Hello and welcome to the latest edition of OMD FWD. As Twitter numbers soar, Google spares your blushes by helping you find your parked car, whilst Amazon Echo tells you what it really thinks of your outfit. You can even chew the fat with Albert Einstein on Messenger and once you’re done, learn how to give your brain a much-needed digital detox.
Hello and welcome to the latest edition of OMD FWD. As Twitter numbers soar, Google spares your blushes by helping you find your parked car, whilst Amazon Echo tells you what it really thinks of your outfit. You can even chew the fat with Albert Einstein on Messenger and once you’re done, learn how to give your brain a much-needed digital detox.
In 2013 we learned that 232M people lived outside their country of origin, with each successive generation becoming more multicultural.
Millennials are the most diverse generation in history. Only 59% are Caucasian and 27% have an immigrant background (Deloitte 2015). So it’s no surprise they’re causing a huge shift in attitudes to diversity and inclusivity.
Once, the diversity issue was moral, and brand responses were tokenistic. Now, millennials see it as empowering. They define it by how it relates to a mix of unique experiences, identities, ideas and opinions. They expect brands to reflect this ‘omnicultural’ mind-set in their media and marketing.
80% of parents say they like seeing diverse families in marketing. 41% of millennial parents are more likely to buy products from brands that use diverse family types in their advertising.
In the past, the term inclusivity primarily implied acceptance and tolerance of gender, race and ethnicity. Now, the focus in on using collaborative tools to drive business impact. Multicultural consumers see themselves as part of a new mainstream. They have access to an infinite combination of choices and products to suit their lifestyles and tastes.
There is now a higher value placed on teamwork – millennials value a culture of connectivity. They feel empowered when they believe their employer fosters an inclusive nature.
They love to share their experiences and explore the cultures of others. In doing so, they influence mainstream consumers and expand the multicultural market opportunity. Their increased social media and technology adoption has accelerated this.
Brand implications
Multicultural consumers tend to gravitate to brands, products and activities that reinforce their cultural roots but also allow them to explore new identities.
Millennials are demanding that brands, assets and campaigns are more creative, provocative and challenging. Brands, therefore, need to recognise that inclusivity starts in-house. They need to deviate from accepted story lines around identity, for example.
Brands can go further than just reflecting a broad range of identities in their advertising. There are huge opportunities in constructing a narrative around a ‘no normal’ mindset. Brands are increasingly representing disabled, homosexual and gender fluid consumers in their advertising.
A great example is US bank Wells Fargo’s #WhyIWork campaign. Their ad featuring a lesbian couple learning sign language before adopting a young deaf girl garnered 1.6m views on YouTube.
A year later, Channel 4 launched its ‘Superhumans Wanted’ initiative. It encouraged brands to creative innovative advertising featuring disabled people. The winning ad was shown during the first ad break of the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Finally, OMD was proud to broker a partnership between QuidCo and LGBT+ publication Attitude earlier this year. Timed to coincide with London Fashion Week, it provided Attitude’s readers with a new way to get the catwalk look for less.
Want to explore this talking idea more? Contact us at [email protected]
Could you go off the grid and evade capture from some of the UK’s leading surveillance experts? Hunted was a new thriller from Channel 4 that challenged 14 people to do exactly that, with trained detectives snapping at their heels as they were on the run.
OMD UK’s challenge was to launch the show and ultimately get people to tune in.
The Idea
With one surveillance camera for every 11 people in the UK, the show would make viewers imagine life on the run. OMD UK used this fact to do something that has never done before – they turned media into surveillance equipment and recreated the paranoia of being hunted.
The team brought the ‘invisible net’ of the surveillance power of the UK to life, putting people in the shoes of ‘the hunted’ and showing the difficulty of the task they were facing.
Making it Happen
OMD UK developed a staggering 325 different creative messages that ran across 114 formats on 37 media channels. Each ad was personal, reaching them in places they least expected and surprising them as they went about their day. Every single creative was contextually aligned with each individual media format:
ATM cash machine screens told you to ‘cut up your card’
Personalised Starbucks cups said ‘Don’t tell anyone your name’
Public transport said to ‘hide your face’
Travel card wallets told you ‘This is a tracking device’
Receipts warned you ‘you’ve told them where you are, run’
Petrol stations advised you to ‘abandon your car’
Beer mats proclaimed ‘you have no mates’
Mirrors said to ‘change your identity’
Club stamps told people to ‘give a false name’
Train panels instructed you to ‘leave town and never come back’
Public telephones warned you to ‘never call your family’
Public toilets told you to ‘leave no trace’
Roadside panels advised you to ‘be prepared to eat anything’
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Results
There were over 19,000 tweets about Hunted on the build-up to the first episode and OMD UK smashed their campaign targets.
OMD IS ONCE AGAIN THE MOST MEDALED MEDIA AGENCY IN CANNES
OMD has once again proved to be an indomitable force as we were hailed as the most awarded media agency network, earning a total of 63 lions across many different categories. Winning 3 grand prix, 9 gold, 16 silver and a staggering 35 bronze. OMD has again without doubt stolen a march on its competitors at one of the most prestigious creative events in the industry.
OMD’s accolades were awarded for work across a broad spectrum of client categories – including automotive, CPG, financial services, media, retail, sports goods and technology – by OMD agencies across the globe. On top of being the most awarded media agency in the Media category, OMD also topped the ranking in 7 further categories including Digital Craft, Creative Effectiveness, Cyber, Integrated, Film, Film Craft and Health & Wellness.
OMD WINS SPAN GLOBE AND CATEGORIES
OMD SWEDEN – SLOW DOWN GPS, IF INSURANCE (6 TOTAL – 1 GOLD, 1 SILVER, 4 BRONZE)
OMD SWEDEN – THE ORGANIC EFFECT, COOP (4 TOTAL – 1 GRAND PRIX, 1 GOLD, 1 SILVER, 1 BRONZE)
MG OMD UK – TINY DANCER, JOHN LEWIS INSURANCE (3 TOTAL – 1 GOLD, 2 BRONZE)
OMD SWEDEN – THE FISH, KLARNA (2 TOTAL – 2 BRONZE)
OMD SWEDEN – THE CHEESE, KLARNA (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD SWEDEN – THE SWIM, KLARNA (2 TOTAL – 2 BRONZE)
OMD UK – HUMANS, CHANNEL 4 (2 TOTAL – 2 SILVER)
MG OMD UK – THE MAN ON THE MOON, JOHN LEWIS (2 TOTAL – 1 SILVER, 1 BRONZE)
MG OMD UK – MONTY’S CHRISTMAS, JOHN LEWIS (1 TOTAL – 1 GRAND PRIX)
OMD UAE – I CAN TEACH YOU TOO, DUBAI CARES (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD ITALY – DACIA FAMILY PROJECT, RENAULT ITALIA (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD GERMANY – KEYS OF HOPE, DEUTSCHER CARITASVERBAND / CARITAS INTERNATIONAL (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD ITALY – BUSINESS BOOSTER, RENAULT ITALIA (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD UK – HUNTED, CHANNEL 4 (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
MG OMD UK – A GROUND-BREAKING CAMPAIGN TO COMBAT LONELINESS, JOHN LEWIS (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD UAE – CHAMPIONS HIJACK, GO SPORT (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD USA – THE SUPER BOWL DUNK, GATORADE (5 TOTAL – 1 GOLD, 1 SILVER, 3 BRONZE)
OMD USA – GE PODCAST THEATRE PRESENTS THE MESSAGE, GE (3 TOTAL – 2 GOLD, 1 BRONZE)
OMD USA – IN-A-SNAP, LOWE’S (3 TOTAL – 1 SILVER, 2 BRONZE)
OMD USA – NYT VR, THE NEW YORK TIMES, NYT VR, T BRAND STUDIO, GOOGLE, GE, MINI (1 TOTAL – 1 GRAND PRIX)
OMD USA – THE LADY GAGA + INTEL PERFORMANCE, INTEL (1 TOTAL – 1 GOLD)
OMD USA – COLOR BARS, APPLE (1 TOTAL – 1 SILVER)
OMD USA – INTEL WINTER X GAMES 2016, INTEL (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD USA – RAINBOWS, DORITOS (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD USA – PEPSI + EMPIRE PARTNERSHIP, PEPSICO (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD USA – HISTORY OF SOUND, APPLE (1 TOTAL – 1 BRONZE)
OMD NEW ZEALAND – UNFORGOTTEN SOLDIERS, SKY TELEVISION NEW ZEALAND (7 TOTAL – 3 SILVER, 4 BRONZE)
OMD NEW ZEALAND – HELLO, NZ TRANSPORT AGENCY (1 TOTAL – 1 GOLD)
OMD COSTA RICA – #LEYDEMIERDA (#SHITLAW), TERRITORIO DE ZAGUATES (2 TOTAL – 1 SILVER, 1 BRONZE)
OMD DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – END THE SILENCE, LA SIRENA (2 TOTAL – 1 GOLD, 1 SILVER)
Mainardo de Nardis, Global CEO, OMD Worldwide said, “We are thrilled and proud to have been awarded and recognised once again for our commitment to stronger, smarter and better work for our clients. Creativity remains at the core of everything we do at OMD and as the landscape changes in our industry we have the agility and the talent to lead and equally make our clients leaders in their categories as well. We wish to thank all of our incredible clients that make this possible – and our people, without whom none of this would be possible”
This is Christmas. And this is the John Lewis Christmas campaign. This is arguably the most high-profile marketing campaign in the UK and the most significant commercial period for all retailers. Each new John Lewis Christmas campaign is hotly anticipated, analysed, debated, critiqued, rated and talked about. Failing to engage the nation will therefore have a significant commercial, social and cultural impact on the John Lewis brand.
The pressure to succeed is only extended by the fact that every retailer is desperately trying to topple John Lewis’ position as theUK’s favourite Christmas advertiser. Resting on past glories was never an option.
The idea- first anticipation, then imagination
John Lewis sits in a truly privileged position. People are genuinely excited about seeing the latest ‘John Lewis Christmas ad’. With this natural anticipation, we set out to start conversations about Monty even before he had been launched.
Monty is a penguin and the best friend of a little boy, Sam. To the viewer, Monty is a real-life penguin. But by the end of the ad we discover that Monty is actually Sam’s well-loved soft toy. A child’s imagination is a wonderful thing; many like Sam bring their favourite toy to life. With this insight, we created a campaign that encouraged imagination and people to see things with childlike wonder!
Bringing it to live with powerful media and tech partnerships
With so much riding on Christmas, we placed huge emphasis on collaboration. As such, we started briefing media owners at the start of the summer and in the true spirit of partnership we gave them unprecedented client, creative and agency access.
To get the nation talking about Monty even before the very first spot we turned to Channel 4. They proposed an innovative approach to seeding the penguin by allowing him to be integrated in their station trailers, where the four logo is constructed out of moving objects. These would then be used as 10” teasers promoting the launch spot in Gogglebox within an entire ad break takeover!
To stimulate imagination we installed a ‘Monty’s Den’ (i.e. grotto) into every store, where children and their parents could deepen their relationship with our penguin star.
In partnership with Google, we created ‘Monty’s Goggles’ for every ‘Den’, where we used Google Cardboard to deliver an immersive virtual reality experience – putting Monty and innovative technology in the hands of our shoppers to stimulate their own minds!
In the flagship Oxford Street store the digital technology was taken a step further with ‘Monty’s Magical Toy Machine’. In partnership with Microsoft we developed a technological first; whereby children’s soft toys were digitally scanned and then brought to life before their eyes, so they could dance together with their favourite cuddly friend on the latest 4K TV screens. A truly magical event!
The results
2014 was the Christmas of Monty
Specifically, the anticipation and imagination activity made Monty a marketing star:
5m tuned in for the C4 premiere with break retention at 91% up from LY (89%)
There were 5m conversations around #MontyThePenguin before the ad had even launched
John Lewis was the first UK retailer to use Google Cardboard and ‘Monty’s Goggles’ was made available in all 44 stores across 92 handsets / cardboard devices
Over 2,600 children brought their own favourite toy to life with Microsoft’s ‘Monty’s Magical Toy Machine’, which equates to 5 scans an hour across the 7 weeks
Commercially, Monty the Penguin helped John Lewis deliver a bumper Christmas with sales up 5.5% YoY vs. a market increase of only 1.5% (source: British Retail Consortium).
By Claire Dean, Strategy Director OMD UK, and Chris Evans, Business Director OMD UK
Humans was the brand new drama from Channel 4 that imagined a world where synthetic humans (“synths”) are the new must-have household gadget. It asked what it means to be human – if synths can drive a car and raise a child, what is our role in the world?
Our challenge was to demonstrate the show’s appeal beyond the sci-fi geek and get people to tune in. We needed to do this and stay true to Channel 4’s ‘challenger’ remit of disrupting the status quo.
Our insight
We realised that the issues that surfaced in the show were already attracting heated public discussion, with commentary from the likes of Professor Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk on the risks of artificial intelligence fuelling the debate further.
The idea of synths playing a role in real human life evoked a very emotional response.
Our challenge was to take this cerebral theoretical debate into the mainstream, make it real, and absolutely relevant so that ordinary people weighed in with their viewpoints and tuned in every week to watch.
Making Persona Synthetics a reality
The solution was to launch Persona Synthetics, the fictional company from the show, as a real business, promoting synths as genuine products available for purchase.
To ‘launch’ the Persona Synthetics brand in under eight weeks was a near impossible task. This wasn’t just about planning and booking media: we assembled a SWAT team with key people from across OMD UK and Fuse, partnering with Channel 4 Marketing, 4creative, and our media partners Microsoft and eBay – as well as PR teams from all parties.
Bringing it to life
It started with a Persona Synthetics TV advert, free from any Channel 4 branding. Social media accounts on Twitter and Facebook supported the belief that Persona Synthetics were real, and then came the physical heart of our campaign: a flagship store on London’s Regent Street.
The storefront dominated the high street, sitting next door to the world famous Hamley’s toy shop and across the road from London’s iconic Apple Store. The frontage housed two 90” digital screens which incorporated the latest Microsoft Kinect technology, allowing people to personalise synths through gesture control. We had actors posing as Persona Synthetics employees delivering synths to the store, reinforcing the illusion that these products were available to buy – right there, right then. Print, digital and social ads directed people to the shop, allowing us to behave in every way like a real retail launch.
We secured eBay as our online retail partner where we pretended to auction off two synth models. This was the first time a fictional brand has been sold on the site.
“Convincing the nation that synthetic humans were real products available for purchase and helping to get over six million people to tune into the premiere of Humans was an incredible achievement. We were proud to work with our partners to make this campaign happen and it truly set the benchmark for advertising last year.”
Laura Ward, Channel 4 Group Marketing Manager
The results
The rich mix of campaign elements came together beautifully to produce game-changing results: Persona Synthetics trended as the #1 search on Google and Twitter on opening weekend and within three weeks, Persona Synthetics’ website had over 1 million hits.
Most importantly, a staggering 6.1 million people tuned into episode 1, over three times our target number. Humans became Channel 4’s highest rating originated drama of all time.
OMD was recently crowned the most creative global network by the Gunn Report for the 10th consecutive year. The Gunn Report is the industry’s official measure of creativity and innovation. In the last year OMD has had an outstanding run, being awarded over 340 accolades in EMEA alone, of which almost 20 were for Agency of the Year.
This prestigious achievement is not only reflective of our global community but a fabulous recognition of the dedication of our teams and the great work that is being carried out in this region. The inspiration and drive that produces this great work comes from collaboration with some of the most dynamic and forward-thinking clients in the world. We would like to thank our clients, media partners, and all our employees across the region who ensure we are always asking, always thinking and always doing – the benchmarks for success in any marketing performance company.
Over the next ten weeks we will be celebrating this mighty accolade to creativity by deep diving into some of our award winning work from the last year: from McDonald’s Top Chef and John Lewis Monty the Penguin, to Disney Star Wars Rebels Alliance and Talk to Google. Each week we will showcase the innovation and creativity that validates our position as the most awarded agency in the world. This week we will lift the bonnet on the hugely successful Channel 4 Humans, a phenomenal campaign by OMD UK, which made the theme of artificial intelligence exciting and relevant to mainstream audiences, convinced people synths were real, delivered 6.1 million viewers of the first episode and gave Channel 4 their highest rated originated drama of all time.
