A completely unscripted commercial titled ‘Mom Knows Best’ celebrates the real stories of mothers who used Organic Mother’s Milk Tea while they were nursing.

Today, Traditional Medicinals, a beloved organic herbal tea brand, has unveiled ‘Mom Knows Best,’ an unscripted commercial for the brand’s Organic Mother’s Milk Tea.

Unlike traditional advertisements, ‘Mom Knows Best’ features no actors and no scripts but rather genuine testimonials of mothers who used Mother’s Milk Tea to help them breastfeed.

Mother’s Milk Tea is not only one of Traditional Medicinals’ most well-known products but also asserts itself as the number one lactation tea in the United States. Formulated in 1978, the caffeine-free tea boasts the herbs anise and fennel, which, as traditional European remedies would suggest, can assist in breastfeeding.

“The ‘Mom Knows Best’ campaign is founded on the understanding that mothers often turn to each other for guidance on motherhood, embracing the truth that mothers indeed know best,” Kristel Corson, chief marketing officer of Traditional Medicinals, told The Drum. “They embody the essence of resilience and wisdom, juggling numerous roles seamlessly. This campaign seeks to celebrate real mothers – highlighting their genuine stories and experiences with Organic Mother’s Milk Tea – rather than relying on actors. Our goal is to credit the authenticity and shared wisdom of motherhood, reinforcing the value of real-life experiences and communal knowledge among mothers.”

The new campaign also marks a shift in Traditional Medicinals’ marketing strategy, moving from product-centric messaging to narrative-driven storytelling. By spotlighting the experiences of real mothers, the brand aims to resonate with its target audience: prenatal and postnatal mothers.

“The new generation of moms and soon-to-be moms are seeking brands that understand their journey and offer more than just a product – they look for support, understanding and shared experiences,” said Corson. “By allowing real moms to speak their truth, Traditional Medicinals is engaging with its audience on a more personal and emotional level, which is likely to resonate strongly with new and expectant mothers seeking authenticity and community.”

To bring this campaign to fruition, Guru, Traditional Medicinals’ purpose-driven agency, led the creative development.

“This campaign is deeply rooted in the authenticity of the product,” said Renee Brown, director of client services at Guru. “A personal anecdote from one of our team members, recounting her own journey with Organic Mother’s Milk Tea, was the spark that ignited our creative vision. Motivated by her story, we chose to highlight the real experiences of breastfeeding and pumping mothers. This decision allowed us to present Organic Mother’s Milk Tea through genuine stories rather than a scripted portrayal. Our team is dedicated to ensuring the campaign stays true to the essence of the product, capturing its significant impact on the lives of mothers.”

The decision to go unscripted was a resounding success, as Brown put it, with mothers’ genuine experiences affirming the tea’s impact and trustworthiness.

Reflecting on the working brand-agency relationship, Brown emphasized their synergy and understanding: “Having worked closely with Traditional Medicinals for almost two years, there was already a deep sense of trust and understanding. The composition of our teams – predominantly women, including several mothers—further enriched the collaboration. It felt like a congregation of perspectives that uniquely understood the journey of motherhood, lending authenticity and empathy to the project. This commonality in our backgrounds and experiences empowered us to fully trust in the power of real stories told by real moms.”

The campaign launches today across Amazon, online video, connected TV and paid social channels.

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day section and sign up for our Ads of the Week newsletter so you don’t miss a story.

Why are ‘fake ads’ outperforming the real ones on LinkedIn? I have a theory. Come down the rabbit hole with me. 

We cover a lot of creative at The Drum, and by creative, I really mean ads + things that pretend they aren’t ads but really are ads. It’s pretty nice when a good ad makes it into the real world to be enjoyed seen by real free-range humans.

But when is an ad actually not an ad at all?

Over the past few days, inspired by a whole lot of chatter on LinkedIn over an easyJet ad that never was, we’ve been exploring what constitutes a ‘fake ad.’ This may include any of the following:

1. Scams made to win awards. They pretend to run. 

2. PR stunts that didn’t happen. All talk, no walk.

3. Spec work made by bored creatives who are unaffiliated with the brand.

4. CGI experiential and OOH that only exists for social.

5. Single-site experiential and OOH. Anything short of a national campaign is blasphemy right?

6. Creative mockups made before the real campaign runs.

7. Anything ‘in the metaverse’. That’s a lie about a channel; therefore, it’s fake.  

8. A digital ad that anyone’s actually clicked on... (that’s a joke, sort of).

9. Branded content that is only read and shared by the creators.

10. Scammers posing as brands to separate the elderly from pensions.

I’ve probably missed a few. Isn’t it remarkable how many categories of naff, ineffective advertising there are? Anyway, let’s focus on number three, as that’s really the one that’s getting everyone vexed right now.

Spec work made by bored creatives unaffiliated with the brand

The devil makes work for idle thumbs. Out of work creative directors keep making spec ads for brands they don’t work on. Is it to stay sharp? Because they’ll explode if an idea stays in their head? Do they keep chasing that dopamine hit?

Aussie creative Tom Birts makes a lot of spec ads, and one in particular caught fire recently, propelling Birts into the center of the 'easyJetFakeGate’ that rocked Marketing Twitter for a weekend. Now, it’s worth saying that in 2024, when I say Marketing Twitter, I mean LinkedIn. Ever since the jackboots stormed Elon’s town square, and he told all advertisers to go fuck themselves, that’s where the industry discourse has gravitated.

Tom posted: ‘If I were easyJet, (If I were easyJet. What does that even mean? Some sort of half-man-half-brand? An insult to nature is what it would be.) I’d do something like this.’

Ha, British Airways, take that! 

• British Airways’ outdoor ads capture passengers’ faces at 35,000ft

Uncommon, you thought your ad was so great and minimalist, but now it’s been wafted with a foul orange fog.

The responses to Tom’s concept, posted on a Friday, vary from ‘brave,’ ‘bold’ to ‘CLAP EMOJI.’ That was before the strategists appeared to explain why it wouldn’t work, and it was utterly terrible. After a weekend studying whether you can outdrink a hangover, I zombied to my desk and saw this creative everywhere. 

The work was shared so widely from its original source that people began to think it was real. My initial response was: ‘How dare easyJet forgo sending it to us. The nerve.’ Then, I looked at it for more than three seconds.

Tom made it clear it was definitely fake. From him to me, via 100 roads, it was now real. BTW, who the fuck shares ads on LinkedIn without tagging or crediting the creator anyway? The whole point of the platform is, ‘nice ad dude’ @personname! I digress. 

Tom found it funny and made a good effort to intercept those who misrepresented the work. He’s written about it all here in The Drum.

Allow me a moment on a high horse. Your friendly neighborhood B2B marketing titles employ people who verify and fact-check this stuff. We can’t just throw fake stuff online and farm the pennies from your clicks. I’d be much better dressed if that worked. But that random ‘thought leader’ you follow on LinkedIn won’t take it down and, in some instances, won’t even correct the record. Tread carefully is all I’ll say. I’ve seen CMOs sharing ads about as real as a YouTuber’s apology video.

An easyJet fake takes flight

I haven’t been to easyJet’s marketing headquarters; I assume it is in Luton, where I would only go if easyJet dragged me there kicking and screaming in a depressurizing cabin. Rumor has it they are squeezed into a seatless broom cupboard and have to pay to upgrade.

I can only imagine its marketing team seeing the ad on Monday and asking, ‘Did we run ****ing this?’

And the most obvious sign that it is fake would be the response. ‘It’s not ours; people are actually sharing this one for some reason.’

And that brings me closer to the crux of a point. 

How do we get better at spotting spec work?

It’s all about red flags. I’m good at it. As a baby journalist, if I covered a fake, I’d be RTed by some angry bloke on Twitter, mocked by colleagues, and then I’d have to log into the site in my own time and correct the record.

Red flag 1: ‘Ooooh, this is good; a client signed this off?’

That feeling should tell you everything. Real ads often don’t make you feel like that. Usually.

Then you could put on your strategy tophat and probe the thinking.

• Would Irish brand Guinness really mark the Coronation of Charles III? [See Irish Potato Famine].

• Would Burger King really joke about a missing member of the royal family when there was an obvious health issue? [This one’s almost completely scrubbed from the internet.]

• Would TfL really install ads on the roof of a double-decker bus? 

• Would you really encounter mascara applicators on the Tube?

You’re nodding along; yep, that all makes sense.

So why does it make sense until it hits a social feed?

I cant' misplace an apostrophe without you lot wanting me removed from my job and public life, and yet you’re applauding obviously fake ads. 

What it takes to be noticed

Embedded in the shit-yourself-for-attention world of social feeds, where Logan Paul visits Japanese suicide forests and kids eat Tide pods, these dumb ideas stop feeling fake. You can’t see the fake forest for the fake trees. 

There’s this awful hellscape in which advertisers have to stand out. The internet is filled with lies. Or, at this stage, it’s a bucket of lies with a dash of internet. 

And that leads me to Rory McEntee’s Gymbox marketing. The bus stunt was his. He unashamedly loves a fake ad. He wrote as much on The Drum last week.

• It’s time to be real about my fake ads

Gymbox has a special place in my heart; it’s a 20-year-old brand I only know because it lied and faked some ads a year or two ago. There’s a lot to unpack there. Does that mean it worked? 

Rory got ‘hooked’ on mocking up ad and PR campaigns. Omar, over at the Media Leader, dug into Gymbox’s little infatuation with fake news, particularly the campaign that pretended to run ads on top of London buses to promote aerial classes. 

The trades covered it. After all, it did claim, when pressed by Campaign, that “12 London buses had been booked to run the ads for a week”.

The headlines came in, the social clout spread, and the media owners boiled in anger at having their assets used as a PR canvas. You can Google which titles have and haven’t updated the story, then choose who you read going forward accordingly. 

So, lying works?

We don’t really expect to be lied to, which is naive, considering we deal with marketers. And if I am to trust an internet quote site to make this point, HG Wells once said: “Advertising is legalized lying.” 

The truth is, we wouldn’t have covered the work if we knew it didn’t run.

There were real campaigns that day that we didn’t cover. This was an opportunity to reflect and grow for us, and perhaps him. 

Rory has since written in The Drum that he didn’t think it was that big a deal at the time. “I was getting more exposure than ever. Nor did I expect the criticism, backlash and debate that the series of adverts would cause in adland.”

But is it a big deal? 

Well, we did our best to correct the record. 

I’m not overly concerned about the margins of the media owners who are keeping a close eye on which inventory you are faking ads on (they’re very welcome to group together and pen an op-ed on these pages). 

But I wonder, who were these ads for?

And would they be of any use if they never broke out of a LinkedIn marketing echo chamber? Maybe London creative directors are actually the target demo... so few of you bring the guns! [A new weightlifting category for The Drum Awards next year?]

Rory said: “These ads are created to provoke a reaction. I am a brand owner and have created fakes. Slap on the wrist for me, but while I will be criticized for a lack of authenticity and truthfulness, the reality is my fake ad is driving sales, getting way further reach than a ‘real’ advert and is content within itself.”

He fell short of sharing those figures, they often do that. I’m not going to tally up every mention of that work in social and the press. I saw it at the time, and that, too, was ‘everywhere.’ I assume the ad was run on Gymbox’s socials, too, where it reached actual people. And the expense? Not much.

Some detractors said at the time that he’d be better served by running real ads. I’m sure he’d have liked having a larger budget too...

There’s another example, where Gymbox did(n’t) a four-way Tube ad with Surreal cereal and a few more. The creative read ‘Harder, Feta, Faster, Stronger’ and had its respective brands in place. 

I covered this creative. I don’t usually do that. Maybe it was one of those times when literally all of our journalists had Covid-19. I think I realized it was BS halfway into writing it up. I went to the brand to confirm and then ran anyway with the word ‘concept’ in the headline. Sunken cost fallacy, my friends. Other titles ran it without the caveat.

When I pressed Surreal, it responded: “We can neither confirm nor deny whether it’s a real OOH campaign or simply a 10-minute Photoshop job. Let’s just say you could travel Around The World and probably not see it. Unless you Get Lucky.”

Cute answer. Annoying too. 

I had a media owner or two in my inbox asking why we’re running fake ads. And I didn’t rightly know. I was tricked by something too good to be true on a slow day for creative is my best guess. It’s also quite nice to see brands with much smaller budgets make a right good go of it. 

Rory proved that his team’s ideas can create an impact. He has since run some real campaigns created and bought by real agencies. So, I guess it all worked out. I’m sure he’d prefer a Coca-Cola budget to faking ads and telling fibs. 

Time to put the tinfoil hat on

How many fake campaigns have we covered over the years that had the global impact of a mosquito fart in a monsoon?

And it’s about to get worse. For any dufus with an internet connection, AI can generate an image and distribute it online. Sometimes, that’ll be an ad campaign. And that’s not mentioning all of the CGI work cutting into the real world, like the Messi World Cup billboard or the mascara applicator I mentioned. That’s number 4 on my fake ad list above. They do really well on social, although I wonder if the craze is petering out a bit.

• How Adidas got 250m organic views on a CGI billboard celebrating Messi’s World Cup win

And that brings me to Andrew Tindall, the profilic LinkedIn poster with a full ad effectiveness business behind his posts. That’s CHEATING Andrew.

Back to the easyJet ad. Tindall critiqued it, using the full force of all his ad effectiveness knowledge, as though it were a real ad. He tells me his post hit 200,000+ people. We’re unsure how many were on team ‘clap back’ versus team ‘how dare you amplify a fake.’

One Peter Bray responded to Andrew that the fake ad was essentially cheating. That client buy-in and the legal hoops one has to jump through are the most difficult bits of getting a good work run. And it’s much slower to paste up a billboard than to stick a stock through Canva. So, there are lots of excuses for real ads being duller than fakes. 

Andrew wrote in The Drum to explain that we should critique fake ads. He’s up to his knees in fake ads. We’ve all sort of half-agreed that ads are basically fake until they run somewhere real humans are likely to have ANY reaction to them. Or, at least to me, that's a useful segregation.

So, every ad he’s ever pre-screened is a fake. Every concept he’s A-B tested is fake. It's all fake until it’s real. The fakes determine what route the real should take. I can’t even imagine how much award-winning work that man’s seen get neutered in the edit. But how many more have been saved?

He says: “This may be why I’m more pro-fake ad than most. Sharing this kind of bold concept work and showing proxy measures for how it would fare in the real world should help agencies sign off bold creative thinking. Not the opposite.”

And I think that’s a helpful point to end.

The marketing profession is a laughing stock in some boardrooms. 

That might be because the real work is often more boring than the fakes the executive class is loving on LinkedIn, or it might be that we are making work that has such little impact it might as well be fake. 

I don’t know. I only know what creative directors like to click on via LinkedIn.

Other athletes, including Max Whitlock and Emily Campbell, have come together ahead of the event to inspire people to take action and reach their personal goals.

With the Summer Olympic Games now a hundred days away, NatWest has released an uplifting spot to rally the UK. The ad is designed to motivate everyone to achieve whatever goals they might have been putting off.

Some of Team GB’s most celebrated athletes worked alongside Pitch Marketing Group on the script. Each sporting star shares a personal story on how they took the first steps toward their own success and accomplished things they never dreamt possible.

The campaign follows research commissioned by NatWest that shows April is when the majority of people give up on their New Year’s resolutions. With motivation waning, 43% of people expect that they won’t meet their goals for the year.

“With so much uncertainty across the country and a lack of optimism about the future, we’re proud to launch NatWest’s team talk to inspire the nation, a culturally relevant campaign that encourages people to get off the starting blocks and take the first steps towards achieving their goals,” said Abi Russell, head of partnerships at Pitch Marketing Group.

“And who better to deliver this message than some of Britain’s most inspirational Olympic athletes? It’s been a joy to work with such an energized, passionate and brave team and we look forward to continuing to roll out the campaign during the Summer as Olympic fever builds throughout the country.”

The ad is part of NatWest’s bigger Team GB Olympics campaign, which will include a series of activations across multiple touchpoints, including Team GB Fan Zones in the UK. The project will be rolled out during the next few months.

Marg Jobling, chief marketing officer at NatWest, added: “As Team GB’s official banking partner, we are incredibly excited to be supporting the athletes headed to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. As well as getting behind Team GB we’re hoping to inspire people across the nation to come together to support the team – and to get going to reach their own goals – whatever they may be.

“Our Team GB athletes are hugely inspiring, so we hope their words and experiences can help motivate the nation. So whatever your goals, let’s get going.”

This week, The Drum is reporting live from Possible Miami 2024. Amid the sea breezes and the buzz, here’s what we’re hearing from industry leaders on the ground. 

On marrying brand and performance marketing

Tariq Hassan, chief marketing and customer experience officer, McDonald‘s: “For the longest time, it was like brand or performance, and I just refuse to participate in it. If you think about the construct, when were we ever told, ‘Oh, yeah, go build the brand, but who cares if it performs. Oh, and by the way, perform the heck out of something, but who cares if it deteriorates the brand!‘ It‘s just counterintuitive in terms of what we should do.“

On the industry’s inability to solve for today’s problems

Gary Vaynerchuk, entrepreneur, chairman of VaynerX and CEO, VaynerMedia:“This industry is obsessed with yesterday, the romance of the commercial – the ‘big idea’ – and obsessed with tomorrow, like VR, virtual influencers and AI. And [the industry] just sucks at today. My hot take is that this industry is atrocious at marketing for today. And we have to get our act together, because our clients are losing market share. The leverage of distribution, both in media and in retail, is being taken away from the Fortune 500 set, and that’s why we’re seeing so many things emerge. It’s a major issue. Shit, it’s 2024. It’s time to finally take some of this stuff seriously. Organic social is the starting point for marketing, and on a good day, [for example,] at this conference, it’s the 20th most important thing to these brands.”

On cookie deprecation preparedness

Tracy-Ann Lim, chief media officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co: “Marketers at large really ought to be looking to highly regulated industries like finance for the blueprint on how to stay prepared, because we have the regulator grading our homework, so we have to get it right. If I had this job elsewhere, that’s what I would be obsessing about: What are the finance companies doing? What are the insurance companies doing? What are the pharmaceutical brands doing? Because they have an awful lot more at stake in terms of getting it wrong.”

On avoiding AI missteps

Laura Jones, chief marketing officer, Instacart: “Using AI for the sake of using AI is a pitfall that we can all fall into. On some level, you do have to just get in there and play. But really thinking about what your strategy is and how AI lines up behind that strategy [is crucial] – instead of trying to create a bespoke AI strategy that’s just [added] on top of whatever your core objectives are. I really think of it as something that supports us and lets us do what we’re going to do in a better, more efficient way – versus something more performative, where we just tick the box, like, ‘Yes, we have innovated with AI.’ It’s important to be playful and be on the edges, but you also have to have that judgment of really making sure that something is ready for public consumption and really making sure you’re not launching things too early or in a state where they’re not tested enough.”

On navigating data signal loss

Jeremy Flynn, vice-president of data products and strategy, Clear Channel:“A lot of the reason why people are here right now at Possible is because the techniques that they’ve used for the past 10 to 20 years for running good marketing campaigns are being increasingly challenged – whether by consumer privacy regulation or data signal loss. So they’re coming to explore new ways of continuing to do the same good work, and they’re going to be increasingly challenged to be innovative and creative and operate more with less – or [finding] new paths to delivering the same value to brands and advertisers.“

On shifting attitudes around shoppable media

Tony Marlow, chief marketing officer, LG Ads: “We’ve been able to do QR codes literally for more than a decade. You can push it on any ad on TV. The technology is not new. You’ve been able to do the shoppable experience – whether via QR code or other means on your TV, or on your TV to your mobile. But the difference now is that people are actually ready. People are now very receptive to this notion of shopping on their TV or bringing the shopping experience from their TV to their mobile – like with the Barbie movie, with quick-service restaurants, even finance. The readiness and the mindset of the consumer has shifted, which means the marketer needs to shift as well.”

On marketers’ unhealthy obsession with data 

Heidi Andersen, chief marketing officer and chief revenue officer, Nextdoor: “We’ve gone way overboard with the amount of data we collect. We’ve been caught up in this pendulum swing. Marketers decided to … track everything and then put it into this mix and create these very sophisticated models for showing outcomes. But we swung the pendulum so far … that now you have these massive data teams looking at an abundance of data and trying to look for the insights – but instead, they’re looking at a lot of observations, maybe some correlations, maybe some causations. At the end of the day, they can’t totally tell what the attribution looks like. And yet, a lot of resources are going into all of that. So, what I’m trying to figure out … is how to swing the pendulum a little bit further back, which will take care of some of the waste in the system. How do you simplify [your data practice] into finding metrics that you can stand behind and simplify the way you’re tracking and managing your data? I honestly believe half the data [marketers collect] is garbage.”

On publishers’ identity problem

Matt Leardini, president, iMDS: “Publishers are trying to find innovative ways to capture identity but also adhere to privacy standards that they’re [unsure how to navigate] in certain markets. But as they focus on newsletters, it ends up being a commodity, trying to capture users for newsletters. And there are only so many newsletters that users will sign up for and find value in before they opt-out or unsubscribe. So, publishers are challenged with the identity problem as users are being oversaturated with identity requests, and it’s very difficult for them to capture a login without having some other authenticated wall beyond the newsletter. Publishers are … not seeing the same amount of traffic from social, SEO and other more organic means of acquiring traffic. And now, even their paid traffic means are under scrutiny. Is it made for advertising inventory? Or is it promoting your business? It really depends on the eye of the beholder.” 

On the the value of partnerships in retail media 

Evan Hovorka, vice-president of produce and innovation, Albertsons Media Collective: “The next generation of the retail media network evolution is going to come on the back of partnership. We’re seeing the most progress come through a humble kind of ‘wear the right had for the role’ approach to building, [for example], a CTV network. Retail media networks typically don’t own a full-stack CTV platform the way we do with display – so how do you compensate? While we can partner with the NBCs, Disneys, Rokus and Hulus, now there’s a gap in data sharing, so clean rooms start to play a bigger role. [So we need] a partnership where we can both build this together – it’s a collaborative design, co-owning the channel. It doesn’t sound like a major step forward, but in terms of owning and controlling the product, [this kind of partnership] is a big step forward because it’s, ‘Hey, let’s build this [data capability] together, place it in a clean room, make that available to the client.’ And it’s owned by two or three companies, which is an interesting dynamic that we’re seeing evolve pretty quickly. And when we find the right partners that want to build that way, it’s such a beautiful place because then everyone’s got that attitude of, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together – let’s do what’s right for the client.’”

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Boring, inauthentic, repetitive: just some things people say about attempts to sell to them on social media. VJ Anand of VaynerMedia gives these tips to stick out from the crowd.

A recent survey by Hootsuite found that 59% of people surveyed think there’s too much advertising on social media and 52% are fed up with self-promotional brand content. 

Are they right? Hell yeah. Which, we admit, might seem like a strange thing for an advertising agency to say. 

All good modern marketers know that things start with listening to the consumer. But all realistic marketers know that the world of media isn’t going to change because people think there are too many ads. 

This is why, given where attention is focused today – and by that, we mean mostly on social media – we must all get into the habit of creating content that doesn’t look, sound, or feel like traditional adverts.

It is the natural progression of advertising. Social content has been shifting and changing and it is so important that we stay on top of it as an industry.

The art of a good reply

A good starting point is authentically and creatively engaging with people in the comment section. Ryanair, Lidl and Aldi were early adopters of this, but you don’t have to be a ‘budget’ brand to do it. Good community management is an incredible way of boosting brand awareness and sentiment in a way that sure doesn’t look like a 30 sec TV ad. 

It’s not just a way to get noticed either. It’s a goldmine of insights. 

In a piece for The Drum, Pollyanna Ward, strategy and planning director at Flight Story, wrote: “Brands that have used the comments section for creative ideas have seen their content do numbers in response because it’s tapping into something that resonates with their audience. This means your advertising budget works so much harder because you’re able to generate earned attention off the back of it... If you turn off your comments, you might be sleeping on your next big creative idea.”

We couldn’t agree more. Brands should be built with social at the center and any creative director, no matter how great, can’t keep pace with the insane number of great ideas people post in the comments. 

Likewise, in a piece for PRWeek, Ashley Gross, creative at influencer marketing agency Coolr, wrote about a brand that had: “accumulated over 500k likes on comments alone in three months, almost matching their organic reach from “normal” posting.”

They’d done this by being authentic and “integrating themselves into the pop culture of their community,” she says. 

“A comment that is specific enough to the fanbase, like a recurring line, an inside joke, or an allusion only ‘stans’ can understand, will be heroed, because the community is recognizing the brand as someone just like them – a fan.”

The good and bad of self-promotion

We’re also into pushing brands towards documentary style content that features a product in the background – think parodies, movie trailers or music videos. Now you’re talking. 

The Jungle x Gap Linen Moves campaign, featuring Tyla, is so good it makes me want to wear linen. And I hate linen.

It’s not about misleading people. We hear loud and clear that: “clickbait is the most-cited reason (76%) why consumers would unfollow a brand on social media.”

But so are the following reasons: “boring (68%), inauthentic (68%) or repetitive content (68%).” These are pitfalls we can avoid. 

Great modern campaigns feature insights from social media at their heart and get creative. They pack a powerful first one-second hook, they feel authentic to the platform they’re on, and they’re anything but boring. 

Beyond the dream of standardized RFI questions and credentials, what do new business people in the marketing industry want to see change in the near future? We asked them.

At a recent roundtable with new business professionals from The Drum Network, they shared with us the dream of a standardized and rationalized pitch process that would no longer take days’ worth of repeated work or wasted effort on doomed responses. Before we let them go, we let the assembled experts loose to dream for even more. Here’s what they’d like to see change in the new business and ‘growth’ game in the next few months: more chemistry meetings, deeper respect, and more early honesty.

George Sanders, head of growth, Earnest: “I hope that we’re going to see more return to human-based networking. We’ve got so much automation, at such veracity and scale, that people are losing trust in businesses. They want to connect with real human people who understand what they want, and who care about what they do. The dream sold by lead automation and demand generation agencies is facing a lot of scrutiny: if those companies were that good, they would be more successful themselves. I think they’ve tuned into an anxiety a lot of marketers have but we haven’t really seen their promises develop.”

Claudia Harris, business development director, George P. Johnson UK: “More chemistry meetings, please! More ‘let’s get to know you’, rather than just filling out forms for the rest of our lives. We as agencies have to share our uniqueness in every way possible. We can’t do that if we’re constantly filling in forms.”

Celia Clark, international client engagement Director, Team Lewis: “I just want to see generally better behavior. What’s changed a lot is the online and in-person weird hybrid thing, which also allows some clients to behave really badly: to not have cameras; to be doing something else. We also need to remember some basics, like the fact that a budget is a really helpful thing for an agency to have. It’d be good to see a bit of a reset.”

Nitin Rabadia, commercial director, Kepler: “There are signs that things are improving: we’re seeing intermediaries and pitch consultants looking at best practice for pitches. People are aware that there are problems, and admitting there’s a problem is the first step to solving it. In the last few pitches we’ve done, everyone’s said, ‘we want to hold a fair process’. So things coming down the road are looking better, cleaner, and fairer than they have in the last few years. Meanwhile we always see a cycle between consolidation and specialism. Now, we’re in a consolidation phase, but I hope that people understand that in certain areas, you need specialist skills, I'm hoping we move out of this consolidation phase and see the rise of real specialist skills.”

Claire Duggan, head of engagement, Seven Stones: “We need to be clear about what we do, to be clear about where we fit for the client, and then to stay in our lane. It’s quite easy, especially amid economic pressures, to think, ‘well, maybe we can do that print job, maybe we can design that stand’. But it’s so important that we keep doing what we’re good at, and articulate that as a really strong proposition that we articulate to clients so they’ll see when you’re right in the sweet spot of what we’re looking for. We have to hold our nerve and not try to diversify on everything.”

Christopher Booker, new business director, TRO: “We need to pay attention to what’s going on with marketing content right thanks to AI. Growth in that area has been exponential: the amount of new services out there. AI will supercharge the production of generic content (and generic lead generation). But the flip-side we have to really look at content and the connections we make to create things that are more valuable; creating more valuable connections and relationships.”

Mark Buist, director of group sales, DRPG: “We need to be bolder. Bold enough to say, ‘No, we're not the right agency for you’. It’s about identifying your ideal customer, being more discerning, and when the opportunity does come along, evaluating it, and making certain that you’re the right agency for the work. I’ll happily help a client and say they ought to be talking to someone else. If we stand closer, shoulder-to-shoulder, it becomes a better marketplace for us all.”

Christi Tronetti, head of growth, M&C Saatchi: “It’s about demonstrating the value of our industry, and all of us coming together for the greater good. We have our own numbers and our own objectives, but if we came together in more regular forums to articulate our value as an industry and what we provide for clients, and all the billions of pounds of revenue generated by our industry – if we could think about our higher-order benefits not just for clients, but for the economy and for culture, then we could come back to clients in a more strong position. I think we’ll get better and better at doing that as an industry. That’s how we’ll prove our value above the machines.”

There’s no pandering to algorithms, no subcultures, and no trend-chasing in Uncommon’s latest BA creative. Saatchi & Saatchi’s Jonny Turnbull explains why it shows how we need to get more serious.

You’ve probably seen the latest British Airways posters. And the fake easyJet work that responded to it.

I have. I see them daily, whether on platforms, Piccadilly Lights or LinkedIn, where they are invariably accompanied by the lionization or jealous excoriation of Uncommon’s work. I happen to quite like the originals.

Not because of the *checks notes* art direction, the craft, the emotion, the simplicity, the boldness, the distinctiveness, the lack of a sales message, the bravery of the client, or any of the other myriad reasons the work has garnered plaudits. No, I like them because of the refreshing absence of culture. Or, at least, how adland understands culture.

That might sound like heresy for a planner, someone paid to - according to the industry dogma - help influence, shape or create it. But this rhetoric has become endemic; we read it in client briefs, hear it echo through creative departments and see it flaunted in agency credentials. But no one really asks the important questions:

What are we actually talking about?

And why are we all trying to do the same thing?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines culture as “the way of life, especially the general customs and beliefs, of a particular group of people at a particular time.” But all too often, adland seems to misinterpret the shaping of real culture for the surfing of ‘popular culture.’

Today we are content to force brands into the vicissitudes of the fashion cycle, social feeds, and the Hypebeast editorial. Yes, this might work for some brands. And, yes, it’s a welcome reaction to our work. But it should not be the principal aim of the work itself.

We shouldn’t confuse fleeting “talkability” with delivering business outcomes for our clients. And we certainly shouldn’t confuse it with changing the nation’s ways of living, customs or beliefs. That is just hubris.

Maybe this misunderstanding is why we have lost influence in the nation’s boardrooms and living rooms, politics and purchase decisions. While we should have been focusing on bottom lines and behavior change, we have fixated on fiddling with the architecture of what’s fashionable.

And we have done so without acknowledging this for what it really is - the same strategy, just executed differently. Which should be anathema to an industry that understands the importance of differentiation and distinctiveness and that puts the importance of creativity above all else.

This year will be defined by war and macroeconomic and political uncertainty. It took a once-in-a-generation cost of living crisis to force us to reckon with our industry’s obsession with brand purpose. We can only hope it doesn’t take societal shocks of that scale for us to reckon with the tyranny of culture.

So that’s why I smiled when I first saw those sunny new BA posters. Not because I worship at the altar of Graeme, Jameson and Leonard. But because it’s advertising, that’s comfortable advertising.

It suggested that the reckoning may already have begun. No pandering to the algorithms. No sign of a subculture or niche trend. No carefully chosen influencer to borrow reach and credibility. Nothing inherently “talkable,” though the adland village certainly indulged itself. Instead, it just quietly… works.

Yes, we are at the silly end of capitalism. But we have indulged in the silliness for too long, forgetting that our job is to influence people or policy profitably. Given the state of the economy, the anxiety of the people who power it, and the politics that steer it, advertising a bit more seriously may not be a bad thing. 

Especially with reminders out there that we can do so while still creating work that reaches through the grime-smeared windows and grey morning drizzle.

Talk among yourselves.

• British Airways’ outdoor ads capture passengers’ faces at 35,000ft

Our quickfire analysis of the brand, marketing and media stories that might just crop up in your meetings and conversations today.

Grenfell Erased from Volterol ad

Consumer healthcare company Haleon is in trouble after Grenfell Tower, the high rise where 72 people died as the result of a fire in 2017, was erased from the background of a TV ad for the brand.

Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman was among those who died as a result of the fire, noticed the edit while watching the Channel 4 streaming service when an ad for the pain relief gel brand Voltarol showed a game of football on the Westway pitches close to the council block.

While two other nearby council towers were left in the picture, Grenfell, shrouded in white sheeting and topped with a banner saying “forever in our hearts,” had disappeared.

“It was really upsetting,” said Mussilhy. “It seems nobody wants to see it any more, that it’s an eyesore. The vibe I feel is that [people] want it gone.”

The ad was commissioned by Haleon, a consumer health company, and has also been running on Channel 4’s terrestrial channel. It has now been pulled.

Source: The Guardian

Google fires staff over Israel protest

28 Google staff have lost their jobs after staging a 10-hour sit-in protest at Google New York offices in both New York and Sunnyvale, California, to voice their concerns over the company’s business ties with the Israel government.

The pro-Palestinian staffers donned traditional Arab headscarves, stormed and occupied the office of senior Google exec on Tuesday and, as a result, their jobs were terminated on Wednesday after an internal investigation.

A company-wide memo from Google vice-president of global security Chris Rackow said: “They took over office spaces, defaced our property and physically impeded the work of other Googlers. Their behavior was unacceptable, extremely disruptive and made co-workers feel threatened.”

In New York, protesters occupied the 10th floor of Google’s offices in the Chelsea area of Manhattan as part of a protest that also extended to the company’s offices in Seattle for what it called “No Tech for Genocide Day of Action.”

Source: New York Post

Neumann continues to fight to retain WeWork

WeWork founder Adam Neumann refuses to relinquish control of his beleaguered co-working space company and is making a fresh push to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to emerge from bankruptcy and avoid a sale, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The company has attempted to restructure in court since filing for bankruptcy in November, primarily by renegotiating hundreds of leases. However, it was running short of cash and needed as much as $400m in fresh funding to have a chance of emerging viably, the people said.

The required figure remains in flux, but if WeWork was unable to raise new money, it would have to pivot to selling itself, according to a source close to Neumann.

Neumann stepped down as WeWork’s chief executive officer in 2019 after a failed attempt to take the company he co-founded public. Flow, his new property company, has already made a conditional offer of about $600m for WeWork.

Source: The FT

Holland & Barrett fills health care gap

High Street retail brand Holland & Barrett is training 600 staff to be equipped to offer in-store advice on health issues around period pain, mood swings and sleep – a move aimed at filling a health gap and easing the pressure on doctors and pharmacists.

The trained staff will act as women’s health coaches after research by H&B revealed demand for broader support on hormonal and menstrual issues, with menopause the “tip of the iceberg.” Gynecological conditions were the number one topic raised by the 100,000 women who responded to a government survey that helped shape England’s first women’s health strategy in 2022. But 31% of women said they were last equipped with information on their cycle and hormones “when at school, or not at all,” according to YouGov research commissioned by Holland & Barrett.

This is the latest innovation by the once staid health food chain as it attempts to reinvent its more than 700 UK shops as destinations for “accessible wellness solutions that work,” selling products “rooted in science.”

Source: The Guardian

Microsoft invests £1.5bn in Abu Dhabi AI group

Microsoft is to invest $1.5bn in Abu Dhabi artificial intelligence group G42, the company’s latest big bet on the technology that underscores deepening collaboration between the US and United Arab Emirates.

The deal will see Microsoft gain a minority stake in G42 and vice-chair and president Brad Smith will take a seat on the G42 board. It comes after G42 severed links with Chinese hardware suppliers, which had been scrutinized by US lawmakers.

Amid concerns from US lawmakers about G42’s links to China and the possibility that US citizens’ data could be passed to the Chinese government, the Biden administration played a key part in negotiating the deal.

Microsoft’s investment further strengthens Abu Dhabi’s position as an AI hub and is a sign of the emirate’s ambitions in the technology arena. It also shows how the Gulf, long seen by many in Silicon Valley as an easy source of funding, is increasingly regarded as a credible technology partner.

Source: The FT

It might be because I was just browsing the lunch menu there, but Leo Burnett’s loving homage to the perfect burger wins Ad of the Day.

McDonald’s UK is taking a new twist on its audio brand with ‘A little more Mmm.’ The spot marks the first time in McDonald’s history that alterations have been made to its classic burgers, such as the fact they are now 100% British and Irish beef. Additional changes include now searing the burgers “so they’re juicier,” adding onions to the grill, serving “toastier“ buns and even “meltier cheese.“

The campaign spans TV, cinema, OOH, press, social, radio and digital. The media was planned and brokered by OMD UK. There is also a Snap ‘Mmm filter’ that shows that special burger moment. McDonald’s will be rewarding fans with double rewards points on selected beef products. 

Andrew Long and James Millers, executive creative directors at Leo Burnett UK, said: “The iconic Big Mac, Quarter Pounder and Double Cheeseburger are being updated for the first time in history and we’re celebrating the moment in true populist style. With work stretching across every single media channel, there really is only one word to describe this huge, integrated campaign… ‘Mmm.’”

China's luxury market, driven by domestic spending, younger consumers, and sustainability, presents European brands with growth opportunities demanding tailored strategies and digital engagement, says Petal Ads.

The face of China’s luxury market is constantly changing; marked by the surge in domestic spending, a growing appetite among the younger generation, and a shift towards sustainable and ethical goods.

For European brands eyeing growth and expansion, this exciting shift presents them with ample opportunities. However, seizing them requires a unique approach, a clear understanding of the target audience, and a personalized strategy.

The immense potential of China's luxury market

China's significance in the global luxury market cannot be overstated. Bain & Company revealed that the country is responsible for nearly 35% of global luxury goods consumption, an impressive statistic that underscores its pivotal role in shaping the industry's trajectory. The reopening of the Chinese economy saw a significant and consistent surge in luxury spending, fueled by factors such as increased disposable income, a booming middle class, and a rising appetite for premium items.

Luxury spending in China is also set to increase steadily, with the country accounting for 22-24% of luxury sales across the globe last year. Moreover, by 2030, the figure is expected to hit up to 40% of the world’s total. Chinese consumers are attaching greater relative importance to fashion, lifestyle, and jewellery, and other high-end goods, signalling a robust appetite for luxury consumption.

Demographic shift: The rise of younger consumers

One exciting shift happening in China's luxury market is that younger consumers, particularly Gen Z and Millennials, are emerging as key players driving luxury consumption. These discerning customers, who represent 60% of the population below 30 years of age, are digitally savvy, wealthy, travel frequently, and love high quality and premium products due to their longevity and sustainability.

In 2022, young consumers accounted for a whopping €210bn in the personal luxury market – which are luxury items purchased for one’s own enjoyment or self-expression – a big increase from previous years, with the figure predicted to double by 2026.

The younger generation’s taste buds lean towards sustainability, innovation, and community engagement, standing in stark contrast to the preferences of the older generation, reflecting a generational shift in consumer behavior that brands should pay attention to.

The role of digital marketing in China's luxury sector

Given China’s soaring internet access and smartphone usage, it’s extra crucial to invest in a digital marketing strategy to effectively engage Chinese consumers. These digital natives often spend time on online channels to discover, learn more about, and even purchase luxury goods.  

With e-commerce marketplaces like Tmall, JD.com, Xiaohongshu, and official retail websites taking the Chinese market by storm, they present an ideal gateway for luxury brands seeking to enter the market. Even so, it can be an uphill battle for companies in Europe to glean insights on the purchasing behaviour and trends of Chinese consumers, including what it takes to attract more foot traffic to retail stores.

Petal Ads, Huawei’s mobile advertising platform, boasts an extensive coverage of Huawei devices and many high-quality users. With its deep understanding of Chinese consumers, it helps brands create personalized marketing campaigns that resonate.

The platform draws rich consumer data from its wide user base, to provide precise targeting and personalized experiences. Counterpoint Research revealed Huawei ranked top in China in smartphone sales in January 2024, with Huawei’s foldable handset reaching 51.23% market share in China, and ranking top at the end of 2023 according to BCI’s Q4 2023 report.

Petal Ads supports various formats, including connected TV (CTV), popular in China and capable of attracting large viewership and empowering luxury brands to deliver effective messaging. Huawei's all-scenario advertising solutions offer innovative 3D effect ad display, stunning visual impact, and an omnichannel approach, allowing marketers to tap into this trend.

Offering exclusive and immersive touch points, Petal Ads enhances brand visibility through cross-device advertising with local support. Through hyper-personalization and real-time adaptation of marketing strategies, brands can elevate every touchpoint of the customer journey, fostering deeper engagement and loyalty.

To thrive in China’s luxury market, brands must embrace agility and creativity. This could mean placing trust in experts well-versed in the subtleties of this market – crucial for engaging this unique audience.