This year has been dramatic, globally, locally and politically. It’s been a rollercoaster in media and marketing too. It kicked off with a bang the first radio ratings which remained the most read story of 2016. Second to that, the Dentsu scandal made global headlines when AdNews revealed it had been overbilling Toyota. Ritson continued to be of interest with his traditional versus digital rants and readers rallied for the Super Bowl in support of the Aussie entry. We brought back the Power 50 this year and The Monkeys was revealed as the Agency of the Year at the AdNews Awards.
Both Coca-Cola and Telstra overhauled their marketing with two major ad campaigns, and everyone wanted to know where the money was going in advertising.
These were the most read stories of the year on AdNews:
1. First radio ratings of 2016
The first radio ratings of 2016 caused a stir as the industry had its first peak into how 2016 would play out on the airwaves.
2. Dentsu Japan admits 'inappropriate transactions' in Toyota overbilling scandal
AdNews revealed that the Japanese arm of Dentsu had overbilled long-standing client Toyota for digital work.
3. Watch: Mark Ritson slays digital video as a 'tsunami of horsesh*t'
Mark Ritson spoke out, again, on the fallacy of digital marketing and the foolishness of marketers that blindly throw marketing budgets at digital without evaluating or interrogating the numbers.
4. Aussie ad makes final three in Doritos' Crash the Super Bowl
Australians rallied behind the only Aussie-made ad to make it into the Super Bowl for Doritos.
5. The AdNews Power 50 is revealed
Senator Mitch Fifield took out the top spot in the 2016 AdNews Power 50 List, but execs from Dentsu Aegis, Omnicom Group, News Corp, Nine Entertainment and Seven West also appeared in the Top 10.
6. Coca-Cola makes biggest ever shift to global marketing
This year Coca-Cola overhauled its global marketing and brand strategy bringing about the biggest change in its marketing operations in its history and unifying its four core brands.
7. Winner of AdNews Agency of the Year revealed
The Monkeys was named AdNews Agency of the Year in 2016.
8. GroupM strikes 100% viewability deal on display and video ads
GroupM went above and beyond the pledged industry standard on viewability, guaranting display and video ads would be 100% in view on key placements, or the advertiser would not pay.
9. Telstra launches ‘magical’ brand ads and new slogan
Telstra rolled out a new brand campaign that focused on the magic technology can provide to its customers.
10. Where's the money going? Exclusive ad spend trends report
AdNews partnered with Nielsen to take a snapshot of advertising spend trends. This report looked at the 2015 calendar year and outlined the top ten spending brands in each media channel, as well as the top spending categories.
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