Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Shelter Christmas ads ‘failed to resonate’ with Black community: Research from the Diversity Standards Collective found that tokenism, negative stereotyping and inauthentic representation played a significant part in this year’s crop of Christmas advertising, with members of the Black community failing to identify with many of them. The organisation tested 12 Christmas adverts featuring Black and mixed raced casts using its Community Certification ad testing tool. With seven found to be unrepresentative or inauthentic, the research revealed that – while agencies and clients are casting more Black and mixed-race people in their ads – tokenism remains rife, with little thought put into the lived experiences of those communities.

Just five ads passed the test with an approval score of more than 75%. The results in full were:
1. JD Sports ‘King of the Game’ – 84%
2. H. Samuel ‘Unwrap the Sparkle Bountiful Cow’ – 82%
3. Boots ‘#Joyforall’ – 81%
4. O2 ‘The Snowgran’ – 80%
5. Very ‘ Gifts for all your Christmases’ – 76%

(Source: Marketing Beat 2023).

CTV offers next-generation ad experiences, so why is most creative stuck in the broadcast era? The potential that Connected TV (CTV) has to deliver highly personalised ad content that boosts conversions for brands is largely being wasted. Too often ads on CTV are simply repurposed from linear campaigns that don’t take advantage of the platform’s interactive capabilities, adding little value to audiences or advertisers.

CTV has captured the eyeballs of the population in a big way. Strategy Analytics found that the number of UK households using CTV devices had reached 19.2 million by the end of 2020 — 68% of all households — compared to 17.3 million in 2019.

Advertisers, too, are throwing their weight behind CTV. According to figures from Spark Ninety, CTV advertising in the UK was worth around £930m in 2021, up from £515m in 2019, while the IAB rates the UK as Europe’s most advanced CTV advertising market. But the additional investment many brands are putting into CTV risks being wasted if they don’t tap into the full capabilities of the technology. To get the most from their spend, they have to adapt their content to the platform (Source: Media Leader 2023).

Now’s not the time to trade planet for pocket: why brands must invest in sustainability: Dan Bowers of Unlimited urges marketers to consider the cost of prioritizing profitability while natural disasters worsen. 

As consumers increase their focus on affordability in the short term, brands must not shy away from their long-term sustainability commitments. Right now, consumers are fighting battles on multiple fronts. The cost of living crisis is wreaking havoc on household finances, placing people and businesses under enormous stress (Source: Drum 2023).