MediaCat Weekly #32 — inclusive design, neuroscience-led storytelling, and B2B marketing

Welcome to MediaCat Weekly, our short and sweet newsletter featuring some top stories from the past week, recent conversations, and a round-up of industry news.

This week we dove into our Doing Things Differently theme, with articles on inclusive design ( Charlotte Armstrong ) and the need for creativity in B2B marketing ( Phillip Katz ). We also analysed how digital platforms have redefined celebrity ( Steph Hamill FRSA ) and the evolving world of influencer marketing ( Alex Hill ).

We hope you enjoy this issue and make sure you do not miss out on our Doing Things Differently playlist , curated by Imagen Insights .

We need to fix our relationship with newness?

By Gemma Jones

Never has popular culture produced and metabolised so many trends at such a pace.?When everything from the hazy memory of your (grand)mother’s jeans circa 2002 to the idea of your aura, to feeling cosy or just being a bit of a mess, can be crystallised into a pithy idea and subsequently commodified in 48 hours, brands and trend forecasters are left with a bit of an identity crisis.

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Who are we really making this stuff for?

By Visha Kudhail

When I think about the advertising that I see coming through from the industry, I often wonder, who is it really for? Is it for a media owner who has spent millions on their Cannes beach spot to look different to their next-door neighbour on the Croisette — who also happens to be another media organisation saying similar things to an advertiser? Is it the creative director who wants to make the most amazing ad to inspire other creatives or is it the marketer who wants to put their stamp on changing a brand and having the work reflected on their resume? I wonder, where is the consumer in all of this??

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The power of neuroscience-led storytelling

By Natalia Talkowska

Standing out requires more than creativity — it demands a deep understanding of how the human brain processes information. This is crucial for creating and executing marketing strategies, campaigns, stories, and internal communications.?Neuroscience-led storytelling is one powerful way of doing this. By leveraging insights into how the brain handles information, emotions, and experiences, brands can create stories that captivate, engage, and influence audiences more effectively.

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Thinking differently about different thinkers

By Jenni Romaniuk

Marketing is a relatively young science, and so has borrowed from psychology, economics and other fields of research. In that spirit of borrowing from others, I now draw from some of history’s greatest thinkers and reimagine how their more memorable work could have turned out if they had been in the field of marketing instead.

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Conversations

Q&A: Elliott Starr on reviving Alan Watts with AI

On 29 July, Elliott Starr and Beatriz Zambrano announced the launch of ‘Alan Watts – The Awakening’, a passion project reviving the British philosopher Alan Watts using AI. In an interview with MediaCat’s Content and Social Media Editor, Svilena Keane, Elliott discussed the inspiration behind the project and walked us through its development.

News

• Ascential – Part of the Informa Group , the owner of the Cannes Lions, has announced that it will acquire the commercial assets of Effie Worldwide . read
• The Creative Effectiveness Platform, System1 , has revealed the top 10 commercials from the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. read
• Aldi UK performed an undercover stunt at The Royal International Horse Show in West Sussex, where attendees could sample the latest collection of ‘Justin Youraldi’ wines. read
• We Are Social has announced the launch of its sister agency, Hello, in London. Matt Roberts will oversee the UK branch, taking on the role of Managing Director. read

Seen elsewhere

• Media: Outbrain is set to acquire Teads in an agreement worth an estimated $1bn, including an upfront payment of $725m. The deal combines Outbrain’s AI-driven performance technology with Teads’ video and branding solutions, bringing together 20,000 direct advertisers with 10,000-plus premium media environments. (The Media Leader )
• Media: CNET, an early pioneer of online tech coverage, is changing hands. Ziff Davis, a digital media giant that owns other technology-focused brands like Mashable, PCMag and Lifehacker, is buying the company from Red Ventures. (NY Times )
• Tech: A new AI start-up has signed deals with several major global news publishers convinced by its plan to share revenue each time their content is used to generate an answer – before it has even launched. The Financial Times, Fortune, Axel Springer and The Atlantic have all agreed to license their content to Prorata.ai . (The Press Gazette )
• Brands: Iconic Swedish furniture retailer IKEA has released a series of social media-first films to celebrate the impending arrival of its new click-and-collect service. The series of short clips humorously anthropomorphise IKEA stores with googly eyes and walking on spindly legs, to show how the retailer is now ‘closer than you think’. (Marketing Beat )
• Media: Public filings show Omnicom's John Wren made $20.2 million in 2023. His total compensation, which includes salary, bonus, equity awards and other forms of financial remuneration, was 382 times more than the median pay of Omnicom’s 75,900 employees. Interpublic's Philippe Krakowsky made $14.4 million during the same period. The amount was 205 times larger than what an employee at the middle of the company’s pay scale earned last year. (Adweek )
• Media: Disney’s media assets are starting to generate more excitement than its parks. Its combined streaming businesses — Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ — turned a quarterly profit for the first time ever, making $47 million. (CNBC )
• Media: The advertising trade group The World Federation of Advertisers told its members on Thursday that it was "discontinuing" activities for its Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's X against the company earlier this week. (Business Insider )

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