Magnet #24

Remember, remember the 5th November…. And welcome to Magnet.

Enjoy.

TV: John Lewis Christmas Ad

Yesterday, we rejoiced as John Lewis released another one of their iconic Christmas ads. This year it’s titled Unexpected Guest, and the two-minute ad stars space traveller Skye, crash-landing and 14-year-old Nathan.  In the lead up to Christmas, Skye crash lands in the woods, and Nathan finds her. A friendship is made, through sharing the traditions of Christmas, and the ad finishes with a bittersweet ending of Skye returning home.

The soundtrack is a cover of Together In Electric Dreams, originally released by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder in 1984.

IKEA on Oxford Street

IKEA’s parent company Ingka Investments has signed a conditional purchase agreement to acquire a property at 214 Oxford Street (Oxford Circus) in London, which was formerly a Topshop flagship. 

Ingka says the investment, which will see the creation of some 150 new local jobs, supports its retail transformation strategy, which is all for bringing IKEA closer to customers by opening new store formats in city locations. The property comprises a total of 22,200 sqm over seven floors, with retail space on six of them. It will host IKEA UK’s second smaller store format, and will follow the opening of IKEA Hammersmith later this winter.

This comes after the market for furnishings and home accessories has boomed as people have worked from home during the pandemic.

This move for IKEA not only drives home that home shopping is key, but it also brings a new high-street competitor to the likes of Zara Home and H&M who specifically have homeware shops in the high street.

Ikea’s shift to the high street was also driven by sustainability concerns, which are increasingly on consumers’ minds. The handier locations enable shoppers to get there by public transport rather than by car.

The new store is set to open in autumn 2023 and will have a focus on home-furnishing accessories, with the full range available to buy for home delivery.

Campaigns: Samsung’s pop up

Samsung is aiming to redefine health with a ‘wellness gym’ pop-up with their Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. The brand enlisted mental health advocate and broadcaster Katie Piper to launch the gym, which is "designed for life, not just working out".

 This pop up was created  because of research that found 83% of people agreed that the gym can be an intimidating experience, with 50% worried that other people would judge them.

 Working to help counter this emerging trend of "gym-timidation" the "Galaxy life gym" will host uplifting, mood-boosting experiences, enabling visitors to manage their health and wellness on their own terms. Each guest will use a Samsung Galaxy Watch4, which will monitor their heart rate and identify calories burned.

 The pop-up opened on London's Greek Street yesterday, and will arrive this weekend in Manchester at Manchester Hall 9am-6pm.  You can book your slot here www.samsung.com/uk/galaxy-life-gym/

RAJAR

The RAJARs, the auditor of radio audiences in the UK, has announced the ups and downs of the industries for the first time since 2020;  revealing how habits have changed greatly since.

In general radio reaches 89% of the British population aged 15 and over, per the latest RAJAR figures. It found that  62% of the population is exposed to BBC radio per week, listening to around nine hours of its stations over the course of a week. And that figure breaks down to 72% of over 45s, while only 50% of under-55s listened to BBC radio.

Commercial radio reaches 66% of the population per week, for an average of 8.6 hours a week. Younger audiences typically listen to more commercial radio than audiences over 45 - 69% vs 64%.

In terms of format, 34% of radio listenership takes place across AM and FM stations, which means 66% listen in digital. Of the digital total, DAB accounts for 43%, with online and in-app making up 18% and DTV listenership accounting for 5%. Even in environments like in-car listening, digital audio is at the fore, with 53% of in-car listening happening via digital channels.

According to the latest AA/Warc ad spend forecast, radio ad spend is set to grow 18.6% this year, and a further 4.1% in 2022. This strong showing in terms of digital ad growth - and the success of digital-only stations - should help bolster optimism around radio as a medium for marketing further.