The New Year Marketing Campaigns Honours
After all that counting down Think OTB is happy to wish you all a Happy New Year and welcome you into 2015! As always it looks set to be a busy year in marketing. So, to start off we take a look at those who made it onto the New Year marketing campaigns honour list this year…
The tour de force of marketing publications The Drum has released its much anticipated New Year Honours list. They took time to reflect not only on the highlights of 2014 but also its predictions and expectations for the coming months. Whether it’s taking a look at the highest performing brands, the agencies who took their innovation and design to the next level or the stars that shone brightest in the media, The Drum has combined industry expertise and unique insight to create a fantastic start to the new year. Here at OTB we’d like to share with you some of our favourites who made the cut and look set to ensure 2015 will be a great year.
Best New Brand of 2014; Haig Club
Marketing alcohol and beverages means working in a crowded and highly competitive industry. It is perhaps more difficult than most arenas to compete with well-established industry giants and make a mark on audiences. Add to this a product with a somewhat outdated image and long-standing preconceptions such as Scotch whisky, most marketers and brands alike would see a challenging outlook ahead. Yet this is exactly the market that confronted Haig Club. This brand has just been voted best new brand of 2014 by The Drum!
Belonging to drinks-giant Diageo, Haig Club has set out to reinvigorate and revitalise the Scotch whisky image. They’re also trying to spruce up the wider industry as a whole. The company aims to reverse the almost 30% decrease in Scottish whisky sales. They’re targeting a wider audience of non-whisky drinkers and challenging conventional perceptions about the drink. Ads feature a star studded line up to augment the brand’s appeal including front man David Beckham and iconic film director Guy Ritchie working behind the scenes to direct the marketing launch. Haig Club has successfully injected sex appeal, glamour and excitement into a previously tired and grey marketing environment.
Brand to watch this year; P&G
P&G, or Procter and Gamble Co. to give it its full name, is perhaps one of the largest FMCG companies in the world. They manage household names such as Ariel, Braun, Olay and Pampers. They consistently lead the way in innovative marketing campaigns and iconic branding. With such a long standing history of success and arguably matched only by its major competitor Unilever, P&G recorded sales of over $83 billion in 2014. It remains one of the most desirable companies to work for with a less than 1% applicant success rate.
Yet despite this phenomenal success P&G has announced that throughout 2015 the company will be removing 100 of its brands in an effort to streamline and restructure its business. They aim to become more nimble and increase the speed of growth. P&G have made an incredibly bold and important move away from its former strategy of infinite expansion of brand acquisitions. This will have a drastic impact on the near future of the business. As one of the world’s biggest advertisers and a key opinion leader in the marketing industry, this shift in strategy is undoubtedly one to watch. We’ll track the benefits to be reaped for P&Gs remaining brands eagerly this year. We will also look to see if other key players in marketing will follow suit and spark a change in direction for other companies.
THE Agency of the year; adam&EveDDB
adam&eveDDB, the London-based multi-channel marketing agency has taken marketing by storm this year, and shows no sign of slowing down. Part of international holding company Omnicom and with DDB Europe as their parent company, adam&eveDDB were always going to be great. It is little surprise that adam&eveDDB have captured the limelight this year. They’ve provided a series of award winning marketing campaigns for a host of iconic brands. Their client list boasting some of the biggest names in global brands including Mulberry, Google, Save The Children and YouTube. Plus, adam&eveDDB has won a host of recognitions including Eurobest and Campaign Agency of the Year awards.
Some of their best known work will be easily recognisable to marketers and the general public alike. We have to talk about the advert which took the Christmas season by storm; John Lewis’ Monty the Penguin. It has over 22 million views on YouTube and dominated both the online and in-store Christmas experience. Monty the Penguin caused ripples throughout the marketing industry and was loved by the nation. Monty even featured in our countdown to Christmas blog as the campaign launched in early November. This campaign surely topped off a successful year for adam&eveDDB. What’s next for the agency we will have to wait and see! If the Drum’s nomination hasn’t given you enough to love about adam&eveDDB, the fact that they share Think OTB’s agency colours must surely tip the balance!
Which ads make your New Year marketing campaigns honour list? Let us know!
