Good morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.
London’s Heathrow Airport has said around 15% of its schedule will be impacted on Monday as the airport alters flights for the Queen’s state funeral.
100 British Airways flights will be impacted, as well as four for Virgin Atlantic, in a move intended to make sure the skies above London are quiet during the event, reports the BBC.
In terms of timings, there will be a stopper on arrivals between 13:45 and 14:20 during the procession of the hearse, as well as no departures between 15:03 and 16:45.
The airport has apologised for the change to schedule, saying in a statement “as a mark of respect, operations to and from the airport will be subject to appropriate changes in order to avoid noise disruption at certain locations at specific times on Monday”.
Cancellations for British Airways are short-haul flights in Europe, and the airline has said it will be adding larger vehicles where possible to help customers re-book their flights.
READ MORE: Queen’s funeral: Heathrow cancels flights on Monday
Kanye West, who now goes by Ye, has terminated his partnership with fashion retailer Gap, sending a letter to the chain on Thursday.
The partnership between Gap and West’s brand Yeezy was announced in June 2020, and the termination comes as West’s lawyer told the Associated Press that “Gap left Ye no choice but to terminate their collaboration agreement because of Gap’s substantial noncompliance”.
The statement continued to say: “Ye had diligently tried to work through these issues with Gap both directly and through counsel. He has gotten nowhere.”
West’s reasoning for the termination is that the retailer had been too slow to make moves in the partnership, including not opening promised stores, and being slow in making items available at its on-site locations.
Gap has said it will continue with its planned release of the Yeezy Gap range, according to a memo sent to employees by Gap CEO and brand president Mark Breitbard, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Read more: Gap and Kanye West Are Ending Their Partnership
Adobe has agreed to purchase design software company Figma for around $20bn (£17.5bn), double what the service was valued at in its most recent private funding round last year.
The company, which launched in 2012, is a tool for developers and designers that allows them to work together remotely and design assets.
The company’s cofounder and CEO Dylan Field says: “There’s such an opportunity (and need) to make design and developer tools more collaborative and accessible.”
“When we started Figma, our stated vision was to “eliminate the gap between imagination and reality.” I believe we can reach this goal substantially faster through our plan to join forces with Adobe and leveraging their legendary team plus decades of expertise,” he continues, citing that the deal will allow Figma to accelerate its growth with access to Adobe technology.
As the FT reports, the acquisition, at the time of signing, was the most expensive US private company sale, following WhatsApp being bought by Facebook for $19bn (£16.6bn) in 2014.
Adobe’s chief executive Shantanu Narayen says the deal will be “transformative” for Adobe.
READ MORE: Adobe to buy design company Figma for $20bn
Morrisons has laid out its plan for opening thousands more Morrisons Daily stores, adding to the 486 that the supermarket chain already has across the UK and Channel Islands. The company’s wholesale director Paul Dobson says the chain is working “towards the next milestone”.
At this year’s Convenience Conference, he said: “Ultimately our ambition is to have stores numbers in the thousands, not the hundreds, in the future and by adding more high-quality retailers we will build those numbers.”
The news comes as Morrisons was knocked out of the UK supermarket top 4, as Aldi took over its position.
Dobson stated that right now, 35% of people in Great Britain are within a 10-minute drive of a Morrisons Daily store. The chain first opened its convenience led sites in 2017.
Helping the move is Morrison’s deal with McColl’s, which it bought for £190.1m in May this year, and in July had already converted 200 of the ex-McColl’s stores into Morrisons Daily sites.
READ MORE: Morrisons to open thousands of daily stores
Louis Vuitton owner LVMH has said it plans on lowering the thermostat in its stores around the world as part of a raft of energy-saving changes this winter.
Stores will see their lights turned off earlier, and will be kept off between 10pm and 7am, and offices will be in the dark from 9pm. The move from the world’s largest high-end goods conglomerate is expected to help it cut its energy use by 10%, reports the Guardian.
The news comes following French president Emmanuel Macron’s call to France to reduce its consumption as it approaches the colder months.
Just this week, Paris authorities announced the Eiffel Tower would go dark an hour earlier than usual, as its lights will be turned off in an energy-saving move.
READ MORE: Louis Vuitton reduces thermostat and light use in shops to save energy
John Lewis admits it “could not have predicted” the scale of the cost of living crisis, as “unprecedented” levels of inflation take a toll on the business.
The partnership made a £99m loss in the 26 weeks to 30 July, attributed in large part to a combination of inflationary costs “not fully passed on to customers”, the impact of the cost of living crisis, “unwinding” of Covid shopping patterns and investments to support staff, customers and suppliers.
This support package includes a £500 one-off cost of living payment for full-time employees, increasing the lowest rates of pay for staff and committing to offer free food over the winter.
John Lewis saw sales rise 3% on a like-for-like basis to £2.1bn during the first half, although sales within the Waitrose business fell by 5% to £3.6bn.
Compared to 2019, John Lewis sales rose by 13% on a like-for-like basis driven by a return to physical retail. The share of sales in shops has averaged 41% for the half year, compared to 26% last half year during the pandemic and 60% pre-Covid. City centre stores have come back most strongly, buoyed by a return to office working.
Fashion has proved the retailer’s best performing category, growing 25% compared to last year with strong sales in holiday wear, while pandemic-fuelled home and technology categories have declined year-on-year. Compared to last half year, sales of value own brand Anyday are up 28%.
Half a million more people are now shopping with John Lewis than a year ago, with total customer numbers reaching 12.2 million, up 4% year on year.
Within Waitrose, while sales are down compared to 2021, they have risen 7% on a like-for-like basis compared to 2019 levels. The grocer benefited from bigger baskets during the pandemic as customers stocked up. Customer numbers have since held up, with transactions rising 14% year on year, although basket sizes are smaller by nearly a fifth.
Online shopping accounts for 15% of Waitrose’s sales, not far off the pandemic peak of around 20%, while nearly seven in 10 baskets include a product from its Essential range. Total customer numbers hit 13.4 million in the first half, up 6% year on year.
The partnership claims to have made cost savings of £90m over the period, expanding its ‘Lean Simple Fast’ efficiency programme, and confirms plans to build rental homes are taking shape.
Looking ahead, the retailer says the outlook for the rest of 2022 is “highly uncertain” due to the cost of living crisis and its impact on discretionary spending, which could weigh on the “criticality” of the Christmas trading period.
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is giving away ownership of the brand, estimated to be worth $3bn (£2.6bn), to a collective that will use any profits not reinvested into the business to fight the climate crisis.
The new model means 100% of the voting stock transfers to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created to protect the company’s values, while 100% of non-voting stock will be given to the Holdfast Collective, a non-profit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature. Any profit not reinvested into the brand will be distributed as a dividend to fight climate change, an amount estimated to be around $100m (£87m) a year.
Explaining he “never wanted to be a businessman”, the Patagonia founder says the company has endeavoured to slow ecological destruction by using less harmful materials in its products, giving away 1% of sales each year to grassroots environmental non-profits and becoming a certified B Corp. In 2018, the business changed its purpose to ‘We’re in business to save our home planet’.
However, believing such actions were not enough to address the environmental crisis, Patagonia started to explore different options. One idea was to sell the company and donate all the money, but the team couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain the brand’s values. The Patagonia founder describes the idea of taking the company public a “disaster”, that would have seen the dial swing towards creating short-term gains at the expense of long-term responsibility.
“Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say we’re ‘going purpose.’ Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth,” says Chouinard.
Adding that it is almost 50 years since Patagonia began its “experiment in responsible business”, Chouinard says the Earth is now the company’s “only shareholder”.
The business closed yesterday to “celebrate the plan”. The intention is for CEO Ryan Gellert and the leadership team to continue to run the company under the direction of the board of directors, with additional stewardship from the Patagonia Purpose Trust. Yvon Chouinard and his family will “guide the Patagonia Purpose Trust”, electing and overseeing its leadership, as well as continuing to sit on the board and informing the philanthropic work of the Holdfast Collective.
READ MORE: Patagonia founder just donated the entire company, worth $3 billion, to fight climate change
Amazon is being sued by the state of California for breaching antitrust laws by stifling competition and “engaging in practices” that force sellers to maintain higher prices on other sites.
State officials carried out a two-year investigation spanning interviews with sellers and Amazon’s competitors, as well as current and former employees, the Guardian reports.
According to California attorney general Rob Bonta, Amazon “coerces merchants into agreements that keep prices artificially high, knowing full-well that they can’t afford to say no.”
The legal documents allege the ecommerce giant used provisions within contracts to prevent sellers from offering lower prices for products on non-Amazon sites, including their own websites, harming their ability to compete. Bonta’s team claim any merchants which did not comply with the rules risked having their products removed from prominent listings on Amazon, or potentially the suspension or termination of their account.
The lawsuit, which is seeking damages relating to these inflated prices, wants to stop Amazon from signing contracts with merchants that could harm price competition.
The Guardian reports that Amazon controls around 38% of US online sales, based on data from research firm Insider Intelligence, while third-party sellers represent more than half (58%) of the company’s retail sales.
The ecommerce giant has previously sought to defend itself by saying sellers set their own prices and it reserves the right not to highlight products it feels aren’t priced competitively. A similar legal challenge brought by the District of Columbia is currently being appealed after it was dismissed by a judge earlier this year. The Californian team are, however, more hopeful of success.
Amazon is already under investigation in the US for its competition practices relating to the $3.9bn (£3.4bn) acquisition of healthcare company One Medical, as well as the sign-up and cancellation processes involved in its Amazon Prime subscription.
READ MORE: California accuses Amazon of stifling competition in new major lawsuit
The Premier League has confirmed LED perimeter boards, which typically feature advertising messages, will switch to display tributes for the Queen across all grounds as the league returns this weekend (16 – 18 September).
Big screens at Premier League stadiums will also display tributes to the late monarch, while flags at the grounds will fly at half-mast. Players and match officials will wear black armbands as a mark of respect and, joined by the managers, will gather at the centre circle before kick-off.
Fans will be asked to join a minute’s silence, followed by the National Anthem, and 70 minutes into each game there will be applause to celebrate the monarch’s seven decade reign.
The Premier League says the plans will provide an opportunity for the league, clubs and fans to “come together to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, honouring her extraordinary life and contribution to the nation and world.”
The English Football League (EFL) resumed on Tuesday (13 September), while fixtures in the National League – the fifth tier of English football – returned on Monday (12 September).
The decision to pause football matches last weekend has been widely criticised, especially given other sports such as cricket, horse racing and golf went ahead as planned.
Ex-players expressed frustration at the move, with Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker describing it as a “real shame” football had missed the opportunity to pay its respects given the “moving scenes at The Oval”. Likewise, the Football Supporters Association claimed an opportunity had been missed for “football to pay its own special tributes.”
Greggs and McDonald’s have joined the growing list of brands choosing to close as a mark of respect for the Queen’s funeral on Monday (19 September).
The bakery chain said that to give colleagues the opportunity to pay their respects to the monarch shops will close, except for a small number operated by franchisees.
Likewise, McDonald’s has confirmed its outlets nationwide will close on Monday until 5pm as a mark of respect, with operating hours and services set to vary afterwards. Customers will not be able to order food for delivery until after 5pm.
The fast food chain joins the likes of John Lewis, Waitrose, Aldi and Primark, all of which plan to shut their doors on Monday to allow staff to mourn the Queen’s passing. Other retailers following suit include Lidl, Morrisons, B&Q, Sainsbury’s, Homebase, Harrods and WH Smith.
Asda confirmed its stores will close from midnight on Sunday (18 September) until 5pm on Monday to allow staff to commemorate the Queen’s “steadfast service to our nation.” Cineworld will close all its UK cinemas to mark the state funeral, while Domino’s told the BBC its outlets will open at 12pm on Monday once the ceremony has finished, an hour later than the chain’s usual operating hours.
While retailers have largely taken the decision to close, many pub chains are pledging to stay open. According to the BBC, Greene King will keep its pubs in central London, and those with televisions, open across the country to screen the funeral service. Fullers Group expects to keep most of its 400 pubs open and brewer JW Lees will open the doors to its 44 pubs, describing them as “hubs of the community”.
Not all decisions to close for the state funeral have been well received. On Tuesday, Center Parcs was forced to backtrack after initially saying it would ask guests to depart its sites on Monday for 24 hours, meaning some customers would be forced to leave their holidays half-way through.
Following a backlash, the holiday park company said it had “reviewed its decision” and will now allow guests already on site to stay on Monday. Facilities, such as restaurants, will be closed and any customers due to arrive at one of Center Parcs’ five UK sites on Monday will not be allowed to check in until 10am on Tuesday (20 September).
The move comes after an administrator on the Center Parcs official Twitter account was forced to apologise for implying guests would need to remain in their lodges on Monday, rather than being free to walk around the site.
READ MORE: McDonald’s to close for Queen’s funeral on Monday
Twitter’s shareholders have approved a deal with Elon Musk to acquire the company for $44bn (£38bn). This means the company will now try to force Musk to go through with the deal in court.
In April, Musk put himself forward to buy Twitter, but pulled out weeks later, something that the company is now suing him for. In court, he is expected to argue that Twitter misled him on the amount of spam and bots on the social media platform.
The decision by shareholders came hours after Twitter’s former head of security, Peiter Zatko told US lawmakers that the social media company is “misleading the public” about how secure it is.
He gave evidence to the US Senate that Twitter is a decade behind” security standards, alleging that user data is not adequately protected.
“It’s not an exaggeration that any employee could take over the accounts of any senator in this room,” he said, stating that Twitter staff had too much access to users’ data.
Zatko painted a picture of a company that was prioritising profits above all else, and in particular, above security. He worked at Twitter between 2020 and 2022, when he was fired. He told senators that he witnessed “extreme, egregious deficiencies by Twitter in every area of his mandate” during his time at the company.
He also alleged that there were multiple times that foreign intelligence agencies were able to access Twitter’s data.
While the evidence he gave to the Senate was largely focused on matters of national security, Zatko has previously appeared to support claims about the number of spam bots on the site made by Musk.
READ MORE: Twitter shareholders approve $44bn Musk deal
Consumers are now increasingly changing their mind about what brands or retailers to shop with on the basis of deals or offers, finds research from the Data and Marketing Association (DMA).
The DMA yesterday (13 September) published the latest report in its customer engagement series, ‘How to Win Trust and Loyalty’. The research sheds some lights on consumer habits as the cost-of-living crisis bites.
The report found 39% of consumers who spend on eating out are cutting back on this, with 18% who have stopped spending on this completely. Over one fifth (21%) of consumers who drink out of home have stopped spending on this already, and 21% of consumers who spend on fitness or sport have stopped spending on this.
Over half of consumers (51%) say they that they often change their mind about what brands or shops to use as a result of deals or offers, in comparison to 49% of consumers in 2020. More consumers also agree that they are less loyal to brands compared to a year ago, with 41% stating this, compared to 34% in 2020.
However, ‘Habitual Loyals’, a category of consumer who displays loyalty to everyday items over more expensive items, has actually increased to 21% from 17%. ‘Situational Loyals’, those consumers who are loyal when buying more expensive items, have declined from 11% to 9%.
“The UK’s cost of living crisis provides a significant backdrop to any recent changes observed in consumer attitudes to loyalty. But change doesn’t have to be a bad thing if brands are responsive and actively seeking opportunities for how they can best serve their customers,” says DMA director of insight Tim Bond.
New prime minister Liz Truss may look to scrap incoming and existing rules designed to deter consumers from buying unhealthy foods, reports The Guardian.
The newspaper says that the prime minister is looking to “cut red tape” for businesses. Measures potentially on the chopping block are rules around where foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt (HFSS) can be displayed and when certain products can be advertised.
From October, HFSS products will be no longer eligible to be displayed in “impulse” areas, meaning at check-out or at the end of shelves. Rules were also due to come into force in January that would ban HFSS advertisers on TV pre-watershed, but these have been delayed until 2024.
The Guardian says its sources report that the government is conducting a review into cutting restrictions that may burden businesses. The review will also look at cutting the requirement for restaurants to display calorie counts on their menus. Reportedly, the scope of the review goes as far as looking at the tax on sugary drinks, which began in 2018.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, which is the department responsible for these kinds of health rules, is “aghast” at the idea of these changes, reports The Guardian. Former prime minister Boris Johnson had made tackling obesity a priority during his time in office, particularly after he was hospitalised with COVID, something he partly blamed on being “too fat”.
READ MORE: Liz Truss could scrap anti-obesity strategy in drive to cut red tape
Premium mixer drinks brand Fever-Tree has seen its pre-tax profits fall by 30% for the first half of the year, due to increased costs.
However, Fever-Tree did not lose market share to rival Schweppes, said chief executive Tim Warrilow. Despite pressures on discretionary spending, he said that he expected many consumers to continue spending with the premium brand.
“[Fever-Tree products are] still a very affordable treat. Whilst it’s more expensive, it’s more pence rather than pounds. People appreciate a drink when there is a downturn,” he said.
While increased prices were not enough to offset rising costs in areas like transport and gas, the business did see its sales increase by 14% to £160.9m. The business attributed this to recovering on-trade sales, as pubs and bars recover after the pandemic.
In July 2022, Fever-Tree warned that the soaring cost of glass for its bottles amid shortages, plus higher transport fees meant that its profits this year would be almost a third lower than it hoped.
READ MORE: Fever-Tree shares fizz on revenue climb but still warns on margins
Sainsbury’s is giving its lowest-paid staff a second pay rise in a year, as part of a package of measures to help its employees cope with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.
In October, staff paid by the hour will get a 25p per hour pay increase, raising the wage from £10 per hour to £10.25. In London, the hourly pay will go up from £11.05 to £11.30. The move means that Sainsbury’s wage bill will increase by 20%.
At the beginning of the year, Sainsbury’s upped wages for its workers from £9.50 to £10, when staff shortages were affecting the business.
The supermarket’s “cost-of-living” package also includes free food for Sainsbury’s workers on shift in shops. It includes £5m towards providing food such as toast, soup and porridge in staffrooms. It also gives workers access to further discounts in-store. Currently they are entitled to 10% off groceries and in Argos all year round, but they will be given more opportunities to save, by being given 15% and 20% discounts in the run-up to Christmas.
“Every day I am hearing from colleagues who are really feeling the pressures of the rising cost of living,” says Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts.
“That’s why we are doing everything we can to help our colleagues as they face rising bills and living costs this autumn. This is the first time we have given two pay rises in the same year.”
He adds that the business has brought forward the planned pay rises from next year, out of recognition that staff are likely to need this ahead of a tough winter.
READ MORE: Sainsbury’s gives its lowest-paid staff another pay rise and free food during shifts amid cost of living crisis
Aldi is now the UK’s fourth largest supermarket, taking over the position from Morrisons for the first time.
The discounter grew sales by 18.7% over the 12 weeks to 4 September, according to the latest data from Kantar, meaning it now has a 9.3% market share. Morrisons, meanwhile, saw its sales over the same period drop by 4.1%, which resulted in its share falling to 9.1%.
The rest of the ‘big four’ supermarkets in the UK remains unchanged, with Tesco claiming the number one spot with a 26.9% share, Sainsbury’s on 14.6% and Asda on 14.1%. They increased their sales by 1.9%, 1.5% and 2.2%, respectively, over the 12-week period.
It was Lidl that saw the steepest increase in sales, however, rising 20.9% over the past three months and taking its share to 7.1%.
“Back at the start of the 2010s, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons together accounted for over three quarters of the sector but that traditional big four is no more,” says Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
“The discounters have seen dramatic sales increases in recent months, bringing more and more customers through their doors. Aldi has done well to expand its shopper base, supported by consistent store openings, and with 14.2 million consumers visiting the grocer in the past three months. Meanwhile, for the fourth month in a row Lidl was the fastest growing grocer and recorded its strongest sales performance since October 2014.”
It comes as grocery price inflation rockets again, hitting 12.4% over the past month, a new record according to Kantar.
It means the average annual grocery bill will go from £4,610 to £5,181 if consumers don’t make changes to what they put in their baskets. The price of items such as milk (up 31%), butter (25%) and dog food (29%) are rising particularly fast, according to the data, with consumers increasingly switching to own-label.
“In what is a fiercely competitive sector, supermarkets are reacting to make sure they’re seen to acknowledge the challenges consumers are facing and offer best value, in particular by expanding their own-label ranges,” adds McKevitt.
“Their efforts seem to be well received by consumers with sales of the very cheapest value own-label products up by 33% this period versus a year ago and nearly one in four baskets containing one of these lines. Overall spending on all retailer own-label lines was £393m higher during the latest four weeks, pushing own-label’s share of the market to 51.1%.”
Retailers including John Lewis, Waitrose, Aldi and Primark have said they will not open on the day of the Queen’s funeral as a sign of respect and to allow staff to mourn.
Lidl, B&Q, Sainsbury’s, Homebase, Harrods and WH Smith have also said they will close on 19 September.
John Lewis Partnership will be closing all its department stores and Waitrose supermarkets, except potentially those on the funeral route, “as a mark of respect”, according to chief operating officer, Andrew Murphy. The firm also believes it is “the right thing to do” for its partners and customers.
Likewise, Sainsbury’s will be closing its supermarkets and Argos stores in honour of the Queen and to allow its staff to “pay their respects”. This includes online groceries and Argos fast track deliveries.
Primark will be closing its stores, depots and head office to enable staff “the opportunity to pay their respects and watch the funeral of HM Queen Elizabeth II”, while Aldi will also be shuttering for the duration of Monday.
Lidl, which is still displaying a grey logo, shared on Instagram that it too will be closing stores on Monday to allow colleagues to pay their respects.
READ MORE: Aldi and John Lewis among shops closing for Queen’s funeral
Swedish electronics brand Electrolux has warned demand for home appliances in Europe and the US has dropped at a “significantly accelerated pace” as a result of rising inflation and consumers’ cutting back on non-essential purchases.
The brand’s president and CEO Jonas Samuelson says he doesn’t expect demand to rise again for the foreseeable future, adding he believes people will “hold onto their wallets quite hard” going into 2023.
As a result, Electrolux says its third quarter earnings, out on 28 October, will show a significant drop compared to its second quarter.
The brand, which is the world’s second largest manufacturer of appliances like washing machines and dishwashers, says it will now be introducing a major cost-cutting plan to counteract the fall in sales. This caused its shares to fall by as much as 7%.
READ MORE: Electrolux warns on profits as rising inflation hits demand for appliances (£)
Rapid delivery brand Gorillas has unveiled a new global brand positioning and creative platform, which plays on the fact people will have more time to spend doing what they love if they can avoid going to the supermarket.
The campaign, by The Or, will run across video-on-demand, digital and social, with the hero film showing what consumers can do if they start using Gorillas instead of doing the weekly shop. It ends with the line ‘We deliver groceries so you can do whatever’.
Meanwhile, a series of out of home ads feature lines such as ‘More time in the sheets. Less time in the shops’ and ‘Self-care not self-checkouts’.
Gorilla’s vice-president of brand, Angharad Probert, says the brand made a conscious decision not to focus on speed and convenience like its competitors have done. Instead she hopes the campaign will help “reframe” gorillas in consumers’ minds, “not just as a brand who does their grocery shopping for them, but more importantly a brand who can give them some much needed time back”.
“At Gorillas, we position ourselves as being the on-demand service that shifts the focus from better shopping to better living,” she adds. “It was important for us to create a campaign that cuts through the noise and talks about the real and highly relatable emotional benefits you gain from using our service.”
The latest campaign follows ‘Whatever London Wants’ which launched in the UK in March. It was subsequently launched across Europe and the US, which the brand says has been “highly successful” at increasing brand awareness and taking Gorillas from its target audience’s number two preferred brand to the number one spot.
A record number of people aged over 65 are now working in the UK, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.
During the three months to June, 1.468 million people aged 65 and over were in work, a rise of 173,000 people compared to the previous quarter, which is also a record level.
It means the employment rate among the age group increased to 11.9%.
The rise has been driven by an increase in part-time work, particularly within industries such as hospitality and arts, entertainment and recreation.
In the three months to June, people aged over 65 in employment worked an average of 21.7 hours per week.
Those who joined employment between April to June are doing relatively few hours, so this is actually a decrease of 0.7 hours from the 22.3 hours in January to March 2022.
It is thought the cost of living crisis could be the cause of more pensioners taking on part-time employment.
However, at the same time, the UK’s overall unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since 1974 in the three months to July, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Should marketers take greater accountability when it comes to clearly conveying the difference between marketing and advertising effectiveness to the wider business?
Many of the UK’s biggest retailers will be closing up shop during the Queen’s funeral on Monday but not all brand responses have been well received.
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At the end of every week, we look at the key stories, offering our view on what they mean for you and the industry. From the need to look at your brand from the customer’s perspective to a trip down memory lane with nostalgia brands, it’s been a busy week. Here is our take.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is banking on tax cuts and energy bill support to boost the UK economy to a growth rate of 2.5%.
At a Festival of Marketing Masterclass event, marketers learned how to become consumer-centric but brand-led and technology-inspired.
Certain food and drink brands live fondly in the memories of many British consumers; but nostalgia alone won’t help keep consumers coming back.
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