Unlike other retailers, which have eschewed a product push for an emotional brand story, the Morrisons Christmas ad -- aired for the first time during Coronation Street on Friday -- will feature products including its fruited panettone, brussel sprouts and "Build your own gingerbread house kit." Initially a 60-second version of the ad will run, although this will switch to a 30-second spot followed by a 10-second ad highlighting promotions such as two boxes of mince pies for GBP2.

Rugby World Cup (RWC) organisers have snapped up all the outdoor space close to host venues to try and squeeze out ambush marketers -- one of a flurry of commercial ploys set to make the event the most lucrative yet. The agreement with some of the country's biggest outdoor media owners such as Clear Channel and Primesight guarantees sponsors exclusive access to advertising space within 500 meters of the stadiums. Non-sponsors deemed not to be a commercial threat will be offered last refusal on any unsold inventory.

Publicis' admission that competition from consultancies fuelled its $3.7bn capture of Sapient reflects marketers' growing need for technical expertise amid mounting pressure to shift from creative-led campaigns to ROI. The rise of consultancies is posing a conundrum for the big agency groups. Companies such as Accenture and Deloitte are now more firmly camped in the marketing field. It is a shift that is costing agencies accounts and forcing them to bet bigger on their own consultancy-centred strategies.

BT has launched a combined TV and Netflix package designed to bring together its BT Infinity, Netflix, BT TV and YouView services under a single unified bill. It means consumers who opt to sign up for Netflix will be billed direct by BT -- a first for the streaming site in Britain, simplifying the billing process. Included in the deal is a YouView set-top box offering access to 70 Freeview TV and radio channels as well as catch-up TV services and Netflix's full catalogue of shows; including "Breaking Bad" and "House of Cards."

Smartphone and tablet-based commerce is expected to account for 49 percent of online sales in Europe by 2018, according to Forrester. The market researchers believe the mobile sector will fall within a hairs' breadth of a majority in the EUR142bn (GBP111.5bn) market by that time, with mobile accounting for EUR28.2bn (GBP22bn) of that total and tablets the remaining EUR113.3bn (GBP88.7bn). The figures cover seven key European markets.

The publisher of the "Daily Mirror" has pointed the finger at Tesco and other large supermarkets for a deterioration in its print advertising revenue as troubled retailers cut spending. Trinity Mirror said that publishing print advertising revenue deteriorated in the third quarter and fell by 12 percent, worse than the 9 percent decline reported for the first half. Shares fell 6 percent to 156p as a result.

According to the data -- exclusive analysis collated by Unruly for Marketing -- since the Monty The Penguin ad premiered on social media on Thursday, it has been shared more than 433,000 times, making it the "most shared ad" of the past seven days. In its first 24 hours, the ad was shared 202,953 times -- up 2% on activity following the launch of last year's John Lewis ad over the same period, which was shared 198,244 times.

Apple is set to open its first office in Cambridge in the next few weeks. It would be the biggest feather in the Cambridge cluster's cap to date. With Qualcomm determined to scale up its Cambridge operations with the $2.5bn acquisition of CSR, Huawei pledging major investment in the city after swallowing Neul, and Microsoft already growing from its new HQ near the rail station, Apple's arrival will prove transformational for the cluster -- evidencing the rising kudos of Cambridge in Silicon Valley.

Public Health England (PHE) has awarded its consumer engagement PR brief to M&C Saatchi with Freuds as a subcontractor. The pitch was a review of PHE's current contract with Freuds, which ends in December 2014. Freuds failed to land a place on the roster for high-value contracts awarded last year. While the agency was unable to repitch alone, according to the terms of the roster lot, one agencies can partner with non-roster agencies.

Next year will see chief marketing officers (CMOs) begin to remain in a position for an average of just over five years, according to annual predictions made by Forrester as they gain more trust from business chiefs. According to research by the firm, the length of time served by CMOs will reach 60 months in 2015 as companies begin to realise the need to follow a long-term customer vision to grow their businesses. Other predictions include a closer working relationship between CMOs and CIOs.