A furious row erupted after it emerged that the Government could axe plans to introduce a sugar tax.
Prime Minister David Cameron has reportedly rejected the proposal for a sugar tax of up to 20 per cent, and will instead use the threat of a levy to pressure companies into reformulating their products to reduce sugar content.

While reports of the abandoned tax will be welcomed by the food and drinks industry, which has opposed the proposed levy, anti-obesity campaigners have reacted with exasperation.

Tam Fry, spokesman for National Obesity Forum, said: “The decision must be reversed or it will be more proof that the Government is in the thrall of the food industry and the sugar barons will have won yet again.

"NHS chiefs know full well that the combination of child and adult obesity could topple the UK's most cherished institution.”

Graham MacGregor, chairman and founder of Action on Sugar, said: “It seems to me that Cameron is being very stupid rejecting this.

“All the experts agree that the plan we have will prevent childhood obesity and type 2 Diabetes. Everything he does ends up in chaos, this was his one opportunity to achieve a legacy. He will be a Prime Minister who has achieved nothing.”

MacGregor, who is professor of cardiovascular medicine at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, added: “We won’t stop and if the UK doesn’t want to stop doing it, we will go to another country like Argentina or Chile which are much better organised in terms of public health and nutrition.”

Meanwhile, Brook Whelan, chief executive for People against Sugar Tax said: "We are pleased to see that David Cameron recognises the regressive impact a sugar tax would have had on poorer families. This is a victory for common sense."

The Government's childhood obesity strategy, which is due to be unveiled in the coming weeks, will reportedly recommend that junk food adverts should be banned from being screened near "family programmes" such as The X Factor and Britain's Got Talent.

A feasibility study is likely to be launched to establish how a compulsory sugar tax could work if firms do not take adequate measures.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Our childhood obesity strategy will look at everything, including sugar, that contributes to a child becoming overweight and obese. It will also set out what more can be done by all sides."

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Future Thinking write ... We recently launched the Services Benchmarking Study, designed to help marketers across a range of industries better understand their sector across a variety of metrics; including overall customer satisfaction, NPS and Customer Effort.

Our study highlights that for the water industry, perceptions of value and likely customer advocacy are amongst the lowest levels across the range of service sectors we have covered, despite an inability to switch providers at the moment.

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It’s that time of year again when we take a step back, make the most of that lovely lull we tend to enjoy in January and February, and start devising a marketing plan for the next 12 months. For venues; taking a look at the successes and pitfalls of the previous year, is often a good way to start as well as knowing your venue USP’s and when the busier periods tend to occur at your venue.

Also key, is knowing your target audience. While generalising target audiences is often not advised, it is often necessary in targeting key personas. Arguably most of today’s workforce will be fall into the generational category of ‘generation y’.

So here are a few of our top tips to include generation y personas in your venue marketing plans for 2016.

#1 engage the appy customer

Excuse the well-penned pun. Even if your audience don’t fall into generation Y- most of the UK population own a smart phone if not an iPhone and the influx of marketing opportunities cropping up as a result of new app technologies is undeniable. According to Time Magazine; Facebook, Instagram and Youtube all featured in the top ten most downloaded apps of 2015. 

I’ve recently become a bit of an Instagram addict and I think it can be a really useful tool to jazz up your venue social media content. For more tips on how to do this- check out our Social media for venues: Why Instagram is your new best friend

#2 Focus on audience engagement

The issue of audience engagement was a key theme in 2015 and is set to remain a key topic this year. There are a number of audience engagement technologies designed to help event organisers achieve and maximise the participation of event attendees and delegates. If you haven’t already, this year is a great time to partner with one of these tech companies, or simply select some preferred suppliers to help with audience engagement. 

Offering the right tech to help engage conference delegates could really help to position you as a generation y-friendly venue.

#3 embrace gamification

The gaming trend is increasing in popularity and many have predicted it’s set to be a key theme in the industry in 2016. Finding ways to encourage the combination of work and play at your venue may just help you to be at the top of your game. Be it with a new teambuilding package, a virtual reality aspect or a hashtag competition on twitter, finding ways to add a competitive gamification element to the conferences and events at your venue.

For more tips on how to engage generation y check out Technology in the events industry: keeping-up with Generation Y

Last night, people watching the ad break between the ITV News and Emmerdale in the London, Meridian and Granada ITV region will have seen the Sambucol (an immunity booster used to combat the common cold and part of the Pharmacare product range) TV ad.  

Why? -  because VCCP Media knew they needed a boost to their immune system more than any other regions in the UK right now.

The reason they know this is because since October of last year, VCCP Media @VCCPMedia have been monitoring the volume of Google keyword searches by ITV region for things like “cold remedy”, and for the past few days these regions have seen daily searches rise considerably above the average.

The strategy for Sambucol is to up-weight ITV regions in real-time based on volume of cold/flu related keyword searches.  The insight being that although people suffering from the common cold is seasonal (i.e. more colds in winter), cold/flu outbreaks fluctuate over time and region meaning that just laying down 100% of your TV spend across the UK and praying for an outbreak is not the most efficient use of budget.

To maximise the TV plan, VCCP Media have allocated a pot of money to be used to make the most of these outbreaks and because their TV team can get the ads away in a matter of days in large ITV spots, they are able to react to outbreaks very quickly in order to drive Sambucol ROI.

Tom Bailey, Group Account Director at VCCP Media said:99 “I think this may well be a media first, so we’re really proud of the work done by everyone in getting this live. With a two-day turnaround and on three large spots across three large ITV regions – this is a huge feat for the team”.