Grace Gollasch

According to WARC Media, social media is the largest media channel worldwide by advertising investment, with Meta alone representing a 63% share of global social spend.

Former Kraft Heinz CMO Paula Marconi has joined PepsiCo to help "strengthen" its market presence across Europe at a "pivotal time" of driving change and growth.

Nationwide’s TV ad ‘In your best interest’ uses humour to cut through a "serious" category, which lands it in the top 8% of all UK ads, according to Kantar’s ‘The Works’ study.

Claiming the brand has "carried the business forward" in its push to become more than home search, Zoopla is taking a "scientific" approach to allocating marketing spend.

Trading media metrics for the “right data” can help marketers prove to the CFO why certain investments are “worth every dollar”, says Ford Europe's media boss. Speaking today (9 May) at The Marketing Society's Digital Day, Meyer explained that armed with the “right data” marketers can have conversations with the CFO about why certain media investments are “worth every dollar.” “They're interested when media is one of the largest line items on their P&L,” she said. Meyer explained that Ford focuses heavily on leads as a key metric. For her team, the “right metrics” to focus on include whether people are getting through to the website, engaging with the content and even picking out the colour of their next Ford Explorer. “Ultimately, are they leaving their contact information to become a lead?” she adds. Meyer discussed the challenge of “modernising” a large heritage brand and the shift from a broadcast-first mentality to a digital-first approach. “We had good intentions in terms of being digital-first,” she said. “But we lost the meaning in terms of why we should actually be digital first.” Our assets started to shift to be a lot less polished and a lot more digital-first. Jen Meyer, Ford Having just celebrated its 120-year anniversary, Meyer said working on a brand like Ford with such a “rich history” comes with a lot of privilege, as well as many challenges in terms of brand perception. “Ford has changed and will continue to change over time,” she said. “It's exciting, but also challenging to change that perception of a 120-year-old brand.” She outlined the three Ford businesses that require different marketing focuses: Electric vehicles, petrol and hybrid vehicles, and B2B vehicles. Explaining that each division is “very different,” Meyer stressed the necessity of having a separate positioning for each area of business. To do this, Ford established brand principles dictating how each business should present itself in marketing. These principles became the company's “North Star.” In promoting electric vehicles, for example, Ford concentrated on transforming traditional creative into “social-first” assets designed to “resonate with audiences.” “Our assets started to shift to be a lot less polished and a lot more digital-first,” she explained. In contrast, Meyer explained that for its petrol and hybrid vehicles, the approach wasn't merely about “doing digital for the sake of doing digital”. In this division the approach is to leverage digital channels to help the team identify signals someone is interested in searching for a petrol vehicle. “Here, we're very much signal-driven and ROI-focused. Digital serves this approach, values and objectives rather than trying to force digital in,” Meyer added. Recommended Consumers are comparing brands across sectors more than ever, fuelling Ford's appetite for innovation. This will become even more essential given the move to electric vehicles is a “huge brand switch moment”, says marketing boss Pete Zillig. Research from the CMO Council finds that despite the importance of intra-department collaboration, true collaboration is extremely rare. Liberty Hive's digital recruitment platform has attracted brands including Channel 4 and Aldi, with 71% of companies returning to post jobs within six months. The streaming service outperformed the broadcaster's studio arm, amid wider plans to invest an additional £15m in marketing this year. Despite increasing marketing spend in Q1, Airbnb is considering a potential tightening of activity to “drive growth” as it looks to become “more aspirational”. The fashion retailer has appointed former PepsiCo and Nike marketer Fabiola Torres as its new global CMO, a position left open since 2022. Our latest CX50 list of the UK's top 50 customer experience professionals reveals the key trends in a set of varied and highly competitive sectors.

Diageo is using AI to better understand “real behaviour, not unintended”, which it is using to drive innovation.

Giffgaff's marketing strategy director says it is set up to give equal weight to “people, planet and profit”.

BP marketing boss Nicola Buck urges marketers not to forget about brand building in a rapidly evolving world focused on data.

Research from CAP suggests listeners want clear signals, including musical jingles and labels, when listening to an ad in a podcast.

Expanding into new categories has been a source of growth for Premier Foods, while “sharper” promotional price points are supporting its return to volume growth.