Mars pet brand, DINE, has unveiled a new artificial intelligence tool named the ‘Cat Decoder’ designed to assist cat owners in understanding their pets’ thoughts by generating bespoke videos using AI technology.
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YouTube steaming to ad revenues of $50bn, recasts TV to creator economy as UK broadcasters claim ‘reach fail’, top 200 channels dominated by kids – and Peppa Pig
YouTube last week officially ousted the UK’s biggest commercial broadcaster ITV as the video platform now second only to the BBC in audience size, according to the tech and media regulator Ofcom. YouTube’s ad take is pumping everywhere – it raked $9.8bn in the June quarter, according to its latest earnings results – up 13% year-on-year. YouTube has been increasingly vocal on its ambition to target legacy broadcasters for bigger brand budgets and recast TV as swerving rapidly to the creator economy. Last week UK broadcasters lobbed a counterstrike, attempting to demonstrate that advertisers needed clearer, comparable reporting of YouTube with TV audiences if it wants to take TV’s revenues. To date, YouTube has vigorously resisted joining any audience measurement system around the world if not on its terms and definitions – that position has not hurt its growth trajectory as advertisers large and small buy YouTube’s market narrative of being different. If there was any doubt YouTube sees itself as reframing TV to its likeness – broadcasters and global streamers are equally old-world in its eyes – the user generated content platform last week pulled its involvement with the UK TV and streaming body BARB Audiences. To many observers, the timing was not random. Last week also saw BARB and its audience measurement partner Kantar release a world-first initiative reporting YouTube’s audiences at a channel level on connected TVs in the same way for broadcasters and streamers. The first week’s numbers from BARB and Kantar, showed YouTube’s top 200 channels dominated by content for kids aged under 5 like Peppa Pig, and lots of music. YouTube’s audience reach numbers by channel, central to how TV and streaming services win advertising contracts – were tiny. But does any of this matter? Do brands and advertisers care? The Future of TV Forum’s Justin Lebbon and global CEO of market mix modelling firm Mutinex, Henry Innis, duke out YouTube’s revenue romp, its surging adloads and a likely hurricane for traditional media-funded audience reporting – Innis argues business outcome-based audience measurement is set to shake-up decades of norms.
Louise Scott steps into interim six-month gig as CEO of Tourism East
Tourism East Limited has announced the appointment of Louise Scott as interim CEO, taking the reins from Simon O’Callaghan, who has stepped down following a 12-year tenure.
TerryWhite Chemmart puts health lens on retail media to cut niche against pharma, supermarket incumbents; builds in-house team to drive full omnichannel push
TerryWhite Chemmart is pushing its retail media unit into omnichannel after three years of strategic build, and doubling down on its own slice between pharma and supermarket incumbents. Backed by 2.5 million loyalty members and 7.2 million script patients, TWC Connect is targeting the booming health, wellness and beauty sector with “health-powered” positioning, and is building out an in-house sales team to take the offer to market. After making its sponsored search debut in January, offsite is next on the agenda, with the pharmacy chain nearing the final stages of a tender for a screen network partner.
UK brand Yorkshire Tea brews up local ‘Proper Corrections’ campaign
Yorkshire Tea has introduced its ‘Proper Corrections’ campaign in Australia, aiming to reinforce the correct meaning of the word ‘proper’, as opposed to its signalling something posh, or upper class.
Lynx brings unscripted video content to life with woman braving three blind dates
Lynx is bringing to life video content, including two long form episodes, of a dating show titled ‘Scented Love’ – unscripted and filmed in front of a live audience.
‘Every brand is on an experience escalator’ of comparison to everyone else, says Michelle Klein: Here’s how the IAG marketing and customer chief and her digital business counterpart are aligning
IAG’s chief customer and marketing officer, Michelle Klein, and EGM of digital business, Nandor Locher, have spent the past two years jointly working on an outcomes-led approach to delivering digital and customer experiences across the insurance giant. Thanks to the power of a solid brand idea – ‘A Help Company’ – as a unifying North Star, along with a combination of similarly structured leadership KPIs, internal customer working groups and an informal commitment to respect and alignment, the pair have committed to tackling the high-speed experience escalator ride every business is now on together.
Compounding creative with a star-studded cultural twist: What’s behind chapter two of Tourism Australia’s $130m ‘Come and Say G’Day’ campaign
A $130 million price tag over two years, a cast of culturally nuanced ambassadors including Rob Irwin, Nigella Lawson and Sara Tendulkar, plus a returning animated roo and 31-year-old tagline: Chapter two of Tourism Australia’s ‘Come and Say G’day’ campaign lands in international markets from this week. Flush with a record annual $52.6 billion in tourism spend, double-digit consideration uplift for an Australian holiday across the US, UK and China, and an anticipated higher number of first-time arrivals from key markets in 2025 since 2019, Tourism Australia’s CMO, Susan Coghill, is betting once again on familiar brand codes and emotional storytelling to grow international arrivals to 10m next year and 11.8 million by 2029. Having consistently scored in the top 1 to 3 per cent of System1 creative testing in the last three years, and with solid consideration and percentage-point gains now on the board, no one, least of all new agency of record, Accenture Song, is disputing the logic of compounding the creative to get there. With $255m now being invested in Ruby the kangaroo and this campaign approach, there’s firm commitment to sticking to the marketing rulebook to further effectiveness.
Qantas Frequent Flyers jumps into bed with Adairs loyalty program
Qantas Frequent Flyer has announced a new retail partnership with Adairs, enabling members of Adairs’ Linen Lovers program to earn Qantas Points on their purchases.
UK fitness star Joe Wicks launches ‘Activate’ animated series in Australia to boost kids’ fitness
British fitness trainer and health ambassador, Joe Wicks, who built a following of more than 100m on YouTube during the pandemic, is capitalising on his recent tour of Australia with the local launch of ‘Activate,’ an animated series of fitness workouts for kids.