So that was 2013, when big data – that much maligned phenomenon – suddenly became accepted by many in the DM industry. Maybe it was the fact that clients were talking about it; maybe the huge salaries on offer, but the tide of opinion certainly turned in its favour.
Even WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell got in on the act, claiming “we are now Maths Men not Mad Men”. However, the signs of a consumer backlash also began to emerge, with one report claiming the “golden age” of customer data is drawing to a close. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.
Elsewhere, nuisance calls became a political football, and the DM industry, MPs and regulators alike all pored over plans to tackle the menace. The fight gained extra momentum after the data watchdog was turned into a toothless poodle following a successful High Court against its fine on text spam miscreant Tetrus Telecoms. Whether the proposed changes to the law will have the desired affect remain to be seen.
Meanwhile, “nuisance Brussels” would return again and again to haunt the industry throughout 2013, and, as it stands, things are still as clear as mud over when – and indeed if – new pan-European data laws will be passed.
The UK industry also saw plenty of change, with many old faces deciding to call it a day while others returned to the fray, with mixed results. Oh yes, and who could forget the small matter of the privatisation of the 350-year-old Royal Mail.
JANUARY
The year started with a concerted effort from the Ministry of Justice against the blight of rogue claims management firms. In a move welcomed by the DMA, the MoJ shut down more than 200 of them, issuing warnings to a further 140. And, with PPI also a major contributor to the rise of nuisance calls and texts, Ofcom got in on the act, too, embarking on a five-point plan to tackle the menace after revealing nearly half of all UK households received a silent call over a 6-month period in 2012.
But it wasn’t all good news for the industry. German MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht called on the EU to go further in its proposals for the new Data Protection Regulation, claiming the current draft did not go far enough to protect individuals.
His demands brought a swift response from both the DMA and ISBA who claimed that UK businesses would suffer even more if sanctioned by Brussels. A week later, bosses at the DMA’s Margaret Street HQ exposed the lack of awareness of the new laws, with half of all senior executives who work in direct marketing completely unaware of the threat they pose to their business.
In other news, Tim Hipperson took on his first senior role in a media agency after ZenithOptimedia revealed it had hired the G2 Joshua boss as its new chief executive to take the business to “the next level”. Sadly for Hipperson, the masterplan did not quite work out and he was gone within six months. Some blamed the loss of the agency’s biggest account; others claimed ZenithOptimedia wasn’t quite ready to be “Hippersoned”.
Meanwhile, over in Covent Garden, Antony Miller became the first high-profile casualty at Royal Mail’s MarketReach operation, with the head of marketing being ousted just six months after the business was relaunched to broaden direct mail’s appeal. He had been at the company nearly a decade.
Finally, Reader’s Digest pulled the plug on its DM division, which was at the forefront of its rescue plan, after private equity owner Better Capital started a major overhaul of the business, sparked by financial meltdown.
The move, which also resulted in three-quarters of its 120-strong UK workforce being made redundant, came less than three years after the firm was rescued from administration and promised to “return the business to its heyday”.
FEBRUARY
The month began with the second-coming for some familiar faces. Former Craik Jones chief executive Fiona Scott returned to agency-land – following a five-year break – to take on the day-to-day running of Elvis Communications. However, like Tim Hipperson, she too only lasted six months before being pushed out.
Meanwhile, ex-Rapp London chief executive Pete Mitchell also re-emerged – after nearly 18 months of pacing round his garden in Croydon – to work for Mediacom. Mitchell had joined Rapp Media (then WWAV Rapp Collins Media) in 1997 as chief executive and was promoted to chief exec of the whole agency in September 2009.
February also saw Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby finally sever all ties with their eponymous data consultancy – DunnHumby – stepping down from their non-exec roles, 24 years and some £93m later. The pair founded the business in 1989, but it was in 1995 when they signed the deal of a lifetime with Tesco that the business really took off.
Over in Brussels things were looking up at last, when the EU Parliament’s industry committee rubberstamped more than 900 amendments to the draft data laws. However, while a positive step for the DM industry, the move sparked a war of words between the head of the committee and privacy groups which claimed Brussels was caving in.
Down in Sutton, Reed Business Information dismissed speculation that its data business Mardev-dm2 had been put up for sale, just weeks after creditors were told the division had officially stopped trading. The Quadrant House-based company issued a statement refuting claims that the business was up for grabs, despite the fact that there have been no such reports in the press.
As the month drew to a close, the Government at last appointed its direct and digital agencies for the new creative framework – which replaced the COI – following an exhaustive pitch process which kicked off nearly seven months earlier. The DM roster included Lida, TMW and Bray Leino, with Lateral Group – the business which appointed former COI DM chief Marc Michaels as a consultant earlier in the year – also grabbing a place.
The digital roster included Indicia, DraftFCB, Bray Leino, BSS, TMW and CMW-sister agency Twentysix.
MARCH
The month kicked off with a stink after DM agencies left empty-handed following the Government’s £360m review fumed over what many viewed as the client’s incompetence, with one boss claiming the result “stinks”.
Some 39 shops pitched for the business but many of the unsuccessful agencies only found out about the result from early morning press reports. One agency chief told DecisionMarketing: “Nice to read you’re unsuccessful in the press!”
With the demise of Mardev-dm2, US data group MeritDirect moved into the UK market launching an international division operated out of London, spearheaded by former Mardev New York chief Karie Burt.
Over at Wunderman things were not so rosy after executive creative director Dave Harris threw in the towel, just weeks after boss Mel Cruickshank appointed a new creative head over him. It was one of the worst kept secrets in agency-land that Cruickshank and Harris did not exactly see eye to eye, having first locked horns while at Lida. Harris was soon to re-emerge as ECD at DraftFCB London, a role left vacant since the exit of Mark Fiddes. However, that didn’t last too long either as he quit the agency after it merged with Inferno.
Meanwhile, one of adland’s finest, John Hegarty, launched an expletive-fuelled rant on data marketing, claiming consumers will tell brands to “fuck off” if they continue to exploit their personal information. Speaking at an event in London, the BBH boss warned brands to “be careful”, adding that their actions are “Orwelian” and objectionable. “I think there will be a huge backlash and people will say ‘That’s not the world I want to live in’. Brands that say ‘I understand you’ – fuck off – you don’t understand me, mind your own business, I don’t want to be understood by you,” he warned.
Another firm feeling a backlash was Glasgow-based DM Design, which had threatened to phone consumers even on a Sunday lunchtime. The firm had the dubious honour of becoming the first business to be fined for making thousands of unwanted marketing calls. Dishing out a £90,000 fine, the Information Commissioner’s Office described its operation as having a “clear disregard for the law and a lamentable attitude” to the people it was targeting.
Payday loan firms also hit the headlines after the Government revealed they could face tougher marketing rules as part of a clampdown to prevent firms in the £2bn industry from exploiting consumers in financial straits.
Finally, Tesco launched its Clubcard TV service – following a trial to staff – offering its 16 million loyalty club members free access to a range of movies and TV shows. Content from Warner Bros, Aardman and Endemol is included in the package with no charges, contracts or subscriptions and supported by targeted ads from the likes of Kellogg’s, J&J, Colgate and Danone.
APRIL
In what resembled an April Fool’s joke, Virgin Media was forced to make a grovelling apology after a broadband bill sent to a deceased man – including a £10 fine for late payment – went viral on Facebook, being shared by more than 100,000 people.
The man’s son-in-law posted a photograph of the bill, along with a message addressed to Virgin, on the social media site. It said: “I’m really sorry for my Father in Law not paying his bill last month, but what with him being dead and all, it’s probably slipped his mind. Some people, eh?”
Another month, another agency chief returned, with former Proximity and CHI boss Simon Hall setting up a new agency, Seven Seconds. Designed to offer client companies a raft of online services to boost their ecommerce strategies, the agency – launched 22 years after he co-founded Barraclough Hall – sees him work once more with business partner Warren Moore.
Meanwhile, evidence emerged that the ICO’s get tough regime was beginning to pay dividends – literally. Fines for data breaches in the UK had more than tripled in value during the year – with private sector firms facing increased sanctions – according to a Freedom of Information request. Between March 8 2012 and March 8 2013 breaches reported grew from 730 in the preceding year to 1,150. During the same period, fines levied grew from £791,000 (nine separate penalties) to £2,610,000 (20 separate penalties).
And in what some would see as a ray of light, deputy Commissioner David Smith admitted he would not lay too much money on the EU ever passing the proposed new data legislation. Speaking at a London conference, Smith voiced concern that the regulations may never see the light of day.
Meanwhile, those who claimed CRM was just a fad – much like recent “big data” predictions – must have been gazing into the wrong balls, after figures revealed double-digit growth and global revenues of $18bn (£12bn) in the sector. According to Gartner, CRM revenue grew 12.5% last year, a rate three times that of all enterprise software segments on average, as companies worked hard to acquire more business and serve existing customers better.
MAY
The data watchdog echoed the words of Dads’ Army veteran Corporal Jones by calling for an end to panic surrounding the overhaul of EU data laws, insisting firms should use the plans to ensure they are following best practice already.
ICO business and industry group manager Dave Evans said: “Our advice is don’t panic. If you think the sky is going to fall in, you are going about it the wrong way. Companies should take this as an opportunity to look at their current practices.”
Karmarama executive chairman Nicola Mendelsohn landed the plumb job of spearheading Facebook’s European and Middle Eastern marketing operation, with a brief to boost its relationships with agencies and clients. Mendelsohn succeeded Joanna Shields, who left earlier in the year to join the Tech City Investment Organisation.
And you just can’t keep a strong team down: just four months after leaving DunnHumby, Edwina Dunn and Clive Humby made a seven-figure investment in a theatre analytics firm in a move which they believe could unlock £250m worth of commercial opportunities for the sector. Purple Seven currently analyses records from around 19 million audience members in the UK.
In a bizarre move, management consultancy Accenture claimed it had been appointed to handle BMW’s entire digital business, including overseeing all agencies. The move will see the likes of Iris, Partners Andrews Aldridge, M&C Saatchi Mobile, and Synergy now being managed directly by the consultancy, However, one UK agency boss told DecisionMarketing: “It’s news to us.”
The month brought more bad news for agencies and suppliers after Mondelez International said it would be extending payment terms to 120 days from July. Many feared they would be forced to wait nearly six months for payment.
To add insult to injury to poor old Kitcatt Nohr Digitas, the agency then lost out to Proximity London on the John Lewis CRM pitch. Kitcatt Nohr had handled the initial work for the “my John Lewis” loyalty programme, having worked on the business since 2007. However, Proximity swiped it at the death.
Better news for the bosses at Branded3 Search, when St Ives opened the company cheque-book once again in an acquisition worth £10.7m. Since recording its first loss in 2009, of £7.2m, the business has expanded beyond its pure print heritage to transform itself into a marketing services operation.
The telemarketing industry, however, found itself in the dock once more after an Ofcom study revealed that over 82% of consumers are getting nuisance marketing calls on their landlines. The rise, slammed by the DMA, had been sparked by a swathe of calls about Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).
JUNE
Early summer was dominated by the scandal of Prism-gate after Edward Snowden exposed the extent to which the US authorities were spying on consumers’ personal data.
Following a Guardian report implicating Google, Facebook, AOL, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo in providing consumer data to the US National Security Association and the FBI, marketers were fearful of the repercussions on them collecting data, too.
Privacy campaigners were quick to seize on the scandal to launch a stinging attack on those trying to water down the proposed new EU data laws, potentially scuppering the lobbying gains of the UK marketing industry.
Even WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, who presides over one of the biggest marketing groups in the world, waded in, branding Prism-gate a “game-changer” on web privacy.
Speaking to The Guardian, Sorrell said he believed revelations about the US National Security Agency’s programme would strike fear into even the most lackadaisical online user.
And this time it was personal: more than 25% of WPP’s £10bn-plus in annual revenues comes from what Sorrell calls “data investment management” for clients.
Then again, the idea that firms will soon be paying consumers handsomely for their personal data was branded “a nonsense” after a study claimed even the most private details are being bought for a fraction of a penny. In the multi-billion pound industry, the humble customer is at the back of the queue when it comes to financial rewards.
Meanwhile the Government was urged to give the regulator more powers to fine rogue telemarketing firms after Which? revealed consumers who sign up to the Telephone Preference Service received double the number of cold calls of those who were not on the list.
One person on the receiving end of a whopper was Nev Wilshire, the David Brent-style star of BBC Three docusoap The Call Centre. In June, the man – best known for his catalogue of one liners, including “happy people sell”, “swallow that frown”, and “smile as you dial” – had the smile wiped off his face. And two of his firms were fined a total of £225,000 for making nuisance marketing calls.
June also saw Royal Mail hand its DM account – worth an estimated £8m – to Publicis Chemistry, in a move which reunited MarketReach head Jonathan Harman with his old boss, Publicis chairman and chief exec Nigel Jones, who used to work together at Claydon Heeley. However, Jones obviously had other ideas as he quit Publicis a few months later to rejoin DraftFCB.
Finally, Adobe signalled its intention to build a major digital marketing empire by shelling out $600m (£393m) in cash for marketing automation company Neolane.
JULY
Former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy debunked the theory that big data is a new phenomenon, claiming the Clubcard scheme – launched back in 1995 – was “the first example of big data managing the customer relationship”. He added: “In so many companies there’s no shortage of data but it’s in the wrong place, at the perimeter of the business. The key decisions are taken at the heart of the business. Often the most powerful in the organisation are the least informed. That’s the reality.”
However, cracks started to appear at the retailer after Tesco was forced to apologise to a Hertfordshire widow whose dead husband had been receiving letters from the retailer’s home phone service for over four years, chasing up payment.
Despite numerous phone calls – as well as sending in his death certificate – the letters kept on coming. Not knowing where to turn next, the widow wrote to The Guardian’s Consumer Champions for help, she added: “I don’t think I am being over-sensitive; four years to close an account is plenty.”
Meanwhile, the first signs of a consumer revolt emerged in a new Experian QAS study, which showed consumers are getting so fed up with being bombarded with poor marketing that most would rather tell firms whether they were straight, gay or bisexual than hand over their mobile phone number.
The postal union claimed Royal Mail workers would not “sell their souls” for the privatisation of the company following reports that posties would receive a personal windfall of up to £2,000 as part of the sell-off.
Undeterred, Business Secretary Vince Cable formally kicked off the privatisation, although it was to come back to haunt him later in the year following accusations it was sold off on the cheap. At least accountancy firm PwC had good news for the postal operator, claiming direct mail spend will rocket as the economy starts to improve, delivering greater profits for Royal Mail.
The big news in agency-land was the £23bn mega merger of Omnicom and Publicis, which, in one fell swoop, created the world’s biggest marketing and advertising powerhouse, ending WPP’s four-year dominance of the industry.
WPP boss Martin Sorrell played down the need for his group to respond, saying it would still lead the European and Asian markets. But Bernstein Research analysts argued that WPP should expand further into data services and consumer insight.
AUGUST
At Tesco, boss Philip Clarke swung the axe on top executives – including head of the Clubcard loyalty scheme Ian Crook – as the retail giant attempted to inject more energy into its £1bn turnaround plan.
Meanwhile, the employment market was looking up for convicted criminals after it was revealed that inmates at HMP Oakwood, near Wolverhampton, and Drake Hall, in Staffs, were being paid to work as contact centre agents inside their jails. The Ministry of Justice quashed data security fears by maintaining that all workers had to pass a risk assessment and are subject to strict measures, and do not have access to any sensitive information about the people they are calling.
Good job, too, after a Deloitte UK study showed that consumer confidence over how firms collect and use data online was falling fast – down from nearly a half to just over a third – as the proliferation of digital devices and ever-more complex privacy policies make people nervous. Just 38% believed companies would keep their data safe, while only 22% were confident their details wouldn’t be sold on to other organisations.
One person looking to reverse negative perceptions about data collection was Simon Lawrence, the founder and former chief executive of Information Arts, who launched a new company, three years after completing the sell-off of the business to Harte Hanks. Joining forces with digital media agency Atelier Studios, his start-up – Uncommon Knowledge – offers data, insight and solutions.
Meanwhile, AIS London proved there is life after agency founders leave by scooping the Waitrose CRM account from under the nose of Kitcatt Nohr Digitas. The win was even sweeter for the new management team as, along with Partners Andrews Aldridge, the agency lost the original 2006 pitch for the business which saw Kitcatt Nohr walk off with the spoils.
Proximity London, which earlier in the year had picked up the John Lewis loyalty business, finally found a replacement for Caitlin Ryan, luring Elvis executive creative director John Treacy to take over the role at the Omnicom-owned agency. Treacy, a highly respected art director whose awards’ haul includes Cannes Lions, D&AD, DMA and MAA Awards, succeeded interim chief Steve Stretton, his old boss at AIS London.
SEPTEMBER
As the clamour of complaints about nuisance calls gathered momentum, Citizens Advice waded in by demanding that financial services firms should be banned from running all cold telemarketing campaigns. The demand followed a Citizens Advice survey, which showed two-thirds of adults – equivalent to 30 million people – had received unwanted calls about mis-sold PPI policies.
Even MPs got in on the act, questioning whether the Telephone Preference Service was fit for purpose, amid mounting criticism that it is powerless to stem the tidal wave of nuisance marketing calls.
Over in “big data” land, things were looking up after a new study revealed the phenomenon was turning into “loadsamoney” for those working in the sector.
According to ABI Research, nearly half of the $31bn (£19.7bn) spent on big data this year will go on salaries, with the other half allocated to vendors’ products and services. SAS even claimed that UK demand for staff with Hadoop training had grown 210% , with Hadoop contractors now able to charge up to £600 an hour.
The rise of data even had WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell on the back foot after his comments that data experts are now more important than creatives sparked a fawning eulogy to his own award-winning ad agencies. Having said, “we are now Maths Men not Mad Men” his remarks riled many ad agency bosses and even sparked an open-letter from Mark Silber, the executive creative director of WPP-owned mobile ad agency Joule.
Meanwhile, direct marketing companies had their own issues after Royal Mail proposed changes to the way it charged for access to the Postcode Address File. Under the planned system of charging, instead of paying an annual licence, businesses would be charged between 1p and 8p every time an address was checked against PAF. However, peace broke out soon after following a top-level summit between the DMA and the postal operator, which had a change of heart.
OCTOBER
Royal Mail was back in the news in October, when its long-awaited sell-off finally went through, much to the chagrin of opposition MPs and the postal union. Accusations that it was sold off “on the cheap” gained credibility after it was revealed that banking giant JP Morgan believed the company could have been worth up to £10bn – three times what the Government sold it for.
And it was a case of another month, another battering for the telemarketing industry after claims that 3.2 million Brits were too afraid to answer their phones because of nuisance calls, while 8.8 million found such marketing “stressful”.
The claims were made in a study by debt-charity StepChange, whose “Got Their Number” survey also found that more than 45 million people have received unsolicited calls or text messages from businesses and 26 million had been offered high-interest credit, like payday loans, through such unexpected calls and texts.
However, the fight against the “menace” received a major blow when the High Court overturned a £440,000 fine against text spammers Tetrus Telecoms – issued by the Information Commissioner’s Office in November last year – after ruling the data watchdog could not prove the company’s action had caused distress or damage. It came just weeks after Scottish Borders Council also had its fine – of £250,000 – overturned for the same reason, by the same judge, Mr Justice Warren, sitting at the Information Rights Tribunal.
To add insult to injury, the Ministry of Justice found itself on the wrong side of the law and was slapped with a £140,000 fine over a serious data breach which led to the details of all of the prisoners serving at HMP Cardiff being emailed to inmates’ families.
The fine was a major embarrassment to MoJ officials, who work closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office on enforcement.
Over in Brussels, the draft EU data protection legislation took a turn for the worse, with a vote in the European Parliament triggering a fresh warning to direct marketing companies over the future of opt-in consumer data.
Despite constant reassurances that there will be no change in the current way DM firms gain and manage consent – for existing and new data – some experts believed there were plenty of potential pitfalls ahead. The move even triggered a warning from the ICO to tighten up how data was collected.
One man who decided the time was right for a change was VCCP me planning partner Chris Whitson, who announced he was to leave the agency he co-founded with Ben Stephens and Neil Francis in 2005 for what he described as a “new challenge”. Originally launched as Stephens Francis Whitson, the agency rebranded last year after merging with data agency Tree to become part of the VCCP Partnership.
NOVEMBER
The month started with another man looking for a change, with Indicia creative chief Ian Bates quitting the agency – where he had been for 13 years – to join Creston-owned The Real Adventure as board creative director.
Launched in 1991, the agency’s clients include Danone, Tesco, Walkers and Tropicana. The Real Adventure was the second acquisition made by Creston’s chief executive Don Elgie in 2001 and specialises in digital, direct and CRM.
One group of people who were also finding themselves in demand were big data specialists on the back of a report by e-skills UK and SAS which predicted a third of the UK’s larger companies will deploy large-scale data programmes by 2018. The study, which probed 1,000 UK businesses with more than 100 employees, said demand for staff will grow by nearly 250% within the next five years.
The self-styled king of big data – former Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy – revealed that the Clubcard loyalty scheme very nearly did not even get off the ground, after his bosses initially rejected the programme as a load of rubbish.
Speaking at the Marketing Society’s annual conference, the man widely credited with turning the supermarket into the powerhouse it is today used the Clubcard example to urge marketers to “be brave”.
Meanwhile his former employer was forced into another grovelling apology after a customer ended up being arrested for fraud when he complained that the £470 iPad he’d bought ended up being a lump of clay.
Colin Marsh bought the tablet at Tesco in Whitstable as a present for his ten-year-old daughter. However, when he got home he discovered that the box contained anything but the latest tablet.
And it wouldn’t be 2013 without another twist in the tale of nuisance calls, this time The House of Lords threw its weight behind a Bill which threatened to bring the UK in line with Germany, and ban outbound telemarketing.
The Unsolicited Telephone Communications Bill, presented by Conservative peer Lord Selsdon, was put forward for a second reading. Introducing the Bill, Lord Selsdon claimed unsolicited calls were an “invasion of privacy” and caused “considerable distress”.
Maintaining that the current opt-out simply was not working, he said consumers who want to receive such calls should instead be allowed to opt-in. Under his plan, Ofcom, which currently oversees the Telephone Preference Service, will have to keep a register of those who had opted-in.
DECEMBER
The month kicked off with a wake-up call to companies to prepare for the end of the “golden age” of customer data. According to Ernst & Young, the public will become increasingly reluctant to hand over their personal information, with nearly half of the consumers surveyed (49%) planning to restrict access to their data by 2018, while 55% already offer less personal information than five years ago.
WDMP showed what many companies could be missing when it scooped the grand prix at this year’s DMA Awards for a campaign for Monarch Airlines. The client commissioned WDMP to help it build its reputation and revenue in the ski market. The resulting direct mail campaign delivered more than £2.2m in sales for the airline by bringing the slopes to life using mobile image recognition platform Blippar.
Nigella Lawson blew the gaffe on Class A drug abuse in adland, alleging that when Charles Saatchi was at Saatchi & Saatchi, “they brought in a big sack of cocaine every Friday”, which others took.
Tales of drug use in agencies had been widespread for years – former PHD co-founder Jonathan Durden famously confessed to using “a couple of grams of cocaine several times a week” and then visiting prostitutes – but this is thought to be the first time Saatchi & Saatchi has been exposed.
Lawson made the claim in her explosive evidence in the fraud trial of two former PAs – Francesca Grillo and her sister Elisabetta – at Isleworth Crown Court in West London.
Over in Brussels, plans to rubber-stamp new data laws before next May’s elections were thrown into disarray after EU ministers failed to agree on one of the key tenets of the reforms – the one-stop-shop for data protection – following legal objections.
The move was a major blow to justice commissioner Viviane Reding’s plans, as well as US tech companies, such as Facebook and Google, which had lobbied hard for the introduction of the rule. It would have allowed companies to deal with a single privacy regulator rather than competing national ones. The Irish data protection regulator, however, was rather less annoyed as the proposal would have given him a workload to make the Twelve Labours of Hercules look like a stroll in the park.
As the month drew to a close Scott Logie revealed his plan to leave St Ives – the company which handed him a group marketing role after it bought his previous firm Occam in 2010 – to join start-up the Mothership Group. Logie had been strategic marketing director at St Ives since last year, responsible for driving new business within retail, publishing and commercial markets.
Never one to be outdone, Marc Nohr also decided the time was right to “scale a new mountain”, leaving the agency he co-founded over a decade ago – Kitcatt Nohr – to become global managing director of workplace provider Regus.
His departure came two years after Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw was bought by Publicis Groupe, merged with the UK operations of Digitas, and rebranded Kitcatt Nohr Digitas.
December had opened with predictions of record online spend but Hammersmith & Fulham Council wrapped up the month with a Christmas direct mailing to its 17,000 council tenants, which would make even Scrooge look generous.
The card, showing a pound coin fizzing in a glass, warned tenants not to overindulge during the festive season, just “pay your rent”. Branded “disgusting” and “insulting”, council bosses were unrepentant claiming 46% of its tenants were in rent arrears. Bah humbug, indeed.