Social Media Story of the Week
Marks & Spencer has leveraged TikTok to maximize its Christmas 2021 campaign. Highlights include the retailer’s first TikTok takeover and an ad tease to guess the voice of Percy Pig. The retailer, which boasts 130,000 TikTok followers, kick-started its Christmas campaign on social media with a teaser of its food commercial accompanied by the hashtag #whoispercypig. Director of marketing for M&S food Sharry Cramond said that the TikTok push is part of its “overall strategy to be more relevant, grow with families and attract a younger audience”.
Diversity Story of the Week
Disney will be releasing a sequel to viral 'Lola' is heartwarming storybook about blended families at Christmas. 'Stepdad' features the return of Lola’s granddaughter, Nicole, and her two children Max and Ella, as new stepdad Mike moves into their family home. "Lola" was celebrated at the time for highlighting Filipino culture and festive traditions passed down through the generations. With Filipino culture remaining at the core of Nicole's family in the follow-up.
Market Story of the Week
The final quarter of the year is a high sales season for UK retailers, starting with Black Friday on the last Friday of November and running through to Boxing Day sales. While both days are key festive sales events, they each represent different priorities amongst shoppers. There are subtle differences in how people shop before and after Christmas. In recent Twitter Insiders research, 66% of those in the UK said they are planning for a bigger festive season, or normal celebrations this year, sending a message that Christmas is getting back to its best pre-Covid self and retail events like Black Friday and Boxing Day. According to a recent study, 41% of UK survey respondents say that Black Friday sales will be their main way of sourcing gifts for Christmas this year.
OOH Story of the Week
A multi-sensory campaign has launched for E.ON Next, the renewable electricity sub brand of energy supplier E.ON. Running until 14 November, the out-of-home campaign features “Positivity boxes” located at UK shopping centres in locations including London, Edinburgh and Manchester. The boxes will be installed in the lifts at shopping centres, featuring 360-degree interior wraps, motion-sensitive scent showers, and soothing voiceovers telling customers to “breathe in and breathe out”. The aim of the campaign is to drive brand awareness and help customers visualise saving the planet with cleaner, more positive energy.
