The high-impact bridge takeover, created by Oliver Agency, highlights must-have products from H&M’s gift guide and captures the attention of shoppers as they approach one of the UK’s busiest retail hubs, delivering festive inspiration right at the point of purchase.

The store opening is H&M’s first of its kind in the UK and provides a significant evolution in customer experience and technology. It features enhanced omni-channel services, new smart store services, mobile checkouts for a seamless shopping experience, and interactive fitting rooms.

The Stratford Bridge Walkway is part of a broader campaign planned and booked by the7stars, where Out-of-Home is the hero channel.  In addition to the Stratford Bridge, the campaign features on large-format and Digital OOH sites across key cities and retail hotspots nationwide. The media strategy focuses on a strong presence in November to capitalise on stock availability, and the critical Black Friday period.

Beyond OOH, the campaign is amplified with paid display on Captify and a strategic partnership with online lifestyle magazine Sheerluxe, which showcases H&M’s hero products. In Ireland, OOH is reinforced by press insertions in premium fashion publications, including Tatler, Gloss, and The Image.

Hannah Townsend, Media Lead at H&M, commented: “The Stratford Bridge takeover is an exciting new site for H&M, bringing to life our wide range of products and delivering unparalleled visibility at a key retail destination in a fun and festive way.

“December is such a busy time for brands, so we knew we had to go big to announce our new store opening. Customers can look forward to new smart store services, including interactive fitting rooms, fitted with screens that recognise products, offer tailored styling tips, and let customers easily request different colours and sizes at the push of a button.”

Olivia Biddiss, Account Manager at the7stars, added: “H&M’s strategy this holiday season is all about standing out in a crowded landscape. By using a combination of unique cherry-picked premium OOH sites like Stratford Bridge, Old Street Roundabout, and the Trafford Arch in Manchester, and the ubiquity of Digital OOH screens, we’ve created a campaign that not only drives fame but ensures frequency of messaging across key cities. Collaborating with Sheerluxe has further enabled us to connect to our core audience of ‘fashion aspirers’ to spotlight H&M’s stylish gifting ideas this season.”

Source: the7stars

With ambitions to further bolster the PPA’s unfaltering support of its 270+ UK publishing companies and associate members, and collaborating with PPA CEO, Sajeeda Merali, Vanneck-Smith will bring her vast media industry experience and entrepreneurial spirit to support the PPA in its delivery of  new directives for the sector and its members.

Vanneck-Smith, who joined Hearst UK as CEO in December 2022, is an industry-figurehead with a stellar track record which includes leadership roles at Telegraph Media Group, The Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and she also co-founded the global media outlet Tortoise Media in 2018.

As Chair of the PPA, Vanneck-Smith will bring her knowledge, experience and passion for publishing, during a period of rapid transformation in the industry. She will work closely with Merali and the Board, as the PPA implements its 2025 strategy.

Commenting on her appointment, Katie Vanneck-Smith says: “In a time of transformative change, it’s an incredibly exciting time for our industry and I’m proud to step into the role of Chair at the PPA. Nina and the PPA team have done an excellent job in championing our sector, and I look forward to working alongside Sajeeda to help drive innovation and advance the PPA’s support for its members.”

PPA CEO, Sajeeda Merali, comments: “I’d like to thank Nina for her tenure as Chair over the last three years. Her strategic thinking combined with her industry knowledge have been invaluable in helping us transform our member offering and define the PPA’s new strategic positioning. As we move forward with our plan for 2025 and beyond, I’m excited to work with Katie, to champion our vibrant and exciting sector.”

Source: PPA

Senior services marketing agency, Varsity, is taking its industry-leading expertise to digital audiences with the launch of a new video podcast called Roundtable Talk.

Roundtable Talk is a podcast about longevity and aging and will explore what it means to age well and endeavoring to reframe perceptions on aging. Each episode features a discussion with an industry expert or thought leader about how to solve the many mature market challenges facing brands today. 

The podcast is hosted by Varsity President Derek Dunham and kicks off with a line-up of high profile guests.

The premiere episode features an interview with humorist, author and radio legend Garrison Keillor, who discusses his book “Serenity at 70, Gaiety at 80” and his 23 rules for aging. Future guests include Goodwin Living CEO and StrongerMemory program founder Rob Liebreich (November 7) and longevity expert and founding director of the Yale Prevention Research Center, Dr. David Katz.   

Also on the calendar is an interview with humorist, journalist and actor Mo Rocca, who will join the Varsity team for a discussion about people who achieve success and greatness later in life and his book “Roctogenarians.” Dr. Sara Zeff Geber –  the nation’s leading expert on solo aging – and award-winning journalist and New York Times contributor Diane Harris are also on the Roundtable Talk schedule. 

“Fresh perspectives about aging are all around us. Our goal with Roundtable Talk is to shine a spotlight on as many of those perspectives as possible and bring them to life one interview at a time,” said Varsity president and Roundtable Talk host, Derek Dunham. “Along the way, we hope to educate people, dispel a few myths and tell some really engaging and inspiring stories.”

Roundtable Talk episodes and details about the podcast can be found on the Varsity website at VarsityBranding.com. The podcast is available on various podcast streaming services, including Apple podcasts, Spotify, I Heart Radio and more.

Source: Varsity

Mouratsing succeeds Marie Clayton, who was recently appointed Managing Director of Annalect EMEA.

The appointment marks a return to Omnicom for Mouratsing, who previously was Business Director at MG OMD where he helped establish and lead a 40-person team that integrated insights, ad-ops, data science and econometrics to inform investment strategies. At T&Pm, he was Executive Committee lead for data, tech, and AI, driving product development. Over the course of a 20-year career in media, his work has earned numerous industry honors, including a gold IPA Effectiveness Award and a Media Week Gold for Best International Campaign.

Henry Rowe, Chief Digital Officer at OMG UK says, “Dylan will play a critical role at OMG UK, ensuring data and tech continue to sit at the centre of our Agency as a Platform proposition, and influencing the data-driven culture across OMG UK. A proven leader in data and tech, Dylan’s wealth of experience will ensure that our agency teams are able to activate Annalect’s unique blend of insights and advanced technology to turn data assets into business growth for our clients.”

Comment on his new role, Mouratsing noted, “OMG and Annalect have experienced remarkable growth in recent years, and I look forward to building on this momentum at the group level in the UK. As part of the global team that has developed the industry’s most advanced data and analytics offer, my focus will be on ensuring data driven marketing capabilities that deliver transformative business outcomes for UK clients.”

Mouratsing, whose appointment is effective October 8, will report to Henry Rowe, Chief Digital Officer at OMG UK. He joins Omnicom Media Group as the Global Media Agency New Business Barometer H1 2024 – an analysis of the global media agency marketplace published  last week by independent research company COMvergence –  reported Omnicom Media Group was the #1 global media group for total new business in the first half of the year, winning more than $5.3 billion in client billings; and was also ranked #1 in the UK.

As of this writing and based on the most recent numbers reported in the COMvergence  dashboards that provide a moment-in-time snapshot of the new business landscape, OMG continues to hold the best YTD total new businessrecord among the Big Six global media groups ($6.4 billion).

Source: Omnicom Media Group

The launch campaign will feature over seven hundred roadside and digital screens strategically positioned in iconic London locations, including over 30 of JCDecaux’s iconic roadside and Rail locations, as well as across digital and audio platforms.

The creative brief to Mark Porter Associates was to emphasise this future facing evolution of the print news model in a fast-changing market, whilst respecting the brand’s iconic 200-year history.

To celebrate this exciting new chapter for London’s most-loved newspaper, the launch will also be supported by a series of creative street activations at The Outernet, with a dynamic and lively showcase of everything The London Standard has to offer.

150,000 copies of will be distributed every Thursday from 4pm from the heart of the city to the vibrant outskirts, with an estimated readership of 375,000 readers (2.5 readers per copy).

James White, Chief Commercial Officer, The Standard, said: “It’s a big day for London and a big day for The Standard. We’re thrilled to be marking such a momentous occasion with a huge multi-media campaign across the best city in the world. We can’t wait to showcase all that we have to offer to our valuable readers and advertisers alike.”

The launch of the weekly publication is a part of The Standard’s overall bold transformation, offering a portfolio of multi-award-winning platforms delivering quality content 24/7 to a global audience of aspirational metropolitans.

Albert Read, Executive Chairman, The Standard, said: “Today’s launch of our premium weekly newspaper, The London Standard, is an exciting evolution that will ensure our continued success and relevance in a rapidly changing media landscape.

“The Standard is London’s most powerful voice, its most loved and trusted news brand, and its readers are some of the most desirable consumers in the world. I’m extremely proud to be part of the next stage of its evolution.”

Dylan Jones, Editor-in-Chief, The Standard, said: “We are embarking on an incredibly exciting new journey, and I am convinced that the latest iteration of the Standard – in print, online, on social – is a manifestly important addition to London’s media diet. A diet that the Standard has owned for nearly 200 years. 

“The new weekly print publication is an upmarket celebration of the city in all its glory. We will be delivering quality at scale for a culturally savvy, desirable audience. London remains the greatest city in the world, and we will continue to reflect that. Every Thursday, on sale for three days, the Standard will be reinventing London.”

Philip O’Ferrall, CEO, Outernet Global, said: “This is a landmark moment for London and the media as we welcome the London Standard. Outernet has a brilliant partnership which will continue because we share common ground – we love this city and want to celebrate it and the people that live here.”

Mark Bucknell, Chief Commercial Officer of JCDecaux UK, said, “We are delighted to be working in partnership with The Standard using JCDecaux’s premium Out-of-Home sites on Roadside and Rail to reach Londoners at key moments in their travel journey across the capital. This is big news for Londoners, and we are proud to use digital Out-of-Home to amplify The Standard’s campaign to their target audience.”

Source: The London Standard

Pablo was tasked with bringing to life the gym’s philosophy of ‘Anything Goes’ – a belief that working out should be as fun as going out. In this spirit, Gymbox, who pride themselves on being the antidote to boring gyms, wanted to bring this to life by creating another way to make working out as fun as it can be with a new streetside challenge.

Gymbox, ever at the forefront of creative marketing, decided to turn billboards into a cheeky workout for passing Londonders. The fun OOH activation, ‘Start Line’ is asimple execution, showing a start and finish line spread across two billboards, encouraging passers-by to challenge their mates, themselves, or anyone who’s up for it to a 10-metre dash. Showing potential gym goers there’s always fun to be had while working out and encourage them to start their fitness journey with Gymbox.

It follows the recent research from YouGov which found that a quarter of Britons think they could qualify for the 2028 Olympics if they start training today, and remarkably 6% (400,000) say they could qualify for the 100m sprint (Source: YouGov August 2024).

Gymbox will also be on hand with a velocity speed gun at the billboards so that people can see how their speed fairs against their friends, as well as qualifying times of Olympic and Paralympic 100m sprinters – which will feature on Gymbox’s TikTok and Instagram channels.

The billboards will be live for a week from 17th September just outside the Arsenal Emirates stadium, 45 Hornsey Road London N7 7DD.

Rory McEntee, Brand & Marketing Director, Gymbox said:“We are the gym where anything goes – whether you’re aiming for Olympic glory or just want to feel great in your own skin. No Hang-ups, cliques, pressure or hassle; we’re bringing that energetic, no-pressure ethos to the streets of London. For the mirror, for your happy hormones, for a laugh, for best results, train your way and if that involves a quick 10-metre dash while going about your day, we’re here for it.”

Dan Watts, Executive Creative Director at Pablo said: “We’ve loved working with the team at Gymbox to bring to life the spirit of their brand – the antidote to boring gyms – with this activation that shows that even on your morning commute you can get the blood pumping and have some fun at the same time.”

Source: Pablo

Utiq, the European AdTech company with a unique telco-powered first-party identifier, is partnering with market-leading Customer Data Platform (CDP) mediarithmics to help publishers and advertisers seamlessly reach and measure more first-party audiences at scale, without ever compromising consent or privacy rights.

Prisma Media – one of France’s leading online media publishing services – confirmed that it has already harnessed the integration of Utiq’s first-party martechpass signals to create custom audience segments within the mediarithmics platform, and custom deals within its choice of SSP.

“Thanks to mediarithmics, we are able to offer all types of cookieless targeting, in particular via the integration of the Utiq martechpass,” explained Bastien Deleau, VP AdTech at Prisma Media. “With more than 1000 data segments available, we are proud to offer effective media activations, without technical complexity for an agency or an advertiser.”

Utiq’s Authentic Consent Service connects the company’s telco partners, publishers and brands via a real-time, end-to-end secure consent signal match – its first-party data identifier – to create Authentic Audiences that have unambiguously and freely provided consent for marketing purposes. These segments are unique within the digital advertising ecosystem, enabling scaled, deterministic, secure and encrypted addressability. 

mediarithmics is a modern CDP, supporting marketing personalisation and audience monetisation in one holistic solution. The company works with enterprise media and retail businesses, helping its clients thrive in a post-cookie world by offering multiple privacy-centric targeting and measurement alternatives, including integration with ID partners.

As per Prisma Media, mediarithmics is already activating Utiq for publishers broadly, helping them share audiences for monetisation and using its existing connections with the rest of the AdTech stack to make it easy for its clients to activate Utiq. The company has also begun delivering campaigns with advertisers and is working with Utiq to explore deeper potential for demand-side use cases.

“We’re excited to partner with Utiq to unlock new privacy-centric advertising solutions for our clients,” said Bastien Faletto, VP Sales EMEA at mediarithmics. “As a CDP deeply invested in future-proofing our clients’ businesses, the scale and accuracy of Utiq’s identifier, built on a foundation of privacy and collaboration, aligns perfectly with our vision of empowering marketers in a cookieless world.”

Will Harmer, Chief Product Officer at Utiq, said the partnership is great news for consumers, publishers and advertisers. “By making our Authentic Audiences available through mediarithmics’ platform, we are opening the door for publishers to monetise their audiences and grow revenues in a privacy-conscious way that puts consumers first, while offering advertisers much more powerful, fully consented targeting opportunities than third-party cookies ever could.

“Respect for consumer privacy and effective marketing do not have to be mutually exclusive, and partnerships like this prove that responsible digital marketing can be delivered easily and to the benefit of all.”

Source: Utiq

Onetag, the AI-powered Smart Curation Platform for high media quality and better performance, today announces a partnership with Adelaide, the industry leader in attention-based media quality measurement.

The partnership will measure Onetag’s global premium supply against Adelaide’s AU attention metric data, and make AU threshold-based targeting options available within Onetag’s Smart Curation platform for programmatic deal creation and activation. Adelaide will additionally use Onetag Smart Curation for custom deal activation.

The integration builds on Adelaide’s expertise in the creation of high-AU private marketplaces, offering AU-filtration as a seamless targeting option for programmatic deals, alongside other essential day-to-day levers of programmatic media planning.

“This partnership with Adelaide is another sign of our commitment to providing our customers with the most complete programmatic solution,” said Filippo Gramigna, co-CEO at Onetag. “Adelaide has established itself as the leader in attention-based media quality measurement. Applying their AU data to our global supply enriches the vital element of attention in our already comprehensive suite of targeting options.”

“Our partnership with Onetag advances our goal of making media quality metrics readily accessible to all buyers,” said Marc Guldimann, CEO and Founder of Adelaide. “This integration is one of the most streamlined methods to target using AU, enabling advertisers to easily enhance media buying precision.”

Source: Onetag

ShowHeroes – a global leader in digital video, offering content, technology and sustainable advertising solutions – brought it home for EV powerhouse BYD this summer, using a top-performing video campaign to leverage the UEFA Euro 2024 Football Championship as a key cultural moment.

The ShowHeroes team worked alongside creators from BYD and media agency, RocketMill, part of PMG, to put the world’s largest manufacturer of Electric and Plug-in-hybrid vehicles front-of-mind for millions of football fans – as it eyes expansion in the core target markets of the UK and Germany.

As anticipation around the Euros hit fever-pitch in two of the world’s most passionate football nations, ShowHeroes sought to capitalise on the moment via the use of over a dozen tailored creatives.

For each game involving the Three Lions or the German squad – from group stages to knockouts and the championship final – the team built digitised dynamic countdown features that kept track of the number of days and hours to their next Euros showdown.

The aim was to capture the national mood of excitement in both countries, driving emotional engagement with a combination of online video, rich media formats and advanced semantic targeting. The latter ensured that BYD ads reached the most relevant audiences across sports and car categories, mobilising ShowHeroes’ network of premium publishers.

“BYD is currently rivalling Tesla to become the world’s biggest EV carmaker – with trailblazing technology that deserves to be presented in a state-of-the-art campaign,” says Georgie Meredith, Agency Director at ShowHeroes. “We saw an opportunity to align BYD with a seismic cultural event; one that drew nearly 20 million viewers for the England final alone.

“Our goal was to maximise audience engagement online using a series of customised, high-impact videos and activations,” Meredith adds. “The countdown design, in particular, really helped to grab audience attention during the most talked-about moments of Euro 2024. And it was enhanced by our ability to contextually place the ads, using accurate and sophisticated semantic targeting tech to find the best content segments for BYD messaging.”

Collaborating with BYD and RocketMill on the creative, ShowHeroes deployed two of its high-impact video formats, the Branded Player and Mobile Scroller, as a canvas for next-level brand awareness. This enabled the EV maker to roll out its digital campaign in a multiscreen, responsive way. It could dial up the creative impact of its activations, while seamlessly integrating with a range of online content.

Results were a back-of-the-net success, with brand awareness metrics significantly outperforming KPIs. The creatives prompted a 24% spike in brand recall, an 88% increase in brand consideration and a dramatic 187% lift in brand image as a result of the campaign. And the high-impact formats drew a top audience engagement rate of 44%.

“ShowHeroes delivered an exceptionally well-executed concept, producing countdown lead creatives for us across Online Video and High Impact Mobile formats in highly contextual environments, at the most relevant movements around the tournament,” says David Wreford-Glanvill, Head of Media at BYD. “The dynamic countdown assets drove attention and engagement whilst promoting the BYD brand, our Euros 2024 partnership and the launch of our new model. It’s the perfect blend of creativity and strategy that has garnered impressive results.”

ShowHeroes’ and RocketMill’s Euros campaign arrived at a pivotal time for BYD. Having celebrated staggering YoY growth of over 60% in BEV (battery-electric vehicle) and hybrid car sales last year, the company now has ambitions to become a dominant EV player in Europe, as well as China.

With the Euro campaign delivering strong memorability and creative success, BYD and RocketMill are already planning other, similar collaborations in the future.

“We have been really impressed with ShowHeroes and enjoyed working closely with the team for the run-up and duration of the Euros 2024 tournament,” says Brendan O’Connor, Senior Programmatic Manager at RocketMill. “They produced numerous custom creatives with a daily plan to deliver 20 outstanding online video creatives and eye-catching high-impact formats.

“The ads immediately capture attention, designed to boost brand awareness, measure creative success, and ensure the brand remains memorable, which was our goal as BYD is a Chinese brand entering the EMEA market,” Brendan added. “The results have been fantastic, and our relationship has been incredibly positive. We look forward to continuing this successful partnership.”

Source: ShowHeroes

The report also reveals that environmental concerns are increasingly becoming an important factor in Christmas shopping for many people, with 85% planning to take environmentally friendly actions this Christmas. These include reducing food waste, shopping more locally, reducing gift wrapping and packaging, avoiding novelty presents and choosing gifts that will last. This may also indicate why one area of spending is likely to see a decrease this year, as UK consumers expect to spend less on Christmas decorations.

According to the research, people in the UK are expecting to spend more on the festive feast, with Christmas dinner, drinks and nibbles all seeing an uptick. But while positivity is high, the findings show that people are still looking for value for money and quality in their Christmas shop.

The 2024 Festive Insights report reveals that the number one thing that would make UK consumers’ lives easier when shopping for Christmas is knowledge of the best available prices (46%). This is closely followed by free delivery (41%) with more than a third of consumers (34%) looking for a little inspiration to make their lives easier.

Sarah Tsirkas, Retail Industry Director at Teads UK, comments: “This new mood of consumer optimism is great news for brands. However, our report reveals that value for money remains a top priority for festive shoppers this year. As always, strategic planning of festive ad campaigns — both in messaging and timing — is paramount.”

In a further nod to this positive mood, the gifts under the tree are likely to be a little more plentiful this year. While spending on presents is likely to rise across the board, spending on presents for children is expected to rise even more significantly than on those for partners and friends. 

Speaking of gift timelines, the survey highlights that there’s a significant spike in shopping for tech gifts around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, other gift shopping follows a slightly different pattern. Toys and homeware purchases see a steady upturn from October through until Christmas, whereas food and drink gifts are planned to be bought in December.

This suggests that food and drink gifts aren’t just last-minute options, but that UK consumers are consciously waiting for Christmas grocery offers to buy, while spreading costs over a longer period for non-consumables.

To unwrap more festive gifting trends in 2024, download the 2024 Festive Insights report.

Source: Teads