Premium chocolate brand Godiva has enlisted esteemed photographer and director Rankin to produce a new, immersive global campaign that showcases the sensorial artistry of its new range, Godiva Masterpieces.

Devised by creative agency CHI & Partners, the campaign aims to bring to life how it feels to eat Godiva chocolate and what sets it apart from other chocolate experiences.

The film has debuted in the UK in partnership with cinema group Everyman, with the 'Midweek Masterpieces' series running across all Everyman cinemas for an initial period of 12 weeks. Cinema goers will also receive a complimentary sample of Godiva Masterpieces when they purchase their film ticket.

Argentine job search company ZonaJobs and FCB Buenos Aires have unveiled a new campaign that, in a humourous way, focuses on one of the brand's key characteristics: understanding millennials and the way they fit into the labour market. 

IPG's Initiative has come out on top as the best performing agency network on the Festival of Media LatAm Awards 2017 shortlist, with 25 campaigns featured across 13 different categories including Best Communications Strategy, The Effectiveness Award, Best Use of Data and the newly-introduced Best Integrated Campaign.  

MediaCom closely follows with 20 campaigns featured on the shortlist, while OMD Worldwide and UM complete the top four with 10 entries each.  

In terms of geographical breakdown, Mexico leads with 29 shortlisted entries, followed by Argentina with 18, while the US, Brazil and Colombia complete the top five with 15 entries each.  

As the shortlist was announced today (September 20), special praise was given to Initiative Argentina with an impressive 10 shortlisted entries with six campaigns for Unilever. In fact, the FMCG giant dominates the brand count with 16 in total, AB InBev with seven, while Aeroméxico and Grupo Ramos were credited with five entries each. Other brands including The Coca-Cola Company, Mastercard, BMW, Snickers, L’Oreal and LATAM airlines also made the final cut on this year's shortlist. 

More than 35 judges from leading brands, media agencies, specialist companies and media owners evaluated the quality of the campaigns over the last three weeks. The winners will be chosen by a final jury chaired by Daniela Cachich, VP of Marketing for PepsiCo Brazil Foods, and the successful entrants will be revealed at the “Dance of the Dead” awards evening of celebration and entertainment on October 30 during the three day-long Festival of Media LatAm conference taking place from 29-31 October at Turnberry Isle Miami.  

Check out the full Festival of Media LatAm Awards 2017 shortlist below. We'll be updating the links in the coming links to view the full case studies for each of the entries so keep checking back for more. 

Great results in the A Levels recently – which means lots of new students, which for you, as brand marketers, means the chance to connect with a new generation of consumers with money to spend.

But for me, and the people who work for me, it means three months of mad 20-hour days, organising freshers’ events at universities and colleges and in pubs and clubs up and down the UK and running marketing campaigns for brands targeting the new student cohort.

When I started out, handing out flyers for club nights on the streets of London, I didn’t know I was marketing to students. As far as I was concerned, I was just trying to get a bunch of other 18- and 19-year olds to come to my parties. Back then, my motivation was fun and finances.

Nowadays, our September/October arrangements are on an industrial scale – but we never forget that the events we organise and the campaigns we run have to be fun, so students want to come back or engage with the brands we’re promoting.

Personalisation is the latest weapon in the store wars, as the retail industry adapts to cater for the ‘experience economy’. Margin, for retailers and for the brands they sell, is being driven by the ability to excite and delight shoppers through retail theatre and experiential marketing.

According to research from Gartner, 89% of brands now expect to compete primarily on customer experience rather than price and product as the key brand differentiator. Meanwhile, a report from Accenture says 75% of consumers are more likely to buy from a retailer – online or offline – that recognises them by name, recommends options based on past purchases, or knows their purchase history.

Consumers shop more with retailers who recognise them as individuals and can provide relevant recommendations. They like personalisation – and today’s technology allows brands to take personalisation onto the shop floor in a way that wasn’t really possible in the past.

Look at brands like Heinz, Nutella, Coca-Cola and Marmite – they have all been able to engage with their loyal fan base through creative use of ‘personalised’ packaging. While most of these brands have made websites the core of their offerings, some, like Nutella, have taken their personalised offer in-store.

Inspired by its minimalist Pictos campaign, McDonald's has gone one step further in a new print campaign for the night birds.

The creative, by TBWA\Paris, sees flashes of light glow together to take the shape of some of its most iconic products: Big Mac, Sundae and French Fries to announce the late opening of McDonald's restaurants until midnight or later.

MediaCom has swept the board at the M&M Global Awards 2017, taking home the golden hat-trick of Grand Prix Awards at a glittering awards ceremony held last night (Thurs 7th Sept) at The British Museum in London, under the new Blue Whale structure Hope.

The agency's 'Bachelor of Shaving' campaign for Gillette was awarded 'Campaign of the Year', while MediaCom also scooped the coveted 'Agency of the Year' for its UK office - for the third consecutive year - and the 'Agency Network of the Year' titles for winning campaigns from India, Germany, Singapore and the UK and seven trophies for six unique campaigns. 

The final Grand Prix of the evening, 'International Advertiser of the Year', was awarded to Expedia Group as two of its brands picked up three trophies. 

While MediaCom showed an outstanding overall performance, 20 unique campaigns in total were awarded. Other big winners on the night include PHD with four awards from its US and China offices, and Blue449 taking home two. 

Check out the full list of winners below and click through to read the full case studies (where available).

From smart watches to fitness-tracking bands to Google Glass, wearable tech is taking the world by storm. Marketers are waking up to the opportunities in using valuable data to push contextualised content via this medium.

So what are the most popular applications for your brand? A new infographic from Neerja Softwares has the answers with a bunch of interesting facts about wearable devices.