Diversity, data, and the social algorithm: MAD//UpNorth Day 1
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With over 4,000 attendees, 150 industry expert speakers and 3 stages across 2 days, MAD//Up North was not one to be missed.
The speaker sessions, live podcasts, fireside chats and masterclasses were full of insight, all following the main themes of retail media, brand strategy, generative AI, data and content.
With huge success at their London events, MADFest brought their event to Aviva Studios here in Manchester from 26th-27th February to showcase the talent, creativity and expertise that flourishes ‘up North’.
This blog will break down key takeaways from the talks that I attended on the first day of the event.
Rory Sutherland in conversation with John Roberts, Founder of AO World
John Roberts CEO and Founder, AO World
Rory Sutherland Vice Chairman, Ogilvy
Rory Sutherland and John Roberts had some interesting conversation around brands being more bold and brave in their marketing. A key topic was not being able to measure ‘pound for pound’ the output that you get from your campaigns; and that’s ok!
John used his own brand, AO, as an example of this, where each home delivery comes with a free green AO bear. He explained how while these branded bears sit in homes across the UK, he will never be able to measure the return value that these are having in terms of repeat customers, new customers, and positive reviews.
This led onto the topic changing to founder-led vs corporate-led marketing and the stark difference. Sometimes the greatest campaigns work so well just because the person behind them believed that they would. Just like John did with the AO bears. They could easily stop giving the bears out to cut back on costs, but John sees the power in having fun with the brand.
A key thing that I think sums up the talk pretty well on being brave with your brand, was a comment made by Rory Sutherland: “…Doing the right thing wrong the first time, is always better than doing the wrong thing right all of the time… ”
Victoria McKevitt-Smith Managing Director, Dentsu UK
Jessica Whitney Managing Partner, Dentsu UK
Calum Macdonald-Ball Head of Social & Influencer, Dentsu Creative UK
Next up was a panel discussion covering how the algorithms are affecting organic and paid social media performance. Do we create content for the user, or start to create it for the algorithm?
With over 50% of Gen Z believing that ‘the algorithm’ knows them better than their parents do, it’s so important to capture this attention and make the most of it in content.
Social trends were a key topic, with both Jessica and Calum agreeing that trend fatigue is a real problem, and brands should remember that influencers are the ones usually setting those trends. The overall conversation had a focus on influencers, and how finding the right person that aligns with your brand can really unlock brand potential, as users are 12% more attentive watching influencer content compared to brand content. It is also important to remember that follower count of influencers doesn’t always equal quality, so ensuring that their audience is aligned with yours is key, as people don’t buy from brands, they buy from other people.
The panel also discussed how TikTok has created a closed-loop system, where all of these above points are executed extremely well on the platform. A TikTok user has all of the information they need from discovery through to purchase, essentially collapsing the traditional buyer journey/ awareness funnel.
Becoming the Netflix of pizza: Exploring Domino’s data-driven app-first approach to e-commerce
Nick Bamber Digital & Data Director, Dominos
For a company that sells 110 million pizzas in the UK every year, Nick Bamber described Domino’s as a data company that just acts like a pizza company.
As this talk was very data-focused, let’s get the key stats out:
- Domino’s has 13 million active users in the UK
- 5 million active users on the app 18 months ago
- 10 million of these users are active on the mobile app
- 20% of Domino’s active customers drive 50% of their total revenue
- 70-80% of people who place a second order with Domino’s pizza, order it on the same day of the week as they did their first order.
- 60% of these people order within the same hour as their previous order
As we can see in the above graph, the trajectory of Domino’s popularity is looking very similar to Blockbuster when the streaming service Netflix came around. Using patterns in data has broken Domino’s free from the downfall against foodie mobile apps like Just Eat and Deliveroo.
Nick described some of the tactics Domino’s uses to personalise the experience for app users. For example, tracking the frequency of each user’s pizza orders, to gauge when they might be at risk of losing this customer. The perfect timing to send them a free pizza deal.
Has AI broken the brand?
Ian Maskell Founder P E C O R I N O Group
Jennifer Dyne Former General Manager – Unilever Ice-Cream UK & Ireland
Alessandra Bellini Founder BelliniWorks ltd
The panel were overall optimistic about the use of Al, seeing it as a tool to complement brand activity.
Alessandra would encourage brands to not see themselves as a victim of AI, but to embrace and use it in the right way. They discussed how the pressure of short-term sales will always be there, however, if the only focus is only ever transactional, then the brand dies. There always needs to be an element of ‘brand magic’, something which AI can’t help with.
They also spoke about the future of AI in marketing. Currently 27% of consumers say that AI content doesn’t feel emotionally engaging. But over time this should decrease as technology develops. Generative AI will eventually open up the opportunity for brands to create ads that are targeted and personalised based on individual users interests and experience with the brand. This could mean that everyone has very different experiences with brands, making brand values and missions more important than ever.
Concerns around AI were also discussed, with worries around the possibility of people losing the ability to critically think and think creatively. They emphasised that being passionate about what you are marketing is usually the key to success. Generative AI does come with limitations, and it is important to remember that it will only tell you about what has been done before, not what has not been done.
So no, AI hasn’t broken the brand if it’s used properly.
Marketers and creatives assemble – A diverse and inclusive world needs you!
Dawn Paine CEO & Co-Founder, Aurora
Kenyatte Nelson Chief Membership & Customer Officer, Co-op
Zoe Harris CMO, On the Beach
Katie Jackson Chief Marketing Officer, Channel 4
This panel was in partnership with WACL, a membership organisation founded over 100 years ago, advocating for equal rights for women in advertising and communications industries. Their ‘50% CEO campaign’ aims to have double the amount of female CEO’s by 2045.
Being an event also celebrating the North, it’s vital to acknowledge the 56% of people outside of London who feel caricatured or not accurately represented in ads across the UK.
Kenyatte Nelson discussed that in his role at the Co-op, he ensures that every support function across the business has a DEI plan in place. He said that using data is vital to truly understand what you are facing, and to understand why you’re doing it.
Katie Jackson from Channel 4 said that DEI is at the heart of Channel 4, giving vital screen time to those with unheard voices, and to create change within the entertainment industry. A key example of this was Channel 4’s broadcasting of the 2012 London Paralympics where they significantly shifted public perceptions around disability through their coverage and campaigns like ‘Every Body Moves’.
Zoe Harris from On The Beach added that most families just want to feel accurately represented in the media they are exposed to, as when people feel seen, they feel understood, and are more likely to connect emotionally with a brand.
The panel agreed that if you don’t feel slightly nervous about your campaign, you probably haven’t pushed yourself far enough to properly represent the UK population. Diversity and inclusion is all about being brave and bold, not for the sake of it, but just because it’s the right thing to do.
Just Eat x Netflix: Claiming space in culture
Jeff Bowerman Executive Creative Director, DEPT®
This next talk really sparked some interesting thoughts around collaborations and the power of partnering up with brands that have a similar audience, but more importantly, an audience with a crossover of interests. Just Eat’s genius partnership with Netflix in the run up to the release of Squid Games 2, gave them exposure to nearly all of Netflix’s 17.3 million subscribers.
The Next Game is Served | Just Eat x Netflix Squid Game 2As shown in the video above, there were lots of references to the show that only a Squid Games viewer would understand. This drew people in, created hype around the new series for Netflix, and was a great way to advertise the limited edition Korean inspired food on the Just Eat app.
The Just Eat app also launched an AI-powered game allowing mobile users to take part in a squid game-themed task involving eating food without getting caught. The game was so successful (511,000 plays) that people were even trying to cheat the system and pre-record themselves for a chance to win the 10k prize!
While there were benefits to both Netflix and Just Eat in this collaboration, most importantly the audience benefitted too.
What sets the North apart
Lucy Beaumont Comedian, writer and broadcaster
Sam Dolan Founder Jazz Hands
I only managed to catch the final part of Lucy Beaumont’s chat with Sam Dolan, but what was said made me wish I was there for the whole thing.
Lucy has a background in media, TV and broadcasting, and her sold out comedy tour ‘The Trouble and Strife’ features many anecdotes about her home city of Hull and the north-south divide.
Her many years of carrying out workshops across schools in the North have opened her eyes to the talent of young people in the North, a stark contrast to those in the South in her experience. She emphasised the importance of government funding into the more creative subjects like media, drama, art and music in schools across the UK.
Oldie but a goodie – How to modernise a 180 year old business
Kenyatte Nelson Chief Membership & Customer Officer, Co-op
Founded in 1844, The Co-op has a very unique structure where it is owned by the people, for the people, with expertise in retail, education and funeral care.
Kenyatte described that while brand owners may be thinking that their consumers care about the brand values, they don’t- consumers only actually care about their own values, and how well aligned they are with the business.
He explained that all marketing that The Co-op does, is rooted in deep consumer understanding, emphasising that it is much more than just what the data tells them. The job of the marketing department is to build up enterprise value and make consumers curious about the business.
Kenyatte also went through some common mistakes he has seen with brand builders over the years, with too many people speaking about things that only other marketers care about. He also said that brand builders too often police the brand, and fail to recognise that the brand isn’t ‘theirs’… but the businesses.
‘The tighter the brief, the bigger the possibilities’ he explained, going through how to make the brand flourish. Having more streamlined specifics on what the brand is and isn’t, means that people can work more closely towards the same goal with a deeper understanding of what the brand should be.
Guess what Britain buys
Steve Edwards Head of Agency, Tesco Media and Insight Platform
The data-theme carried on through to the end of the day, as Tesco showed us some key insights pulled from their Clubcard, used by 23 million households in the UK.
Over 82% of Tesco sales go through an active clubcard membership, meaning Tesco can collect huge amounts of data on shoppers across the country, while people benefit from a more personalised shopping experience.
The interactive quiz was a great end to the day, and gave some really good insights about consumer shopping habits across the UK. For example, the nation shows their collective love for their pets, as there was a 10% increase in dog treats in the week running up to Valentine’s Day, with sales returning to normal soon after. The data also proved a very strong British stereotype wrong, with over 60% of the audience choosing Yorkshire as the region with the highest proportion of tea buyers, when it was actually the South and the South West.
Tesco pull a lot of this data and uses it to power Tesco media and Insights platform, Self-serve powered by dunnhumby Sphere. Helping retail brands and agencies across the UK to get better results, the platform gives access to the first-party data and offers insights on how to best engage with their target audience.
As always, it’s great to get involved with events like this, whether it’s reaffirming the brand basics, or getting to the latest trends and strategies. Hopefully you gained some useful insight from this summary, and if you want to see more footage of MAD//UpNorth, head over to our TikTok to see the venue, speakers and stages.
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