It may have built its reputation on viral dances and resurrecting forgotten pop hits, but TikTok is rapidly establishing itself as a serious force in UK retail.

More than 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses across the UK are now selling through TikTok Shop, the platform’s in-app ecommerce service, alongside major household names including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Samsung, QVC and Clarks.

Since launching in the UK in 2021, TikTok Shop has grown at pace. This year it recorded its biggest-ever UK sales day on Black Friday, when 27 items were sold every second. Across the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, sales rose by 50% compared with last year, underlining how quickly social commerce is gaining traction.

The model allows brands to sell directly within the TikTok app via shoppable videos, livestreams and embedded product links, as well as through a dedicated shop tab on their profile. Purchases are completed without users leaving the app, with revenues split between TikTok, the seller and, where relevant, creators using affiliate links.

For established retailers, the platform is proving an effective way to reach younger audiences. Sainsbury’s, one of the first supermarkets to embrace TikTok Shop, saw its Tu Christmas pyjamas sell out in under a week following a sponsored collaboration with influencer Rachel Spicer that generated 6.6 million views.

M&S has also reported strong results from livestream shopping. One recent session attracted around 260,000 viewers and generated sales at a rate of roughly one item every 30 seconds, highlighting the power of live commerce to convert attention into transactions.

Smaller businesses, meanwhile, are using TikTok Shop to cut through increasingly crowded online marketplaces, particularly as AI-driven search makes it harder to gain visibility elsewhere. Newcastle-based online meat retailer The Fat Butcher is selling fresh turkeys on the platform for the first time this year, while beauty, fashion and jewellery brands are among the fastest adopters.

Danielle Dullaghan, social strategy director at global marketing agency Iris, said beauty brands in particular were seeing strong commercial returns. “TikTok Shop plays directly into impulse buying behaviour,” she said, adding that the blend of entertainment and commerce was proving highly effective.

London jewellery brand L’ERA, run by Lara Mar alongside her daughters Talia Mar and Angele Sofia, expects to generate around £145,000 in revenue via TikTok this year. “It has almost doubled year on year, and many of our online customers originally discovered us via TikTok,” Mar said.

The business relies heavily on live shopping, typically hosting three three-hour livestreams a week, rising to six during peak periods such as Black Friday and Christmas. TikTok shoppers have also shown a willingness to spend, with L’ERA’s largest single order exceeding £1,400.

However, some caution that the model is not without risks. Business and social media consultant Jules Brim described TikTok Shop as “a gamechanger” for reach and sales but warned of mounting pressures on small brands.

“It can create a race to the bottom on pricing, put pressure on businesses to produce constant content, and shift the focus from long-term brand building to chasing trends,” she said.

Even so, with hundreds of thousands of UK businesses now signed up and major retailers investing heavily in in-app selling, TikTok Shop is fast becoming a central pillar of the modern retail landscape, blurring the line between entertainment, influence and ecommerce.

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‘A gamechanger’: 200,000 UK small businesses sign up to TikTok Shop

Apple’s iPhone, Amazon and Virgin Atlantic have been named YouGov’s UK Advertisers of the Month for September, after each brand saw a sharp increase in consumer awareness of their advertising.

According to YouGov BrandIndex, which measures the percentage of consumers who have seen an advert for a brand in the past two weeks, all three brands posted significant gains in Ad Awareness during the month.

Amazon recorded the biggest uplift, rising from 26.5% on September 1 to 33.7% on September 25 — a gain of 7.2 percentage points. The surge followed the company’s UK Upfront event, which promoted new advertising formats across Prime Video and its growing retail media network.

The e-commerce giant also announced a landmark partnership with Netflix on September 10, allowing advertisers to buy inventory from Netflix’s ad-supported tier directly through Amazon’s demand-side platform (DSP). The tie-up marked a major step in Amazon’s ambitions to become a global hub for connected TV advertising.

Apple’s Ad Awareness score for iPhone jumped from 12.0% on September 9 to 21.5% on September 25, an increase of 9.5 points. The rise coincided with the company’s annual September product showcase, which unveiled the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and the new iPhone Air, alongside updates to the Apple Watch Series 11, Apple Watch Ultra 3, and refreshed AirPods Pro.

The high-profile launch generated extensive cross-channel marketing activity, bolstered by cinematic advertising campaigns and sustained media coverage across the tech and lifestyle sectors.

Virgin Atlantic also saw a notable uplift in Ad Awareness, climbing from 7.9% on August 30 to 13.1% on September 25 — a rise of 5.1 points. The growth was driven by the airline’s latest LGBTQ+ campaign, “Free to Be Me”, created in partnership with Attitude magazine.

The campaign celebrated inclusion and self-expression among travellers, combining digital storytelling with branded content and social partnerships to reinforce Virgin Atlantic’s positioning as one of the most progressive brands in aviation.

Together, the three brands exemplified how major product launches, partnerships, and purpose-led campaigns can translate into tangible boosts in advertising visibility — even in a competitive and cluttered media landscape.

Read more:
iPhone, Amazon and Virgin Atlantic named UK advertisers of the month for September

Viral jacket potato brand SpudBros has come under fire after being accused of “bullying” a small business owner over a name dispute.

The Preston-based duo, Jacob and Harley Nelson, who became social media sensations for serving up gourmet potatoes from a tram and have since expanded to London and Liverpool, were accused of threatening legal action against a Portsmouth trader, Rumen Islam, owner of The Spud Father.

Islam, 27, opened his stand last month, offering his own take on the viral potato trend. But he says he has since been contacted by SpudBros’ legal team, who claim the name infringes their trademark.

“After months of graft — long days, late nights — we’ve now been threatened with legal action from SpudBros over the use of our name,” Islam wrote on social media. “We’ve poured our heart and soul into this. It’s gutting to think we might lose it because a bigger company wants to throw their weight around.”

The Portsmouth business owner told followers he will be changing the name after the dispute took a mental and emotional toll. “It’s been really hard,” he said in a TikTok video viewed thousands of times. “We’re a really small business — I’m born and bred in Pompey — and this was for the locals. It’s disheartening.”

Supporters online have flooded to defend Islam, accusing SpudBros of “corporate bullying” and calling for the brothers to drop the matter.

Comments on SpudBros’ recent TikTok posts include: “Stop bullying The Spud Father — there’s enough business for everyone.”
“Bit strange to go after a shop 260 miles away. Justice for Spud Father!”

The backlash led SpudBros to issue a public statement on Instagram, insisting they were not suing anyone.

“There are rumours we’ve sued a small business called The Spud Father. We are not suing anyone. Not now. Not ever,” wrote Jacob Nelson.

He said the company trademarked The Spudfather after launching a dish of the same name — in tribute to their father — which became their best-seller.

“As we grew, we developed merch, expanded franchises and had discussions with major retailers,” he said. “We trademarked the name in June, and it was approved before any other business applied for it. Our legal team simply responded to a notification from the Intellectual Property Office — it’s not a lawsuit.”

Nelson added that his family had received threats online since the story went viral, including towards his young daughter, and urged followers to stop the “hate”.

“We’d never want anyone to feel attacked. That’s not who we are,” he said. “We love small businesses — we were one. There’s room for everyone to succeed.”

Intellectual property lawyer Stephanie Davies, senior associate at Withers & Rogers, said the dispute highlights a common pitfall for startups.

“It’s often wrongly assumed that only big companies need to trademark their names,” Davies said. “Small businesses can build a following quickly, and if they don’t secure a registration early, they risk infringing on someone else’s rights — or losing their own brand identity.”

With a valid registration in place, she added, SpudBros may have a strong legal position, and The Spud Father could be forced to rebrand.

“Trademark searches should always be done before launch,” Davies said. “It’s far less painful than a rebrand once the business is up and running.”

The dispute marks the latest clash in the fast-growing world of viral potato vendors.

The Nelson brothers’ success has paralleled that of Ben Newman, better known as Spud Man, whose Tamworth-based jacket potato stall has 4.2 million TikTok followers and even drew the attention of Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

New rivals, including Spud Hut, Spud Life, and Spud Factory, have since popped up nationwide, each hoping to carve out a slice of the viral food trend.

For now, The Spud Father says it will continue trading — but under a new name.

Read more:
SpudBros blasted for ‘bullying’ small UK business in name dispute

Google may be required to overhaul the way its search engine operates in the UK after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) confirmed it has granted the tech giant “strategic market status” (SMS) under the country’s new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act (DMCCA).

The landmark decision, announced on Friday, gives the CMA sweeping new powers to impose legally binding rules on Google’s search and advertising businesses — which together account for over 90% of all online searches in the UK.

While the designation is not a finding of wrongdoing, it allows regulators to step in later this year with potential measures aimed at increasing competition in digital markets.

Under its new status, Google could be required to offer users alternative search engines via “choice screens”, introduce greater transparency in how results are ranked, and provide publishers with more control over how their content is displayed or monetised online.

Will Hayter, who leads the CMA’s digital markets unit, said the move reflected the company’s long-established dominance.

“Google maintains a strategic position in the search and search advertising sector, with more than 90 per cent of searches in the UK taking place on its platform,” Hayter said.

“Having taken into account feedback following our proposed decision, we have today designated Google’s search services with strategic market status.”

The CMA said its goal is to ensure “fairer competition and more choice for consumers”, while fostering innovation and reducing barriers for rivals to compete in the UK’s £20 billion online advertising market.

In response, Google said it would cooperate with the regulator but warned that heavy-handed or unclear rules could have the opposite effect, slowing innovation and harming UK competitiveness.

Oliver Bethell, Google’s senior director for competition, said: “UK businesses and consumers have been amongst the first to benefit from Google’s innovations, often months before their European counterparts.

“Many of the ideas for interventions raised in this process would inhibit UK innovation and growth, potentially slowing product launches at a time of profound AI-based innovation.”

Sources told Business Matters that Google executives have grown increasingly frustrated by the lack of clarity over what interventions may follow. The company is concerned that sweeping or unpredictable rules could make it harder to invest and roll out new AI-driven features in the UK — a concern shared by other major tech firms observing the new regime.

The CMA will now consult on possible remedies, with proposals expected to be published later in 2025. These could include new transparency obligations for search ranking algorithms, restrictions on how data is shared across Google’s vast advertising ecosystem, and new oversight of how it integrates AI into its products.

Officials insist the purpose of the new regime is not to punish successful firms, but to ensure open digital markets that benefit both consumers and competitors.

“Our role is to promote competition and innovation, not to stifle it,” a CMA spokesperson said.

The move comes as the UK seeks to establish its own post-Brexit framework for Big Tech oversight, diverging from both the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the US Department of Justice’s more litigious approach.

With Google the first major company to be formally designated under the UK’s new rules, the outcome of the CMA’s next steps will be closely watched by global tech firms — including Meta, Amazon, and Apple — as Britain tests its new powers to rein in digital giants.

Read more:
Google could be forced to change search operations in the UK

President Donald Trump has claimed that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan are expected to join a U.S. consortium seeking to acquire TikTok’s American operations from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.

Speaking during a Fox News interview, Trump said the Murdochs would join Oracle founder Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell in the group. He suggested that the Murdochs’ involvement would likely come through their Fox Corporation media business rather than personal investment.

“These are great people, very prominent people, American patriots,” Trump told the network. “I think they’re going to do a really good job.”

The proposed deal is part of efforts to prevent TikTok from being banned across the United States. Congress last year passed legislation requiring ByteDance to divest the app over national security concerns, but the enforcement of that law has repeatedly been delayed while negotiations continue.

The White House said over the weekend that it expected the takeover to be completed “in the coming days.” Trump added that he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping to help secure approval for the deal.

TikTok, which has more than 130 million U.S. users and over a billion worldwide, has long been in the crosshairs of Washington over fears that its Chinese ownership could compromise user data. Oracle is expected to handle data and security functions as part of the arrangement.

While the financial terms and ownership structure have not yet been disclosed, the inclusion of the Murdoch family would bring one of the world’s most influential media groups into the deal. News Corp and Fox declined to comment on the president’s claims.

The revelation comes just months after Trump launched a $10 billion libel suit against the Wall Street Journal, owned by Murdoch’s media empire, over an article about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

Despite that legal battle, Trump framed the involvement of Murdoch, Ellison and Dell as proof the TikTok deal would be in “patriotic American hands” – though much still depends on how regulators in Washington and Beijing respond in the weeks ahead.

Read more:
Murdoch and Dell said to join US consortium for TikTok takeover, Trump claims

Hundreds of UK jobs are at risk after TikTok confirmed plans to restructure its content moderation operations and shift work to other parts of Europe.

The social media giant, which has more than a billion users worldwide, said the move is part of a global reorganisation of its Trust and Safety division and reflects its growing reliance on artificial intelligence (AI) for moderating content.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “We are continuing a reorganisation that we started last year to strengthen our global operating model for Trust and Safety, which includes concentrating our operations in fewer locations globally.”

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) condemned the decision, accusing TikTok of “putting corporate greed over the safety of workers and the public”.

John Chadfield, CWU National Officer for Tech, said: “TikTok workers have long been sounding the alarm over the real-world costs of cutting human moderation teams in favour of hastily developed, immature AI alternatives.”

He added that the announcement comes “just as the company’s workers are about to vote on having their union recognised”.

TikTok defended the cuts, arguing the changes would improve “effectiveness and speed” while reducing the amount of distressing content human reviewers are exposed to. The company said 85 per cent of rule-breaking posts are already removed automatically by AI systems.

Affected staff in London’s Trust and Safety team – alongside hundreds more across Asia – will be allowed to apply for other roles within TikTok and will be given priority if they meet the minimum requirements.

The restructuring comes as the UK tightens oversight of social media platforms. The Online Safety Act, which came into force in July, imposes stricter requirements on tech companies to protect users and verify age, with fines of up to 10 per cent of global turnover for non-compliance.

TikTok has introduced new parental controls, including the ability to block specific accounts and monitor older teenagers’ privacy settings. But the firm continues to face criticism over child safety and data practices. In March, the UK’s data watchdog launched a “major investigation” into the platform.

TikTok said its recommender systems operate under “strict and comprehensive measures that protect the privacy and safety of teens”.

The cuts highlight the growing tension between efficiency and safety in the moderation of online content. While AI allows platforms to process huge volumes of posts at scale, critics argue that human oversight remains essential to capture context, nuance and emerging harms.

For TikTok, the gamble comes at a sensitive time. With regulators intensifying scrutiny and unions organising inside the company, the decision to reduce human moderation risks reigniting questions about whether technology alone can keep users safe.

Read more:
TikTok cuts threaten hundreds of UK content moderator jobs amid AI shift

Think of your favourite brands. What makes them memorable? Why do people keep coming back? The same principles that companies use to position their products and services can be applied to individuals — a process now widely known as personal branding.

Harvard Business School lecturer Jill Avery describes it simply: “Every time we apply for a job, pitch to a client, or vie for a promotion, we are marketing ourselves. Personal branding is about understanding how to communicate our own value proposition — the difference we want to make in the world.”

What is personal branding?

At its heart, personal branding is the deliberate act of shaping how people see you. It’s about defining and communicating your unique value in a way that is accurate, coherent, compelling, and differentiated.

If you don’t take control of that narrative, others will do it for you — and their assumptions may not reflect the qualities you want to project. Done well, personal branding ensures you are remembered for the right reasons and stand out in a crowded professional landscape.

Why does it matter?

Reputation is currency. By consistently demonstrating your values, skills, and passions, you can attract opportunities that align with your authentic self.

A strong personal brand can:

• Draw attention to your unique differentiators, helping you win jobs, projects, or clients.
• Connect you with communities and peers who share your interests.
• Boost confidence, reduce imposter syndrome, and clarify your personal and professional goals.

Ultimately, it helps you become the go-to person in your chosen field or niche.

Building your personal brand

Richard Alvin, senior partner at the Content Crafting company,  suggests a six-step approach to cultivating and maintaining a personal brand:

Define your purpose

Start by identifying your values, goals and unique strengths. Ask: What do I care about? How do I want people to see me? What makes me special? From there, craft a clear value proposition — a sentence that sums up who you are and what you offer.

Audit your current brand

Before you build your ideal brand, you need to understand how you’re already perceived. Consider your credentials, your social capital (networks and relationships), and your cultural capital (experience and emotional intelligence). Where are the gaps?

Create your narrative

Facts are important, but stories are memorable. Develop anecdotes that illustrate your skills and character — whether that’s a bold career move, a personal challenge you overcame, or the way you led a project to success.

Communicate and embody it

Your brand isn’t just words on a CV. It’s how you show up — online, in meetings, and in casual conversations. Share your stories through LinkedIn, industry events, and personal interactions. Embody your values by consistently acting in line with your stated purpose.

Socialise your brand

Others can be powerful advocates. Surround yourself with gatekeepers, influencers, promoters, and communities who can amplify your message and open new doors.

Reevaluate and adjust

Personal branding is never finished. Seek feedback from trusted colleagues and mentors, adapt to new challenges, and continually refine the way you present yourself.

Making your mark

Personal branding isn’t about self-promotion for its own sake. It’s about clarity, consistency, and confidence — knowing what you stand for and ensuring others do too.

When done well, it helps you attract the right opportunities, connect with the right people, and make the right impact. In an increasingly competitive world, your personal brand is the story that travels ahead of you — make sure it’s the one you want told.

Read more:
Personal branding: what it is and why it matters

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has threatened legal action against National Rail in a dispute over its use of the terms “rover” and “ranger” for rail tickets, claiming they infringe on its Range Rover trademark.

The Indian-owned carmaker issued a cease-and-desist letter to the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which manages the National Rail website, demanding the terms be removed. According to a memo seen by The Telegraph, train operators have now been told to strip references to “ranger” and “rover” from their sites.

The RDG has advised companies they may continue to market “ranger tickets” and “rover tickets” under amended names, and JLR has reportedly indicated it will not pursue further action against retailers who comply.

Rover tickets, which allow unlimited rail travel for a week, pre-date the Range Rover by more than a decade. British Rail introduced its first All-Line Rail Rover ticket in the 1950s, costing £15 for second class – equivalent to about £304 today. By comparison, a modern seven-day All-Line Rover second-class ticket is priced at £650.

The first Range Rover was not unveiled until 1970.

A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group said: “We are confident that our practices have always complied with intellectual property law and were happy to work with Jaguar Land Rover towards a resolution. After being made aware of a trademark query by JLR, we worked closely with them to make a minor change to how we describe our Ranger tickets and Rover tickets.”

National Rail and Jaguar Land Rover have been approached for comment.

The row comes as JLR faces wider scrutiny. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump claimed the company was in “absolute turmoil” following what he described as a “totally disastrous woke” rebrand. Trump criticised a recent advert featuring brightly dressed models, comparing it to “Bud Lite going woke”.

The company is also undergoing internal upheaval. In July, chief executive Adrian Mardell announced he would step down at the end of the year after more than 30 years at the firm. The business is in the midst of restructuring, with 500 UK management roles due to be cut as part of a voluntary redundancy programme.

JLR has committed to repositioning Jaguar as an electric-only luxury car brand from 2026, in what is regarded as one of the most transformative periods in its history.

Read more:
Jaguar Land Rover threatens legal action over National Rail’s use of ‘rover’ and ‘ranger’ ticket names

The UK’s advertising watchdog has banned online pharmacies from running adverts for prescription-only weight loss injections, in a landmark enforcement move aimed at tackling what it called a “wild west” culture of online selling.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) have issued nine new rulings, setting out strict precedents for how weight loss medicines such as Wegovy and Mounjaro can be promoted.

Under UK law, advertising prescription-only medicines (POMs) to the public is illegal. However, a Guardian investigation last year found widespread breaches and grey-area promotions by online pharmacies.

The new rules mean that while pharmacies can still reference weight loss injections on their own websites, they cannot display them on homepages or landing pages reached via external links. Ads can no longer use the phrases “weight loss injections” or “weight loss pen” and must instead present such treatments as part of a broader service involving consultation and prescription.

The ASA also banned the use of imagery showing injection pens or vials, and prohibited links to landing pages where named POMs are the only option available.

ASA chair Nicky Morgan said the measures were designed to protect vulnerable people from harm: “Nothing’s so harmful as powerful prescription-only medicines.”

The rulings follow an AI-led monitoring sweep in August and September 2024, which scanned 28 million online ads across all sectors. Of the 20,000 ads flagged from 35 high-priority pharmacies this year, around 10,000 related to weight loss treatments.

Infractions included direct promotion of drug names, use of injection pen imagery, and linking from “weight loss consultation” adverts to pages where only POMs were offered – a loophole now closed.

One case involved an Instagram post by TV personality Gemma Collins promoting the weight loss service Yazen. The ad breached rules because Collins referenced NHS-prescribed medication and Yazen’s site linked to articles describing her use of “GLP-1 weight loss injections.”

The ASA said pharmacies that breach the rules will be told to amend or remove offending content. Repeat or non-compliant offenders may face further action, including ad takedowns in cooperation with online platforms, and referrals to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), which can levy fines, bring court proceedings, or sanction pharmacy licences.

While the watchdog said compliance levels were generally high, some online pharmacies did not respond when challenged.

Experts welcomed the crackdown but called for tougher sanctions. Dr Piotr Ozieranski of the University of Bath said penalties should be tied to company turnover and patient risk, while UCL’s Oksana Pyzik warned that celebrity endorsements were still glamorising medical weight loss.

The ASA said more rulings are expected as it continues to monitor online promotions of weight loss drugs, both by companies and influencers.

Read more:
ASA bans online pharmacy adverts for weight loss injections in major enforcement drive

More than 1.8 million people streamed, viewed, or downloaded The Rest Is Politics and The Rest Is Politics: US in under 24 hours, after both shows released emergency episodes in response to the US bombing of Iran over the weekend.

In a sign of just how central podcasts have become during global breaking news events, over 1.1 million views were recorded on YouTube alone, with 685,000 audio streams across platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Peak live audience numbers surpassed 50,000 viewers, many of whom tuned in via smart TVs — further blurring the line between podcasting and traditional broadcast.

The UK edition, hosted by Rory Stewart and Alastair Campbell, offered instant reaction and analysis to the US entering Israel’s war with Iran, asking whether the strikes could spark a wider regional or global conflict. Simultaneously, the US version, fronted by Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci, dug into Donald Trump’s motivations, the implications for his base, and what this latest intervention means for US foreign policy.

Tony Pastor, co-founder of Goalhanger – the podcast production company behind both shows – said the response underlined how audiences increasingly seek clarity and commentary from podcasts in moments of geopolitical tension.

“Once again, we’re seeing that in moments of fast-breaking news, audiences turn to podcasts for explanation and analysis,” Pastor said. “What’s particularly striking is how many people chose to watch these episodes on their television. The line between podcast and TV show is blurring – and it’s happening faster than ever.”

The episodes’ success follows recent findings from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025, which confirmed The Rest Is Politics as the UK’s most popular news podcast and named Goalhanger the country’s top-ranked news podcast producer – ahead of BBC Sounds and Global. The podcast is also now the most-mentioned news show in the UK.

Pastor added: “These numbers show not just the trust that listeners place in our hosts, but the agility of the format. We were able to respond to a major global event in real time — and reach an audience on the scale of a primetime broadcast.”

The emergency episodes are available now on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other major platforms.

Read more:
1.8 million tune in as emergency Iran episodes of The Rest Is Politics in 24 just hours

WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging service, will soon begin displaying paid-for adverts to users for the first time—marking a significant shift for a platform that once proudly declared it would remain ad-free.

The Meta-owned service, which has around three billion monthly active users, will roll out the advertising features globally over the coming months. However, WhatsApp has insisted that ads will not appear in users’ personal chats, but instead will be shown in the app’s “status” section, a space used for ephemeral updates similar to Instagram Stories.

The move brings WhatsApp’s functionality closer to its sister platforms, Facebook and Instagram, and signals Meta’s intent to generate revenue from the service, which it bought in 2014 for $19 billion—still the group’s largest-ever acquisition.

WhatsApp said businesses operating “channels” on the platform will now be able to promote content in the updates tab, which also includes statuses. Companies will also be permitted to charge users for access to premium content via subscriptions, with WhatsApp expected to take a 10 per cent commission.

These new monetisation features come as WhatsApp faces growing scrutiny for recent updates, including the controversial introduction of an “Ask Meta AI” button that cannot be removed. The platform appears keen to reassure users that their private conversations will remain off-limits.

“These new features will appear only on the updates tab, away from your personal chats,” WhatsApp said.
“Your personal messages, calls and statuses remain end-to-end encrypted—meaning no one, not even us, can see or hear them.”

The app will, however, share limited user metadata with advertisers, including a person’s location, language, channels followed, and how they interact with ads. It has emphasised that phone numbers and personal messaging behaviour will not be shared or sold.

The company also clarified that users who do not engage with status updates or channels will not see ads in their inbox. “If you’re only using WhatsApp for messaging, you’re not going to see this,” said Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp, acknowledging that the updates tab is “not particularly popular” in the UK but is used by 1.5 billion people daily worldwide.

Despite repeated past assurances that WhatsApp would not adopt an advertising model, this announcement confirms a significant shift in Meta’s strategy. The original co-founders of WhatsApp, including Brian Acton, left the company after clashing with Facebook’s management over the direction of the app—most notably, the plan to monetise it with advertising. Acton famously declared “no ads, no games, no gimmicks” as part of WhatsApp’s founding mission.

WhatsApp had denied reports in 2023 that it was considering introducing adverts, but Meta now appears committed to monetising the platform more aggressively. The changes reflect Meta’s growing need to diversify revenue streams in a competitive digital landscape dominated by TikTok, YouTube, and other fast-growing content platforms.

Meta also continues to face pressure from regulators. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the United States is suing the company, alleging that it acquired WhatsApp and Instagram unlawfully in a bid to suppress competition. Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has pushed back, arguing that the company faces intense competition, especially from TikTok, and cited a surge in traffic when TikTok briefly went offline in January as evidence.

The commercialisation of WhatsApp is likely to divide users. While the platform has become an indispensable communication tool across much of the world, especially in developing markets, its growing convergence with Meta’s ad-driven ecosystem may alienate users who value its simplicity and privacy-first ethos.

Nonetheless, for Meta, the untapped monetisation potential of WhatsApp—with its vast user base and business integration—is too large to ignore. With over 200 million businesses using the platform for customer service and engagement, the addition of ad tools and subscriptions represents a significant new revenue opportunity.

As the changes begin to roll out, the tech giant will be watching closely to see whether users tolerate the presence of commercial content—or if the move triggers a backlash for crossing one of WhatsApp’s most sacrosanct boundaries.

Read more:
WhatsApp to introduce adverts as Meta pushes to monetise messaging app

Content created by individuals on platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram is forecast to generate more global advertising revenue this year than all traditional media combined.

According to new research by WPP Media, 2025 will be the first year in which more than half of all content-driven advertising spend is directed at user-generated platforms. It underscores a sweeping transformation in audience habits and media economics, with smartphones and short-form video apps at the heart of a “huge cultural shift”.

User-generated material — including creator-made videos, podcasts, and social media posts — is projected to grow its advertising, brand deal, and sponsorship revenue by 20% this year. Looking ahead, the sector is expected to more than double in size by 2030, hitting $376.6 billion (£278.3 billion).

Although the line between professionally produced and creator-made content is increasingly blurred — with many influencers operating at high production standards — WPP’s analysis suggests a reordering of media power. The report warns that this growing dominance of personalised, creator-led media is “profoundly impacting” the traditional landscape.

“Media consumption has become deeply personalised,” the report notes. “Audiences increasingly gravitate toward content that reflects their identity or beliefs, often shared by creators they follow closely. This is changing not just viewing patterns, but the way brands engage with consumers.”

With platforms such as YouTube acting as essential “plumbing” for modern media distribution, traditional broadcasters are under mounting pressure to adapt. Many, including ITV and Channel 4, have already made substantial moves to embed their content on social platforms. Channel 4, for instance, has significantly increased its investment in TikTok and YouTube as it targets younger audiences.

But that pivot comes at a cost. UK broadcasters are simultaneously contending with declining advertising revenue and rising content costs. ITV recently announced sweeping changes to its daytime output, while Channel 4 is controversially establishing an in-house studio to diversify its income streams.

Douglas McCabe, CEO of Enders Analysis, said the speed of the transition had stunned the industry. “We’ve seen a huge cultural shift in a very short period,” he said. “Advertising revenue has followed that pattern. Traditional media now faces a massive challenge to clearly communicate the value of its editorial standards, fact-based reporting, and regulated output.”

The dominance of the digital ad space is also increasingly concentrated. Just five tech giants — Google, Meta, ByteDance (TikTok), Amazon, and Alibaba — accounted for 54% of all global advertising revenue last year, further illustrating how user-driven platforms have eclipsed the legacy model.

As the creator economy continues to flourish, the message is clear: the centre of gravity in media and advertising has shifted — and it now lies in the hands of creators, not conglomerates.

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Social media creators to eclipse traditional media in global ad revenue for first time

TikTok has formed a new SME Council to give Britain’s small businesses a bigger say in the evolving digital economy, bringing together entrepreneurs, founders, and content creators who have used the platform to fuel growth.

The inaugural gathering of the council, held at Stoke-on-Trent town hall, saw 20 small and medium-sized business owners from across the UK convene to share experiences and shape a manifesto for government, due to be published this autumn.

TikTok says the initiative is designed to help shape the future of small business by giving entrepreneurs a forum to exchange insights, influence policy, and better understand how to harness digital tools to reach new audiences. With more than 1.5 million UK SMEs now active on TikTok, the platform has emerged as an unlikely but powerful force in Britain’s business ecosystem.

The council includes a diverse mix of industries — “a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker,” according to Ali Law, director of public policy and government affairs for TikTok UK and Ireland. That includes Rachel Spence, founder of Bear Burners in South Shields, who joined the council to campaign for clearer, more practical government guidance for first-time founders. “Small businesses make up an incredible amount of the UK’s economy,” she said. “But a lot of the time you have to figure it all out on your own.”

For others, the TikTok-hosted event stood in contrast to more traditional business organisations. Louise Rogerson, chief clinical officer of Manchester-based sleep-tech firm Levitex, said: “It felt modern and welcoming. Sometimes Chambers of Commerce can feel a bit intimidating for early-stage founders who don’t fit the usual mould.”

Dominique Bogle Khan, who runs Hair Anatomy, a Birmingham-based synthetic wigs brand, echoed the value of solidarity the group offered. “Being an entrepreneur is a very lonely place sometimes. It was comforting to realise others had gone through the same things.”

The formation of the SME Council comes amid rising interest in “social commerce” — shopping directly via social media. According to Retail Economics, more than 25 per cent of UK shoppers made a purchase through a social platform in 2024, with TikTok Shop and Instagram Shopping leading the charge.

TikTok hopes the SME Council will act both as a policy sounding board and a support network, amplifying the digital voices of small business owners often overlooked in formal trade groups. The company plans to use the group’s feedback to help shape its own platform development and provide government with a clearer picture of the challenges and opportunities facing UK entrepreneurs in the social-first economy.

While TikTok may not be the most conventional voice in British business policymaking, its impact on the modern retail and small business landscape is increasingly hard to ignore. As more firms turn to video-first platforms for growth, its SME Council could offer a new kind of influence — less boardroom, more back bedroom — but no less effective.

Read more:
TikTok launches SME council to elevate small business voices and boost digital growth

Ten of the world’s leading car manufacturers – along with two major automotive trade associations – have been fined over £77 million by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after admitting to illegal collusion on green advertising practices.

The watchdog found that BMW, Ford, Jaguar Land Rover, Peugeot Citroën, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Renault, Toyota, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen had “illegally agreed” not to compete when advertising how recyclable their cars were at the end of their lifecycle. With the exception of Renault, the manufacturers also agreed not to disclose how much recycled material was used in their vehicles — limiting transparency for environmentally conscious car buyers.

The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) were also implicated, accused of facilitating the agreements among manufacturers.

The cartel agreement was known internally as the “ELV Charta”, or informally, a “gentleman’s agreement”, and was in effect from May 2002 until September 2017 — with Jaguar Land Rover joining in 2008.

The scheme came to light after a tipoff from Mercedes-Benz, which cooperated with the CMA’s investigation and was granted immunity from financial penalties under the leniency policy.

The CMA said this illegal behaviour harmed consumers by restricting access to information needed to make informed choices about the environmental credentials of vehicles.

“Colluding to restrict competition is illegal — and that extends to how you advertise your products,” said Lucilia Falsarella Pereira, senior director of competition enforcement at the CMA.
“This kind of collusion limits consumers’ ability to make informed choices and reduces the incentive for companies to invest in environmental progress.”

Following the CMA’s probe, SMMT, Stellantis (owner of Opel, Peugeot Citroën and Vauxhall), and Mitsubishi also applied for leniency, leading to reduced fines in return for cooperation.

A spokesperson for Renault, which was fined in both the UK and the EU, noted that the offending practices took place “at a time when the ELV recycling sector was still nascent” and argued the collusion “did not financially harm consumers”.

The European Commission has also fined 15 carmakers and ACEA €458 million (£383 million) following its own parallel investigation launched in 2022 into the same cartel across EU markets.

The CMA emphasised that the case shows its determination to pursue anti-competitive practices that threaten both consumer rights and innovation, especially as the environmental claims of companies face greater public scrutiny.

The 10 manufacturers fined in the UK were contacted for comment, and the CMA’s investigation is considered one of the most significant in recent years to target greenwashing through collusion.

Read more:
UK fines 10 carmakers and two trade bodies £77m over green advertising cartel

Let’s be honest – marketing isn’t a straight path for any business, least of all SMEs.

There’s no perfect blueprint, and everyone stumbles along the way. What separates successful marketing leaders from the rest isn’t avoiding mistakes – it’s recognising them quickly, learning the lesson, and moving forward without dwelling on the failure. In this short article you’ll find a hand-picked  selection of marketing mistakes you’ll likely make – not to discourage you, but to help you spot them sooner and overcome them faster. Think of this as your pre-emptive troubleshooting guide from someone who’s already navigated these choppy waters.

Remember, making these mistakes doesn’t mean your marketing strategy is fundamentally flawed or that you’re doing it wrong; it simply means you’re facing the same challenges as virtually every other SME trying to grow. You’re in good company.

1. Marketing Will Fall Down Your Priority List

You start with the best intentions. Then reality hits – a crisis emerges, cash flow tightens, or operations demand attention. Suddenly, marketing slides from a ‘top priority’ to a “we’ll get to it next week.”

Advice: Set concrete triggers that force marketing back onto your agenda – whether it’s a revenue threshold not being met or a period without leads. Use these as alarm bells that cannot be ignored.

2. You’ll Make Poor Hiring Decisions

Finding the right marketing talent – whether in-house team members or agencies – is deceptively difficult. The candidate with the “all-singing, all-dancing” CV might struggle to deliver. The agency with flashy case studies might not understand your challenges.

One bad apple shouldn’t spoil the barrel. A single hiring misstep doesn’t mean your entire marketing approach is flawed. Be willing to change the player, not necessarily the game plan.

Advice: Create 30, 60, and 90-day benchmarks for any new marketing resource – inhouse or external. Focus on revenue centric business outcomes, not just activities. If it all goes wrong, don’t beat yourself up. Keep your head held high, reflect on what could have been done differently and move forwards. Change the player, not the game.

3. You’ll Become Disheartened and Disillusioned

Let’s face it – marketing isn’t all instant gratification and hockey-stick growth curves. There will be campaigns that flop, strategies that fizzle, and moments where you seriously question whether any of this effort is actually worth it. That ROI you were promised? Sometimes it feels more like throwing money into a black hole.

This disillusionment is actually part of the process. Every successful marketing leader has gone through periods of questioning whether their approach is working. The difference between those who succeed and those who don’t isn’t avoiding this feeling – it’s how they respond to it.

When times get tough, that’s exactly when you need a fire in your belly. If marketing success was easy, everyone would be doing it, and every brand would be the best in their industry. The reality? There can only be one winner in each category – so make it you. These challenging moments separate the brands that will dominate from those that will merely participate.

Advice: Create a “marketing experiments” budget – a small, designated portion of your overall marketing spend that’s explicitly for testing new approaches with zero pressure to succeed. When the main strategy feels stagnant, having this playground for innovation keeps the momentum going and often uncovers unexpected wins. More importantly, it prevents the all-or-nothing thinking that leads many SMEs to completely abandon marketing when their primary approach hits a plateau.

4. The Guilt Cycle Is Real

Here’s one nobody talks about: the guilt cycle of marketing neglect. You know marketing matters. You know you should be doing more. You feel guilty for not giving it attention. That guilt makes you avoid it further. The cycle deepens.

Breaking this pattern requires honesty with yourself. Marketing is either a priority or it isn’t. If it is, treat it like other non-negotiable aspects of your business. If it truly isn’t a current priority due to other pressing needs, acknowledge that decision deliberately rather than letting it happen by default.

Advice: Document your marketing journey – the wins, losses, and lessons. This creates perspective during tough times and reveals what actually works for your business.

Final Thoughts – SME Marketing Mistakes

The hardest truth about SME marketing isn’t that mistakes happen – it’s that you’ll often need to make them yourself before the lessons truly sink in. Reading about potential pitfalls helps, but there’s no substitute for first-hand experience.

What separates thriving businesses from struggling ones isn’t their ability to avoid these mistakes entirely – it’s developing the resilience to view each setback as market research rather than failure. Every underwhelming campaign teaches you something about your audience. Every hiring misstep clarifies what your business actually needs.

SMEs who embrace marketing challenges with curiosity rather than frustration inevitably outperform those with technically “better” strategies but fragile mindsets. Your attitude toward marketing obstacles matters more than your marketing budget.

So, approach your marketing journey with equal parts determination and flexibility. Set clear objectives, but be willing to adjust your route. Celebrate progress, not just outcomes. And perhaps most importantly, find the balance between learning from others’ mistakes and being willing to make your own unique ones. That’s where true marketing wisdom comes from.

Read more:
SME Marketing ‘Mistakes’ You’ll Make – Don’t Beat Yourself Up

You don’t need to spend long in the world of digital marketing to encounter two of the most commonly used strategies: Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click advertising (PPC).

But what are they? And which is best for your business?

In this article, we examine the ins and outs of SEO and PPC and help you determine which is the best digital marketing strategy to meet your goals.

What is SEO?

SEO is the practice of optimising a website so that it ranks higher in the search results for certain ‘keywords’, thereby earning more clicks. Typical SEO activities include keyword research and selection, content creation, technical website improvements, and encouraging links from external websites.

The aim is to make the web page user-friendly and relevant to the search term. Building citations from external websites grants the web page ‘authority’, making it more reliable and trustworthy in Google’s eyes.

You can target global keywords with SEO(i.e. those that are not geographically constrained e.g. ‘online banking’) or local keywords (i.e. those constrained to a certain geographical area e.g. ‘plumber in London’).

The advantages of SEO include:

• Long-Term and Reliable: Once SEO is established, it continues to provide organic traffic on an ongoing basis.
• Builds Trust and Credibility: Organic search results are perceived as more trustworthy than paid ads due to their ‘natural’ occurrence. Appearing at the top of search results can also act as a stamp of approval, improving both your online and offline credibility.
• Reach Beyond Your Target Keywords: A strong SEO strategy can bring traffic from search queries other than those you’re targeting.

The main challenges of SEO are:

• Time-Intensive: Good SEO, particularly when targeting competitive keywords, takes a lot of time to set up. Effort doesn’t guarantee rankings.
• Algorithm Dependency: Search engines update their algorithms regularly to root out spam; your website can sometimes be caught in the crossfire.
• Resource-Heavy: It takes a lot of research, high-quality content and SEO monitoring to target competitive keywords.

What is PPC?

PPC advertising involves paying for your website to appear in prominent places, thereby attracting clicks. This happens in three main guises.

1. In search results, for instance, Google Ads. Enter an auction to appear for certain keywords in the sponsored section of the search results. Should your website receive a click, you pay the auctioned price.
2. Prominently on social media. Pay to boost your social media posts in the feeds of your target customers.
3. Display advertising. Appear in the margins and among the content of web pages that allow it and pay for each click you receive.

The advantages of PPC include:

• Immediate Results: As soon as the campaign goes live, your website can start receiving traffic.
• Easy to Target: You can tailor campaigns by demographics, interests, location and more.
• Scalability: Adjust budgets easily to meet different targets.
• Measurable ROI: Detailed analytics is available for PPC, allowing you to track your campaigns’ performance closely.

The challenges of PPC include:

• Ongoing running costs: Costs can add up quickly, especially for competitive keywords/industries with a high cost-per-click (CPC).
• Temporary: As soon as you stop paying for the ads, the traffic stops.
• Fraud Risk: Competitors might inflate your ad costs by clicking on them without delivering value.

SEO vs. PPC Summary

Should You Choose SEO or PPC?

The choice between SEO and PPC often comes down to your business goals.

• Choose SEO if:
  • You are willing to invest time and resources over a period of time.
  • You are seeking long-term, sustainable gains.
  • You are happy to wait for results.
  • You want to build your brand credibility.
  • Your industry has low-to-moderate competition in search rankings.
• Choose PPC if:
  • You have the budget available upfront.
  • You need immediate results.
  • You are running a specific promotion or marketing campaign within a defined timeline.
  • Your industry is highly competitive, making organic ranking challenging.

What about both?

If the budget and resources allow, a combined approach is recommended for most businesses as SEO and PPC complement each other.

For instance, while you’re building out your SEO, you can still gain traffic through PPC. And those tricky, competitive keywords that are out of reach for SEO can still be reached through PPC – at the right price. There’s also evidence to suggest that running PPC traffic through your website improves the website’s ‘health’, which is no bad thing for SEO.

SEO or PPC: Final Thoughts

SEO and PPC are both effective digital marketing strategies, each with their specific advantages and challenges.

SEO lays the groundwork for sustainable results, albeit with an investment of time and resources. PPC provides immediate, short-term results, albeit results that ‘switch off’ as soon as the budget runs out.

Which one you choose depends on your business goals. And, of course, you can always choose to do both. In fact, it’s recommended.

Read more:
SEO or PPC: Which is Better?

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has sought to calm key advertisers following its decision to scrap third-party fact-checking in the United States.

Senior executives led by Nicola Mendelsohn, Meta’s head of global business, have held a series of meetings over recent days to address concerns about brand safety and content moderation.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder, earlier this month announced an end to the platform’s long-standing US fact-checking partnership and signalled a new reliance on users to flag misinformation. Under the revised policy, the company will introduce “community notes”, mirroring an approach adopted by Elon Musk at X. Zuckerberg defended the shift during an eight-minute video statement, claiming that external fact-checking had led to “too many mistakes and too much censorship”.

Mendelsohn, speaking in Davos at the World Economic Forum, insisted Meta was not abandoning its commitment to brand safety. “There is no change. Absolutely no change. It is business as usual,” she said. She emphasised Meta’s deep investment in “suitability tools” that allow advertisers to avoid being placed next to political or socially sensitive content, adding that “Advertisers can choose where they do or they don’t want to place their ads.”

The move comes against a backdrop of shrinking advertising revenues at rival X, which experienced a steep decline from an estimated US$4.5 billion in 2022 to US$2.2 billion in 2023 amid controversy over Musk’s content moderation approach.

Mendelsohn framed Meta’s pivot as “moving back to our roots”, stressing that the platform’s original mission was to enable free expression and open debate. She played down the risk of brand damage, arguing that, while the company may be “moving faster” in its changes, it remains committed to its “core DNA”.

In addition to dropping US fact-checking, Zuckerberg announced plans to tweak algorithms to once again promote political posts, reversing a previous policy that had intentionally sidelined such content.

Separately, Meta disclosed that it would also be scrapping its diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policies, citing a “shifting legal and policy landscape” in a statement released ahead of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

Read more:
Meta soothes ad giants with ‘community notes’ after US fact-checking overhaul

Piers Morgan has parted ways with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in a move set to expand his popular Uncensored show on YouTube, ending months of speculation about his future at News UK.

The outspoken broadcaster will now operate independently, having acquired ownership of his Uncensored brand and its 3.6 million-strong subscriber base.

Morgan, 59, opted not to renew his contract with News UK, where he held a reported £50 million deal covering columns, book rights, and a TalkTV programme. His departure appeared inevitable after he stepped back from his nightly TalkTV show—complaining it was a “straitjacket”—to focus on YouTube broadcasting. The Uncensored channel will now be developed independently, allowing greater flexibility on scheduling and content creation, particularly in the United States and other international markets.

Under a four-year partnership struck through Morgan’s Wake Up Productions, Rupert Murdoch’s company will retain a share of advertising revenue. However, Morgan will run Uncensored outside News UK’s direct oversight, while continuing to write columns for its newspapers and deliver a book to publisher HarperCollins this year.

Explaining his decision, Morgan said: “Owning the brand allows my team and I the freedom to focus exclusively on building Uncensored into a stand-alone business, editorially and commercially, and in time, widening it from just me and my content.”

Morgan’s guest roster has seen high-profile figures such as Donald Trump, Jordan Peterson, Volodymyr Zelensky, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Cristiano Ronaldo debate on Uncensored. He has hinted that Elon Musk could soon join this list. While continuing his combative interview style, Morgan emphasised that YouTube—unlike conventional linear TV—lets him broadcast live discussions at any time to a global audience.

Scott Taunton, head of broadcasting at News UK, said the new model grants Morgan “flexibility to grow his own business by leveraging his position as a true global opinion former” and keeps the two parties commercially linked. Morgan has also signed a deal with US-based Red Seat Ventures to help monetise his brand further through sponsorship and additional revenue streams.

Read more:
Piers Morgan quits Murdoch empire to build Uncensored brand independently on YouTube

Kevin O’Leary, famed for his role as “Mr Wonderful” on the American series Shark Tank, has revealed plans to join billionaire Frank McCourt’s consortium in a high-stakes effort to acquire TikTok.

The move comes amid growing pressure on the Chinese-owned video platform, which could be banned in the United States if its parent company ByteDance fails to divest the app by 19 January.

Last spring, President Joe Biden signed into law measures compelling ByteDance to sell off TikTok’s US operations by this month’s deadline or face a ban—removing the app from American app stores and disabling access via web browsers. TikTok has challenged the legislation, arguing it represents censorship and breaches US First Amendment rights. However, supporters of the ban claim the platform poses a potential national security threat by sharing data with Chinese authorities.

McCourt, founder of Project Liberty and executive chairman of McCourt Global, announced in December that he was assembling a group of backers—named the “People’s Bid for TikTok”. Project Liberty’s primary goal is to hand control of users’ data back to the users themselves. According to McCourt, verbal commitments of up to $20 billion have already been pledged for the takeover.

O’Leary told Fox News on Monday that he and McCourt would need to collaborate with President-elect Donald Trump to complete any deal, particularly as Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban so he can try to salvage the platform. The Supreme Court is scheduled to review the ban on Friday, and Trump will be sworn into office the day after the deadline.

“This isn’t just about buying TikTok’s US assets,” O’Leary said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). “It’s about something much bigger: protecting the privacy of 170 million American users. It’s about empowering creators and small businesses. And it’s about building a platform that prioritises people over algorithms.”

Neither Project Liberty nor Kevin O’Leary responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Read more:
Kevin O’leary joins billionaire’s bid to buy TikTok as US ban deadline nears

The number of Britons using X, formerly known as Twitter, has plummeted since Elon Musk’scontroversial takeover two years ago.

A new report by Ofcom reveals that UK adults visiting the platform’s app or website dropped from 26.5 million in 2022 to 22.2 million in 2023, reflecting a significant exodus.

The findings from Ofcom’s annual Online Nation report suggest growing dissatisfaction with Musk’s leadership, particularly among Left-leaning users disillusioned by his political affiliations and policy changes.

Musk’s outspoken support for Donald Trump, including his endorsement of Trump’s presidential candidacy and hundreds of promotional posts to his 200 million followers, has provoked criticism from UK users. Musk has also waded into UK politics, labelling the country a “tyrannical police state” and warning of a potential “civil war.”

His decision to reinstate banned accounts, including far-right figures such as Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkins, and his “light-touch” moderation approach, has further alienated users. Critics argue that these policies have allowed hate speech to proliferate on the platform.

Additionally, Musk’s emphasis on paid subscriptions—such as boosting posts from verified users who pay a monthly fee—has drawn backlash, with many accusing him of eroding the platform’s accessibility and user experience.

Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, attributed part of the decline to Musk’s rebranding of Twitter to X:

“The redesigns and the rebranding including the switch from Twitter to X have also played a role. It broke its cultural currency. Stripping that away left many users disconnected.”

Competition from rival platforms has intensified. Reddit saw UK usage jump by 47%, attracting 22.9 million visitors as of May 2023. Threads, the microblogging platform launched by Meta, now boasts 5.3 million UK users and has gained 35 million users globally since November. Bluesky, another competitor, added 7 million accounts in under a month following Trump’s re-election campaign.

x’s demographic shift and further challenges

X remains more popular among men, who make up 63% of its UK user base. However, daily active users of the platform’s app have dropped significantly, from 6.9 million in November 2022 to 5.2 million in November 2023, according to data from Similarweb.

In contrast, platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram maintain their dominance as the top three social media services by reach in the UK. Meanwhile, TikTok has experienced a 13% growth, reaching 24 million UK users.

Ofcom concluded: “Although X remains the highest-reaching micro-blogging service, its UK adult reach continues to gradually decline.”

With competitors like Threads, Bluesky, and TikTok capturing disillusioned users, X faces increasing pressure to retain relevance. The platform’s controversial political affiliations, policy changes, and brand overhaul may continue to erode its user base unless strategic changes are made to restore trust and engagement.

Read more:
Millions of Britons abandon X amid backlash against Elon Musk’s leadership

The Technology Secretary, Peter Kyle, has commissioned new research into the impact of social media and smartphone use on children, signalling that the UK may follow Australia’s lead in considering a social media ban for under-16s.

Australia is pressing ahead with plans to prohibit social media access for all individuals under 16, regardless of parental consent. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared earlier this month: “Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it.”

Kyle stated he is “looking very closely” at Australia’s proposal and remains “open-minded” about implementing a similar measure in the UK. A 2019 review by the Chief Medical Officer found insufficient evidence to draw strong conclusions about the links between social media, smartphones, and children’s mental health.

Believing that technology companies possess unshared research on the issue, Kyle’s department is initiating a six-month study, alongside a multiyear project, to “help direct future government action.”

The call for swifter action has intensified among campaigners and parents, especially following the publication of The Anxious Generation by American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. The book attributes the rise in childhood anxiety and depression to smartphone usage, though some academics have challenged its conclusions.

Additionally, the Safer Phones Bill, proposed by Labour MP Josh MacAlister, includes a mechanism to ban social media for under-16s and is set for debate in March. Kyle is also urging Ofcom to report on its progress with the Online Safety Act. The regulator is finalising new laws, coming into force in the spring, which will compel tech companies to protect children online and remove illegal content.

However, civil society groups argue that Ofcom is not being stringent enough on tech companies. They contend that the current rules might, in some cases, require less action from companies than they currently undertake.

Kyle has issued a “statement of strategic priorities” for Ofcom, emphasising that the regulator should ensure safety is integrated into platforms from the outset, remain agile, address emerging harms such as generative artificial intelligence, and foster an environment resilient to disinformation.

Ian Russell, chair of trustees at the Molly Rose Foundation, welcomed the announcement, stating it “outlines a much-needed course correction” and “lays down an important marker for Ofcom to be bolder.”

An Ofcom spokesperson responded: “We welcome the draft statement of strategic priorities, which, once finalised, will help shape this important work.”

Read more:
UK considers social media ban for under-16s as Minister orders new research

Successful digital marketing involves constant review of your SEO, PPC campaigns and website UX, which can result in a sense akin to FOMO for marketers concerned about getting the best possible ROMI (Return on Marketing Investment).

Phil Turner of Bespoke explains how to judge if your marketing is working, and how to strike a balance between staying at the top of your digital marketing game, without confusing your customers through over-adaptation.

In 2023, digital ad spend in the UK is set to exceed £30billion. But research by Bespoke shows that, of that figure, an estimated 31% is wasted. That’s £9.3billion being spent every year on digital tactics that generate no, or limited, return.

We conducted our research by analysing the findings of our Digital Strategy Workshops carried out over five years with companies from across the North West and South East of England, two of the UK’s hotspots for digital marketing as a whole.

The workshops, targeted at inhouse digital marketers, start with an extensive audit of current spend on all areas of digital marketing. After analysing the results over five years, we were astounded to realise just how much digital marketing spend on average is currently wasted. The key culprits according to our findings are:

Spend on PPC on platforms that simply don’t work for that industry

PPC is not like playing the lottery. It’s not a case of being in it to win it. To avoid wasting money, PPC campaigns have to be aligned with buying behaviour for that industry. If you have a niche product that consumers search for, Google is the natural choice. If it’s a consumer product that’s disrupting the market in some way, Facebook is a good option. If it’s corporate B2B, LinkedIn is probably best. But rarely will you get good returns from all three. Yes, there can be a case of trial and error. But if it’s more often error, the best move companies can make to improve these digital tactics is simply to switch them off. The saved money can be put into meaningful investments such as UX, which in fact will help convert more customers who’ve reached the site through appropriate clicks.

Paid ads just left to run

Sometimes, when a PPC plan is put in place and can be seen to work, companies just leave it running. This “if it ain’t broke” attitude can lead to huge losses from campaigns that can actually be improved by ongoing management, maintenance and development. In the worst-case scenarios, we’ve seen many more companies than you might imagine, who have simply set up campaigns and then forgotten about them. In the interim, they have updated their products and services, making these old ads meaningless, and every click they get, simply a waste of money.

Again, the advice here is review your campaigns regularly and seek constant improvement.  If they’re not working, turn them off, or change them.

Jumping too soon

The third most common way digital ad spend is simply wasted is where companies start spending before they have got the fundamentals right. If you have not carefully worked out your product or service’s positioning in the marketplace before you start spending on ads, you’re bound to be wasting a large portion of your budget.

The lesson is simple: Look before you leap. Spending the time, before you start spending your money, to get your digital strategy aligned with your products’ USPs in the context of the marketplace you’re entering will save you huge amounts of budget in the long-run.

Companies can avoid wastage by investing money and time in getting their digital strategy right before they start handing their money to Google or social media platforms.

Being aware of the potential areas of digital wastage can be the absolute decider between glorious success or outright failure as an online marketer.

Strategy

As a simple question, does your web strategy make your business stand out in your industry? A well researched strategy is fundamental to successful online lead-generation. To perform well, websites and campaigns should be designed around a well researched strategy. For example, one that includes deep profiling of your ideal customer, consistent marketing messages that have been proven to excite your customer, and an understanding of the expected return on investment across each of the digital channels available to you.

Website

Do you have a performance website with a great conversion rate? Many business persevere with an old or underperforming website for too long. A performance website is designed based on data and built with advanced lead-magnets. For example, a performance website might convert 1 in 20 of its visitors to leads whilst a regular website might only convert 1 in 200.

A brand refresh and website redesign by senior professionals who are specialist in your sector will typically improve performance overnight (on average we see an instant 15% performance increase when we relaunch a website – equivalent to £100,000s of new business in some cases).

Marketing

Do your campaigns get more high quality leads than competitors? When a business has a good strategy and website in place it makes sense to invest in online marketing campaigns to drive laser targeted prospects to your lead magnets.

Yet, we often see budget being wasted on campaigns that are poorly targeted or whose key messages do not excite the target customer. When it comes to marketing campaigns there is competition for the best value traffic across digital channels so it pays for your campaigns to be in the best shape they possibly can be.

When these three essentials are fully developed and working in harmony, a business gets the best possible flow of quality leads from its website and other online marketing. But if any of the three are not quite as they should be, the whole marketing operation underperforms. A weakness in one weakens the others too.

Read more:
FOMO about ROMI? How do you know when your marketing is working?

In the fast-paced world of public relations, timing is everything. As someone who has spent years navigating the intricacies of media relations and crisis management, I cannot stress enough how critical speed is when it comes to getting your name featured in news stories.

This is particularly true in the context of events with immense public interest, such as the recent UK general election.

Why Speed Matters

When news breaks, journalists are on high alert, looking for fresh angles, expert opinions, and immediate reactions. The window of opportunity to provide these insights is often measured in minutes, not days. Sending a reaction comment four days after a major event is not just ineffective—it’s a colossal waste of time and resources.

Imagine this scenario: A significant political event unfolds, and your PR company drafts a perfect response. However, it sits in their inbox for days, only to be sent out when the news cycle has moved on. By then, the media has already published numerous stories and moved on to the next big thing. Your carefully crafted comment is now irrelevant, buried under a pile of newer updates.

The Financial Cost of Delays

For SMEs, every pound counts. Hiring a PR company can be a significant investment, but if they are slow to respond, you might as well take that money out to the car park and set fire to it. At least then, you’ll get some warmth in this unseasonable British summer. A delayed reaction not only fails to capitalise on the immediate news cycle but also wastes the budget allocated for timely PR interventions.

Actionable Advice for SMEs

Set Clear Expectations: Ensure that your PR company understands the importance of speed. Set clear guidelines for how quickly they need to respond to major events.

Prepare in Advance: Work with your PR team to prepare draft responses for various scenarios. Having pre-approved comments can save precious time when news breaks.

Stay Informed: Keep abreast of major news events, especially those relevant to your industry. This allows you to provide timely and relevant reactions.

Leverage Social Media: Sometimes, your official channels might be slower. Use social media platforms to share immediate reactions while your PR team crafts a more detailed response.

Evaluate Performance: Regularly review the performance of your PR company. If they consistently fail to deliver timely responses, it might be time to reconsider your partnership.

In the realm of public relations, particularly during high-stakes events like general elections, speed is not just an advantage—it’s a necessity. SMEs must ensure their PR companies are equipped to act swiftly and effectively. Delayed reactions are a waste of time and money, undermining the very purpose of engaging PR professionals. By prioritizing speed and setting clear expectations, SMEs can enhance their media presence and make the most of every opportunity.

Remember, in PR, being second is not an option. Be first, be fast, and make your mark.

Read more:
The Importance of Speed in PR: A Wake-Up Call for UK SMEs

Search marketing campaigns are essential for businesses that want to boost their online presence and reach a larger audience.

Retargeting is an invaluable tool that allows marketers to connect with potential customers more personally. Retargeting takes advantage of people’s browsing behaviour by targeting ads based on recent searches. To make this a little easier to understand, if someone searches for “shoes” in Google, they might see shoe-related ads when they visit other websites or check out their social media feeds. Let’s dive into how retargeting works and explore all its benefits!

Types Of Retargeting

As we said in the intro, Retargeting is a great technique that allows marketers to connect with potential customers on a more personal level. And it can get confusing as there are different types of retargeting, including contextual, dynamic, frequency-based, segmented, and social ads.

Contextual: delivers ads based on visitors’ content while browsing your website.

Dynamic: shows users ads tailored to specific items they’ve viewed on your site or purchased from you before.

Frequency capping: enables you to control how often people see your adverts over a specified period of time.

Segmentation: lets you target certain demographics and interests to show more relevant advertisements according to user behaviour.

Social: allows marketers to promote their brand on social networks like Facebook and Twitter by finding new customers and engaging existing ones.

Why Use Retargeting?

Did you know that 93% of online shoppers don’t convert on their first visit? That’s why it’s so essential to use retargeting in your search marketing campaigns. Retargeting is a powerful tool that allows advertisers to target the right people at the right time and with the right message, resulting in higher engagement and better return on ad spend.

Custom Audiences

Custom Audiences allow you to leverage data from various sources, such as emails, website visitors, and mobile apps. This is valuable as you can create an effective retargeting campaign without manually building lists. You can also set up different ad campaigns for each group of users based on their behaviour and interests. This will help ensure that your message reaches the right person at the right time. So, if you’re looking for an effective way to boost engagement and revenue, search retargeting should be part of your strategy!

What Are The Benefits Of Retargeting In Search Marketing?

Retargeting allows businesses to stay top-of-mind with existing and prospective customers, creating a more personal connection that helps turn leads into conversions.

It can also be used for SEO and PPC strategies, allowing you to optimise your search campaigns for better results. With targeted ads, businesses can track visitors’ website behaviour and serve relevant content based on their interests.

Search retargeting optimisation also offers numerous benefits, such as lower costs per acquisition, improved ROI and higher click-through rates. Tracking user interactions gives valuable insight into how successful your campaign is, allowing you to measure progress over time and make necessary adjustments if needed.

Retargeting in search marketing campaigns can help you maximise your ROI and reach out to more potential customers. By using custom audiences, search retargeting, measuring & optimising results and tracking performance strategies, you are able to take advantage of the benefits that retargeting offers. However, it can be a lengthy and confusing process, so partnering with a PPC agency in London can help make this process easier.

Read more:
Untapped Benefits Of Retargeting In Search Marketing Campaigns

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a bill on Wednesday that compels ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to sell the popular social media platform or face a complete ban in the United States.

In a decisive vote, 352 members of Congress voted in favor of the bill, with only 65 opposing it. The legislation, which was swiftly moved to a vote after unanimous approval by a committee last week, grants China-based ByteDance a 165-day window to divest from TikTok. Failure to comply would result in app stores such as the Apple App Store and Google Play legally prohibited from hosting TikTok or providing web hosting services to ByteDance-controlled applications.

The House vote represents a significant threat to TikTok amid ongoing concerns over potential data collection and political censorship by the China-based company. Despite TikTok’s assurances that it does not share US user data with the Chinese government, previous attempts by the Trump administration to ban the app in 2020 and a state-level ban passed in Montana in 2023 have underscored these concerns. However, courts overturned these bans on grounds of first amendment violations, and Trump has since reversed his stance on the matter.

In March 2023, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) urged ByteDance to sell its TikTok shares or face a potential ban, though no action has been taken thus far.

The bill’s fate in the Senate is less certain, with some Senate Democrats expressing reservations about potential freedom of speech implications and suggesting alternative measures to address concerns of foreign influence in social media. However, the White House has expressed support for the legislation, emphasizing the administration’s desire to see the bill enacted.

While proponents of the bill argue that it does not constitute a ban as it provides ByteDance with an opportunity to sell TikTok and avoid being blocked in the US, TikTok has vehemently opposed the legislation, stating that a sale is not guaranteed within the six-month timeframe stipulated by the bill.

Following the committee’s approval of the bill, TikTok supporters flooded Congress with phone calls, prompting complaints from staffers. TikTok defended its users’ engagement in the democratic process, asserting that it is their right to express their opinions to elected representatives.

While the bill primarily targets TikTok, its potential implications extend to other China-owned platforms, such as the US operations of Tencent’s WeChat. Representative Mike Gallagher emphasized that the bill’s scope could be subject to further debate regarding its applicability to other companies.

In the midst of heightened scrutiny over foreign-owned social media platforms, the bill signals a significant development in US efforts to address national security concerns and regulate the digital landscape.

Read more:
US House Passes Bill Targeting TikTok Ownership

As technology continues to evolve, business owners and marketers strive to adopt new learnings to effectively bring their products to market.

The advent of AI-driven technology and the rapid growth of online platforms like TikTok have further complicated the digital landscape for marketers.

Navigating the right marketing channels and optimising investments for a successful return has become the ultimate challenge. So, how can SMEs overcome these obstacles and achieve success?

First, we need to understand what the challenges are.

Determining who your target customer is

SMEs often profile a target customer based on a job function or role, industry, or company size. However, digging deeper to determine profile attributes to aid marketing can be challenging.

Top line targeting information is useful when broadly targeting a sector or group of potential companies but to target more effectively, SMEs need to understand the finer details about their target customers. For example, where their target customers spend most of their time online and how they consume digital content – is it mostly through video or written format?

Solution: Survey a sample of existing customers – asking them questions about the product, what they are using it for and the platform they discovered it on. Be mindful to evaluate the customers you collect data from, make sure that they are a great fit for your business and what you envision your “ideal” customer to be. This will help to ensure that the data and feedback is useful and can be implemented in an effective manner.

Profiling your customer to understand their individual needs

A target customer becomes a hot prospect by the nature of their circumstance. Understanding and documenting the problems that customers are facing will aid SMEs in positioning the messaging for their products and services more effectively, highlighting that they are able to solve their problems.

However, finding information on the potential problems that their customers are facing can be challenging. SMEs need to be able to find a cost-effective way to gather data from existing customers or prospects in a manner that provides the necessary information.

Solution: Speak to sales or product managers to determine what challenges their business is experiencing when they first contacted your company for solutions. By speaking directly with client stakeholders in the business, you will be able to determine the top 5 business challenges that are experienced by your ideal customer that led them onto discovering how your business can support them. These case studies can then be used to fuel a content marketing strategy that educates prospects on solutions that can help them overcome their challenges.

Understanding where your target customer resides online

Whilst Google is still the most dominant search engine in many countries across the globe, other search engines such as Microsoft Edge cannot be ignored. In some industries, IT equipment is supplied with Microsoft Edge as the default search engine and, therefore, B2B buyers are using this engine to search for information.

As well as search engines, B2B targets also engage on platforms such as LinkedIn, consuming content from other professionals as well as organisations in their feeds. By profiling the online destinations of a target customer, an SME can then start to determine where the business needs to have a presence to target more appropriately.

Solution: Surveying your customers will help to collate this information. However you can also partner with an SEO agency to carry out a competitive audit which will uncover where your competitors are positioning their brand online and how this can be utilised to fuel your marketing strategy.

Determining how much budget is needed to fuel marketing in 2024

On average, a business should be committing anywhere from 5 – 10% of its yearly turnover on marketing. In reality, an SMEs commitment sits closer to 3 – 5%, for a variety of reasons. Lack of awareness of marketing strategy, previous bad performance, and a general lack of confidence means SMEs sometimes do not know how to determine a budget that will drive the return required to grow the business.

Solution: Recruit a marketing consultant that can audit your marketing performance against your goals and build a strategic roadmap that carefully considers investment for return. Have someone that is comfortable at budgeting for campaigns and activity and has a track record of implementing marketing strategies for similar B2B clients.

Hiring marketers that can execute as well as plan strategically for growth.

Marketers typically fall into two categories; strategists that determine what a plan looks like, or practitioners: those that are on the ground operating as marketing specialists and execute actual activity on a day to day. SMEs have a need for both types of marketers, but often do not know how to evaluate a candidate for suitability for either role or are constrained by budget to hire in both areas.

Solution: Based on budget and needs, consider how to use consultants or agencies as well as full time operational staff for the purposes of marketing the business. Remember to use recruitment criteria that carefully assesses a candidate’s capability to either execute or plan marketing activity, asking the candidate for examples to support their claims.

In navigating the challenges of marketing in 2024, SMEs must embrace a holistic approach that involves understanding their target audience, addressing customer needs, strategically positioning online, budgeting effectively, and hiring marketers capable of both planning and executing for growth.

Read more:
The challenges SMES face when trying to market their business in 2024

As the political landscape gears up for the next election cycle, a significant surge in advertising spending on Facebook and Instagram by the two major political parties has been highlighted by Sky News.

The exponential increase, which surpasses tenfold compared to the same period in 2023, underscores the escalating importance of digital platforms in political campaigning.

The ramp-up in spending is attributed to changes in spending limits and data regulations, favoring the Labour and Conservative parties, enabling them to more effectively target individuals with tailored political advertisements. With maximum spending limits set to rise by 80% and forthcoming data rule changes facilitating enhanced targeting capabilities, both parties are poised to intensify their efforts to reach voters through social media channels.

Labour and the Conservatives are primed for a battle on mobile devices, intending to inundate voters with targeted advertisements in the lead-up to polling day. This strategic shift reflects a recognition of the pivotal role that digital platforms play in shaping public opinion and mobilizing support.

Smaller parties have raised concerns over the perceived tilt in electoral rules, with the Liberal Democrats alleging favoritism toward the Conservatives due to their financial advantage. Despite these grievances, Labour has demonstrated comparable spending levels, indicating a competitive digital advertising landscape dominated by the two major parties.

The data, compiled by the Who Targets Me website, reveals a stark increase in spending, with Labour and Tories collectively investing over £724,000 in the first five weeks of this year, compared to just over £67,000 during the same period in 2023. Such substantial investments mirror the levels of expenditure witnessed in the month preceding the previous general election.

Facebook and Instagram’s personalized, targeted advertising capabilities have emerged as potent campaign tools, enabling parties to tailor messages to specific demographics. For instance, users over 50 are likely to encounter Conservative adverts focusing on the economy, while under 40s may receive Labour messages addressing issues such as tax avoidance and crime.

The dominance of the two main parties in Facebook and Instagram spending is evident, with 52% allocated to Conservative advertising and 45% to Labour, leaving only marginal shares for smaller parties such as the Liberal Democrats, Greens, and Reform.

Analysis of Conservative spending patterns indicates a strategic approach, with investments spread across constituencies, including those traditionally considered safe Tory seats. This suggests a concerted effort to fortify support in key battlegrounds and defend against potential challenges.

Sam Jeffers, founder of Who Targets Me, anticipates a proliferation of voter engagement efforts driven by increased funding and access to data. With the impending changes in data regulations expected to facilitate easier voter contact, political parties are poised to engage with voters more extensively across various platforms.

As the electoral landscape undergoes transformation, voters can anticipate a deluge of information and campaign messaging across digital platforms, reflecting the heightened stakes and intensified competition in the upcoming election cycle.

Read more:
Surge in Political Ad Spending on Facebook and Instagram Signals Intensified Digital Campaigning

Being restricted to a low advertising budget might make you think you can’t get very far. Some people will even tell you always need to spend more to get ahead.

But a low budget doesn’t have to prevent you from creating successful ad campaigns. You can still make the most of your money when building a Google Ads campaign. PPC ads are a good choice for businesses with smaller budgets. With the right strategy, you can get impressive results from your campaigns.

If you have a budget on the lower end, look at these tips to maximise your budget and get more from your Google Ads campaigns.

Structure Your Campaigns Correctly

One common mistake people often make when setting up Google Ads campaigns is failing to structure them properly. You need to be organised if you want to get more from your campaigns and give them a good chance of helping you reach your goals. When you start setting up campaigns, organise them based on your goals or specific themes. You can then manage your budget for each objective, giving you more control over your spending. For example, you might create different campaigns for specific geographic locations or products.

Within each campaign, group keywords together to give yourself even more control. Grouping similar keywords together allows you to write very specific ads that are more likely to convert.

Connect Google Ads and Analytics

It might seem obvious to some, but you don’t want to forget to connect your Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts. Google Ads will tell you information about how your ads are performing, but Analytics will give you more in-depth information about what happens when someone is on your website. Analytics will give you important metrics such as bounce rate and conversions. You’ll also be able to see the path visitors take through your website after they’ve clicked on an ad. This will allow you to see the real impact of your ads and what’s working.

Use Targeting Tools

One benefit of online advertising is that you can reach a wide audience. However, sometimes, your audience can be much too large. It’s only possible to show your ads to people if they’re relevant to them. Instead of casting your net out as far as possible, it’s important to make use of targeting tools and target only the people your ads are intended for. Google Ads allows you to target by location, language, interests, and habits. You can also use remarketing to target people who have already interacted with your ads.

Target Long-Tail Keywords

When you have a small advertising budget, you’re going to struggle with targeting any keywords with high competition. These are likely more expensive, and larger brands with much bigger budgets will outbid you. If you want to choose more effective keywords that you have a better chance with, choose long-tail keywords instead. These longer keywords are more specific and usually have less competition. They often help target customers who are further along in their buying journey, too.

Get Professional Help

Hiring professional help for your Google Ads might seem like another expense that will stretch your budget. But it could mean you save a lot of money and make the most of your small budget. If you try to run PPC campaigns with little knowledge of what you should be doing, you could make a lot of mistakes before you figure it all out. When you use a PPC advertising agency in London, you immediately benefit from their expertise. They can use their knowledge of Google Ads and your industry to create the most effective ad campaigns to reach your goals.

Keep Monitoring and Adjusting

It would be great if you could take a “set it and forget it” approach to Google Ads. But the truth is that you need to continually monitor and adjust your PPC campaigns if you want them to perform well. It’s important to determine what’s working and what isn’t and make changes when necessary. As you monitor what’s happening with your campaign and what results you’re getting, you can continue to refine it. The longer your campaign runs for, the more you will be able to see what works and what doesn’t.

A low budget can continue you from making the most of Google Ads. You can still create successful campaigns that get real results.

Read more:
How To Maximise Google Ads Results With A Low Budget

In a significant ruling impacting the automotive industry, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has decided that electric cars cannot be marketed as “zero emission.”

The decision, announced today, has stirred debate among manufacturers, environmentalists, and consumers alike.

The ASA’s ruling comes after a complaint was filed against an advertisement by an electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer, which claimed its cars were “zero emission.” The complaint argued that the claim was misleading because while electric vehicles produce zero emissions at the point of use, emissions are generated during the manufacturing process and electricity generation.

The ASA ruling said that the term “zero emission” could mislead consumers into believing that electric cars have no environmental impact whatsoever. The authority emphasized the importance of transparency in advertising and urged manufacturers to provide accurate information regarding the environmental footprint of their products.

This decision marks a significant shift in how electric vehicles are marketed and perceived by the public. For years, the term “zero emission” has been widely used to promote the environmental benefits of electric cars and encourage their adoption as a sustainable alternative to traditional combustion engine vehicles.

However, critics argue that while electric cars are indeed cleaner than their fossil fuel counterparts in terms of tailpipe emissions, their overall environmental impact extends beyond just the driving phase. Factors such as the production of batteries, electricity generation, and disposal of old batteries all contribute to the carbon footprint of electric vehicles.

Manufacturers now face the challenge of finding alternative ways to market electric cars without using the “zero emission” label. Some may choose to highlight the lower emissions of electric vehicles compared to petrol or diesel cars, while others may focus on other benefits such as reduced air and noise pollution.

Environmental groups have welcomed the ASA’s decision, hoping that it will lead to more transparent advertising practices within the automotive industry. They argue that consumers have the right to accurate information about the environmental impact of the products they purchase, including electric cars.

It remains to be seen how manufacturers will adjust their marketing strategies in light of the ASA’s decision.

Read more:
Advertising Standards Authority rules against ‘Zero Emission’ label for electric cars

The European Union has formally announced it suspects X, previously known as Twitter, of breaching its rules in areas including countering illegal content and disinformation.

Digital commissioner Thierry Breton set out the alleged infringements in a post on the social media platform.

He said X, which is owned by Elon Musk, was also suspected of breaching its obligations on transparency.

X said it was “co-operating with the regulatory process”.

In a statement the firm said it was “important that this process remains free of political influence and follows the law”.

“X is focused on creating a safe and inclusive environment for all users on our platform, while protecting freedom of expression, and we will continue to work tirelessly towards this goal,” it added.

In October the EU said it was investigating X over the possible spread of terrorist and violent content, and hate speech, after Hamas’ attack on Israel.

X said then that it had removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts from the platform.

The investigation was the first under the EU’s new tech rules.

Under a piece of legislation introduced in August, the Digital Services Act (DSA), big tech firms operating in the EU have beefed up obligations to protect users.

Breaches can result in huge fines or services being suspended.

Read more:
EU takes action against Elon Musk’s X over disinformation

USB2U’s branded tech products are an excellent way to make a fantastic first impression and lay the foundations of long-lasting relationships with clients, suppliers, and business partners alike.

Not only that, but by providing custom tech products you are also able to increase your brand awareness simply and effectively. This increased visibility and brand recognition can also lead to even more business opportunities, a high business return, and even more than that.

Depending on the chosen product, your logo could be branded with LED Branding, engraving, or even digital print. These branding styles expose your brand to your clients and other potential customers in the best light possible, and they also provide insight into what your organisation represents.

In addition, USB2U’s extensive product range offers smart, connected tech products that are not only durable, they are high quality, and also perfect tools for increasing business productivity and efficiency.

Learn more about USB2U’S extensive promotional product range here:

1.    The Ultimate XL Gift Set

The Ultimate XL Gift Set is a popular choice for brands who want to make a great impression on all their clients. It features a high-capacity power bank, the Pro 10,000 Power Bank, the incredible Cube Speaker, and the Promotional 3 in 1 Cable.

The Pro 10000 has a generous 10,000mAh battery capacity and two USB charging ports. It’s a perfect product for those who want to charge two devices simultaneously. The Promotional 3 in 1 Cable features USB-C, Micro USB, and Lightning connectors to charge various devices. It’s a lightweight tech product, making it a must-have travel companion for your clients.

The Cube Speaker boasts an impressive light and compact design, and it offers seamless sound quality. The speaker can connect to your client’s device either through Bluetooth or the line audio cable (provided) and can also play music from a Micro-SD card thanks to its built-in port.

This gift set is also available in black and it can be branded with any logo or chosen design. It’s a brilliant way to say thank you to your clients.

2.    Bamboo 10000 Solar Power Bank

The Bamboo 10000 Solar Power Bank is another excellent choice that will leave a lasting impression on your clients. It’s new to USB2U’s range of eco-friendly tech products, and it boasts plenty of fantastic features for your clients to enjoy.

What makes this power bank truly stand out is the fact that it features a built-in solar panel that boosts power using solar energy, and it’s also made from FSC-certified Bamboo. This makes it a top choice for businesses looking to move away from plastic promotional products and move into sustainable alternatives.

In addition, this power bank offers your clients an excellent battery capacity of 10000mAh, a stylish design, and it also boasts ample space for engraving or logo printing.

3.    LED Ultra 8000 Power Bank

The brand-new LED Ultra 8000 Power Bank stands as a superior power bank for several reasons. For starters, it features LED branding which will brilliantly illuminate your logo or designs in bright white light. This also makes it such a perfect marketing tool because your clients or potential customers will always see your logo being advertised in the best light possible.

What’s more, it features a high capacity 8000 mAh battery, a sleek and smooth black finish, and it’s also made from R-ABS plastic (Recycled Claim Standard).

Read more:
Leave a Lasting Impression on all Your Clients With USB2U’s Branded Tech Products

Elon Musk’s X has reinstated the accounts of far-Right influencers Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson, reversing lifetime bans on the pair imposed by the social network’s previous ownership.

Ms Hopkins and Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, were reinstated after Mr Musk responded to a tweet which pointed that out they remained banned from the platform.

Mr Musk on Sunday said: “Why are their account handles on this platform? Free speech is allowed, provided laws are not broken.”

The decision comes days after Twitter chief Linda Yaccarino held meetings with advertising executives in London in an effort to lure them back to the platform. Companies have pulled advertising from Twitter over concerns about a roll-back of moderation policies and amid nervousness about Mr Musk’s mercurial management style.

Ms Hopkins was permanently suspended in 2020 for what Twitter said was a violation of its hateful conduct policy.

She previously posted claims that a photo showing the body of a Syrian child on a Turkish beach was staged and also tweeted “we need a final solution” after the Manchester bombings.

She left the radio station LBC shortly after the latter post in 2017 and also parted ways with Mail Online soon after.

Twitter did not say which posts triggered her ban.

Mr Robinson was banned from the platform in 2018 after tweeting “Islam promotes killing people”.

Mr Musk, who has described himself as a “free speech absolutist”, has reinstated many controversial accounts since buying Twitter for $44bn (£36bn) a year ago.

That includes Donald Trump, who had been permanently suspended after the US Capitol riots in January 2021, and the rapper Kanye West, who was suspended for antisemitic posts.

In response to a post which celebrated Ms Hopkins’ reinstatement and blamed her original ban on pressure from campaign group the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), Mr Musk tweeted “CCDH is an evil propaganda machine”.

Mr Musk has a long-running feud with the CCDH and Twitter, now called X, has sued the organisation over claims it embarked on a “scare campaign” to deter advertisers.

After her ban was lifted, Ms Hopkins tweeted: “Thank you @elonmusk. And thank you to all the Twitter family who have brought Tommy & I back to @X. Know this. You are not alone. We are many. And we are stronger together. The fight back for your freedom is on.”

Mr Robinson tweeted: “I am grateful to @elonmusk for giving me my voice back at such an important time. I’ve been censored, attacked, slandered & imprisoned for shining a light on uncomfortable truths that our government wish to hide, the public are now aware I was telling the truth. We have lots to do.”

Mr Robinson was jailed in 2019 after being found in contempt of court for livestreaming footage of defendants in a criminal trial despite a reporting ban.

Read more:
Elon Musk reinstates Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson to his social platform X

Over sixty per cent of UK marketers believe consumer segmentation – the categorisation of customers based on shared traits – is an outdated method of marketing, with 63% considering it totally unfit for purpose.

That’s according to new research from enterprise customer data platform, Treasure Data. This is despite almost all (96%) marketers in the UK still using segmentation within their organisations – even though its effectiveness is being called so clearly into question.

The findings, which surveyed 500 UK marketers, found that whilst 86% of respondents update their customer segmentations at least every two years, well over half (56%) still struggle to target their audiences effectively.

And marketers think this new challenge is a result of consumers becoming trickier to understand, with two thirds (66%) concerned that consumer behaviour has become more complicated since the pandemic.

In fact, with easy access to more information and choice than ever before – especially online – priorities, preferences and purchasing habits now have potential to change at any given moment. Almost three quarters now agree it’s hard to group consumers into one segment because they’re always evolving.

The new era of targeting through consumer ‘situationships’

With this research exposing the shortfalls in traditional customer segmentation methods, Treasure Data is calling upon brands to rethink their approach and instead aim to make use of first party data to ‘segment by situationship’ in real time.

In its new report, ‘Better Decisions: The era of consumer situationships ’, situationships are defined as a momentary mindset based on an individual’s current mood, needs, priorities and circumstances.

Treasure Data further surveyed 2000 adults in the UK to gauge the modern consumer mindset, finding that many consumers in fact flit between mindsets or ‘situationships’, derived from numerous behavioural traits. The most popular of these momentary mindsets included ‘Family Firsts’, ‘Safe shoppers’, ‘Infrequent buyers’, ‘Purpose shoppers’ and ‘Seasonal Spikers’.

First party data to pin down consumers in real time

The report highlights prevailing gaps in the data management strategies within many brands, with 64% of UK marketers admitting that data blind spots are preventing them from getting a full picture of their customers. And with four in ten marketers (39%) recognising that consumers will opt-out of sharing their data with brands they don’t trust to handle it properly, marketers look set to struggle with elevating their segmentation efforts.

Commenting on the report findings, Director of Marketing EMEA and India at Treasure Data, Andrew Stephenson said:

“The findings of this research validate what we knew to be true – that outdated models of segmentation which fix consumers into rigid and permanent groups simply don’t work. And marketers will face an urgent problem if they don’t take the need for better first party data seriously.

“If they are to have a real time, fluid and evolving understanding of their customers, then brands must look to eliminate data blindspots, access and invest in data security measures to win consumers trust and from there, achieve the gold standard of targeting; segmentation by mindset and situation.”

Read more:
Over half of UK marketers believe consumer segmentation is an outdated and oversimplified marketing method 

Elon Musk has suggested that all users of X, formerly called Twitter, may have to pay for access to the platform.

In a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the billionaire said a payment system was the only way to counter bots.

“We’re moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the system,” the Tesla and SpaceX boss said.

It is unclear whether this was just an off-the-cuff comment, or a signal of firmer plans that have yet to be announced.

Mr Musk has long said that his solution for getting rid of bots and fake accounts on the social media platform is charging for verification.

Since taking over Twitter last year he has looked to incentivise users to pay for an enhanced service, which is now called X Premium.

This has been done by giving paid subscribers more features, like longer posts and increased visibility on the platform.

However, users can currently still use X for free.

Although there is a clear financial interest for the company to charge users, Mr Musk insisted that getting people to pay for the service is aimed at tackling bots.

“A bot costs a fraction of a penny” to make he said. “But if somebody even has to pay a few dollars or something, some minor amount, the effective cost to bots is very high”.

X Premium currently costs $8 (£6.50) a month in the US. The price differs depending on which country a subscriber is in.

The world’s richest person said that he was now looking at cheaper options for users.

“We’re actually going to come up with a lower tier pricing. So we just want it to be just a small amount of money,” he said.

“This is a longer discussion, but in my view, this is actually the only defence against vast armies of bots,” Mr Musk added.

However, a risk is that by putting X behind a paywall it may lose a large chunk of its users. That in turn, could drive down advertising revenue, which currently accounts for the vast majority of the company’s income.

Mr Musk’s conversation with the Israeli prime minister also touched on antisemitism on X.

The platform has been accused by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) campaign group of not doing enough to stop antisemitic content.

In a statement, the organisation said that Mr Musk was “engaging with and elevating” antisemites.

Earlier this month, he said that the company would sue the ADL to “clear our platform’s name”.

In the conversation with Mr Netanyahu, Mr Musk reiterated that he was “against antisemitism”.

Mr Netanyahu accepted the balance between free speech and content moderation was a challenge but urged Mr Musk to get the balance right.

“I hope you find within the confines of the First Amendment, the ability to stop not only antisemitism… but any collective hatred of people that antisemitism represents,” he said.

“I know you’re committed to that”, Mr Netanyahu added.

Read more:
Elon Musk suggests social media platform X could go behind paywall

Over the past years, influencers have become one of the top choices for social media marketers, providing brands an opportunity to reach millions of potential users practically overnight.

The rising popularity of influencers has boosted the total spending in this market to record highs.

According to data presented by OnlyAccounts.io, brands have spent a whopping $90bn on influencer ads in the past five years.

Ad Spending in the Influencer Market Skyrocketed by 400% Since 2017

Marketers use influencer advertising because it is effective. The strong bond between influencers and their followers helps them to raise brand awareness, increase reach, traffic, and sales and improve engagement. At the same time, precise targeting and performance monitoring bring a higher investment return for each campaign. The State of Influencer Marketing 2023 report showed that most brands, or around 40%, work with up to ten influencers.

With budgets growing fast and marketers seeing strong returns and increased customer trust, the total ad spending on this type of ad skyrocketed in the past five years. According to a Statista survey, brands and companies spent roughly $6bn on influencer advertising in 2017. Three years later, this figure jumped to over $16bn. Statistic show 2021 saw the biggest year-over-year growth, with the annual spending on influencer ads jumping by almost 40% to $22.3bn.

Last year, companies and brands spent another $26.3bn, despite market growth slowing down. Statista expects this figure to grow by 17% to $30.8bn in 2023, showing a massive 400% increase since 2017. By 2027, the total ad spending in the influencer market will touch almost $48bn.

Chinese, US, and UK Brands Make Two-Thirds of Total Ad Spending

Although brands worldwide use influencer ads to promote their products and services, most ad spending comes from only three countries. China, the world`s largest and fastest-growing influencer advertising market, has the biggest share in total ad spending. Between 2017 and 2022, Chinese brands spent a whopping $49bn on this type of advertising, far more than any other country. Statista expects this figure to grow by a further $16.7bn in 2023.

Total ad spending in the US influencer advertising market, the second-largest globally, is expected to hit nearly $5bn in 2023 after brands already spending $15.7bn in the past five years. The United Kingdom follows with $2.8bn in five-year spending and another $1bn worth of influencer ads expected this year.

Statistics show the three countries generate two-thirds of total ad spending in the influencer advertising industry.

Read more:
Brands Spent a Whopping $90B on Influencer Ads in Five Years

Marketing is a matter of storytelling and what’s better than using a story that your customers already know and love?

With the new release of Spongebob bath bombs and soaps from Lush Cosmetics, the concept of nostalgia marketing is being brought back into the limelight.

Nostalgia marketing is one of the great tools big companies are using to keep hold of their loyal customers and to grab the attention of others. But how can you use nostalgia marketing to your benefit?

Why nostalgia works

Nostalgia works as a marketing technique that appeals to your customer’s emotions. It gives your customers a feeling of longing and a reminder of fond memories, making your product stick in their minds as something comparable to that happiness. Familiar faces, such as characters from childhood, can be one way of encouraging this longing, reminding your customer of happy times.

Alice Cass, Digital and Social Marketer at UK Greetings, says: “Investing in the characters known and loved by your customer demographic is the perfect way to incorporate nostalgia into your marketing and business strategy. Nostalgia marketing is an excellent tool, bridging the gap between the past and present evoking a sense of familiarity and trust between a business and its customers.”

According to the Harvard Business Review, studies conducted on nostalgia show that customers desire money less after a nostalgic event – meaning they are more likely to spend more when reminded of happy times.

Nostalgic characters can include Groovy Chic from the 1990s, Boofle from the mid-late 2000s who has become recognisable during birthdays and special celebrations and special celebrations, and classic cartoon characters such as Scooby Doo, the Rugrats, and other recognisable faces.

Even big brands like Coco Cola, Nintendo, and McDonalds have been known to jump on the nostalgia marketing hype – seeing results through bringing their history and their customers’ childhoods into their brands.

What counts as “nostalgic”?

Well, this depends on your target customer, recent nostalgia marketing has focused on  the late ‘90s, with Generation Z being the front runners in commanding the trend, despite them not being born during this time period.

The icons of this time persist as a brilliant way to market your business, having a profound impact on your customer.

In short, nostalgia is something that reminds someone of the past – and while it usually is of their past, it doesn’t have to be. Stories from parent’s past, for example, can be just as effective. Popular shows like Stranger Things are helping to boost this desire for nostalgia, even during a time period many of the watchers might not remember, the ‘80s.

How to bring nostalgia into your business

Marketing

Harnessing the nostalgic power of these characters and time periods can be done by developing them into your marketing strategy. However, it is important to note that characters likely have a trademark and copyright against them, so gaining appropriate licensing is a must.

Whether posting online content or hosting in-house events for children, your characters can come to life and help promote your business. Perhaps, your bar has Groovy Chick Thursdays as Groovy Chick herself hands out cocktail discounts nearby, for example.

Products

Your products can even have a classic character or nostalgic twist to them. Whether this is a greeting card featuring your favourite childhood characters, such as Elliot & Buttons or Bubblegum, or you commemorate a time in history with your products.

Companies such as Adidas have used the nostalgia marketing technique in their own trainers. As part of the 45th anniversary of Billie Jean King’s iconic tennis win, Adidas launched their own trainers with her face and initials on. This campaign saw a 20% boost in shoe sales during the time – showing the customer desire to be connected to history.

Company history

Another way to bring nostalgia into your businessis by bringing the past into the present. Customers love a good throwback, so why not embrace this trend by highlighting the amazing history that your own company has.

Whether it is a long family history that started the business off right or a collection of previous partnerships which bring back a friendly reminder – your business could have a lot of inspiration to draw from.

Nostalgia has been proven to make customers want to spend more, but implementing this into your marketing strategy isn’t so easy. Some companies go down the route of paying for copyright licensing for characters, while others bring their own history into the mix to promote a community feeling within their customers. Whichever route you choose, investing in some nostalgia not only appeals to your customers’ emotions but also to their wallets.

Read more:
Nostalgia Marketing: How to Implement Emotion into Your Business

The Barbie movie, it’s everywhere – from social media memes to the temporarily-renamed Barbie-can Centre.

Praised for its witty marketing and seemingly endless barrage of promotions leading up to the release date, Barbie has now grossed over $400 million worldwide after less than a week in cinemas. The movie’s extremely successful marketing campaign has seen the movie achieve the highest opening day sales of any movie this year.

While it’s undeniable that Barbie’s massive $100 million marketing budget played a part in the triumph of these campaigns, the real genius lies in the strategies utilised by Barbie’s marketing team; building meme generators and social media filters, pushing brand identity and nostalgia-marketing, and getting people involved in their interactive campaigns – strategies that are equally relevant to SMEs.

Marketing is a powerful tool that can boost brand awareness and attract new customers, and there is a lot that business leaders can learn from the overwhelming success of the Barbie movie’s marketing attempts.

Connor Campbell, business expert at NerdWallet comments: “There is no doubt that the Barbie movie has seen some of the most effective marketing in recent years. Opening to staggeringly high box office numbers, the movie has been able to transfer its marketing virality into direct sales – something that is equally desirable for small businesses in the UK.

“The secrets to the movie’s success lay in the marketing team’s ability to create a ‘moment’ that masses of people want to be part of. By playing to their strengths of pushing the strong identity of Barbie as a brand – utilising hot pink and iconic fonts, alongside appealing to nostalgia – the Barbie marketing team have generated significant buzz and anticipation ahead of the movie’s release.

“While SMEs are unlikely to have the budget potential that the Barbie team were given, these are all methods that can inspire the way in which small businesses market themselves and build brand awareness in the wider public – optimising the power of social media virality to build interactive campaigns that people want to participate in.”

Connor has shared the following tips to help businesses take inspiration from the Barbie marketing victories:

Create interactive social media content

One of the main reasons that the Barbie movie hit such high levels of viral popularity is through their strategic use of interactive social media content. This has taken the form of meme generators – such as the ‘This Barbie is a…’ generator that allows users to transform photos of themselves into Barbie-themed posters, and the Barbie-related filters on TikTok and Instagram.

By directly getting people involved and providing them with a ‘memento’, this encourages them to want to take part. This can be in the form of creating a filter or sound that others can use to create their own pictures or videos, or could even be done by jumping on pre-existing trends and giving them a twist that relates to your business.

Social media is a great way for businesses to promote themselves to a wider audience, and creating interactive campaigns increases the chances of going viral – particularly on platforms such as TikTok that are known to have a very user-friendly algorithm.

Brand identity is key

The Barbie movie utilised a wide range of marketing strategies – from social media to offline collaborations with other brands across different industries. However, what tied all of these together was the consistency of Barbie’s brand identity.

Over the years, Barbie has become synonymous with its hot pink colour palette and instantly recognisable font. These elements have been carried across each of the marketing tactics used, and mean that people can immediately recognise trending content as being Barbie-related.

In a similar way, businesses can ensure that they have a strong brand identity of their own. Whether this is through having an instantly recognisable logo, or carrying across a core colour palette in everything you do. Every marketing campaign – whether it’s large-scale billboards or simple Instagram posts – should carry across these elements of brand identity to make your business synonymous with these factors.

Building up to a “main event” while maintaining an event

In Barbie’s case, the “main event” was always the release of the movie in cinemas. Everything the marketing team did up until this point was solely to generate buzz for the main attraction. In this way, businesses should optimise their marketing efforts in the lead-up to a new product or service launch, hinting that something big is coming, and focusing their attention on creating traction for the launch.

However, where the Barbie movie marketing team really excelled was in making the build-up just as much of an event as the movie release itself. The general public knew that the movie was being released on the 21st July, but they were equally as invested and excited about what the movie’s marketing team were doing now – prior to the launch.

Businesses can use this same strategy to make their business more exciting to a wider audience. By putting out frequent social media posts, trending hashtags, and generating conversations in the build-up to the launch of a new venture, businesses can capitalise on this tactic to create two “main events” – one now, and one when the launch takes place.

Making nostalgia-marketing work for you

Nostalgia is an extremely powerful emotion that can be used to appeal to potential consumers. By relating to them and relaying shared memories, businesses can create positive associations with their target demographic. For the Barbie movie, the brand itself is a nostalgic household name for multiple generations. However, this doesn’t mean that small businesses can’t still utilise nostalgia-marketing for themselves.

The secret to successful nostalgia-marketing is really understanding your audience. Identify a core demographic that you’re aiming to target, and make sure you fully understand their core cultural and historical background from their childhood or early adulthood.

If your small business has a lot of history itself, you may be able to incorporate elements from your brand history that overlap with this era. If not, there are still other ways to incorporate nostalgia into your marketing. This could take the form of creating a nostalgic hashtag to use for your social media posts, or launching a limited-time deal that is relevant to an event that took place that month, week, or even day in history.

Read more:
Business expert shares top tips SMEs can learn from the Barbie movie marketing team

Business owners are being urged to wait and see before signing up to the new social network Threads in case they get tangled up in pursuing a strategy that does nothing to serve their interests.

UK marketing agency JDR Group, based in Derby, says companies could lose precious time and derail their sales campaigns if they succumb to the lure of Meta’s latest online platform without proper planning.

Threads has caused a worldwide sensation since its launch as a rival to micro-messaging platform Twitter, with 150 million new users having already signed up.

Among a flurry of headlines, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk’s Twitter had many people announcing they were abandoning Twitter in favour of Threads, leading digital experts to speculate over whether the famous blue bird’s days were numbered.

But Will Williamson, a director at JDR Group, which looks after the online marketing for hundreds of companies across the country, says firms who currently rely on established social networks should resist the temptation to join the stampede – for now.

Threads definitely has potential, he adds, and there are benefits to get on board early, not least because it is easiest to build followers and get engagement in the early days before the site’s algorithm start to prioritise adverts.

But equally there is the danger that it may not be compatible with their business needs or is not likely to be used by their potential customers.

And experts – including Meta with its failed Horizons World VR project – have been wrong about the next best thing before and it might be that the latest online sensation won’t come from America at all, but from China, with a new app from the makers of TikTok called Lemon8 waiting in the wings and steadily growing its own new following.

Will said: “There is always a sense of panic every time a new social media platform launches with everyone wondering if they should get involved and what might happen to their business if they were to miss out.

“There’s no doubt Threads has made a huge impact and has vast potential. However, we all remember other social media platforms which arrived in a burst of publicity but which never fulfilled their promise, including Google Plus, which plenty of people thought would be the next big thing.

“I understand companies wanting to seek any advantage that might be gained, but our advice is that they should be cautious and do their research before getting involved.

“Social media takes time and investment and every minute and pound you spend on it is precious and so we wouldn’t advise opening an account on Threads until there is certainty about whether it’s right for your business.”

Social media has become one of the main marketing tools for businesses over the years and there are now plenty of ways in which companies can harness the power of social media in order to grow their brands.

Will added: “The huge success of Meta and TikTok may well mean that Threads and Lemon8 have potential to become really important, however I think the days of huge subscriber numbers are over because platforms are becoming more specialised and serving distinct niches.

“From having three or four giant social media platforms 10 years ago, I would say there are now 50 available, 20 of which we are actively aware of and with new ones coming along all the time.

“It means that companies need to understand who their customers are and find the social media platform that is meeting their needs the best. As ever with anything that’s new, it’s always wise to seek advice and hold off doing anything drastic.”

Read more:
SMEs told to think ahead before tying up with social media platform Threads

Meta’s Twitter rival, Threads, logged five million sign-ups in its first four hours of operation, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, as the company seeks to woo users from Elon Musk’s troubled platform through an offer of lengthier posts, a handful of celebrity backers – and a strong resemblance to its competitor.

The Facebook and Instagram owner brought forward the app’s debut by 15 hours to 7pm EDT in the US and midnight in the UK, making it freely available in 100 countries on the Apple and Google app stores, although regulatory concerns mean it will not be available in the EU.

Brands such as Billboard, HBO, NPR and Netflix, and even us here at Business Matters had accounts set up within minutes of launch. Meta said initial celebrity backers included Shakira and Gordon Ramsay, with a recent report suggesting that Oprah Winfrey and the Dalai Lama had also been approached.

Thread users will need an Instagram account to log in. Once they have signed up, they can choose to follow the same accounts they follow on Instagram, if they too have joined the new app.

The app closely resembles Twitter visually, although some of the wording has been changed, with retweets called “reposts” and tweets called “threads”. Meta has not been averse to copying rival products in the past, including the 2020 launch of Instagram’s Reels feature, noted for its similarity to TikTok’s short-form videos.

Posts on Threads can be 500 characters long, compared with 280 for most Twitter users, and videos of up to five minutes in length can be posted while a post can be shared as a link on other platforms. Users can unfollow, block, restrict or report others. Users can also filter out replies with certain words in them.

Meta has launched Threads in the wake of another turbulent period at Twitter, which imposed tweet viewing limits at the weekend in a move it blamed partly on data harvesting by companies building artificial intelligence models.

In subsequent Threads posts, Zuckerberg addressed those challenges. “I think there should be a public conversations app with 1 billion+ people on it. Twitter has had the opportunity to do this but hasn’t nailed it. Hopefully we will,” he wrote.

Reaction to the debut on Wednesday ranged from caution to enthusiasm, many praising its ease of use and some saying that Elon Musk should be worried. Others pointed out the app’s speedy integration with Instagram showed just how powerful Meta has become. Much of the conversation, ironically, took place on Twitter, where the hashtag “Threads” was trending on Wednesday evening.

News of Zuckerberg’s impending unveiling of Threads had resulted in the Facebook founder and Musk apparently agreeing to a cage fight over the matter, although a date has not been set for the unlikely confrontation.

Meta described Threads as a “new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations”, aiming to “take what Instagram does best and expand that to text, creating a positive and creative space to express your ideas”. Twitter has a user base of more than 250 million, while Instagram reportedly has 2 billion users.

Meta said the app would also resemble Twitter’s rivals such as Mastodon, which is based on a decentralised platform that would allow accounts to be transferred to other services. It said: “We are working toward making Threads compatible with the open, interoperable social networks that we believe can shape the future of the internet.”

Meta said it was planning to make Threads compatible with ActivityPub, technology that also underpins Mastodon and allows social networks to be interoperable, which would let users of Threads take their accounts and followers to other ActivityPub-supported apps.

Meta said users could stop using the Threads app and transfer their content to another service that uses the same underlying technology – such as Mastodon. “Our vision is that people using compatible apps will be able to follow and interact with people on Threads without having a Threads account, and vice versa, ushering in a new era of diverse and interconnected networks.” As with Mastodon, Meta envisages mini-communities forming with their own community standards and moderation policies.

Currently, the main feed is a mixture of content that users follow, as well as content recommended from the algorithm. There are currently no plans to allow people to limit that to only people they follow. People will keep their usernames from Instagram, reducing the possibility of people name-squatting high profile usernames.

Mindful of criticism from politicians and campaigners over the safety of children on its platform, Meta is defaulting every UK Threads user under 18 to a private profile that can only be viewed by people the user approves.

Mike Proulx, research director at the analysis firm Forrester, said Threads was “yet another” copycat move but had been launched at a time of “peak Twitter frustration”, although the marketplace for rivalling Twitter was already flooded with alternatives such as Hive, Bluesky and Mastodon. “This only serves to fracture the Twitter alternative-seeking user base,” he said.

Read more:
Instagram owner’s Twitter rival, Threads, logs 5 million users in first hours

Google could be forced to sell parts of its $224.5 billion advertising business after the European Commission found that the tech giant had been abusing its dominant position in the sector.

The search engine business has been accused of conduct that may have foreclosed rivals and enabled the company to charge high fees for its services.

The commission has concluded that a forced sale of part of its advertising business may be required to restore competition after finding that Google abused its position for almost a decade.

Brussels alleged that Google had intentionally distorted the market and warned that requiring the company to change its behaviour rather than sell off parts of its business would be “ineffective”. But it said its conclusions were preliminary at this stage.

Dan Taylor, Google’s vice-president for advertising, said: “Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector. The commission’s investigation focuses on a narrow aspect of our advertising business and is not new. We disagree with the EC’s view and we will respond accordingly.”

European regulators have so far stopped short of breaking up Google and have instead levied the company with billions in fines for antitrust violations. But global efforts to regulate the technology giants have started picking up pace.

The UK competition watchdog is also looking to take action on Google and Facebook’s dominance of the online advertising sector. The Competition and Markets Authority’s new digital markets unit has been set up to stop large Silicon Valley tech companies abusing their market power.

The regulator’s research has found that Google controlled more than 90 per cent of the advertising revenues generated from internet searches in the UK in 2019. Its study on online advertising has also found that Google extracts up to 30 per cent more surplus from advertisers than its rival, Bing.

The watchdog’s report on Google and Facebook’s market power found the online advertising sector cost about £14 billion in 2019. It said advertising added an additional £500 per household to the costs of goods and services and that these prices were “likely to be higher than they would be in a more competitive market”.

The report said: “Google and Facebook were able to emerge, with limited resources, on the back of a good idea, producing new and innovative services that are highly valued by consumers. However, they are now protected by such strong and self-reinforcing incumbency advantages that similar innovation by new entrants is much more difficult.”

Read more:
EU threatens to break up Google’s $200bn ad business

Crypto firms must warn customers they should not expect protection if their investment goes wrong and introduce a “cooling off” period for first-time investors, under new rules imposed by the UK financial watchdog.

The Financial Conduct Authority said that from 8 October firms promoting crypto products or services would need to carry a clear risk warning in their adverts.

The FCA said an example of such a notification would include telling customers they should not expect protection “if something goes wrong” and ought to be “prepared to lose all the money you invest”. Customers should be urged to “take two mins to learn more”, the FCA added.

Companies advertising crypto assets, including cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, will need to offer a pause to new investors requesting to invest in their products. Bonuses for introducing friends to a crypto firm’s products will also be prohibited.

Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA, said consumers should understand that the crypto industry remains largely unregulated, with the lack of a safety net putting investors at risk of losing all their money.

“It is up to people to decide whether they buy crypto. But research shows many regret making a hasty decision. Our rules give people the time and the right risk warnings to make an informed choice,” he said.

“Consumers should still be aware that crypto remains largely unregulated and high risk. Those who invest should be prepared to lose all their money.”

The FCA said research showed that estimated crypto ownership in the UK more than doubled between 2021 and 2022. According to an FCA-commissioned survey, 10% of respondents said they owned crypto assets.

The watchdog has also warned that cryptoasset fraud is on the rise, with reports of crypto scams climbing from 1,619 in 2019 to 6,372 in 2021.

The FCA said some crypto promotions had already been censured by the Advertising Standards Authority including an advert by Luno, a cryptocurrency exchange, that appeared on the London Underground and London bus networks that said: “If you’re seeing Bitcoin on the Underground, it’s time to buy.”

The ASA also ruled in 2021 that a Facebook advert for a fan token issued by Arsenal football club trivialised investing in crypto.

The FCA said the new rules brought crypto in line with a regime introduced last year for misleading adverts related to high-risk investments.

Further regulation is on the way for crypto firms in the UK. In February, the Treasury published a consultation document on bringing crypto regulation in line with traditional assets such as stocks and bonds.

Read more:
Crypto ads will need to carry risk warnings under new UK rules

Twitter CEO Elon Musk said on Saturday that the social media platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per-article basis with one click, calling it a win for both the public and media organisations.

The feature, to be rolled out in May, will enable users who do not “sign up for a monthly subscription to pay a higher per article price for when they want to read an occasional article”, billionaire owner Musk tweeted.

On Friday, Musk had said that Twitter will take a 10% cut on content subscriptions after the first year, noting that the company will not take a cut for the first 12 months. These subscriptions include long-form text and hours-long video.

Since taking over the social media firm in October, Musk has been bringing in changes to try to boost revenue at Twitter after the social media platform saw advertising income drop last year in the run-up to his on-again-off-again acquisition that closed.

Under Musk’s ownership Twitter has reduced its workforce from 7,500 people to about 1,500, leading to fears that moderation standards and its ability to comply with upcoming European standards would suffer as a consequence.

Twitter has been repeatedly warned that it is not ready for a new European Union regulatory regime for monitoring digital platforms, with breaches risking a fine of 6% of global turnover and, in the most extreme cases, a temporary suspension of the service.

Under the rules for large platforms, they must carry out annual risk assessments outlining the risks of harmful content such as disinformation, misogyny, harms to children and election manipulation. The moderation systems and measures put in place to mitigate those risks will also be checked by the EU.

Platforms will also be banned from building profiles of child users for companies to target them with ads. Those platforms that can be reached by minors must also put in place measures to protect their privacy and keep them safe. Users must also be able to report illegal content easily.

Read more:
Twitter to let publishers charge users per article read, says Elon Musk

Businesses have, over the years, become very adept at dealing with a crisis communications issue.

Nine times out of 10 a company stumbles blindly into a situation via a combination of mistakes and, unfortunately, misses opportunities to nip it in the bud.

This issue, accidental or not, is likely to cost companies large amounts of money in terms of repairing the reputational damage and lost sales and the even worse news is that its legacy, thanks to the internet, can last for a lifetime.

There are a significant number of public relations agencies and consultancies out there that claim to specialise in helping a brand navigate through a crisis. Having worked in PR for a Government utility in the early stages of my career, and then the world’s largest bus and rail company after that, and then an insurance company that, at the time, was the 5th largest company in the world, I have dealt with my own large share of corporate crisis situations.

People like me almost had a tried and tested crisis communications mantra and template that could fit nearly every business and industry. 1. Apologise where you can (without admitting legal liability). 2. Turn off your pro-active communications and marketing until it’s over. 3. Announce an independent, third-party investigation into the issue. 4. Announce the results and learning from that investigation and then, if the crisis was still hitting the headlines move to… 5. Announce one of the C-suite was leaving because of it.

That 5-point plan, passed on from generation to generation of crisis communications specialists, has done us fine until the internet.

The internet has made crisis communications into a far longer and more drawn-out recovery process. It is not just enough to deal with the situation that has happened via media statements and a well-prepared Q&A document of every potential negative question that a journalist may ask. Brands now need to deal with the aftermath, which is negative stories floating around Google for their company name.

I know this only too well having worked with a significant number of companies who have got themselves out of the media storm, only to walk into negative online stories that have affected their sales. Take for example a high street optician that we worked with on a crisis communications brief.

Something went wrong, it blew up into a storm and whilst the immediate media situation was effectively dealt with, the negative articles created a problem. Those bad articles arrived at the top of Google for the brand name, plus when consumers added the word “research” to that name. This was estimated to be costing the company several million pounds of lost revenue every week.

This is where digital public relations can play a vital part in the path out of a modern-day online reputation management situation.

Done correctly, the digital PR machine can flood Google with positive stories about the brand and if the news sites that cover the good news have just as strong, or even stronger a reputation in Google’s eyes, then it can push the negative news down. This is exactly the approach we took with the high street opticians, and it worked.

This is a strategy that is also used in the murky world of political and personal PR. If a negative story is dominating the search engines, then it becomes the job of the digital teams to look at the content and stories causing the issue and work out a plan to come up with similar content, but with a positive vibe.

This new era of extended crisis communications is why so many “traditional” public relations and consultancy firms are failing to grasp the full situation. Not many of these companies fully understand the long-term digital ramifications of a negative scenario.

A strong example of a global brand using digital campaigns to saturate search engines with positive news would be Amazon. It has announced, on several occasions, that it is close to being able to launch drone-based delivery services. The last time it talked about this publicly was to announce a small test was going to be taking place in a town in America.

Every time this story comes out, the global media writes it up. A massive general brand awareness win but also a very clever and successful way of moving anything negative about the brand down the search engine rankings. As an aside, it is interesting to note that both the UK and US aviation authorities have shot down (not literally) talk of drone delivery services happening in the short term. Still, it is a story that works well for Amazon.

Can a small to medium-sized business use this same tactic to help move negative mentions down? Of course they can. All that is needed is a solid news angle, a media database full of contacts and the skills to understand which news websites will have the strongest effect, and this is where digital public relations can come into its own.

Of course, as we say to our clients and customers, it may be an idea to just not do bad things but, as we all know, life is never as straight forward or as simple as that.

Andy Barr is the co-founder and owner of 10 Yetis Digital. The agency has advised large global brands and FTSE organisations on crisis communications scenarios and has similarly worked on these kinds of campaigns for individuals and small businesses alike. Andy has worked on online campaigns for both the major political parties in the UK and advised a Chinese political and business delegation that visited the UK on the West’s approach to handling crisis situations in the media.

Read more:
Crisis communications in the modern era: How dealing with the issue itself is now just a small part of the problem for companies

Huel adverts that claimed its meal replacement shakes could help consumers save money during the cost of living crisis have been banned after the advertising watchdog ruled they were misleading and irresponsible.

One advert, which ran on Facebook in August and September, said the shakes helped “keep money in your pockets”, and claimed an “entire month’s worth of Huel” worked out at less than £50.

The second advert, on the company’s website, was entitled “Five ways to save money on food” and said: “Eating healthily doesn’t need to break the bank.”

The Advertising Standards Authority, which upheld two complaints made against the firm, acknowledged Huel said its products would save money when compared with other expensive convenience foods, but said the adverts did not make that clear.

The ASA also found one portion of Huel contained 400 calories, and in order to meet recommended calorie intakes, it would cost at least £350 a month.

The regulator also found the adverts were irresponsible, as they did not make clear that a traditional diet of three meals a day could not be directly replaced with three portions of Huel while still consuming sufficient calories.

The ASA said: “The ads must not appear in the form complained about. We told Huel to ensure that their ads did not state or imply that eating Huel for all meals instead of a ‘traditional’ diet was cheaper, unless they held adequate substantiation.

“We also told them to ensure their ads did not imply that three portions of Huel per day contained sufficient calories. We told them not to make general health claims unless they were accompanied by a specific authorised health claim.”

Read more:
Huel adverts banned in UK for claiming shakes could help cut food bills

We’re in the middle of the busiest shopping period of the year and, with a billion active monthly users globally, TikTok offers many opportunities for SMEs to get on someone’s wish list this Christmas.

Indeed, 47% of people on TikTok have already purchased something they like on the platform, with the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt getting more than 29bn views.

But how can a small business make the most of TikTok to increase sales and grow their business with holiday shopping well underway? Try TikTok for Business.

What is TikTok for Business?

TikTok for Business offers a suite of products that help small businesses grow, target more customers, and drive results. Even though it seems late in the season, it’s never too late to begin a campaign with TikTok For Business.

Take thortful, for example – the UK’s first greeting card marketplace. Earlier this year thortful needed to attract new customers and build awareness of its wide array of cards and gifts. The brand tapped into TikTok’s popular trends and used humour to showcase their products. They reached over 1.7m users, with their videos receiving over 4.4m views.

What are the benefits of TikTok for your SME this Christmas?

People all over the UK turn to TikTok to discover trends, recommendations, and their next purchase throughout the year. It’s no surprise that Christmas shoppers go to TikTok for gift inspiration. 82% of users say they have discovered an SMB on TikTok before seeing them elsewhere. 

TikTok for Business is offering SMEs access to the Holiday Resource Hub, a one-stop shop filled with useful information to help SMEs win the holiday season, including a free playbook with a step-by-step guide to the season including their Christmas checklist.

5-step Christmas checklist:

Before the big day, here are some tips to get your marketing plan in order.

1) Refine creative strategy

Develop a voice on TikTok and determine what you want to show your audience.

It’s a light-hearted platform so it’s ideal for showing off the fun side of your business. Think tips, tricks and comedy shorts – TikTok stats show that three out of five users go to the platform for entertainment so keep that in mind when you’re doing your planning. If you want to keep it more informative, include short information in text overlays around the theme of your video. For example, how a particular child’s toy might be beneficial to their learning with five text overlays explaining why.

Remember, ads that look like native videos do well. Have a play with holiday trends – nothing too polished, though. Users like a casual, authentic image. You could offer fun giveaways or get in on Christmas trends such as decorating the Christmas tree, Christmas wish lists and easy holiday meals.

Turn the sound on too, so that users will feel more engaged!

2) Find and define your audience

TikTok lets you set your parameters to target new users using Ads Manager. Ads Manager can guide the ad formats you use and target your audience based on age, location, gender, interests and other unique variables.

What’s more, you can create custom and lookalike audiences (that share commonalities with your current audience) to expand your range.

3) Set your budget and bidding strategies

Minimum ad spends apply but be clear from the start on how much you want to spend for your ads. If you’re satisfied with your performance, it’s recommended you increase your budget by 20-30 per cent every day.

You set your bidding strategy when you set up your ad group. Find out more about bidding strategies here.

4) Build your ad format strategy

52% of TikTok users that have come across SMB content on TikTok have gone on to make a purchase.

Ads can take many forms on TikTok:

In-Feed Ads:  The standard ad format, embeds a video that plays automatically in the For You feed. This format runs up to a max of 60 seconds.

Spark Ads: A native ad format that allows businesses to boost posts from their own Business Accounts or Creator profiles as In-Feed Ads. Unlike other ad formats, users can interact with Spark Ads, just like organic videos. Users can comment, like and share but also visit the brand’s or the creator’s profile associated with the video.

Collection Ads: Enable people to seamlessly discover and browse products in a full-screen mobile experience. Collection Ads lead to an Instant Gallery Page where people can explore a curated collection of your products.

Lead Generation: Allows you to create interest in your business and collect information to convert prospects into customers. Lead Generation Ads deliver qualified leads directly to you, saving your business time and money.

E-Commerce Integrations: TikTok integrates with e-commerce merchants allowing you to add TikTok as a sales and advertising channel to your website. The Integrations streamlines the process of creating or linking your TikTok Ads Manager account, syncing your product catalogue, and installing the TikTok pixel to enable paid and organic visibility features.

5) Optimise

Allow your campaign time to adjust before rushing into optimisations. Refreshing your creative can help, every 7 days ideally.

Make incremental changes to your bid and budget when you make adjustments. Don’t change your budget more than 30% from the previous budget setting and don’t change your bid more than 20% from the original setting.

Try and optimise before your Christmas ad campaign begins. Check you’re targeting the right audience, re-jigging your ads based on how users interact with them and test constantly to see what does and what doesn’t work.

Read more:
This Christmas, TikTok can help you reach even more customers

TikTok is expected to ride out the advertising slowdown, as the Chinese-owned social media titan becomes an outlier to the wider industry slowdown.

According to a new report published by GroupM, the media buying agency owned by WPP, TikTok doubled its advertising revenue in 2022.

“This has likely been another driver of the advertising deceleration or “pullback” noted at Meta and Snap over and above macroeconomic factors given that we see less deceleration across other digital platforms where TikTok would be a less obvious alternative (such as Microsoft),” the report said.

However, the report reckons that although marketers may choose to view the platform as a good way to reach younger audiences who are becoming increasingly difficult to target via linear TV, there was a caveat that longer term strategies would “come with increased risk of the platform being banned in additional markets”.

Despite boasting over a billion users, TikTok remains banned in India, and continues to receive scrutiny from the UK, US and European Union, especially over data access from China.

GroupM revised its 2023 forecast for total ad spending growth down 0.5 per cent to 5.9 per cent.

Tech analyst at PP Foresight Paolo Pescatore echoed this sentiment, saying: “As its [TikTok’s] dominance grows this will only draw further attention among regulators and competition authorities.”

He said that this market prevalence was unlikely to vanish anytime soon, with marketeers following eyeballs, which continue to have an increasing focus on shorter form content via TikTok.

Nonetheless, the GroupM estimate come after reports that TikTok cut its global revenue targets for 2022 by at least 20 per cent in September after it struggled to keep up momentum in the face of tightening advertising spend and wider macroeconomic instability.

Head of investment at interactive investor Victoria Scholar has previously said that although Facebook has been at odds with TikTok to nab the attention of Gen Z, the latter’s “overconfidence has led to a spending problem that has got out of control”.

Read more:
TikTok rides out wider advertising slowdown

Throwing different-sized content blades from a variety of release points is all well and good for day-to-day image maintenance, but even the best one-day story doesn’t elevate your profile to enough height with enough longevity unless it’s accompanied with a series of full-scale campaigns that are fully wrapped around it.

‘The Campaign’ evokes a sense of urgency, purpose and legitimacy for any image building, putting your persona on a particular trajectile.

It also glides through all the sometimes tangential, sporadic press opportunities you might have landed by joining up all the dots.

It also visibly draws in and namechecks many of your associates without the process looking in any way forced.

The right campaign disguises all of your mechanics. Like in a good film, you stop seeing the edits, you stop noticing the music, you just fall into the world you’re viewing.

The Campaign creates that immersive experience for your persona.

Jamie Oliver is a phenomenon in the world of food. He is well-known as one of the world’s best-loved television chefs and restaurateurs.

But Jamie isn’t just a Master chef, he’s also a Master image builder, deliberately using Campaigns that he leads consistently over his career to turbo boost his persona and ‘household name’ status.

He’s now launched a global campaign to tackle the child obesity epidemic through better food education in schools. To that end he wants to halve childhood obesity in the UK by 2030.

The campaign to do just that is entilted ‘Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution’. The Food Revolution is positioned as ‘beyond a campaign’, but instead a ‘movement’ to reach the goal of halving childhood obesity in the UK by 2030.

He’s doing this alongside the young activists at Bite Back 2030. This is a youth-led charity Jamie Oliver launched in 2019. With this charity vehicle he’s campaigning for a fairer food system so that ‘every child has access to decent, nutritious food, no matter where they live’.

In May this year, Oliver organised a protest outside Downing Street following then Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s obesity U-Turn. He got members of the public to turn up with desserts to rally against the government’s delay to ban the buy-one-get-one-free deals for unhealthy food products. He made one giant Eton mess for a photocall, as a way of taking a direct pot shot at Eton educated Boris Johnson.

In 2017, Jamie Oliver did a similar obesity-centric campaign called ‘Love Letter To London’ where he told Sadiq Khan to end junk food ads across Transport for London. As a result, London households bought 1,000 fewer calories from less healthy products every week.

Jamie’s School Dinners in 2015 gathered considerable momentum, gaining increasing public support, with Oliver approaching members of the government, to campaign for increased funding for ingredients and staff wages in school canteens.

In 2005, he opened a campaign, Feed Me Better, to introduce schoolchildren to healthier foods, which was later backed by the government. He was then became the owner of the restaurant chain, Jamie Oliver Restaurant Group, which opened its first restaurant, Jamie’s Italian, in Oxford in 2008. All helped with a social responsibility, campaigning message.

All of these campaigns have essentially been the rocket fuel for Jamie Oliver to be positioned as the saviour of the nation and remain that way for years and years.

Campaigns can be political, or philanthropic, or even environmental – drawing out all the other likeminded souls around a specific purpose.

When I used to do PR for Dame Vivienne Westwood’s Julian Assange campaigns and Fracking, it gave her the positioning of being ‘punk with purpose’ and made the clothes she sells mean more than just looking good. They jumped off the coat hanger with attitude and meaning.

Of course, some campaigns can elevate you so high you don’t ever come back down again. Bob Geldof, the Boomtown Rat and entrepreneur, got so defined by Live Aid, that despite all efforts, he’s now Mr. Charity and ‘Saint Bob’.

The Campaign is a total overrider from the standard blade-throwing process of content.

It stimulates and legitimises all the aspects of your persona.

Some campaigns can be long running, others can be short. Some personalities attach themselves to a multiude of campaigns.

When we take a look at four of the Top 10 advertising campaigns for brands worldwide, we can see
how simple yet powerful a campaign slogan can be.

Nike Just Do It. Launched in 1998 featuring amateur and professional athletes alike. An 80-year-old marathoner Walt Stack who runs 17 miles every morning was featured.

Attach yourself to that.

Its totally no nonsense and attitudinal to the core. But when launched it essentially manifested the idea into an active campaign.

Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ campaign from 2004. Research showed only 2% of women considered themselves beautiful. Real women replaced models for the campaign. This formed real dramatic reality.

Coca Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign. They printed different people’s names across Coke bottles. Again, this used ‘real life’ to make people feel closer and more entwined with the brand.

Apple’s ‘Creativity Goes On’ campaign launched as a reaction to Lockdowns. Despite the restriction, creativity was flourishing. And now Apple is celebrating that.

This is not the same as the Single-minded proposition of the individual persona, but instead the slogan for a campaign which in these cases is for a brand. But equally they could be campaigns for ideas and thoughts.

Leading a campaign will always give you more brand building qualities that if you’re just part of the chorus line. Perhaps you lead one, and join in and support two or three others.

Read more:
Your persona achieves acceleration and lift off when you attach it to a Cause-related ‘Campaign’ – Jamie Oliver Is A Master At This

Elon Musk sought to assure Twitter advertisers that he is serious about the business and its culture before the completion of his $44 billion takeover.

In an open letter that encouraged them to keep using Twitter under his leadership he said that the platform was “important to the future of civilisation” and that he wanted it to be “the most respected advertising platform in the world”.

He said that was buying the company to “help humanity” and because he believed it was important to have a space where “a wide range of beliefs can be debated in a healthy manner”.

There was a “great danger” that social media will “splinter into far right-wing and far left-wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society”, he added.

The acquisition has raised some concerns over Musk’s support of “absolute free speech”, which could lead to him allowing previously suspended accounts, including that of former US president Donald Trump, back on to the platform. In his letter he attempted to allay such fears, insisting that Twitter “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences”.

He added: “In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature.”

In an indication that the takeover was imminent, the New York Stock Exchange’s website said that Twitter shares will be suspended from trading tomorrow.

Last night, the billionaire SpaceX and Tesla boss posted a video of himself entering Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters carrying a sink alongside the message “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in”. He has also updated his bio on the social media platform to “Chief Twit”.

According to reports, Musk told staff it was not true that he planned to cut back around 75 per cent of the firm’s 7,500-strong workforce.

Read more:
I’m buying Twitter to help humanity, says Elon Musk after completion of $44 billion takeover

When you’re throwing a multitude of blades from velvet sheaths at the media, you don’t want to be in any way predictable in your approach.

With on average 200 press releases arriving in inboxes each day, journalists are swimming in content.

Nothing really registers and gets any traction if it’s just the same old same old. A stack of similar size daggers thrown in the same way, at the same speed, all looking identical makes a content-worn journalist inevitably glaze over.

Daggers instead need to be thrown in with a variety of hand actions. Some thrown lightning fast. Others silent but violent.

The sizes can vary greatly as well in order to mix it up. In Mediaeval times the length of daggers ranged from 6 – 20 inches. Many were so long that they were often viewed as short swords. Your story content should be large and small as well.

And many of the daggers of old were very elaborately decorated and made from Gold, Ebony, Brass. Some even had diamonds encrusted on them.

Your story content needs to be the same. Some of the daggers arrive as a short emailed ‘tip off’. Others are a bunch of pictures and videos emailed over with just picture captions accompanying them. Others are 1,500-word feature-length stories where it’s written in the third-person and you’re written about alongside other experts as if you’re part of a feature. A bulk of your content are straight 500-700 word press releases labeled ‘Press release’ with a boilerplate at the bottom providing more information about a particular subject. A boilerplate is American PR slang for the boilerplate, or bumper of a car. The boilerplate is much like an abbreviated Wikipedia entry.

Sir James Dyson, the man, and Dyson, the business, are completely intertwined with this elaborate content-producing system to be fired at the media.

Dyson, the company, is well known for its innovative vacuum cleaners and ‘air-blade’ hand dryers. James Dyson as the founder is like the ‘Japeto’ that burns the midnight oil every night coming up it all.

What his team like him talking about in the media are a suite of set-piece stories around entrepreneurship, nostalgic memories of his upbringing, innovation awards winners that Dyson sponsor, new inventions from James himself, dividend payouts etc.

500-700 word news releases are self-written and produced around these repeating themes which have updates poured into the mould.
-Dyson Promises Power With $1500 Cordless Vacuum (Channel News)
-James Dyson is right to urge us back to the office (The Spectator)
-‘Sir James Dyson speaks about growing up in North Northfolk (North Norfolk News)
-West Country’s Sir James Dyson now second wealthiest in the UK (ITV Hub)
-Kiwi student inventions make Dyson’s shortlist for $59k prize. (Stuff.co.nz)
-Sir James Dyson’s UK business pays out £460m dividend.

When James Dyson did his big GQ Magazine interview in December 2021, the stylised photography and subject matter of the article is as rehearsed and regimented as the news stories. His headline for the article is selling the brand with ‘Sir James Dyson: Most focus groups are wrong’.

But the look, feel, shape of this carefully crafted content is ‘Lifestyle’ as opposed to ‘News’.

All of the imagery used by Dyson the man and Dyson the business will generally be shot and supplied by Dyson themselves – or they would only ever be permit photographers to be commissioned that have been screened first, and they would have approval rights on the images used in the magazine.

The press content is as carefully managed as the use of logos might be managed by marketing managers through the issuing of brand guidelines.

Dyson is ultra-protective of its reputation, particularly because the man James Dyson and the Dyson business are so synonymous. If James Dyson the man went down, so too could the Dyson business run into trouble.

To that end, James Dyson, the man, is currently suing Channel 4 for libel over a news report on the 10th of February 2022 that he personally was complicit in abuse and exploitation at his Malaysian factory, a former supplier for his firm.

This is the same Sir James Dyson that just got named second on this year’s Sunday Times Rich List worth £23 Bn.

His lawyers called the news report “remarkably defamatory” and that “The main theme of the broadcast is the difference between ‘Dyson’s image’ which his firm seeks to project and protect, and the reality of abuse and exploitation which Channel 4 discloses.”

Channel 4 allege, via interviews with former workers, that they “suffered abuse, inhuman work conditions, and in one case, even torture while they were helping make Dyson products”.

James Dyson had to act decisively on this with his own legal action because if he just left it, the rot can set in and eat away the reputation of the entire business like a cancer.

This is left field, and totally not in the script written by Dyson communications people, that want to paint him as a brilliant inventor and entrepreneur.

When you’re not reacting to a reputational crisis, there’s about 20-30 story ‘shells’’ that make up the various shapes and sizes of daggers that you can slot your content into to throw it in at the media. Variety is the spice of life.
All of these ‘varieties’ are utilised by the comms team at Dyson.

The more ‘oven warm’ your story content is the more readily the journalist will cook it and serve it. I often describe it like a Hello Fresh box where all the content ingredients you supply are separated, washed and ready to combine into an Easy-meal, cooked by the journalist.

Wrapped around each dagger – or cutting-edge story – like a message on a string, is a news date which indexes what ‘happening’ sits behind the story that is being thrown at the media.

This gives the story a raison d’etre, or reason for being.

An interesting, repurposed, recognisable yarn is all well and good, but if it doesn’t have embedded a ‘happening’ or news date, then its simply superfluous fluff rather than falling into the category of ‘in the public interest’.

Often a manufactured and controlled ‘supporting event’ can be created. I was promoting a low-cost security camera a few years ago in a flooded market. I sent an email to the Department for Education, asking if they would support a trial of the product in schools. Even though the product was totally unknown, they sent back an email stating that in principle they would indeed support the use of this device in schools that protected children. I certainly gave them a leading question.

This ‘supporting event’ – with the documental evidence or an email replied to – acts to further authenticate a story. So not only is the story interesting, you are now also providing evidence of something actually ‘happening’ such as a potential Department for Education trial.

Adjoin that with a news index date such as ‘World Safety Day’ which just happens to be the same day that you want the release to run, and you’ve created your own perfect storm.

Its a story. Its a happening. Its a relevant news index date. A Holy Trinity.
These three combine to make the dagger extra potent, almost creating a poision tip.

When the story strikes – with the extra components – it becomes so much more penetrative, seductive and deadly.

Read more:
Blades thrown at the media must be a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours to penetrate the shields – James Dyson Is The Master Of This

All CEO’s, Founders or Chairmen that get the concept of using their image to promote their business interests get their comms people to regularly push themselves onto TV, onto radio, into newspapers and magazines so they essentially become the personification of the business.

Elon Musk, 51 years, is well adept at using a sharp blade when it comes to cutting into the media – via social or traditional media avenues.

It’s his constant throwing of daggers from velvet sheaths that has elevated his profile with earned media – which means media you don’t have to pay for in the form of ads or paid-editorial.

From arriving in North America with US$2,000 in his pocket at 17 years of age from his homeland of South Africa, the tech titan is now worth US$230 Billion courtesy of SpaceX, OpenAI, The Boring Company and Neuralink Inc and Tesla.

He arrived on the U.S. business and media scene in 1996 with his venture Zip2, which brought the internet to companies like the New York Times, Hearst and Knight-Ridder. Compaq acquired Zip2 in 1999 for US$340 million.

Rather than settling for standard stories about new hires or annual results that show growth, Musk has been fully engaged with content generation by sending daggers at targets creating a multitude of reportable ‘mini-deaths’ or stories for years.

As NDTV reported in May 2022 about Musk, ‘Elon Musk Gives Many Headlines In a 40-Minute Interview’.

Essentially, he is a living, breathing, walking, talking headline generating machine.

On Twitter, which he joined in June 2009, he now has 105 million followers.
Musk fires a daily diet of daggers, some missing the target, but many hitting and creating viral traction. All with a sharpened blade.

Apart from his hard-hitting, no-nonsense opinions that make great tweets and subsequently headlines, his pronouncements characteristically strike hard and ring alarm bells.

He’s the epitome of a disruptive entrepreneur – and in so being – is disruptive of narrative norms.

He unsettles and explodes common held beliefs and perceptions or the status quo, often playing devil’s advocate to get a reaction – and ‘get the buffalo on the run’.

Just a quick glance at some of Elon Musk’s headlines and tweets show the constant flurry of daggers flying about all over the place.

‘Elon Musk’s SpaceX delivers Russian, Native American women to station’ (Independent Oct 7, 2022).

‘Elon Musk claims ‘bot attack’ ruined his Ukraine-Russia war solution’ (Independent Oct 5, 2022)

‘War is the ultimate Supreme Court’ (Tweet on Oct 6, 2022)

‘This would be my daily life if I were a lawyer’ (Tweet on Sep 26, 2022)

‘Will Musk turn Twitter into a ‘supercharged engine of radicalisation’?’ (Independent Oct 6, 2022)

‘Elon Musk suggests making Taiwan a ‘special administrative zone’ similar to Hong Kong (The Guardian, Oct 8, 2022)

‘Elon Musk blames hatred of rich people for daughter’s estrangement’ (Business Insider, Oct 7, 2022)

‘Elon Musk is totally wrong about population collapse’ (Wired, Oct 6, 2022)

For media savvy companies who want more bang for their buck than just a results announcement they also focus attention around the CEO, like Tim Cook at Apple, Reed Hasting at Netflix or Marc Benioff at Salesforce to ‘star’ in columns, articles and broadcast appearances.

But other companies deliberately choose the entire C-suite of CFO’s, CMO’s even CTO’s to share the limelight with the CEO, Founder or Chairman.

The Board often prefer a pantheon of faces – rather than singular ‘Elon Musk’ so that no one person becomes too powerful in the organisation.

Imagine if a high profile CEO, without any shares in the company, becomes synonymous with the company, but then is tempted away with a better financial offer made by a rival – or worse still, is suddenly hit by a bus.

The simple technique for business personalities penetrating either social or traditional media – is firing largely pre-created and scheduled content via a plethora of daggers, which are stored in velvet sheaths.

A good 85-90% of the content you release can be planned this way, leaving 15% for on-the-day-spontaneity.

A dagger with a sheath covered in green velvet was first spotted in India around 1850, and has cropped up in English Literature as description for what women should aspire to be like.

Just like there are rules for engagement in war, so is there an etiquette in the process of disguising your media dagger in a velvet sheath, only for the poison tip, when thrown at a media target, to be particularly deadly.

The business personalities that get the most media traction, seriously punching, or in this case – cutting – above their weight, are the ones unafraid to use a sharpened instrument, and all of the time, although it’s deadliness is always well hidden by the velvet sheath.

Following are all the types of ‘cutting edge storylines’ and news-linked, opinionated comment that various CEO’s have been prepared to engage in on The Ian King Show on Sky News over the last year.

Strong predictions, statements, revelations and conjecture.

Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo – ‘Diageo boss warns of Scottish water shortage’

Mike Regnier, CEO, Santander UK – ‘Young people are in debt after not getting enough education about finances’

Ben van Beurden, CEO, Shell – ‘Governments may need to tax energy firms to help the poor’

Hiroshi Mikitani, Chairman & CEO, Rakuten – ‘Rakuten CEO Mikitani to donate 1 billion yen to Ukraine’

Severin Schwan, CEO, Roche – ‘Roche admits to losing money in Russia’

Dolf van den Brink, CEO, Heineken – ‘Heineken chief warns cost inflation is ‘off the charts’’

Peter Simpson, CEO Anglian Water – ‘Make more effort to reach net zero goals, Anglian Water CEO tell Truss’

Octavio Marenzi, CEO, Opimas – ‘Hold cash, sit on your hands, and wait for central banks to pivot before you reinvest’

Alastair Douglas, CEO of Totally Money –‘Brits blowing £17m a month on credit card cash fees’

Nigel Pocklington, CEO, Good Energy –‘Fifteen years of anaemic growth cannot be repeated’

Mark Tanzer, CEO, ABTA – ‘Scrap Covid tests for most travellers’

Mike Fairman, CEO of Checkatrade –‘Top DIY jobs homeowners use to transform their houses without paying up big revealed’

Michael Ward, CEO, Harrods – ‘Threat to London’s Cultural Status’

Raj Krishnamurthy, CEO, Freespace – ‘In a hybrid world, office downsizings are coming’

Martin Daum, CEO, Daimler Trucks –‘German bureaucracy preventing reduced gas use’

Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Co-Founder and CEO Klarna – ‘No short term solutions to inflation’

Victor Lugger – Chief Executive, The Big Mamma Restaurants – ‘Companies that pivot are best placed to prosper’

Graham Clemett, CEO, Workspace Group – ‘London’s SME’s are leading the way back to the office’

Fani Titi, CEO, Investec – ‘Investec CEO urges government to take more courageous decisions’

Chuck Robbins, CEO, Cisco – ‘When we make changes, we make them together’

Anders Danielsson, CEO, Skanska – ‘We probably have the best balance sheet in the industry’.

George Dymond, CEO, Planet Organic – ‘Can Planet Organic beat the cost-of-living squeeze?’

Aaron Skonnard, Co-Founder and CEO, Pluralsight – ‘Why companies must transform from consumers of talent to creators of talent’

Brian Gilvary, Chairman, INEOS Energy – ‘Would we be investing in wind or solar right now? The answer is no’.

All of these CEO’s stand themselves in good stead to get repeatable media coverage, because they’re prepared to stick their neck out and fire daggers at targets.

Like the magicians of old who threw daggers as part of their magic act, you now need to prepare a stream of blades to be thrown, all deadly daggers with poison tips – all with the sole goal of creating a constant series of ‘mini deaths’ or newsworthy happenings.

Stories, or mini-deaths or collisions, always follow a rule system of being delivered with eloquence, often a bit of alliteration and rhythm and what journalists so often call “pithiness”, in terms of the way they gently jack-hammer points across in a silky, calm-but-frenetic, somewhat wild-but-poetic way.

Ten years ago the content approach, whether in the form of press releases, or brief notes, or feature-length articles was known as ‘Associated Press-style’ or ‘AP-style’. Associated Press is a global news agency. This style is somewhat factual and informative whilst very professional.

But now, thanks to evermore rapid delivery of news via social media and the 24/7 news cycle, it’s more like a ‘Mail Online style’. A bit screamy. Drenched with facts. Almost a nail bomb, blasting the attention of the reader, who could so easily click off the story and onto something else. Heaven forbid!

Every story is chasing the rankings of ‘Most Read’ story and hopefully getting shared across social media platforms which demands a much edgier, full throttle approach.

Women’s magazines have operated like this for years, having a sort of ‘line up’ on a magazine shelf where every single front cover tries to jump off the shelf and into the shopping trolley in terms of the sheer alarm it generates, demanding to be purchased and consumed or the reader’s life is so almost definitely over.

Each of these story daggers – or arrows – are packed with poison.

All these daggers are aiming at the target, constantly being thrown, always looking for penetration.

Read more:
Multitude of daggers from velvet sheaths are thrown at media to build personal profile