The point of all marketing pursuits is to draw attention to a product, service, or other corporate offering via persuasive advertisements. Most campaigns seek to stir emotions from the general public. Joy, anger, sorrow, humour, and other mental states, are all tools that marketers wield.

Every so often, however, advertisers concoct seemingly witty and unique materials that end up inspiring outrage, from its target audience. These controversial adverts did more than push the envelope; they effectively tore it wide open.

Here are four marketing campaigns that resulted in major controversy.

Netflix: Narcos wishes a "white Christmas" to Madrid

Next year, total digital ad spend will surpass TV for the first time. It’s expected to hit $77.37 billion in the US, taking 38.4% of the total ad spend, exceeding TV’s predicted $72.01 billion (35.8%), according to eMarketer. This is an advertising milestone and it would appear that good times are ahead. However, a barrier exists that means brands are not maximising the potential of this digital ad explosion.

The problem is one of creative content and format. In our recent Video Advertising Survey, just over half of respondents said that under a quarter of their online video campaigns featured made-for-digital creative. Meanwhile, recent research from Millward Brown found that 90% of online video is just repurposed TV material.

So what’s the issue here? Why develop new creative when you can use existing material that delivers the right key messages? This seems to make sense in theory, but the experience in practice is quite different. And it’s harming brand engagement and boosting ad blocking, particularly on mobile devices, on which video advertising grew by 94% in 2015, according to the IAB.

2016 has been a positive and fruitful year for email marketing. It continues to grow as a marketing channel and is an important piece of the marketing mix. Whilst there has been a rise in other platforms (especially social media), email marketing remains to be integral for brands to reach and engage customers.

Personalisation, automation and optimisation are three key focus areas for email marketing at present. Looking to 2017, all three will continue to grow and become more sophisticated but the application of each is changing to reflect new trends and technology.

Personalisation

Personalisation is becoming more effective, but there’s still a long way to go. An area of particular focus is product recommendations. Amazon, for instance, learns the products you are interested in and targets consumers with tailored content.  However, they haven’t quite reached the holy grail, for instance they might suggest an Xbox console to consumers when purchasing an Xbox game when they already have the console - their technology isn’t sophisticated enough to recognise this yet.

Putting good old British tradition at the heart of its Christmas ad campaign, Barbour partnered with Penguin Books and Lupus Films to create the first ever bespoke animation of Raymond Briggs’ much-loved original ‘The Snowman and the Snowdog’ film.

The tale follows The Snowman and The Snowdog and grown-up Billy as they take a trip down memory lane in preparation to celebrate a traditional #BarbourChristmas - the perfect mix of heritage and nostalgia.

More and more big toy industry names are taking their products out to consumers, rather than relying on standard patterns of TV advertising to leverage pester power. In part, this is down to the rise of toy brands as entertainment franchises – companies such as Hasbro, Mattel and Lego are shifting from being ‘just’ toymakers to becoming licensees, film and animation studios, and fashion houses. So today a toy brand often encompasses a whole entertainment world that is better sampled through real-life interaction and play, rather than a two-minute, redubbed American TV ad during a cartoon break on Pop TV.

So what should you bear in mind when planning a ‘real world’ experience for often fantastical brands?

Could this be the best Christmas ad of 2016? Well, judging by the rounds it has been making on the internet this week, Polish auction website Allegro could well be in line for the crown. 

Tugging at the heartstrings, the ad follows the tale of a old Polish man, who lives alone with his dog, going through a series of amusing situations on his quest to learn to speak English using an audio guidebook (purchased from Allegro, of course!) 

Created by agency Bardzo in Poland, the point of his efforts is made clear at the end of the ad... But we don't want to give away the ending, watch for yourself below and keep those tissues handy! 

With the busiest shopping season of the year in full swing, how well do you know your potential customers and their festive shopping habits?

Well thanks to WPP’s Xaxis in partnership with an established Kantar online panel, there are seven types of shoppers at this time of year consisting of: The Early Bird Planners, Christmas Fanatics, Digitally Savvy Families, Thoughtful Givers, Uncertain Singles, Thrifty Shoppers and Last Minute Shoppers.

Continuing our Christmas countdown… Girl power is the theme for the M&S Christmas ad offering this year as Mrs Claus becomes the heroine and saves Christmas in none other than a helicopter!

‘Christmas with Love’ is the heart-warming tale of Mrs Claus who makes Christmas complete for 7 year old Jake by stepping into her husband’s shoes to fulfill a last minute request.

After sending Santa Claus off for his busiest night of the year – armed with a flask of tea, and some cheese and pickle sandwiches, it’s time for Mrs Claus gets to work. And so she sets about fulfilling a last minute request from the young boy for a pair of red trainers for his sister - travelling from Lapland to London.