Your commercial news round-up: Innocent, EFL, Porsche, Brexit, P2E gaming

Reading time: four minutes

Who’s in the spotlight this week? Your favourite smoothie company, known for their on-point marketing, is in trouble, new partnerships are being signed in various industries, Brexit continues to wreak havoc and Warner Music Group enters the world of P2E gaming (are you as clueless as us?!).

Read on for more details!

• The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned an advert from Innocent, following complaints from activists that the drinks company was claiming that drinking its smoothies is good for the environment. Innocent responded to the accusations, explaining that the advert intended to act as a call to action to its customers to encourage “collective action” for change. However, the ASA ruled against the smoothie maker, stating that “many consumers would interpret the overall presentation of the ad to mean that purchasing Innocent products was a choice which would have a positive environmental impact.” In addition, despite the various actions Innocent is taking to reduce the impact of their products on the environment the ASA found that “their drinks bottles included non-recycled plastic and that the extraction of raw materials and subsequent processing of those materials in order to produce the bottle would have a negative impact on the environment.” Innocent is no longer permitted to use the advert in its current form.

• ITV and the English Football League (EFL) have signed a two-season deal which will see the digital broadcaster have the highlights rights to the EFL’s competitions, including the Sky Bet Championship, Sky Bet League One and the Carabao Cup. The highlights show is set to be televised at 9:00pm on Saturday via ITV4, with ITV’s main channel broadcasting a repeat after the initial showing. Much like BBC’s Match of the Day, ITV’s round-up show will also be shown on Sunday morning. Trevor Birch, EFL’s chief executive, said: “With 1,891 matches played across the season, it’s crucial for the EFL that the very best of our match action is widely accessible and we are delighted that ITV will show highlights of our games for the next two years.”

• German car manufacturer Volkswagen has revealed that it is in “advanced talks” to list its Porsche brand, in what could be one of Germany’s biggest initial public offerings (IPOs) in years. The company’s current plans involve raising at least €20 billion by floating one-quarter of the luxury car brand, which it expects to be worth between €80 billion to €90 billion, a source told the Financial Times. According to Volkswagen, it has negotiated an agreement with the Porsche-Piëch group which “should form the basis for further steps” in preparation of a potential IPO. Following reports of a potential IPO, Volkswagen shares jumped 9%. A final decision on whether to go ahead with the IPO has not yet been made.

• The cost of Brexit continues as UK businesses paid out a record £4.5 billion in custom duties – a rise of 64% in the year to 31 January 2022. This jump follows the red tape introduced on exports that came into force at the start of 2021. Accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young found that the five months leading up to 31 January 2022 were the highest ever individual months for custom duties recorded in the UK. With ‘rules of origin’ requirements becoming stricter and new custom controls on imports introduced at the start of January 2022, costs in this area could rise even further, according to the accountancy firm. “The cost of tariffs and extra paperwork is causing serious difficulties for many businesses, who are already struggling to stay profitable in the face of mounting pandemic-induced costs,” said Michelle Dale, senior manager at UHY Hacker Young.

• A new partnership between Warner Music Group (WMG) and blockchain gaming developer Splinterlands has been described as a “first-of-its-kind deal". As part of the partnership, the companies will collaborate to offer certain WMG artists the chance to develop play-to-earn (P2E), arcade-style blockchain games. The P2E-style games use blockchain technology to give players rewards, such as non-fungible tokens, with the ability to trade, sell or lease any of their earnings. The opportunity around P2E gaming should not be “underestimated”, according to Oana Ruxandra, chief digital officer and EVP, business development, WMG. She added: “Our partnership with Splinterlands pulls focus to our artists and their music as we all work together to develop and maintain tokenized games.

“As we build, we will be unlocking new revenue streams for our artists while further solidifying fans’ participation in value created.”

Check the News every Thursday for this weekly commercial news round-up.

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