Coke and Jack Daniel’s launch RTD collaboration in UK

Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel’s will be rolling out their ready-to-drink (RTD) cans in Europe from April, having first revealed the tie up at the end of last year.

The two brands have signed a global agreement for the product, which is due to hit shelves in the UK, Ireland, Spain, Hungary, Poland and the Netherlands next month before expanding to other global markets in Latin America and Asia throughout the rest of 2023. It first launched in Mexico in November.

Promotional activity for the tie-up suggests the brands were ‘born ready’ for the collaboration, given it is a combination consumers often pair together.

Cans feature the classic Coca-Cola logo in red alongside Jack Daniel’s Old No.7 design in white. The product also highlights responsible drinking messages.

Nikos Koumettis, president for Europe OU at The Coca-Cola Company, says: “Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola RTD was born ready to be a fan-favourite, boldly bringing our flavours together to form this iconic pairing. Both of our brands are inspired by our fans’ endless innovation in mixing the best, to get the best, and we can’t wait for them to give this a try.”

Marshall Farrer, executive vice-president, chief strategic growth officer and president of Europe for Jack Daniel’s owner Brown-Forman, adds: “We are thrilled that Jack Daniel’s and Coca-Cola RTD is expanding to new markets, delivering the unique taste that was made to set the standard for bar calls around the world to our fans in Europe.”

Meta mulls banning political ads in Europe

Meta is reportedly weighing up plans to ban all political advertising across its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram, across Europe amid fears it won’t be able to comply with upcoming EU regulations around campaigning.

Under the new laws, online tech groups like Meta and Google will have to share information about political campaigns, including which users they are targeting, how many people view them, who paid for the content and how much they cost.

But Meta executives are worried the definition of political ads is so broad under the new regulation, that it might be simpler to refuse all paid-for political campaigns across its platforms, according to the Financial Times.

The business, which is led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, suggests users are largely uninterested in political content of this kind anyway and the revenue generated from it is minimal compared to the wider business, sources told the FT.

Following the election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016, social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter were criticised for failing to prevent the spread of misinformation in the run up to the vote.

The final definition for political advertising under the new regulation will be agreed by 5 June.

READ MORE: Meta bosses look at political ads ban in Europe

O2 unveils brand mission to shake up ‘outdated’ industry conventions

O2 is premiering its new brand ethos, ‘See what you can do’, in its latest campaign, which focuses on the fact eligible customers can switch to a new device at any point in their contract.

The new mission statement is designed to show customers O2 is not bound by “outdated industry conventions”, it says, as the mobile network promises to offer more flexibility.

The latest iteration of the ‘Switch Up’ campaign again features O2’s brand character Bubl, who appears unexpectedly throughout the video to illustrate customers can swap to a new device whenever it suits them and O2 will pay off their current contract.

The campaign will kick off on Saturday evening during Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, with a special ad break that will see Bubl jump out of bespoke ITV1 introductions.

O2 has also partnered with EasyJet holidays and Google Pixel to replace their existing adverts with a version featuring Bubl.

Simon Groves, director brand and marketing at Virgin Media O2 says the ambition is to put “customers in control”.

“At a time of so much uncertainty, we want to make it easier for people to get their hands on the latest and most popular phones whenever it suits them, and continue to breakdown the barriers of rigid phone contracts, giving customers the freedom to decide what they want, when they want it.”

O2 worked with VCCP on the creative, with media planned my MG OMD.

CAP cracks down on misleading ‘free trial’ subscription ads

The Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) is clamping down on brands’ use of free trials for subscriptions after seeing an increase in issues.

CAP has issued an enforcement notice to advertisers to tackle the problem after proactive monitoring revealed some brands were not fully laying out terms and conditions, leaving customers locked in to unwanted subscriptions.

The notice is being sent to all advertisers that offer a subscription service, such as streaming platforms, alcohol brands and clothing services. A period of enhanced monitoring will then take place.

Subscription services have become increasingly popular over the past few years, with 73% of people in the UK having at least one subscription, according to research from Citizens Advice. However, more than a quarter of people (26%) say they have signed up to a subscription service by accident, most often because they didn’t cancel it in time following a free trial.

“For many consumers, subscription services offer ease, reliability and regularity in purchasing a variety of products. Unfortunately, ads for them, including those that offer a free trial, don’t always make sufficiently clear the terms and conditions,” says Shahriar Coupal, director at CAP.

“It’s important, especially during a cost of living crisis, that people are fully aware of all the relevant terms of a free trial for these services, and that they’re not being misled into inadvertently committing to a subscription they don’t want.”

United Airlines launches first UK campaign in a decade

United Airlines has launched its first campaign in more than a decade as it looks to highlight its commitment to customer service, diversity and sustainability.

The global campaign, ‘Good Leads The Way’, is kicking off in the UK, with the aim of showing what United is doing for customers, employees and communities, to encourage Brits to fly to the US with the airline.

Central to the campaign is London-focused out of home activity, as well as a social film featuring real life employees that will run across video on demand, connected TV and display.

Maggie Schmerin, managing director global advertising and social media at United Airlines, says the brand wants to “inspire pride” among employees and customers through its actions. “Everything from historic investments to fighting climate change, training more women and people of colour to become pilots, to upgrading our fleet with 500 new planes,” she adds.

The campaign has been developed by 72andsunny.

Thursday, 30 March

Moonpig had its largest week of sales to date in lead up to Mothers’ Day

Moonpig has said it is “confident” in its growth opportunity and “fundamental strength, resilience and agility” in a trading update this morning (30 March). The company said its performance has been resilient in the latter half of the year to date.

Moonpig recorded its largest ever week of sales in the lead up to this year’s Mothers’ Day in the UK, and is not changing its expectations for its annual revenue for the financial year ending 30 April 2023, which is around £320m.

The company’s expectations for its full year adjusted EBITDA are also unchanged.

“Today’s update is testament to the resilience of our business model, as demonstrated by a record UK Mothers’ Day. Moonpig Group’s leading market positions, strong customer retention, high profitability and robust cash generation equip us to navigate all stages of the economic cycle,” said Nickyl Raithatha, CEO.

“We are excited to return to revenue growth in the year ahead, underpinned by continued investments in our technology, marketing and operational capabilities. As the clear online leader in greetings cards, Moonpig Group is well positioned to benefit from the long-term structural market shift to online,” he added.

Channel 4 advertisers to take part in experiment to deliver ‘more effective’ campaigns

Companies advertising with Channel 4’s streaming service are taking part in an experiment to see if fewer ads from a single brand, shown in a “less cluttered advertising environment” will lead to more effective and impactful campaigns.

The trial aims to find whether campaigns with a lower frequency of ads will deliver more cut through with viewers.

The experiment includes brands such as John Lewis, Boots, Lloyds Banking Group and Domino’s and will run for a 12-week trial.

Richard Warren, director of marketing communications at Lloyds Banking Group says the “opportunity to trial a high impact digital ad campaign was instantly of interest” to the company.

“We are always looking to evolve our AV planning, and Channel 4 is stepping into new territory through this experiment. The link between ad experience and efficacy of broadcaster on-demand advertising is so topical and Channel 4 taking the initiative in this space is great to see,” he says.

Channel 4’s foray into experimenting with effectiveness in this way comes off the back of a similar, successful experiment with NBCU’s US streaming service which has been a “huge success” in the last two years it says, and is now rolled out across its entire advertising network.

“Improving the advertising experience on our streaming platform is critical to future growth both from a viewer and advertiser perspective,” says Jonathan Lewis, head of commercial innovation and partners at Channel 4.

“We are delighted to be leading the way again in such a hotly debated area and are confident this is something the market will want to embrace, particularly when they see the results.”

Tech leaders call for halt to AI development, citing risks to humanity

The likes of Elon Musk and Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak have signed an open letter from the Future of Life Institute calling for the suspension of training powerful AI systems over fears of the risks to humanity these programmes present.

The letter, signed by hundreds of experts in the AI space, is asking for the training of AI systems with “human-competitive intelligence” that are more powerful that OpenAI’s GPT-4 to be paused for six months.

The letter describes the current AI environment as an “out-of-control race to develop and deploy ever more powerful digital minds that no one – not even their creators – can understand, predict, or reliably control.”

“Powerful AI systems should be developed only once we are confident that their effects will be positive and their risks will be manageable,” the letter adds.

READ MORE: Elon Musk among experts urging a halt to AI training

Adidas makes U-turn on its opposition to Black Lives Matter trademark request

Adidas is withdrawing its request to the US Trademark Office to reject an application from Black Lives Matter to trademark its design, featuring three parallel stripes.

Only on Monday did Adidas say the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation design would create “confusion” with its three-strip imagery.

“Adidas will withdraw its opposition to the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s trademark application as soon as possible,” the company’s statement says.

The backtracking was triggered by worries at Adidas that people could misinterpret Adidas’s trademark objection as a criticism of Black Lives Matter’s mission, says a source close to the company, as reported by Reuters.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation applied for a federal trademark in November 2020 for its yellow three-strip design. Since 2008, Adidas has filed more than 90 lawsuits and signed more than 200 settlement agreements in relation to its three-stripe trademark.

READ MORE: Adidas retracts opposition to Black Lives Matter three-stripe design

Aldi to donate 400,000 meals over Easter school holidays

Aldi is set to support a range of charities, community groups and food banks this Easter by donating up to 400,000 meals during the Easter holidays.

The discounter’s stores have paired up with the different organisations through its community giving platform Neighbourly, with at least three quarters of the donations going to causes that support children.

“We understand that the school holidays can be an especially challenging time for families, particularly amid the current cost of living crisis, says Liz Fox, corporate responsibility director at Aldi UK. Since partnering with Neighbourly in 2019, Aldi has donated more than 30 million meals to charities and foodbanks.

In a similar move, Morrisons has this week partnered with Kellogg’s to provide an Easter holiday breakfast club in the supermarket’s cafes. Between 3 April and 24 April, Morrisons’ customers will be able to have a free bowl of Cornflakes, Rice Krispies or Coco Pops in any of the supermarket’s cafes before 11am when they order a ‘Kellogg’s Breakfast’.

Wednesday, 29 March

Diageo appoints former marketer as CEO

Diageo has appointed its first female chief executive, becoming only one of a handful of FTSE 100 companies to be led by a woman.

Debra Crew is currently chief operating officer at Diageo. She will succeed current CEO Sir Ivan Menezes in July. Only eight of the UK’s 100 most highly-valued listed companies have female CEOs, reports The Guardian.

Before joining Diageo in 2020 as North American president, Crew was CEO at tobacco company Reynolds American. She is also an experienced FMCG brand leader having held senior general management roles at PepsiCo and Mars.

Crew is also a former marketer, having held roles such as senior vice president of marketing at Nestle, and category business director at Kraft Foods. She also has experience on the board of Diageo as well as of Mondelez.

She has a tough act to follow as CEO. Menezes, who is set to retire from Diageo, has led the company for ten years.

“Ivan has transformed Diageo’s global footprint, brand portfolio and strategic focus, positioning our business as a clear leader in premium drinks,” says Diageo chairman Javier Ferrán.

Menezes is credited with helping the company make “great strides” towards its goal to become “one of the best performing, most trusted and respected consumer products companies in the world”.

Crew says she is grateful to her predecessor for the work he has done in positioning the business for future growth.

“I am focused on continuing Diageo’s extraordinary track record of building world-leading brands and enhancing our reputation as one of the most responsible businesses in what I believe to be the most exciting consumer products category,” she says.

Next buys the Cath Kidston brand

Next has acquired the Cath Kidston name and intellectual property in a deal worth £8.5m, adding to a portfolio of brands it has bought in recent years.

In December last year, it bought fashion retailer Joules out of administration, in a deal worth £34m. Just a month prior, it acquired the brand and intellectual property of furniture brand Made.com. In April 2022, it bought baby goods retailer JoJo Maman Bebe.

The retailer has also announced its annual results this morning (29 March). In the 12 months to January 2023, it saw its total trading sales rise 8.4% versus the year prior. Profit after tax also grew by 5%.

In Next CEO Simon Wolfson’s review of the year, he highlighted that the retailer has now created a new division of the group to focus on investments, acquisitions and third-party brands.

“Importantly, we need to ensure that new business opportunities do not end up taking too much time from those whose main task is developing our heartland Next product, services and operations,” he wrote.

This new deal to acquire Cath Kidston does not include the brand’s four shops, and redundancies are expected. The brand, known for its floral pattern clothing and home accessories, collapsed in 2020 with the loss of 1,000 jobs.

The company currently employs 125 people, with stores in London, Ashford, Cheshire Oaks, and York. These shops will remain open while “operations are wound down”, but will close eventually, administrator PwC said.

Boots’ parent company hails its status as the ‘highest performing retailer in the UK’

Boots is the “number one player in beauty and personal care in the UK” asserted its parent company Walgreen Boots Alliance, as it announced that sales for the UK retailer in its second quarter of 2023 were up 16%.

Alongside Aldi and Lidl, Boots is the “highest performing retailer in the UK”, Walgreen Boots CFO James Kehoe told investors on a call yesterday (28 March).

The increase of 16% in Boots’ retail comparable sales in its second quarter, which ended 28 February, comes on top of a 22% increase in the same period in 2022.

Boots holds “fabulous brand franchise strength”, which has been key to its success, Kehoe told investors, with the business achieving its eighth consecutive quarter of market share gains.

There were market share gains across all categories, the business reported, led by beauty, which was up 1.8 percentage points, and consumables and general merchandise, up 1.7 percentage points.

Online sales now account for 15% of UK retail sales, up from 9% in the pre-Covid quarter.

Walgreen Boots CEO Rosalind Brewer also seemed to dismiss reports made earlier in the week that the company was considering selling the Boots business by the end of the year, in order to focus on the US.

“What we feel like is we’ve got a balanced business here in terms of what we’re seeing in Boots… It’s been complementary, and until further notice, it’s a good business for us to have,” she said.

Morrisons partners with Kellogg’s on Easter holiday breakfast club

Morrisons has partnered with Kellogg’s to offer an Easter holiday breakfast club, where a free bowl of cereal for all the family is on offer.

Between 3 April and 24 April, Morrisons’ customers will be able to have a free bowl of Cornflakes, Rice Krispies or Coco Pops in any of the supermarket’s cafes before 11am when they order a ‘Kellogg’s Breakfast’.

The aim is to support families during the Easter holidays when school breakfast clubs are unavailable. Morrisons will still run its ‘kids eat free’ offer, which means families can access a free kids meal in the cafes after purchasing an adult meal worth £4.49 or more.

The initiative follows on from Morrisons’ partnership with Heinz last Autumn. The ‘Ask for Henry’ scheme saw the supermarket partner with the brand to offer a free baked potato with beans in its café.

“We’ve been supporting school breakfast clubs across the UK for 25 years now with food and funding, but we know that there is a need for more provision in the school holidays,” says Kellogg’s managing director Chris Silcock. “The scheme with Morrisons extends the support we can provide families outside of term time.”

Pepsi unveils new visual brand identity

Pepsi has unveiled a new visual identity, including a change of logo. This is the first update to the logo in 14 years.

The new visual identity will be rolled out in North America in the autumn of this year, coinciding with the brand’s 125^th anniversary. The refreshed packaging and logo will be rolled out globally next year.

The brand refresh includes a new colour palette, which now includes the colour black. Pepsi claims this signals its “continued focus on Pepsi Zero Sugar” (known as Pepsi Max in the UK).

The brand’s CMO Todd Kaplan says the new visual design ushers in a “new era” for the brand and will help to drive brand distinction for Pepsi.

“This new visual system brings out the best of the Pepsi brand’s rich heritage, while taking a giant leap forward to set it up for success in an increasingly digital world,” he says.

Tuesday, 28 March

Lidl overtakes Aldi as the UK’s fastest growing supermarket

Lidl was the UK’s fastest growing supermarket in the four weeks to 19 March, with sales up by 25.8% compared to the same period last year. The discounter grew its market share from 6.4% to 7.4%, according to the latest grocery market data from Kantar.

February’s fastest growing supermarket Aldi grew its sales at a marginally slower pace than its rival in March, up 25.4% compared to a year prior. However, the discounter secured a new record market share at 9.9%, up from 8.6%.

The growth recorded by both discounters comes as grocery price inflation continues to rise, putting further pressure on consumers’ budgets. Inflation rose to 17.5% in March, a new record based on Kantar’s market data. This means households are now facing an £837 increase in their annual shopping bills.

“Unfortunately, it’s more bad news for the British public, who are experiencing the ninth month of double-digit grocery price inflation,” says Kantar’s head of retail and consumer insight, Fraser McKevitt.

“However, shoppers are taking action and clearly hunting around for the best value. Footfall was up in every single grocer this month, with households going to the shops just over four times per week in March.  Apart from Christmas, that’s the highest frequency we’ve seen since the start of the pandemic.”

Iceland was the only other supermarket to increase its market share in March, up 0.1 percentage point to 2.3% after a 9.6% sales jump.

The UK’s biggest supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda, grew their sales at a more moderate pace, with Tesco and Sainsbury’s both up 6.9% and Asda up 7.3%. All three grocers claim a smaller market share than in March 2022, with Tesco holding 26.9% (down from 27.4%), Sainsbury’s holding 14.8% (down from 15.1%) and Asda claiming 14.3% (down from 14.5%).

Morrisons, which was knocked off its spot as the UK’s fourth largest supermarket by Aldi last year, saw sales return to growth in March, up 0.1%. The supermarket holds a market share of 8.8%, down from 9.5% in March 2022.

Meanwhile, Waitrose delivered its fastest rate of growth since September 2021 at 2.1%, although its market share is still down 0.3 percentage points to 4.5%. Convenience retailer Co-op’s share is also down 0.3 percentage points to 5.7%.

British Gas, Scottish Power and Ovo were behind 70% of forced prepayment installations last year

Over 94,000 prepayment meters were forcibly installed in homes last year, with British Gas, Scottish Power and Ovo Energy behind 70% of them, the government has said.

When taking into account the size of its customer base, Scottish Power was the worst offender, force fitting over 24,300 meters in 2022.

Prepayment meters are generally installed by energy companies under warrant in the homes of customers who have previously missed payments. However, the practice has come under scrutiny amid spiralling energy costs and the cost of living crisis, with concerns the meters were being forced on vulnerable people by breaking into their homes. The government agreed with suppliers last month that forced installations would be halted.

Energy regulator Ofgem said earlier this month that the ban on forced installations would be extended beyond the end of March.

Energy security secretary Grant Shapps has called on energy companies to rectify any mistreatment of customers, calling the number of forced prepayment meter installations last year “horrifying”.

“Prepayment meters are right for some people, so I do not want to ban them outright, but I do have concerns that companies have not been treating their customers fairly,” he said.

“I will be watching Ofgem’s ongoing review closely so customers get the support they need – and those vulnerable consumers who have wrongly suffered forced installations get the justice they deserve in the form of redress.”

Twitter adds further restrictions on non-paying users

Twitter is shaking up its subscription model and preventing the platform’s free users from being recommended in its For You feed, CEO Elon Musk has announced.

From 15 April, only “verified” accounts which pay the £11 a month Twitter Blue subscription fee will be eligible to be featured in For You recommendations, Musk said. Non-paying users will also be unable to vote in polls.

Writing on Twitter, Musk claimed the decision had been made to address the number of bots present on the platform.

“The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle,” he said.

Responding to concerns that the decision would make it easier for bad actors to spread misinformation and harmful content, Musk added: “My prediction is that this will be the only platform you can trust”.

Earlier this week Twitter announced it would be winding down its legacy verification service on 1 April, meaning Twitter users who have a blue tick verifying their accounts will lose the checkmark. To keep the checkmark, users will have to subscribe to Twitter Blue.

William Hill fined record £19.2m

Three gambling brands owned by William Hill have been fined a record  £19.2m by the Gambling Commission, which uncovered “widespread and alarming” failures to protect consumers, the BBC reports.

Williamhill.com operator WHG (International) will pay £12.5m, while subsidiary Mr Green, which operates mrgreen.com, will pay £3.7m. The William Hill Organization, which runs more than 1,300 betting outlets across Britain, will pay £3m.

The commission had given “serious consideration” towards suspending the company’s licence altogether, as its failings were considered so severe. One incident saw a customer open an account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes without any checks.

The commission also identified failures to prevent possible money laundering, finding several incidents of customers depositing large amounts of money without facing the correct checks. One customer spent and lost over £70,000 in a month.

However, as the firm “immediately recognised [its] failings” and “swiftly” implemented improvements, the Gambling Commission instead opted for the biggest fine in its history, CEO Andrew Rhodes explained.

READ MORE: William Hill to pay record £19.2m for failings

Disney begins first round of 7,000 job cuts

Disney CEO Bob Iger has informed staff that the first of three job cutting rounds will begin this week, in a memo obtained by CNBC.

The redundancies are to take place across the company, including its media and distribution division, parks and resorts and ESPN, with 7,000 job losses expected in total.

The cuts come as part of plans to eliminate $5.5bn in costs, including $3bn in content spend, as laid out by Disney last month. The company’s EBITDA profit has fallen by 23% since 2018 from almost $18bn (£14.8bn) to $13.8bn (£11.3bn), despite the parks having reached record profitability. At the same time, profit margin has fallen from 30.2% to 16.4%, and share prices are currently trading at an eight-year low.

“This week, we begin notifying employees whose positions are impacted by the company’s workforce reductions,” Iger wrote in the memo.

“Leaders will be communicating the news directly to the first group of impacted employees over the next four days. A second, larger round of notifications will happen in April with several thousand more staff reductions, and we expect to commence the final round of notifications before the beginning of the summer to reach our 7,000-job target.”

In January, activist investor Nelson Peltz accused Disney of risking long-term damage to the value of its brand and business by raising its theme park prices to make up for losses in its streaming business.

Combined with complaints related to the wages of Disney’s in-park ‘cast members’, Peltz has said the parks’ “rapid margin expansion” leads him to believe the business is squeezing both customers and costs in an “unsustainable growth strategy”.

READ MORE: Disney layoffs will begin this week, CEO Bob Iger says in memo

Monday, 27 March

Twitter worth less than half of what Musk paid for it, memo suggests

A leaked memo sent to Twitter employees suggests the platform is valued at $20bn (£16bn), a sharp drop from the $44bn (£35.9bn) CEO Elon Musk paid for it last year.

The memo told staff they’d receive stock grants based on a $20bn (£16bn) valuation. In the correspondence, Musk says he sees a “clear but difficult path” to achieving a $250bn (£204bn) valuation for the platform.

According to reports, Musk adds that he sees Twitter as an “inverse startup” as a result of the “necessary” changes he’s made since taking over.

Meanwhile, Twitter has announced it will be winding down its legacy verification service on 1 April, meaning Twitter users who have a blue tick verifying their accounts will lose the checkmark.

To keep the checkmark, users will have to subscribe to Twitter Blue, at a cost of £11 a month.

READ MORE: Elon Musk reportedly halves Twitter’s valuation in internal memo

Changing John Lewis’s ownership model would be a ‘tragedy’, says former managing director

It would be a “tragedy” if the John Lewis Partnership changed its ownership model, the company’s former managing director Andy Street told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg yesterday (26 March).

His comments come amid speculation of upcoming changes to the ownership model, which has kept the business in the ownership of its staff, called ‘partners’, since 1950.

Last week, reports suggested the firm was exploring a move away from the 100% ownership model in a bid to drive investment in the business.

However, in a post on LinkedIn seeming to respond to the reports, chair Sharon White said: “The strength of our brands – John Lewis and Waitrose – isn’t an accident of being a Partnership. It is because we are a Partnership.”

“Our Partners (we don’t call ourselves employees) give more because we own the business, and have a say in how it is run; as we also operate as a democracy. Our customers trust us because they know when they shop with us that they are getting independent, impartial and expert advice from Partners who own the business,” she added.

White also said the partnership model is what got the company through the pandemic, and is getting it through the current cost of living crisis.

“In seeking what’s best for our business and our Partners, if we were to consider working with others that had implications for how we’re set up, we’d of course discuss it with our Partners first,” White said.

READ MORE: John Lewis: Ex-boss says changing ownership model would be a tragedy

White House in favour of bill limiting TikTok, following CEO’s questioning

President Joe Biden’s White House is “very in favour” of a senate bill banning technologies with links to foreign governments, according to one of the authors of the senate bill.

The bill will directly impact TikTok’s operations in the US in particular. The senator, Mark Warner, told CBS the bill had generated support from democrats and republicans alike.

“I think the White House is very in favour of this bill,” said Warner yesterday (26 March).

The comments come following TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s appearance last Thursday (23 March) at a US congressional hearing, where he answered questions for four and a half hours while defending TikTok’s relationship with China.

“Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” he said.

READ MORE: White House ‘very in favor’ of bill thought to target TikTok

Clarks announces latest collaboration with ‘trailblazers’

Clarks has announced the latest iteration of its ‘The World Ahead’ campaign, which sees the footwear brand collaborate with industry “ambassadors and activists” to “champion more people pushing for progress”.

The latest instalment of the platform features Jourdan Dunn, a model and actor, Sonny Hall, a poet, artist and model, and Marcelino Sambé, a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet.

“Last season we launched our new brand campaign with some fantastic ambassadors all creating their own positive social progress,” says Tara McRae, Clarks’ global chief marketing and digital officer.

“This season we are so excited to be adding to our Clarks collective with Jourdan, Sonny and Marcelino, who all represent something really unique and important.”

The campaign marks the launch of a new Clarks shoe, the ‘Tornhill’, based on a “retro” silhouette from the brand, reimagined for the campaign.

EA Sports releases campaign celebrating FIFA Ultimate Team’s 14^th birthday

To celebrate its 14^th birthday, EA Sports has released a campaign for FIFA Ultimate Team to mark the occasion.

The campaign aims to highlight EA Sports’ culture and the enjoyment fans gain from the platform. It also features a cameo from Chelsea footballer João Félix.

The film, in collaboration with agencies 20something and Kode, takes FIFA fans behind the scenes into the daily workings of a fictional EA department, the Bureau of Independent Revelry and Gatherings for Ultimate Team, to watch the birthday preparations being made.