " beer, fruit juice, gum or pot noodle. Walmart's supermarket chain, Seiyu, has had tremendous success with the country's first real comparative-pricing promotion and the most successful company of the last two or three years has been Uniqlo, which has managed to master the art of good-quality, stylish garments sold at bargain prices. Everyone it seems is either cutting back or trying to fortify for the future. Here are a few of the more interesting trends people are using to cope.
Find profiles of marketers who have found success in China, spotlights on hot marketing campaigns, plus all the latest news, consumer insights and market trends in the growing market.
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