First step

Outgoing Procter & Gamble president and CEO David Taylor said marketers “should not be worried” about former CFO Jon Moeller taking the reins, pledging marketing will continue to be a key channel for investment as the business looks to maintain its “superiority”.

Currently COO and was CFO, Moeller was announced as his successor yesterday (29 July), with Taylor shifting to the executive chairman role in November where he will lead the board of directors and provide council to Moeller.

Taylor says the FMCG giant has invested heavily in marketing this quarter by 170 basis points, in addition to the increase of 270 basis points in 2020.

P&G has pledged to continue investing in marketing despite ongoing supply chain pressures driving up business costs and, as a result, product prices.

Speaking on an investor call today (19 October) detailing the company’s results for the first quarter of its 2021/22 financial year, chief operating officer and incoming CEO Jon Moeller highlighted P&G’s positive results and said “this is the time to step forward, not back” when questioned on whether marketing investment would be sacrificed to offset the rising prices.

Billionaire Elon Musk has summoned Twitter’s former head of security and whistleblower Peiter Zatko ahead of his trial against the social media giant, as he fights to get out of his $44bn acquisition deal.

Zatko, who was fired by Twitter at the start of 2022, last week filed an 84-page complaint accusing the company of covering up security flaws and fake accounts.

The whistleblower alleges that Twitter violated an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission regarding cyber security precautions, and suggested deception at the company around fake or spam accounts – something that could help bolster Elon Musk’s court case.

Procter & Gamble’s chief brand officer Marc Pritchard has implored marketers to “double down” on their “core job” of using creativity to drive brand and business growth amid inflation and the rising cost of living.

Speaking at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity today (21 June), Pritchard noted that one of the big questions marketers face is how to convince their CEO and CFO that marketing creates value and is worth investing in, as well as the business case for creativity.

These are “particularly relevant” questions in the current economic environment, he said, adding that marketers will “inevitably” face further disruptions and challenges ahead.

Premier Foods says it pursuing a “game plan” of increasing marketing investment over the next year, as the business doubles down on its branded growth model.

The business saw “strong” growth in its core brands, such as Sharwood’s and Mr Kipling, over the last year, which it attributed partly to increased marketing spend.

CEO Alex Whitehouse expressed confidence the company’s branded growth model would allow its brands to increase market share in their categories, despite the impact of inflation and the cost of living crisis.

My PhD thesis was about advertising. Specifically, supplementing the question ‘What does advertising do to consumers?’ with the additional perspective of ‘What do consumers do with advertising?’.

My brilliant PhD supervisor, Professor Richard Elliott, wanted me to use ethnography to watch kids as they used and applied advertising in their everyday lives. He had a hair-brained scheme that at only 24 I could still pass for a teenager, infiltrate a local secondary school and gather my data that way.