Ikea France fined €1m over staff surveillance scandal
Swedish retailer Ikea’s “caring, sharing” brand image has been dealt a heavy blow after a French court has ordered the firm to…
News
‘Distressing’ spam texts cook up trouble for Papa John’s
Takeaway chain Papa John’s, whose strapline is “Better Ingredients. Better Pizza”, has paid the price for getting its marketing mix…
Imagination offers Hollywood-style effects to clients
Experience design company Imagination is set to embrace groundbreaking virtual production techniques and help brands deliver Hollywood-quality visual effects and…
InfoSum adds Kantar’s TGI insights onto its platform
Kantar has become the latest major data company to sign a partnership with InfoSum in a deal designed to help…
Amazon faces mega GDPR fine in war on US tech giants
Amazon is reportedly facing the largest GDPR fine on record – an eye-watering €350m (£301m) – following an investigation by…
Google forced to get UK consent for new adtech system
Google has been forced to give UK authorities the final say on any new system to replace third-party cookies, with…
Young could love data science, if they knew it existed
Believe everything you read and you could be forgiven for thinking young people are gagging to be data scientists; sadly,…
M&S pools data for ‘voice of the customer’ programme
Marks & Spencer is consolidating all of its global data sources within a single platform, dubbed the “voice of the…
Now Amazon faces full-scale CMA probe into data abuse
Just 48 hours after the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority revealed it was joining with Brussels to investigate whether Facebook’s…
Census shows industry at worst but it vows to change
The challenge the advertising and marketing industry faces in overcoming deep-rooted male dominance has been confirmed in the sector’s first…
Wickes goes to bathroom for first TV ad in a decade
DIY and trade home improvement retailer Wickes is launching a new TV campaign – its first bathroom focused activity for ten…
IPA scheme to help agencies cut media carbon footprint
The IPA is stepping up its support to agencies in their transition to a zero-carbon future with the launch if…
ASA boots out claims KFC TV ad mocks black people
KFC has escaped censure by the ad watchdog over a TV ad, featuring two young black men who turned into…
Brits turn to online shopping and sex to survive Covid
UK adults spent more time online in 2020 than those in any other European country, with ecommerce rocketing by 48%…
Havas Group vows to be carbon neutral within 4 years
Havas Group, the French owned marketing giant which operates in 100 countries and employs more than 19,000 staff, has pledged…
Three PECR pests fined £415,000 for illegal marketing
The relentless pursuit of PECR miscreants by the Information Commissioner’s Office has triggered three separate fines – totalling £415,000 –…
Industry unites to benchmark marketing effectiveness
Industry bodies the IPA and ISBA are collaborating on a new programme designed to benchmark the effectiveness of agencies and…
Advertising probes to finally pierce ‘Teflon’ Facebook
The twin investigation into Facebook’s alleged abuse of digital advertising markets through its collection and use of data may not only…
Oh là là French hit Google with €220m fine for ad abuse
The French authorities have once again come down hard on Google, this time for abusing its advertising power, by whacking…
BT hails data analytics roll out for £2m in cost savings
Fresh evidence has emerged of the benefits of rolling out data analytics tools to the entire workforce, rather than keeping…
Govt jumps in bed with dating apps to push Covid jabs
The UK Government has joined forces with leading online dating sites, including Tinder, Match, Hinge, Bumble and Plenty of Fish,…
Royal Mail boosts ecommerce gains with timed delivery
Royal Mail is aiming to build on the huge gains it has made in the online shopping delivery market by…
Mail puts Covid to the sword with rise in effectiveness
The humble mailshot is continuing to laugh in the face of the prophets of doom, despite suffering a huge drop in…
Foxtons hails data science and tech for rebuilding sales
Upmarket estate agency chain Foxtons has claimed its investment in data science and technology for a resurgence in business, after…
Tories spanked by ICO after Boris fails to keep PECR up
The Information Commissioner’s Office might be under the cosh over its perceived lack of GDPR action but few could argue…
Aldridge predicts Cannes booty as Brits shine at Caples
UK agencies walked away with 19 gongs at the 43rd Caples Awards, which although half 2020’s haul saw double the…
UK bosses: ‘Show us the money not likes and retweets’
The majority of UK chief executives (55%) are sick and tired of how digital marketing activities are being measured, insisting…
Influencers found to be useless at offering debt advice
Instagram posts fronted by three reality TV stars urging people in financial trouble to sign up to a service that…
Radiocentre bolsters top team with first head of insight
Radiocentre, the body which promotes the interests of the commercial radio industry as well as providing an advertising clearance service,…
GDPR fines near €300m as Italian stallions lead way
GDPR critics may have to eat their words following the publication of a new analysis which reveals there have been…
Very investment pays off as AI chatbot leads the way
Online shopping group Very.co.uk has hailed the implementation of its machine-learning chatbot after the investment in AI has led to…
REaD Group revamps online data management platform
Data and insight company REaD Group has implemented a raft of updates to its online, self-service data management platform, REaDOnline,…
John Lewis drafts in eBay chief as part of triple hire
John Lewis is beefing up its senior online team as part of the retail giant’s quest for a greater share…
Facebook nemesis targets sites over consent cookies
Austrian privacy activist and lawyer Max Schrems, who has been a thorn in the side of Facebook for nearly a…
Email marketing gets Covid fillip but data fears grow
The Covid pandemic has fuelled a major rise in email marketing, with brands seemingly diverting spend from other disciplines during…
Animal magic for Pets at Home as loyalty clubs boom
Pets at Home has hailed its customer loyalty strategy as a major factor in its annual retail revenues surpassing £1bn…
Clearview AI whacked with multiple GDPR complaints
Clearview AI, a company which has built a powerful facial recognition database using images “scraped” from the Internet, has been…
SShh! Most UK businesses still cover up data breaches
Three years down the line and it seems companies are still struggling to get to grips with GDPR, with new…
Brands urged to rethink ‘hopeless’ digital experiences
Marketers are being urged to overhaul their digital strategies on the back of a new study which reveals that most…
Top data and digital roles to drive Medialab expansion
Medialab has created two top-level roles as part of its strategy to put digital and data to the core of the agency’s…
MSQ sees off Covid nightmare to reveal record results
MSQ has battled through the Covid pandemic to reveal record results following a series of strategic investments that it claims…
Precision Marketing boost as Omnicom scoops Philips
Omnicom’s Precision Marketing Group has emerged as one of the big winners in health tech and beauty giant Philips’ decision…
‘Most brands could die and no-one would give a toss’
Brand owners’ attempts to show they are caring, sharing and worthy risk being dismissed by consumers as simply “CSR washing”,…
Rise at Seven set for new expansion with Nasty Girl win
Sheffield and London based search agency Rise at Seven has strengthened its relationship with the Boohoo Group after being appointed…
Former Ogilvy graduate trainee Gordon is the new boss
Ogilvy UK has rewarded nearly 30 years of loyalty to the agency by appointing Fiona Gordon – an agency lifer…
TikTok takes off as Covid fuels rise of social commerce
TikTok’s drive for a major slice of the online shopping market has gone into overdrive since the start of the…
GDPR three years on: ‘The aperitif to a cookieless world’
Back in 2018, when GDPR first came into force after a two-year grace period and a barrage of apocalyptic scare…
Irish DPC faces new showdown as MEPS vote for action
On the eve of GDPR’s third anniversary, MEPs are ratcheting up the pressure on the Irish data regulator to get…
Eight men held as police act on Royal Mail parcel scam
Police officers have arrested eight men for their alleged part in a spate of scam text messages – including the…
Mad for it: Covid weary Brits now 24 hour party people
The late “Madchester” impresario Tony Wilson once compared Shaun Ryder to WB Yates and it seems UK consumers are also…