Hasta La Creative!

It’s no coincidence that in a year when “culture” was named Merriam-Webster’s word of the year, the success of brands is increasingly being measured by their ability to gain cultural traction. This year, as the marketing landscape continues to evolve with the explosion of mobile and social media, so too will the conversation about how brands can leverage media to get into culture. If a product or service can participate in culture, suddenly it becomes much more interesting and relevant. Here are seven opportunities for marketers to tap into culture as it becomes increasingly critical to customer engagement and brand-building in 2015:

1. The connection economy. Of the approximately 600,000 people who traveled to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup, more than 100,000 booked their lodging through Airbnb and other home-sharing sites. Uber is disrupting traditional taxi transportation everywhere. I consider both of these startups to be “media” companies. Why? Because they do not own physical assets — they own intrinsic connections between customers and existing assets. 2015 will be the year when traditional giants recognize that their biggest threat — and opportunity — lies in using media differently to compete against these business models that are based on human connections and cultural nuances that are taking the world by storm.

2. Trading in trust and transparency. Consumers trust their peers more than they trust brands or companies. Corporate wrongdoing is found out and punished quickly by consumers. Hollow innovations barely launch before negative online reviews lead to their demise. 2015 will be the year that brands recognize and account for the fact that trust isn’t just a “brand variable,” it’s actually the basis of doing business. A major focus of media agencies in the year ahead will be building trust through communications, and helping brands engage in a trusted dialog with consumers

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In his first move since taking over as Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide CEO on Jan. 1, Robert Senior has ditched the agency’s traditional geographical regional structure and split the network into two clusters: “established markets” and “dynamic markets.”

He banished his own role as CEO for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Chris Foster’s role as CEO of Asia Pacific. Mr. Foster, who is based in Singapore, will remain chief operating officer of the network, and the CEOs of all established markets — which include the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Italy, China and Australia — will report to him.

Mr. Senior was announced as Kevin Roberts’ successor as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide in September, as part of a larger reorganization of its parent, Publicis Groupe.

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European news organizations are challenging attempts to intimidate the press by publishing controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad across front pages today, following the deadly attack at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

From Britain’s Guardian newspaper and Berlin’s Tagesspiegel, to best-selling Czech daily Blesk and Spain’s El Pais, Europe’s news groups honored their murdered colleagues by republishing the cartoons central to yesterday’s assault, which left 12 dead, including 8 journalists.

In North America, some agencies decided against publishing the cartoons, including The Associated Press, CBC News and CNN.

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GoDaddy has tapped Interpublic’s Initiative as its new media buying agency.

The web-domain company selected Initiative to support brand media strategy, video investment and analytics duties in North America, the agency said. The shop’s GoDaddy team will be based out of its Los Angeles office.

GoDaddy previously handled its media buying in-house.

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Sandy Reisenbach, former exec VP-marketing and planning at Warner Bros., died on Tuesday following a lengthy illness. He was 82.

“Sandy was a good friend and helped me immensely when I joined the company in 1994,” said of Warner Bros. Chairman-CEO Kevin Tsujihara in a statement. “He was always incredibly generous with his time and expertisenot just with me, but with everyone.”

Mr. Reisenbach started his career in the mailroom of the Dancer Fitzgerald Sample advertising agency in the 1950s. After finishing his degree in marketing at NYU, he joined Grey Advertising, where he eventually became media director and created an entertainment division. Warner Bros. Pictures was one of his biggest clients when he served as president of Grey’s Leisure Entertainment Division.

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I was impressed when Coca-Cola announced the introduction of Fairlife, the first brand of “expensive” milk. Or as Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, called it, “the premiumization of milk.”

Finally a great idea from the world’s largest beverage company. Apparently, Coca-Cola has finally learned how difficult it is to build a new brand when you are not first in the category.

Witness the lack-luster performance of Coca-Cola brands like Powerade, Full Throttle, Mellow Yellow, Mr. Pibb and Fruitopia. (As opposed to the first brands in the categories: Gatorade, Red Bull, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper and Snapple.)

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Just in time for the cold and flu season, scientists are working to understand the role of “superspreaders” in the transmission of infectious diseases. “Superspreaders,” who represent about 20% of the population, are responsible for transmitting 80% of all infectious diseases, researchers have found.

“Superspreaders” like “Typhoid Mary” have the ability (although not fully understood) to infect others without falling ill themselves. Come in contact with one of them or live in a densely populated area, and you’ve got the recipe for a massive outbreak.

Information can be spread in similar ways. The importance of “links per node” in social network influence has been studied for years. Research has shown that it’s not the number of links, but rather how “strategically placed” people are in the core of the network that leads to dissemination, whether of information or disease, through a large fraction of the population.

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Harman isn’t a standby in the mass media circuit. Get ready for that to change.

At the Consumer Electronics Show, Ralph Santana, global CMO for the sound equipment manufacturer, pledged that the company would become much more aggressive in marketing this year. Since the Pepsi and Samsung veteran joined in 2013, Harman has ramped up its ad spending, striking a major endorsement deal with the NBA in September for its JBL brand.

Harman will need a strong outing. It competes with heavy-hitting brands like Beats in headphones and Sonos in home equipment. “You’re going to see a lot more prime-time media from us,” Mr. Santana said during CES. “We’re just going to be jumping out in culture in some ways that you’ve not seen in the past.”

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Wendy Clark, Coca Cola’s top marketing executive in North America, is taking a three-month absence to pursue a “passion project” that some sources indicate will involve working for likely presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trade publication Beverage Digest reported in a tweet that “several sources” say Ms. Clark is leaving to work for Ms. Clinton. Coca-Cola declined comment to comment on where Ms. Clark is headed and Ms. Clark did not immediately respond to an email for comment.

Ms. Clinton could announce her candidacy in “early spring,” MSNBC recently reported.

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To create the campaign for its new internet-based TV service, dubbed Sling TV, Dish Network is turning to the demographic it hopes to reach with the service: millennials.

Sling TV CMO Glenn Eisen said the company has hired only millennials as its copywriters for the “Take Back TV” campaign, which will debut later this month. While Mr. Eisen declined to reveal the agency it’s working with on the creative, he said that actually everyone involved with the marketing are millennials.

The satellite operator announced at the Consumer Electronics Show this week that its slimmed-down TV package will be priced at $20 per month and feature cable networks like ESPN, CNN, TNT and Food Network, among others. Sling does not include any broadcast networks.

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