According to the latest edition of The SoDA Report, compiled by SoDA - The Digital Society, more than 60% of client-side marketers choose to work primarily with independent shops on digital initiatives - signalling a bright future for the independents with a commanding position on clients’ agency rosters.

Overall, the report presents an optimistic future for digital agencies, with more and more digital shops taking the role of ‘lead’ marketing agency. Almost half of clients surveyed have either increased their digital budgets or moved traditional marketing spend into digital – versus only 9% of clients having decreased their digital marketing budgets.

As the curtain closes on the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity for another year, we take a look back at some of the best quotes of the week:

"While I don't have a fixed plan with the amount of social media updates in a day, I love interactions on social media. When you work hard, it works. I don't have a strategy in place. I don't have a team tweeting or Instagramming for me. I don't find that authentic. Brands can learn from how I respond.” – Kim Kardashian-West, Entrepreneur.

“We see a massive change in the way communications are invested and planned. What is disrupting everything is technology. It is transforming our businesses, and every one of our clients is uniquely disrupted.” – Steve King, CEO, ZenithOptimedia.
Read more here >>>

  “Users are quick, so don’t be slow. I know that sounds simple but I still don’t think campaigns I see are capturing messages quick enough.” – Sean Rad, Co-Founder, Tinder. Read more here >>>

Why should mums get all the attention? Mums have already caught the attention of advertisers around the world due to their heavy mobile consumption habits, but don’t you know that dads love their devices too!

Check out the infographic below from Millennial Media and the IAB showing that dads are just as mobile as their female counterparts – in fact, they are accessing content in new ways and spending more than the average user when it comes to mobile purchases.

You may not know what they stand for, but chances are you’ve experienced RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) or NFC (Near Field Communication), especially if you’ve used an Oyster Card or the banks’ latest contactless payment apps. The concept is simple, when a tag comes into contact with a reader, an action is performed.

Coca Cola and Renault used RFID wristbands and cards that linked to people’s Facebook accounts, allowing them to physically check in and ‘like’ their products. It was even used in the 2010 New York Marathon so that a tag on runners’ shoes triggered a message from their loved ones as they passed certain points on the route.

Here are some of our favourite campaigns that have used the technology more recently;

Harrods & Ralph Lauren

In 2014, to celebrate the expansion of the Polo range at Harrods, 15 window displays at their store in London were brought to life with NFC-enabled touch points. Passers-by could tap their phones to the windows and access exclusive content, download a map of Harrods, and even order and buy online if the store was closed.

Image Source; Proxama.com

What the bloody L is going on ‘ere? Letters seem to be disappearing from signs and shop fronts across the UK this week but before we start dialling the “sign police”, it turns out it’s just the workings of a new campaign from NHS Blood and Transplant desperately urging people to donate blood.

Iconic locations, brands and shops – including the Prime Minister’s residence on D_wning Street, round the corner from that book store W_terst_nes where we like to go and sit and eat a bar of Green & _l_cks chocolate – are removing the letters ‘A’, ‘O’ and ‘B’ in support of National Blood Week.

People are also been urged to join in on the blood donation effort by removing any of those letters from their names and posts on social media – all driven by the hashtag #missingtype. Additional PR activity is taking place across TV, radio, print and digital media. The campaign was created in collaboration with Engine and Twenty Six Digital.

With the M&M Global Awards coming up later this summer, what better way to gear up for the biggest celebration of the most innovative and effective pan-regional advertising campaigns, than by reflecting on some of the best…

Here’s our pick of the top 5 international media campaigns over the past five years:

1. McDonald’s ‘FryFutbol’

Can you imagine a world before YouTube? Well it’s hard to believe that 10 years ago the video platform didn’t even exist! As 2015 marks YouTube’s 10^th birthday, earlier this year the people of ad land and beyond were invited to vote for their favourite ads from the past decade and I’m pleased to say the results are in…

Big shout out to Turkish Airlines for taking the top spot and being crowned ‘YouTube Ad of the Decade’ for its hilarious ‘Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout’ campaign.  Actually, 2013 proved a popular year in the world of ads, with Volvo Trucks and Dove also making the top five, in addition to Always’ #LikeAGirl and of course not forgetting Volkswagen’s ‘The Force’ – which until recently held the title of most shared video ad ever!

The good news is that combined, these five videos alone have been watched for over 7.7 million hours - that's over 875 years spent watching ads! Engagement like that is hard to beat...

Take a step back in time and reminisce over the great work featured in the videos below (you can also click through to check out the full case studies on Cream). Enjoy!

1. Turkish Airlines ‘Kobe vs. Messi: The Selfie Shootout’
Agencies involved: Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Starcom
Year of release: 2013
Total views: 141 million+

Turkish Airlines sends sporting legends Kobe Bryant and Lionel Messi on a world trip as they go head to head to see who can take the most exotic selfie.

Uh-oh, French fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent came under fire from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) this week for a new ad depicting a model that was deemed to be “unhealthily underweight”.

The ASA ruled a ban on the ad, which featured in Elle magazine, showing the model laid on the floor with her hands on her head exposing her chest which the regulator decided that “due to particularly lighting effect in the ad” highlighted where the model’s “rib cage was visible”.

The regulator stated: “Her thighs and knees appeared a similar width… particularly in light of her positioning and the contrast between the narrowness of her legs and her platform shoes. We therefore considered that the model appeared unhealthily underweight in the image and concluded that the ad was irresponsible”.