Campaign
UKTV has unveiled the new look of its W channel, which will replace Watch in a rebrand next week that is aimed at women in their thirties. The design agency Art & Graft worked on the diamond-shaped geometric branding, which is targeted at "aspirational go-getters who seek high-quality escapism", but the shop insisted the rebrand was not "overtly feminine." W launches on Monday.
Campaign
Experian, the data company, has appointed Bartle Bogle Hegarty London to help promote its credit score service to consumers. BBH won the integrated account following a four-way pitch against Hometown, J Walter Thompson and Saatchi Masius. The incumbent agency is The Red Brick Road, which did not participate in the process. The agency will work with Experian's consumer services division on its core CreditExpert product. BBH has been asked to create a fully integrated, multimedia campaign in the UK and Ireland.
The Guardian
The chief executive of the publisher of the "Daily Telegraph" and "Sunday Telegraph" has launched an extensive strategic review of the newspaper group. Murdoch MacLennan, the chief executive of parent company Telegraph Media Group, announced the review in a letter that staff believed amounted to the first official confirmation of a forthcoming sale of the titles. Others see it as a precursor to a round of layoffs as the Telegraph, like its rivals, struggles to cope with a precipitous decline in print advertising.
Marketing Week
Channel 5 has unveiled a major rebrand as it aims to reflect the different identities of its numerous TV channels and explain to both viewers and advertisers the "breadth" of content it airs. The brand refresh will see major changes to the logo, which now segments into five parts and takes on different textures and colours. There will also be new logos and on-screen presentation for its 5Star, 5USA and My5 on-demand channels. This will include the introduction of viewer text messages flashing up during ad breaks.
Campaign
Omnicom, the owner of the BBDO and OMD networks, has reported income before income taxes of $1.78 billion, down 1.7% year-on-year. In its financial results for the 12 months ending 31 December 2015, Omnicom's global revenue dropped by 1.2% to $15.13 billion last year after the holding company was hit negatively by currency movements. Revenue at the U.K. business, which includes Adam & Eve/DDB, Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and Manning Gottlieb OMD, was up by 7.1% year-on-year.
Marketing
The Co-operative Food was the fastest-growing non-discount supermarket in the 12 weeks to 31 January, with sales up 1.4%, but German discounters Lidl and Aldi are seeing the most growth overall with sales surges of 18.7% and 13.7% respectively, according to Kantar Worldpanel data. The U.K.'s grocery market experienced a sales boost of 0.2% in the three-month period, which covers Christmas and new year trading. Of the "Big Four" players, only Sainsbury's increased its sales, which were up 0.6%.
Marketing Week
Customer experience is taking a more central role at B2B brands as retention moves up the agenda, meaning that marketers are shifting focus from price to value. A survey of senior marketers at more than 250 global B2B firms, conducted by market research group B2B International, finds that 58% are focused on "value marketing" -- up significantly from 39% in last year's study. This refers to companies selling products and services based on the value they offer to a particular segments of customers.
Campaign
BT was by far the busiest advertiser on UK TV in January 2016, racking up nearly 4,000 minutes of screen time. Across terrestrial and pay TV, BT booked 6,729 spots between 1 and 31 January, resulting in 3,965 minutes of screen time. Data science company 4C compiled the data, which showed that HSBC was the second most active advertiser across pay TV and terrestrial channels last month after BT, booking 3,354 spots.
Campaign
Rustlers, the microwaveable burgers and sandwiches brand, has appointed Droga5 London as its creative agency in the UK without a pitch. Droga5 London is tasked with creating campaigns across TV, online and social media for the UK and Ireland, with the first work expected in the autumn. BJL previously created Rustlers' advertising in the UK, including the "hunger monkey" TV spots in 2014, while MediaCom last handled the brand's UK media planning and buying.
Telegraph
Ascential, the magazine business jointly owned by The Guardian's publisher and private equity group Apax, has floated at 200p a share, giving it a market cap of around GBP800m. Guardian Media Group, which owns around a third of the business, and Apax, which owns two-thirds, will sell a 25% stake in the company with shares priced between 200p and 210p. The Guardian is seeking to slash GBP54m in costs after a review unveiled that its GBP758m fund could run out in less than a decade.