Coke removes labels from cans in Ramadan campaign
Coca-Cola cans in the Middle East have been stripped of their labels during Ramadan, as part of a campaign to ‘combat prejudice’. The can design features a red background and Coca-Cola’s signature wavy, silver stripe — but not the words...Unilever at Cannes: Modern marketing is about ideas, trust and transformation
Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer, Unilever, returned to the main stage of the Cannes Lions this year to emphasise ‘marketing to people’. Weed based his presentation on learnings from conversations with over 20 C-suite thought leaders from the...Computer created recipe app goes live
IBM’s supercomputer Watson has turned its hand to cooking, with a new app that creates new recipes based on user’s selected ingredients. The Chef Watson app offers unique recipes by combining ingredients with data about the way humans perceive food. The app is being...Vlogger Vs Lush: Cosmetics giant in YouTube domain clash
A popular YouTube star has hit out at Lush after losing his decade-old domain to the cosmetics retailer. View his protest video posted on a new YouTube domain here: Matthew Lush has been using the YouTube address youtube.com/lush since 2005, but has found that fans...Heinz QR codes accidentally link to ‘saucy’ porn site
In a stark warning to brands with too many untracked website domains, Heinz has been embarrassed after a QR code on bottles of Ketchup now links to a hardcore porn site. Back in 2012, Heinz ran a special promotion on bottles in Germany with a QR code letting consumers...Unilever plans ecommerce boost in China with Tencent’s JD.com
Unilever has struck a deal with JD Worldwide, a cross-border e-commerce platform linked with Chinese web giant Tencent, as the FMCG conglomerate looks to expand its online presence in the Asia Pacific region. The deal grants Unilever the chance to open a store on the...Online shoppers ‘least hesitant to buy diet products’
Consumers are less likely to abandon their shopping cart when purchasing diet products than any other product in the retail sector, says research from ecommerce platform Ve. The recent outrage over Protein World’s advertising campaign shows that there is divided...Promotions without discounts: Luxury beauty site boosts sales by third
Luxury beauty site LatestinBeauty.com increased sales by a third following a new type of campaign, which lets retailers to run a promotion without discounting. LatestinBeauty.com partnered with retail promotions technology company Luckycycle, and also saw average...Video viral of the week: Scary Nivea Doll shows kids why they should use sunblock
Nivea wanted to find a fun and memorable way to teach Brazillian kids (and parents) about the importance of sunblock, so they worked with FCB Brazil to create dolls that burned when exposed to the sun… and filmed their reactions. See why it’s our video viral of the...Johnnie Walker “smart bottle” knows when you’ve opened it
Diageo has launched a “smart bottle” for the iconic Johnnie Walker Blue Label whisky, which lets the brand send targeted messages to customers who scan a tag on the bottle with their smartphone. The ‘ThinFilm’ technology also recognizes when the bottle has...Spontex boasts ‘the cleanest Twitter account’ with blank tweets
Cleaning brand Spontex has launched a new Twitter campaign to promote its new broom, with an innovative ‘hidden message within a ‘spotless’ blank tweet. To promote the new Full Action System broom in France, the homecare brandlaunched French Twitter account...P&G vlogger banned by ASA
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned a YouTube video featuring a well-known vlogger because it didn’t clearly explain it was sponsored by P&G’s Max Factor brand. The video from Ruth Crilly features the model using a number of Max Factor products...L’Oreal begins 3D printing skin
L’Oreal is developing a 3D printing process to create human skin, which could be used in product tests to avoid animal testing. The French cosmetics giant has partnered bioprinting startup Organovo to figure out how to 3D print living, breathing derma that can be used...Starbucks denies mobile payment app hacked
Starbucks has denied reports that cyber-criminals are using the coffee chain’s mobile payments app to siphon money from its customers. The announcement follows multiple media reports that intruders have hijacked the accounts of hundreds of the coffee chain’s...Kit Kat partners YouTube for on-pack promotion
Nestlé is rebranding KitKats as “YouTube Break” for a limited run of 600,000 bars in the UK. The Google-branded chocolate bars are the first of a series of 100 million differently-branded biscuits that will be produced as part of a new Nestlé campaign....Video viral of the week: Vileda lets punters bet on ‘Baby Crawling Championship’
Vileda has launched a social media campaign on Facebook and Twitter, encouraging viewers to place bets on which baby will win in their crawl across a freshly mopped floor. See why it’s our video viral of the week below… In a series of four videos, the household...The five best Instagram Carousel ads (so far)
Last month, Instagram launched a new ‘Carousel’ ad format that let brands post a rotating number of images to boost the story-telling element of their campaigns. A month on, we look at 5 brands that have made use of the new feature, including L’Oreal, Banana Republic...Coca-Cola swaps UK site for digital magazine
Coca-Cola has replaced its corporate UK site with a new ‘digital magazine’ that aims to take the user on a journey through the brand. The site will still feature standard corporate content such as press releases and company reports, but its layout, design...Top April fools pranks: Google goes backwards, Hailo piggybacks and driverless driving tests
April Fools Day has become big business for brands as they scramble to get their pranks noticed on social media and news outlets (getting some free publicity in the process). We’ve rounded-up some of the best spoofs to hit the web this year- including Google going backwards, Hailo piggybacks and driverless pizza delivery.
