Category: Latest thinking

Key Take Outs: Rebooting your brand/business in the post Covid-19 world

Rebooting your brand / business in the post Covid-19 world

As businesses plan for life after Covid-19, a crisis with no precedent, how do they approach a world challenged by economic recovery? That was the topic posed to a panel of four industry experts today in the World Media Group’s third webinar, hosted by Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA, Time.

Douglas framed the conversation by looking at where we are in the news cycle and the financial markets. While both suggest we are in recovery mode, the situation is still fragile. The crises of recent memory (the dot.com bubble 2001, the financial crisis 2008) were economic in origin, and neither led to mortality or unemployment on such a significant scale, which adds another layer of complexity. When previous playbooks and recovery strategies can only be indicative, how can businesses build or rebuild brand equity through a period of huge disruption?

Douglas began by asking Louisa Loran, Vice President at Maersk responsible for the company’s brand communications strategy, how the logistics firm, which is instrumental to the global supply chain, had handled the Covid-19 crisis.

Strong customer focus

Loran explained that when she joined Maersk, her challenge was to understand how an asset-driven company could become more customer focused as part of its digital transformation. The decision to become customer-centric proved its worth, firstly a few years ago when they had a cyber-attack and now during Covid-19. “It’s the ability to understand your customers and put together value propositions and solutions to match their needs that enables you to be successful,” she said. “So Covid has been business management for us, not crisis management.”

Gordana Buccisano, EVP Global Client Transformation, Havas Group, who works directly with Loran on the Maersk business, agreed. She said her role had not changed through the crisis – she was still focussed on both long-term brand positioning objectives and short-term commercial objectives supporting Maersk’s digital transformation. “Covid or not, what matters is having the agile mindset to be able to adjust,” she said.

Authenticity is still key

Douglas then turned to David Wheldon, Vice President at WFA and the former Chief Communications and Marketing Officer for RBS, to ask what we should be looking for in brand behaviours, and how brands could build consumer preference, particularly against challenging economics. The key is authenticity, Wheldon said, and “a brand, knowing what it is and what it does, and doing it in the right way, with the right tone.”

Referencing Wheldon’s time at RBS, Douglas asked what the sentiment around that brand was when he joined in 2015, following the damage to its reputation in the 2008 financial crisis. Wheldon described RBS as the “least trusted brand in the least trusted sector.” His first job was to take an honest look at what RBS was: “A failed attempt at building a global brand.”

He discovered that the Royal Bank of Scotland brand – what customers who banked there called it – wasn’t as damaged. A brand strategy separating out the consumer facing brands, focusing on its customers and telling them the truth led to the bank’s recovery.

Authenticity and value are an important part of Maersk’s new brand strategy. “In the past, Maersk had a perception of being reliable,” Loran said, but they needed a different strategy to grow the brand. “We landed on being trusted, open and brave,” she said. Instead of saying, “We’ll tell you exactly when the vessel will be there,” it allowed them to say, “You can trust us to find the right solution for you.”

Loran believes that being brave is also about being honest and taking responsibility for what you can solve. “There are certain things we do with the strongest belief that they’re the right things, but we also admit our failures when they happen,” she said.

Consumer confidence on the rise

With consumer confidence playing an essential role in how well brands perform, Douglas asked Phillipa Leighton-Jones, Editor At Large – The Trust – The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group, to talk about its consumer confidence reports and what they meant for brand behaviour.

Leighton-Jones described The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group as a bellwether of what the C-suite is thinking. “These are the decision-makers who will be shaping the economy of the future in many respects,” Leighton-Jones said. “And when you’ve got marketers who are fighting hard for every dollar of discretionary spending, you need to make sure that they know what kind of environment they’re talking in and what kind of conversations they need to be having.”

So what are the decision makers thinking? According to Leighton-Jones more than half of the1000 respondents surveyed across The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group expect the economy to get better in the next three months, a 22 percentage point gain from mid-March. They also anticipate an increase in expenditure on personal goods and travel, she said.

Less twaddle, more focus

With that in mind, Douglas asked Wheldon if it was safe for brands to revert back to type and start entertaining us again after months of being circumspect.

“I think people have had enough of ‘we’re all in this together, with you every step of the way’ type communication,” Wheldon said, adding that some of the brands doing it looked “pretty inauthentic” and there was a lot of “twaddle” around. He praised KFC for really understanding their market. While they were closed, the fast food provider encouraged customers to make their own KFC at home and post their attempts on social media, then responded with “relatively insulting” comments about people’s efforts. It went down well because “they understood their audience, got the tone right, and were sensitive to what was happening,” Wheldon said.

Relieving Customer Pain Points

Returning to The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group’s Leighton-Jones, Douglas asked how publishers could capitalise on what has been a period of growth, with increased audiences and engagement. “People are looking for brands to talk to them,” she said. “Not necessarily to sell to them, but to demonstrate some value and leadership. It’s always going to be about putting the customer first, and thinking deeply not about what products or services you want to sell them, but how you can solve their pain points.” Demonstrating what she called “edifying utility”, allowed businesses to tell “brave brand stories that are authentic, and that show your leadership,” she said.

How far to plan ahead

Picking up a theme from audience members, Douglas’s final question was how far should brands plan ahead when everything is changing so frequently.

Based on his conversations with CMOs, Wheldon said, “On the whole, it’s a 30 day rolling plan with the 90 day horizon, and financially that kind of works for most people. Because beyond that, how would you know? So zoom in tight on 30 days, and be flexible and pragmatic.”

Loran said Maersk will continue to operate on many levels, optimising on short-term weekly cycles, evaluating their value proposition communications three months out, and planning ahead much further – three to five or even eight years – for their brand architecture and repositioning. What won’t change, she said, is their brand vision “to connect and simplify our customer supply chain,” which is not an overnight turn.

Be bold and brave

Douglas wrapped up the webinar by revealing the results of an audience member poll asking how optimistic they were that the advertising industry would bounce back before the end of 2020. The results, he said, were fairly evenly split (35% optimistic, 42% pessimistic and 23% unsure), reflecting where we are right now with the ever-changing news cycle.

Finishing on a positive note, he pointed out that brands and businesses had “everything to play for” and this was an opportunity to be brave as we navigate clients and businesses through a period that no-one’s experienced before. “As humans we will make mistakes,” he said, “But ultimately, I think we’ll get judged on motive and generosity.”

Should anyone wish to hear more about the Consumer Confidence study Phillipa Leighton-Jones mentioned, please do get in touch with phillipa.jones@wsj.com

3rd webinar: Rebooting your brand/business in the post COVID-19 world

A really fascinating webinar took place today by The World Media Group.  Our highly esteemed panel held a thought-provoking discussion about how you build/rebuild brand equity through a period of significant disruption.

The panel concluded that to survive the post COVID-19 world brands need to be authentic, meaningful and add value.  The customer has to be the key focus.  The quote of the session was:

“Less Twaddle more focus” David Wheldon

“Connect and simplify” Louisa Loran

Trust continues to grow in importance and brands need to recognise you have to earn this – so doing the “right” thing is vital.

Communication is paramount and brands are encouraged to be bold, but must strike a balance using the right tone.

Data is also the gold thread in strategy but the human interpretation is paramount.

Full key takeouts will follow but in the meantime, if you missed the webinar today please click HERE to watch this really insightful panel discussion.

Key Take Outs: Editors’ Perspectives: How global leaders are responding to the COVID-19 crisis

World Media Group Editors’ Perspectives: How Global Leaders are responding to Covid-19 – Key Take Outs

Five months after the first cases of Covid-19 were reported, there is hope that much of Europe, along with Asia, has passed the peak of infections. But with global leaders responding differently to the crisis, there are discrepancies about what’s being measured, whether we can compare countries, and what we should to do next. The World Media Group invited a panel of journalists, reporters and analysts from six leading international news outlets to shed some light based on their own experiences of reporting on Covid-19.

The panel was chaired by Arif Durrani, Executive Editor, EMEA, for Bloomberg Media Studios. In his opening question, Durrani asked how outlets had covered the virus and what they had learnt as a result.

“What we’ve learnt is to expect the unexpected,” said Adrienne Carter, Asia Editor for The New York Times, based in Hong Kong. “Everything we think is true…is always countered by a different narrative. Everything changes from moment to moment.”

The value of imperfect data

For Alan Smith (OBE), Head of Visual and Data Journalism at the Financial Times, it has been the realisation “that imperfect, uncertain data has never been more valuable.” The crisis has elevated the importance of data and analysis to the news agenda, he said, as “it’s almost impossible to make sense of the situation without using data.”

With the deluge of information since the pandemic was declared, Durrani asked how the panel prioritised what to cover, and how they were tracking what was resonating with their audiences.

Aria Bendix, Senior Reporter at Business Insider USA, based in New York City, who was the first BI reporter assigned to cover Covid-19, explained that Business Insider had always relied on data from their community to determine the focus of stories. She said the “unending stream of interest in the virus” over the past three or four months had led to a greater need for service journalism. Readers have “really simple questions that actually don’t have simple answers in this time,” she said. “And I think that our mission is to satisfy that information first and foremost.”

Smith agreed with the need for service journalism. He said the Financial Times had made much of its Coronavirus coverage free to allow people to keep up with a story that was constantly changing.

Durrani turned to Ishaan Tharoor, Today’s Worldview Columnist at The Washington Post, to understand how he decides what to write about. Although he is based in DC, Tharoor explained that his role was to provide “a more global story and craft and, in many ways, try to hold up examples elsewhere in the world to the American conversation.”

That means drawing comparisons, for example, in showing how South Korea can offer certain lessons to the US and also showing how the US could never emulate what South Korea did, he said. It’s about “recognising the political tendencies of certain types of leadership, leadership styles and how the pandemic is triggering non-health risks to democracies and republics elsewhere,” he said. “It’s about trying to stitch together a sense of where we’re going in this incredibly unpredictable, unprecedented time.”

On the ground challenges

Durrani asked about the challenges and developments in specific regions. Laura Bicker is the BBC Seoul news correspondent, based in South Korea, which has now crushed the curve of Covid-19. Bicker found herself running “into the fire” when Daegu became a hotspot. While she took advice from a high-risk safety team, the situation on the ground often played out differently and she found herself having to make difficult decisions for herself and her team about how close to the frontline they could safely get to tell the story that the readers or viewers needed to know.

Mindy Massucci, Head of Global Content, QuickTake by Bloomberg, based in New York, explained how she has tapped into Bloomberg’s network of journalists across 120 countries for on the ground reporting as the world gradually returns to ‘normal’. Whether she’s talking to a reporter in Berlin getting his first haircut in two months or receiving a photo of what social distancing looks like at one of the oldest shopping malls in Chile, these first-hand accounts demonstrate “what it’s like for life to slowly start creeping back,” she said.

How do we measure progress?

As our minds turn towards recovery, what sort of metrics should we be looking at? According to Business Insider’s Bendix, “Our primary responsibility as journalists is to contextualise this current moment for the public. Obviously, we won’t know where we are in history in the moment, but to provide some sort of educated guess about where we are in the trajectory of this pandemic.”

One of the problems, she said, is that when comparing regions or countries, we are not always comparing ‘like for like’, which can lead to false equivalences because there are “so many confounding factors, right now that can influence how an outbreak actually manifests within the population.”

That’s where a tool like the FT’s Coronavirus tracker comes into play. According to Smith, its “under the bonnet assessment” of different types of data sources reveals just how much you can rely on them to make comparisons – or not.

APAC as a barometer

Looking to the future, Durrani asked what lessons we can learn from countries such as Korea.

Echoing Bendix’s concerns, Bicker said that “it’s not ‘like for like’ so it’s very difficult to say that what’s worked here in South Korea will work in the UK or the United States.” That’s partly because Korea was prepared with testing, she said, so there was never a need for lockdown. The success of the strategy has also come at the cost of privacy, which wouldn’t have been deemed acceptable by other nations.

Carter believes there are lessons the US, UK and Italy could learn from South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She talked about what’s known as ‘everyday life quarantine’ – infrastructure and a social culture that enforces social distancing and hygiene measures – to allow people to ease back into life without a treatment or a vaccine.

Massucci argued that the cultural difference in the US is too extreme for this. Referencing the current protests over mask-wearing, she said, “People, especially, in the United States, are so protective of their rights. They don’t like it when government comes in and tells them they can’t do something.”

Even once we’ve crushed the curve, Bicker believes it will take time to get back to normality. In South Korea, health officials are telling the public a second wave is inevitable, she says, giving an insight into what’s likely to come in the UK, US and Europe.

New levels of engagement reflect hunger for trusted news

Despite polls suggesting that trust in journalism is at an all-time low, engagement appears to be higher than ever. Bicker referenced BBC.com getting 40 million average daily visits in the first couple of weeks of April, and Smith said that the Coronavirus tracker was now the most viewed FT story by “many million page views.” According to Carter, The New York Times has “seen more interest in our journalism than ever before” and the pandemic has “reinforced the importance of on the ground reporting of trusted sources.”

It’s a reminder that in a situation where information can potentially save lives, there is no place for fake or inaccurate news. In the race to break a story, Bloomberg’s Massucci reiterated journalists’ responsibility to double check sources. “One of the things that I say to my team all the time, is I’d rather be late, last and right, than first and wrong.”

Belinda Barker, Director World Media Group

2nd Webinar – Editors’ Perspectives: How different parts of the world are responding to the pandemic and life beyond

A really interesting and thought-provoking webinar took place today by The World Media Group.  Our highly knowledgeable panel held a fascinating discussion about how different parts of the globe are all responding quite differently to the current pandemic climate.

Top quotes from today were “it’s better to be right, than first” and “it’s a crisis but it’s a crisis from which we’ll learn a great deal”.

Full takeouts will follow but in the meantime, if you missed the webinar today please click HERE to watch this really insightful panel discussion.

 

Cause and Effect: How global media brands can engage audiences for action around climate change

By Katya Ionova, Creative Director, UK & EMEA, Business Insider – Member of the World Media Group

With the COVID-19 pandemic presenting an existential threat to many areas of economic activity and human development, it’s no surprise to see governments worldwide prioritising economic recovery above all else. But as we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day today, let’s not forget another of our existential threats – climate emergency.

In late January, when COVID-19 was beginning its global assault, we were embracing the Decade of Action with a renewed commitment to sustainability at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Climate change and sustainability were the most discussed topics. For the first time, WEF’s Global Risk Report was dominated by the environment, with “failure of climate-change mitigation and adaption” cited as the year’s number one long-term risk, according to impact, and top second risk when measuring event likelihood.

Now, just three months later, we’re approaching Earth Day with 2.5M confirmed cases and 175K dead as a result of coronavirus. What may not be so apparent is the direct cause and effect relationship – both positive and negative – between these two existential threats. Global warming has been linked to an increase in diseases that could transfer from animal to human, and mass globalisation has facilitated the spread of such diseases. With more than a fifth of the global population under lockdown, however, COVID-19 could trigger the largest annual fall in CO2 emissions ever this year, due to interrupted energy demand and reduced economic activity.

In 2019, the “Greta effect” elevated climate change onto the global stage and into our collective consciousness. Now, COVID-19 has taken that a step further by enforcing behavioural change on a global level. As we prepare for life after COVID-19 – whatever the “new normal” may look like – we have a real opportunity to impact long-term change. As media organizations with global footprints, we have a responsibility to think about our own cause and effect: the critical issues we choose to cover, from pandemics to sustainability, have the potential to empower audiences into making meaningful and positive change.

At Business Insider that can be seen in our dedication to reporting on companies that balance profit with purpose. In 2018, our CEO and founder, Henry Blodget, issued a call for “better capitalism,” saying that sustainable economic growth comes from providing value for all stakeholders: employees, customers, and society. Since launching the Better Capitalism platform, sustainability has been a core editorial pillar of the company, with a focus on companies that deliver practical outcomes, not just PR hype.

We tell stories about the people and organisations working to solve our biggest problems. One of our most popular series was Saving Our World, a 2018 in-depth newsroom examination of how climate change is altering the way we eat, live, and power the world. This resonated deeply with our audience with engagement far surpassing our expectations.

In 2020, our focus is on the Circular Economy. Coinciding with the UN General Assembly in September, we’ll be launching Closing the Loop, a series about how corporations are operationalising closed-loop systems, and what it will take to make these practices widespread.

We’re not alone in our efforts. Many other World Media Group brands are dedicating more time and resources to ‘impact’ or ‘solutions’ journalism. The New York Times, for example, delivers a comprehensive weekly newsletter from its climate team with stories and insights about climate change, and tips on how to help.

The Washington Post launched Climate Solutions in partnership with Rolex last year, with a focus on individuals, companies, and other organisations that are exploring ways to address our most significant environmental problems. The series highlights people who are committed to reducing their own carbon footprints, and its Climate Curious feature provides readers with ideas for doing the same.

Last September, The Economist dedicated its weekly edition to climate change, with Editor-in-Chief, Zanny Minton Beddoes, saying, “Climate change is sometimes portrayed as something capitalism cannot deal with – or worse, does not want to deal with. That is not our view. Our reporting clearly shows the scale and scope of the problem; we accept that it cannot be solved simply; but we think free markets, smart regulation and liberal values are the key to an effective response.”

 The Economist continues to report regularly on climate change and produces a fortnightly newsletter featuring climate-change analysis. The Economist Films has produced three series of ‘The Protectors Oceans’, examining the science and radical thinking at work in tackling the crisis facing the world’s seas; and The Economist Group’s World Ocean Initiative (WOI) fosters a year-round global conversation on the greatest challenges facing the seas and the progress towards building a truly “blue” economy.

Bloomberg Media launched Bloomberg Green in January, a new editorial platform dedicated to the business, science, and technology of climate change. Focussing on climate change news, analysis and solutions, it includes a website with a global, interactive climate data dashboard, a daily email newsletter, a podcast and a magazine.

Finally, National Geographic has created its first ‘flip’ issue this April to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The issue features two magazines in one, revisiting environmental milestones of the past half-century and looking ahead at the world our descendants will inhabit in 2070. The magazine presents two possible outcomes – firstly, a verdant green earth in which we have successfully reversed climate change; then a browner earth suffering from longer droughts, deadlier heat waves, fiercer storms, and more.

As we approach this year’s Earth Day, ask yourself, which outcome do you want to be responsible for creating?

The next few months will be key. As we search for the path towards the strongest possible economic recovery, media companies have a choice about the causes we continue to spotlight. The COVID-19 outbreak has given us a unique opportunity to heal the planet, but will we be prepared to socially distance ourselves from unsustainable business practices needed to flatten the curve of the persisting environmental crisis?

 

 

 

Key Take Outs: Working with Trusted Media in Times of Crisis

Advertising and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Working with Trusted Media in Times of Crisis:

Brand safety is always high on the agenda for advertisers, but what does this mean in the light of COVID-19? That was the question posed to a panel of 11 industry experts yesterday during a webinar hosted by the World Media Group. The panel was chaired by Alex Altman, Global Client President at Wavemaker.

To view the entire webinar please click the link below:

The role of media in a crisis 

Altman’s first question, addressed to Emma Winchurch-Beale, International Sales Director at the Washington Post, was how the newspaper’s editorial team balanced the need to report what’s going on without causing undue anxiety within its audience.

“People are frightened and it’s our job, along with our colleagues in other news organisations, to be the guiding light and help them through this pandemic,” she said, emphasising the newspaper’s role was to offer reassurance by delivering trusted information, as well as practical advice. To that end, they have created a new COVID-19 subsection on the website, and most of the COVID-19 coverage is free, outside of the pay wall.

Denise Turner, Insight Director, Newsworks, the UK body for national newspapers, agreed that people turn to trusted news sources in times of crisis. She said print subscriptions and newspaper home deliveries were on the rise, and traffic to digital outlets was up by 30-50% in the UK. Engagement is also up: “There’s an uplift in not just dwell time, but also comments on articles [and] shares. So people are not just passively absorbing it, they are actively engaging with the content.”

The need for well-researched trust-worthy content

Johanna Mayer-Jones, SVP of Partnerships at The Atlantic, agreed that the significant spikes in traffic and engagement across the board are because “people are hungry and they need information and news that they can trust at the moment.”

Referencing a popular article called ‘How the pandemic will end’ by Ed Yong, she explained the importance of delivering thoughtful, well-researched, scientific-based content exploring the long-term impacts of the virus. “We want to be thinking about conversations that might take place in two or three day’s time or a week’s time and provide a different type of perspective at this moment.”

Altman turned to Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA at Time,
to ask how they were adapting to consumer expectation of news brands in light of COVID-19.

“First and foremost, this is a humanitarian crisis,” Douglas said, so publishers will look at it through a more humane lens. The shift in commercial modelling to make COVID-19 coverage free was really important as audiences seek accuracy, truth and insight, he said; media organisations and brands must be seen to be going into the breach and not being overly commercial.

Advice for the C-suite

Altman then turned to Alison Harbert, Head of Client Marketing at Investec
to ask how she was advising clients in the current climate. The silver lining, she said, was that it had made Investec “think about who we are actually trying to help and what are we trying to help them with…what we can do that’s really relevant to them.” She also stressed the importance of moving at the right speed in the ever-changing situation.

When questioned about the legacy changes that will stay with us around homeworking, Harbert said that despite the fact we may run back to the office the moment the doors open, she hopes the time away has proved that this can work. “I think, as a human race, that this is forcing us to do some good stuff that maybe we should have done earlier.”

Altman asked Janet Balis, Global Advisory Leader for Media and Entertainment at EY, what advice she was giving to CMOs navigating the current crisis. Balis emphasised three points. “Strike the right brand voice and tone. And I think it starts with the word empathy… expressing a vulnerability in the face of an invisible force that’s larger than all of us.”

Secondly, she said while we often talk about storytelling, what’s important now is how that manifests itself with customers: “Your brand is only as good as your experience.” Finally, this is the “moment to really lean into very agile messaging and much better teaming collaboration,” she said, enabling brands to successfully change messaging at any given time.

Balis said she was now starting to see companies moving out of the initial triage moment of enterprise resiliency and looking forward – what she described as “the now, the next and beyond.”

Fake news still a threat

Addressing questions from the audience about fake news, Altman asked Stevan Randjelovic, Director of Brand Safety & Digital Risk EMEA, Group M, what he recommended. Randjelovic’s advice was firstly to invest in trusted news outlets. He also recommended human vetting of smaller regional or local publishers; using third party verification companies; and, most importantly, constantly monitoring where campaigns are delivering.

Harriet Kingaby, Co-founder of the Conscious Advertising Network, highlighted the human impact of fake news: “We talk very much about human safety as opposed to brand safety because we see that the decisions that advertisers make actually have impacts in the real world.” She cited a recent Newsworks report showing how advertisers pulling money from hard news outlets in times of crisis can cause real problems and encourage the rise of fake news.

How can brands market responsibly during crisis?

Altman’s next question, for Jack Dyson, Global Head of Content Strategy, SAP Customer Experience, was whether brands can continue to market during this time.

Dyson talked about the importance of going back to your brand values and brand purpose, and examining all of your actions through that lens to ensure you’re dealing with customers in the right way. He stressed the importance of tone, and why ‘It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it’ is absolutely critical now. All advertisers needed to do “a sense check that the right message is coming across to the right people in the right way and to the right audience, but also with the right cadence,” he said.

Time’s Douglas believes we’ll see a permanent change in how brands are looking to engage with audiences. “Pre-COVID, we were talking about a different form of capitalism, which means putting brand values front and centre.” He believes that it is the brands “working with genuine motive,’ and guiding people through the current crisis – such as McLaren developing protective wear or Louis Vuitton creating hand sanitisers – that will be remembered when we come out the other side.

Alex Delamain, President of The World Media Group and SVP Head of Sales & Client Services EMEA, The Economist, wrapped up the webinar with her key takes outs:

  1. It all starts with humanity. As publishers, we have a huge responsibility to be helpful and generous in this time of crisis.
  2. Brands must strike the right tone – empathy and compassion is key.
  3. Brands need to be connected with their customers through partnerships, relationships and ‘companionship’.
  4. Brands need to be much more agile – traditional digital transformation needs to move much faster.
  5. Brand purpose really comes into play now – we have to look at everything through that filter to ensure authenticity.

Closing on a positive note, Delamain reiterated Balis’s point: “We’re in the now, but there’s the next, and beyond. As brands, it’s really important that we start thinking about life after COVID-19 because it will come.”

Belinda Barker
World Media Group Director

Webinar – Working with Trusted Media in Times of Crisis – Final thoughts from the panel

Here is a wonderful section captured at the end of the WMG webinar when each of the panellists shared their very personal views on what has surprised them the most (in business and human behaviour) about what has happened since the Covid-19 pandemic began.

The overriding feeling was that there has been an amazing sense of community, an underlying positivity which has brought everyone together.  The world has got smaller and become a united force.  That can’t be a bad thing.

Please click on this image for the panellists final thoughts:

Panellists from L-R:

Top: Emma Winchurch-Beale, International Sales Director, Washington Post; Stevan Randjelovic, Director Brand Safety, Group M; Janet Balis, Global Advisory Leader, EY Advisory; Johanna Mayer-Jones, SVP of Partnerships, The Atlantic

Middle: Denise Turner, Insight Director, Newsworks; Alex Altman, Global Client President, Wavemaker; Jack Dyson, Global Head of Content Strategy, SAP Customer Experience; Damian Douglas, Managing Director EMEA, Time

Bottom: Alison Harbert, Head of Client Marketing, Investec; Harriet Kingaby, Co-founder, Conscious Advertising Network; Alex Delamain, SVP Head of Sales & Client Services EMEA, The Economist

To view the entire webinar, please go to: https://wmg.wavecast.io/working-with-trusted-media-in-times-of-crisis/live

UBS CMO Johan Jervoe Wins This Year’s ‘Content Leadership & Innovation Award’ as the World Media Awards 2020 Shortlist is Announced

UBS CMO Johan Jervoe Wins This Year’s ‘Content Leadership & Innovation Award’ as the World Media Awards 2020 Shortlist is Announced

London, Thursday 12th March: The World Media Group*has announced the shortlist for the 2020 World Media Awards (WMAs), which showcase the world’s best content-driven, cross-border advertising campaigns. This was a record year for the WMAs with entries up by 50 percent. The awards attracted strong international interest from Australia, Chile, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, the UK and the USA amongst other countries, spanning APAC, EMEA and the Americas.

Johan Jervoe, CMO at UBS was announced as the winner of the WMAs Content Leadership & Innovation Award today.This award is for the individual recognised by peers for their talent in creating exemplary content-driven campaigns with brand bravery, creativity and innovation. Jervoe will receive his special award at this year’s WMAs celebration.

The shortlist includes a wide variety of renowned international brands, including Audi, Bayer, British Airways, Canon, Formula One, Levi’s, PlayStation, Prada, Shell, BNP Paribas, Samsung and Sonos.

The entries were shortlisted by an international team of over 30 heavyweight jurors from leading advertisers, agencies and publishers, reflecting the vital importance of collaboration between all three parties when creating effective content-driven marketing campaigns. The jury is Co-Chaired by Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom.The full list of judges can be seen here.

Says Krichefski, “We had a stellar line-up of contenders for the Content Leadership & Innovation Award this year and choosing a winner was incredibly tough. All nominees have demonstrated brand bravery, creativity and innovation in pushing the boundaries of content marketing to achieve outstanding results. In the end, Johan Jervoe edged out the competition with his bold approach to developing the UBS brand identity and strategy, backed up by his commitment to driving industry best practice around viewability measurement and audience targeting.”

Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Sales,EMEA, at The Economist, adds:“As the World Media Awards celebrates its fifth year, we have been delighted to see a substantial increase in high quality entries from all over the world. Supporting authentic storytelling through journalistic and commercial content is at the heart of what the World Media Group does so I’m pleased to see such a diverse range of campaigns from almost 40 international brands on the shortlist,demonstrating the valuable role content marketing plays in bringing stories to life.”

Awards Reception: The final category winners will be announced at the World Media Awards Reception at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on Thursday 30th April. The winner of this year’s prestigious Grand Prix Award will also be announced on the night, joining previous years’ Grand Prix winners, London & Partners, Tata Motors, Shell and Fox as the ‘best of the best’.

Winners’ Perks: The Awards are unique in that all winners not only walk away with a trophy and kudos on the night, but will also see their work celebrated in an exclusive worldwide advertising campaign valued at €650K+ which will run across leading international media brands: The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, all members of the World Media Group.

The 2020 shortlist is as follows:

Automotive

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Audi – Electric Earth National Geographic Partners
Bentley – An Extraordinary Journey To The Future PHD Global Business
Porsche Taycan – The Electric Dialogue PHD Global
Renault LATAM – Competition Is In Your DNA Havas Media Argentina
Volkswagen – For The Many, Not The Few – The ID.3 PHD Global Business

Brand / Media Partnership

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
DBLTAP & Alita: Battle Angel Minute Media
Astana International Financial Centre – My Kazakhstan Astana International Financial Centre
British Airways – BA 100 Modern Britons The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
Corteva Agriscience– Follow The Food BBC StoryWorks
DXC Technology – The Winning Edge The Economist Group
Renaissance– Discover This Way Spark Foundry
Samsung – TV Is Making History Again Starcom
Sheraton – Global Experience, Local Connections Spark Foundry

Corporate Influencer

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Bayer – Can We Live Better? MediaCom
Corteva Agriscience– Follow The Food BBC StoryWorks
Shell – The Great Travel Hack Mediacom
Tech Mahindra – In The Future The Trust |The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
VistaJet– Secrets Of The CEO The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group

Financial Services

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Astana International Financial Centre – My Kazakhstan Astana International Financial Centre
BNP Paribas – The Challenge Of Sustainable Finance Mapp Media
UBS – Are You Investing In What Matters To You? Spark Foundry
UBS – Why Doing Good Can Be Good For Your Portfolio WP BrandStudio, The Washington Post

Lifestyle, Luxury & Fashion

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Audemars Piguet – Art Series T Brand Studio, The New York Times
Essity–Viva La Vulva Zenith
Levi’s – What Does Performance Mean To You? OMD EMEA
Prada EcoNyl – What We Carry National Geographic Partners
Zenith Watches – Zenith El Primero – A Forgotten Treasure KR Wavemaker

 

Media & Entertainment

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Electronic Arts – FIFA20 ‘Play Wrong’ m/SIX
Formula 1 –Bolder And Braver Wins The Race Wavemaker Global
PlayStation Store – PlayStation: Black Friday EMEA MediaCom
Walls – Unilever – Talking Ice Cream 2019 Mindshare WW

 

Technology & Telecoms

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Canon – Rugby World Cup 2019 PHD International
HP – Go For Growth PHD Global
Samsung – Powering Urban Nomads Starcom
Samsung – TV Is Making History Again Starcom
Sonos–Brilliant Sound At Intersections Of Culture And Cool Vizeum & 360i, Dentsu Group
Tech Mahindra – In The Future The Trust |The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group
Teradata –From Data To Answers Forbes

Travel & Tourism

Brand/ Campaign Entered by
Emirates– Captains Of Africa BBC StoryWorks
Narok County Government– Moments Of Wonder Reuters Plus
South African Tourism – Where Great Minds Meet CNBC Catalyst
Tourism Australia – From Country To Company UM Australia
Tourism New Zealand – Welcome To New Zealand National Geographic Partners
VistaJet– Secrets Of The CEO The Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group

Details of the shortlisted entries can be found here.

#ENDS#

Media contact:

Charlotte Panther T: 07834 431206 or E:charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

 *About the World Media Group:
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of leading international media organizations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and associate members: Moat, Smartology and The Smithsonian. Visit www.world-media-group.com for further information.

Journalism 2020: The Rise of Populism KEY TAKEAWAYS

Fake news surrounds us. To an extent, it always has: propaganda, misinformation and lies are as old as language itself. But the rise of technology, the power and influence wielded by the internet, by social media, has meant that fakery has become more sophisticated, more widespread and more damaging to trust in the media than ever before.

The concept of journalism is founded on truth and impartiality. But when those founding principles have perceivably been brought into disrepute, whether deserved or not, media companies and outlets must act.

The World Media Group kicked off its 2020 events calendar with a session looking at this subject, and asking: what are the implications of fake news, for journalism and advertising, and what can news organisations do to counter the public’s growing disaffection with the media?

The session was chaired by Sarah Thorpe, managing director, Europe at The New York Times, who kicked off proceedings asking panellists to try to define the sometimes nebulous term.

Fake news: nothing new

“Fake news has been in existence as long as news has been in existence, in very varying degrees whether through bias, opinion or downright manipulation of information,” said Phillipa Leighton-Jones, editorial director, innovation at The Wall Street Journal.

“What’s changed is the velocity and sophistication of the tools available, which is in many cases playing into an increasingly polarised political environment. [Fake news] could conceivably mean everything from the most sophisticated deep-fake to someone not being honest about where their information has come from in an otherwise respected newspaper.

For Anne McElvoy, senior editor and head of Economist Radio at The Economist, fake news boils down to motivation. “Fake news has to be about the intention to distort or deceive,” she said. “If that’s not the intention then it’s not fake news. We should also be aware that the media is capable of committing fake news without meaning to. It’s something we have to transparent about. What do we do when we screw up?”

Mary Wilkinson, head of editorial content at BBC Global News, cited a Reuters report from last year that “showed that in the UK alone, trust in news has dropped from 55% in 2015 to just 40% last year”.

“So I think as a reputable broadcaster, we need to do our utmost to ensure truth stands out from the crowd and that people know there are places to go to for accurate and impartial information.”

Hazel Baker, global head of UGC news gathering at Reuters, hates the term ‘fake news’. “It’s so broad, it’s ill-defined and tells you nothing,” she said. “It’s been used by politicians and members of the public. I think categorisation is really important when it comes to actually assessing problems and understanding. The broad categories in fake news are misinformation – the spreading of false information – and disinformation – the deliberate spreading of false information.”

Undermining advertiser trust

As a cultural malaise, fake news has worrying implications for brands and their relationship with media owners.

“The net impact is that often advertisers don’t know where to go,” said Leighton-Jones. “In some cases this has led to instances of ‘blacklisting’, where advertisers won’t place ads against key words such as ‘Trump’. It’s a crude measure.

“Overall, what that loss of confidence among advertisers could mean for media at large is less funding for quality journalism, which costs a lot of money to make.”

Wilkinson concurred. “I think it’s in the interests of advertisers where their ads are going to be,” she said. “Subscriptions are rapidly growing, but good quality journalism is still dependent on advertiser revenue. I would buy direct, you don’t always have to go via the advertising platforms.”

Reining in anti-social media

The degree of power and the influence wielded by social platforms is having a detrimental effect on reporting, according to Alex Wood, Europe editor at Forbes, who argued that journalism needed to retain its historically more considered approach to the gathering and dissemination of information.

“It’s about slowing down,” he said. “We’re becoming obsessed with the clicks – the race to get into Google News is a race to the bottom.”

It’s a point that resonated with all the panelists, the consensus being that greater regulation governing online platforms was of paramount importance.

Wood in particular welcomed this month’s news that Ofcom will be given greater powers over social media, which will force them to act over harmful or overtly erroneous content.

The “idea that they don’t have the same responsibilities as publishers” is a massive concern, he said. “When they have the capacity to change opinion and change the world, they have to abide by the same standards. The game is really up for platforms. This idea that they can pretend they don’t have the same responsibilities as a publisher is wildly dated. When you think of the capacity they have to influence opinion and to change the world, I think they have to behave in the same way, to the same standards.”

In the main, standards among news organisations are as high as they have ever been. But in order to combat public scepticism  – and to reassure advertisers – communicating that fact has become crucial.

Accordingly, the BBC has a public-facing website that “covers everything from misinformation to disinformation, debunking rumours and theories doing the rounds on social media”, Wilkinson said.

The truth will out

Meanwhile, the broadcaster last year convened the Trusted News Summit. “We’re now working with a number of partners because no one publisher can do this on their own,” she said. “It includes the FT, Facebook, Google, Reuters, AFP, where we’re going to try and set up an early warning system because in certain situations, particularly in developing or new democracies, disinformation is actively dangerous.

“We’re trying to establish a framework where one publisher can alert everyone else and the tech platforms and hopefully nip things in the bud before they go completely viral.”

Wilkinson is optimistic about the future.

“On polarising subjects, there’ll always be people who believe what they want to believe. But there will be subjects where they will need to know the facts, and if those publications have a track record of being accurate and impartial, they will turn to those outlets. The antidote to all this is keep on doing very good journalism, explain your methods and when you make mistakes, admit them, and hopefully the truth will out.”

Belinda Barker
World Media Group

Photos: Jane Clipston

2020 World Media Awards Submissions Deadline Extended to Thursday 13th February

Winners of Each Category to Receive a Worldwide Advertising Campaign Valued at €650k+

London, Thursday 6th February, 2020: The World Media Group,a strategic alliance of the world’s leading media brands, has extended its deadline for this year’s World Media Awards (WMAs) by one week to Thursday 13th February. The organisers are calling out for submissions from all over the world that demonstrate the best in cross platform, cross border, content-driven advertising.

The free-to-enter awards are now in their fifth year and offer winners the opportunity to be acknowledged as global leaders in international content-led advertising. The WMAs are unique in not only giving recognition of the category winners’ work through the trophy on the night, but by also celebrating all winning campaigns in a world-wide advertising campaign valued at more than €650k. The winners’ ad campaign runs across leading international media brands The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, CNBC, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, The New York Times, Reuters, Time, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, all members of the World Media Group.

Alex Delamain, President of the World Media Group and SVP, Head of Sales & Client Services, EMEA, The Economist said, “As content has become an increasingly important part of the marketing mix, the number of entries and the quality of submissions has risen significantly since the WMAs began five years ago. We’ve extended the entry deadline today to encourage even more participation from all over the world. I look forward to seeing a diverse range of innovative campaigns that represent best-in-class, content-driven marketing.”

Last year’s winning entries included Grand Prix winners, FOX, along with Amgen, Audi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Formula 1, Incredible India and Siemens.

How to enter: Entry to the WMAs at http://sandbox.world-media-group.com/awards/is free* although entrants are invited to make a voluntary donation to Reporters Without Borders.  Advertisers and media owners and their media, PR and creative agencies can enter all categories. Campaigns must have intentionally targeted audiences in at least three countries and 75% of activity needs to have been implemented in 2019. There is no requirement for campaigns to have run in any of the World Media Group brands.

Judging: To reflect the importance of collaboration in creating successful international, content-driven advertising campaigns, the independent jury includes more than 30 heavy-weight judges from brands, agencies and media owners, presided over by Josh Krichefski, CEO, EMEA at Mediacom.The full list of judges can be seen here.

Categories: This year there are eight Award categories, along with the Content Leadership & Innovation award. The jury will select the Grand Prix from amongst the category winners, as follows:

  • Automotive
  • Brand & Media Owner Partnership
  • Corporate Influencer
  • Financial Services
  • Lifestyle, Luxury & Fashion
  • Media & Entertainment
  • Technology and Telecoms
  • Travel & Tourism


Awards event: The winners will be announced at the exclusive World Media Awards Reception at the Ham Yard Hotel in London on 30th April 2020.  Shortlisted entrants will receive two free tickets to join the celebration as guests of the World Media Group, and additional tickets will be available for purchase.

*Awards cost £100 per entry for media owners.

** ENDS **

Media contact: Charlotte Panther
M: 07834431206
E: charlottepantherpr@gmail.com

About the World Media Group:
The World Media Group is a strategic alliance of leading international media organisations that connects brands with highly engaged, influential audiences in the context of trusted and renowned journalism. Its members include The Atlantic, BBC Global News, Bloomberg Media Group, Business Insider, The Economist, Forbes, Fortune, National Geographic, Reuters, The New York Times, Time, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and associate members: Moat, Smartology and The Smithsonian. Visit www.world-media-group.com for further information.