Diageo and Guardian Labs are testing a new approach to branded content for Baileys that uses data to inform content strategy in real-time. Content will be specially created for the cream liqueur brand by the Guardian Labs team with topics decided by real-time analytics data from the Guardian's Life & Style and Culture sections. Content that is seeing a surge in readership will help steer the branded content strategy for Baileys, with information such as platform, source and geographical location also being used.

Sony has beaten technology rival Apple to become the most desired brand over the Black Friday/ Cyber Monday shopping weekend, earning 23 percent of the social media conversations versus Apple's 8 percent. According to insights by online intelligence platform Meltwater, just over 2 million conversations were recorded globally discussing Black Friday with the buzz dropping by half during the sales on Cyber Monday. During this time Sony took centre stage, closely followed by Samsung (23 percent).

Harvey Nichols is again subverting the traditional seasonal sentiment in its 2014 Christmas campaign and follow-up to last year's "sorry, I spent it on myself." In the new work, released yesterday, Harvey Nichols allows shoppers to create Christmas cards that detail exactly what gifts they want and what the consequences will be if they do not get them. Adam & Eve/DDB created the "could I be any clearer" campaign for the luxury fashion retailer.

Both retailers have been running campaigns with geotargeting network xAd, claiming an uplift in store visits. The xAd network tracks consumers' device IDs and locations, using that information to deliver precisely targeted advertising. Asda and Starbucks ran an initial set of campaigns to raise brand and product awareness, with both claiming improved footfall when trialling the ad format. Rather than measuring click-through rates on mobile banner ads, xAd measures what it calls "store visitation lift."

John Lewis and Marks & Spencer's have retained their positions as the top two retailers in the Christmas ad battle with their integrated campaigns that put social"'at the heart." According to the Waggener Edstrom's Brand Agility index, which measured a range of metrics including engagement, originality, differentiation and relevance over the past 30 days, John Lewis' Monty campaign managed a score of 44 in the third week since the campaign launched, ahead of M&S's fairies-themed ad on 42 and Sainsbury's on 38.

The advertising industry is expected to add GBP12.1 billion to the UK economy by 2018, according to a new study. The research from Falmouth University forecasts that there will be 148,000 jobs in 2018 in the advertising and market research sector, an increase of 18 percent. The advertising and market research gross value added is also expected to reach around GBP12.1 billion by 2018. The research said this is equivalent to an increase of approximately GBP2.5 billion, or 26.0 percent, from 2014.

Ami Hasan, the chairman of the Scandinavian agencies Hasan & Partners and Perfect Fools, has called on industry leaders to speak out "against the shady practices" in awards judging. Hasan, who is the president of the direct, promo and activation jury at the Eurobest awards, taking place in Helsinki, Finland from today, sent an email reminding jurors that an award handed out after fair judgment is far better than "any accolade bought with money or politics."

Google is mounting a fresh bid to overturn a High Court privacy ruling that awarded payment of damages to potentially millions of Britons for bypassing the security settings on Apple devices. It is the second time that the search giant has attempted to overturn the ruling on the grounds that British courts have no jurisdiction over the issue. Now Google is taking its case to the Court of Appeal, arguing that consumers suffered no actual harm and that a similar case was dismissed by U.S. courts.

British workers will spend an average of three working hours doing their Christmas shopping online, research from the Post Office found -- racking up to 96m hours in all. Four in five UK adults (78 percent) intend to buy gifts online this Christmas, the research found, with today (Cyber Monday) expected to be one of the biggest online shopping days. Almost a third (32 percent) plan to buy presents on their mobile phone or tablet, with six percent saying that they will buy gifts through their smart TVs.

Tesco has appointed Robin Terrell, previously its multichannel director, as its new marketing boss, marking the second time in six months that the supermarket has put someone in the role. Terrell takes over from Jill Easterbrook, who was appointed to the position of chief customer officer in June. Easterbrook, who has spent more than 13 years at Tesco -- including as director of its clothing business, corporate affairs and group strategy -- had no background in marketing. Terrell's background is in online retail.