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Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
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That gong you just heard?

The over-the-top experiential marketing experience is open for just four days in the desert east of Los Angeles, taking over a boutique setting and remaking it in the brand’s own quirky, sauce- and sass-filled image.

On Thursday, the Irvine-based brand packed The Bell for the first of four nights that the pop-up will be operating in Palm Springs, and Adweek was there for all the festivities.

The lineup included food tastings (announced, of course, by gong), synchronized swimmers in hot-sauce suits, a poolside concert by Fletcher, a “freeze” lounge, a slew of Baja Blast variations and more selfies than anyone could possibly count.

No one seemed to mind.

Media—Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Tastemade, local television stations, and yours truly from Adweek—occupied plenty of the space, as did hard-core fans who were extremely quick on the draw when reservations became available.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

When it comes to events, few players are more powerful than Eventbrite and Giant Spoon.

Jon Haber, co-founder of Giant Spoon, credits the agency’s larger-than-life activations for its rapid growth since its founding in 2013.

“It’s the thing that really seems to be resonating and breaking through almost more than anything,” he said.

Adweek spoke with Haber and Eventbrite CEO and co-founder Julia Hartz about what makes an experience that people connect with and the explosive growth of experiential marketing.

Here are five takeaways from that conversation.

Millennials—and current consumer habits—are fueling experiential’s growth

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0
MarTech Cube 2020-10-12
img

47 in its annual Adweek 100: Fastest Growing feature.

Fastest Growing honors the 100 top agencies and 10 top solution providers — large and small, from all over the world — whose industry presence is on the rise.

Accepting entries from every agency and solution provider category, this distinction is awarded to those organizations that have achieved exceptional growth over the past three years.Omni Direct was also ranked no.

1 in Adweek’s list of “Top 5 Fastest-Growing Agencies Over 20 Years Old” and no.

No doubt it is a testament to the great products and services our clients offer, the incredible potential of the Hispanic market as well as our highly talented and hardworking team at Omni Direct,” said Alex Agurcia, CEO of Omni Direct.Complete results of Adweek 100: Fastest Growing, including company profiles, can be found at https://www.adweek.com/agencies/adweek-presents-the-100-fastest-growing-agencies-and-10-solution-providers-of-2020/ and in the October 5th issue of the award-winning Adweek magazine.

Omni Direct achieved astounding three-year revenue growth of 158%.

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0
John Jack 2020-04-02
img

 The deceptions of fake social media accounts are getting high day by day and the issue is the primary concern for social influencers and famous personalities, as the false accounts are shown on the global mainstream media.

Adweek and The New York Times have both completed several articles about social media fake and false accounts and here is a keen look at them.The fake account issues have caused several further problems such as businesses getting lower results and deceiving followers on social media.

This article will help you to connect to the right person instead of the fake one.

Moreover, when more people are aware about recognizing fake social media accounts, it helps social media platforms become more transparent and secure from deception.Low Engagement and High Followers CountIt is the most apparent indication of a deception on social media or the account that enhances its followers by buying followers.

Too Rapid Engagement Rate  Several fake account users are becoming smarter, and they can even trick you in the above indication.

Still, you can recognize them if you observe the account activity and engagement carefully.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

With the next generation of wireless network, 5G, set to open the door to a host of new connected-device markets, Qualcomm has been remaking its marketing operations to accommodate a dramatic expansion of its customer base.

After years of catering to the same 300 or so mobile manufacturers, the telecom equipment giant is now in a position to serve business-to-business customers ranging from factory operators and automakers to speaker brands and performance venues.

But the company is also finding that not all industry leaders are well-versed in what it sees as some of 5G’s more far-flung applications beyond mobile speeds—uses like coordinating assembly lines, remaking retail spaces or streaming media to connected cars.

Qualcomm CMO Penny Baldwin spoke to Adweek about how the company is marketing across these varying levels of technical familiarity, 5G’s potential to change marketing and how her department is eating its own 5G “dog food,” so to speak.

With 5G expected to bring wireless service to an array of devices beyond handsets, how does that change the pool of customers to which Qualcomm is now marketing?

It will have a transformative impact on our marketing.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

It’s been seven years since Ann Curry last regularly appeared on live television, when she exited as co-anchor of the Today show, where she had worked since 1997.

Now Curry is returning to live TV with Chasing the Cure, a 90-minute series debuting tonight on TNT and TBS that will use a combination of crowdsourcing and top doctors to help people suffering from various undiagnosed and misdiagnosed medical mysteries.

Curry—who anchors and executive produces the multiplatform series—spoke with Adweek about returning to the “tremendous power” of live TV, why she couldn’t say no to Chasing the Cure and her thoughts about getting left out of Today’s recent 25th anniversary celebration video.

This project lets people who are rarely heard be listened to and have their cases considered.

How do we make sure that we do this correctly, and is there a way to ethically do this?” And my second response was, “If we could do it ethically, if we could do it right, how could I say no?” Because it’s an opportunity to help people who are at their wit’s end, people who are undiagnosed—and there are millions who are misdiagnosed every year.

So that’s why I said yes.

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0
Aspiration Worx 2021-07-17
img

Are the Snapchat ads better for conversions?Snapchat is presenting brand-new alternatives for advertisers, allowing them to run ads for as long as three minutes.The brand-new advertisement devices, called extended play commercials, can still be missed after six seconds like various other Snapchat ads.

Prolonged play commercials will certainly be shown as mid-roll ads, similar to much shorter Snapchat commercials.The prolonged play format is created to give marketers an opportunity to tell longer stories to involved customers.

Snapchat informs AdWeek that it’s poised to catch a higher share of the video advertisement market with this brand-new format:“The firm believes the flexibility that prolonged play commercials provides to video marketers will aid it get a lot more share of the overall online video advertising market.”Snapchat’s brand-new prolonged play commercials are currently offered in a closed beta.

Whitelisted advertisers can access them in Snapchat’s Advertisements Manager.Those that wish to have early accessibility to extended play commercials can ask for accessibility from their Snapchat advertising and marketing rep. Brands can also request gain access by connecting to the business with the Advertisements Supervisor.Snapchat’s VP of Global Agency Collaborations, David Router, highlights the advantages of the brand-new ad layout:” We’re dedicated to developing high-impact, long-form video clip ad layouts, as well as extended play commercials are a fantastic alternative for online video as well as TELEVISION buyers.

Heading right into the holidays, this layout is a powerful new means to reach our Generation Z as well as a millennial target market in Snapchat’s costs, brand name safe Discover content.”

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MarTech Cube 2020-01-02
img

YOTTAA, Inc., the leading Cloud platform for accelerating eCommerce, today announced it has won a Best in Biz Award in the Most Innovative Enterprise Product of the Year category Martech News.

The Best in Biz Awards are the only independent business awards program judged by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America.Since 2011, Best in Biz Award winners have spanned the spectrum, from the most innovative local companies and start-ups to some of the most recognizable global brands.

With more than 700 entries, the 9th annual 2019 program attracted a record number of impressive public and private companies.

Winners in the Best in Biz Awards are determined based on scoring from independent judging panels assembled from some of the most respected publications in North America, including AdWeek, Associated Press, Barron’s, Consumer Affairs, eWeek, Investment Advisor Magazine, USA Today, and Wired.“It seems to get harder each year to select the best of the best in Best in Biz Awards,” said Mark Huffman, Consumer Affairs, returning to judge Best in Biz Awards for the sixth year.

“As a consumer reporter, it is particularly gratifying to me to see so many businesses, such as YOTTAA, striving to enhance the customer experience.”YOTTAA won a Best in Biz Award for its eCommerce Acceleration Platform, a SaaS platform which helps online retailers and brands create faster websites that increase conversion rates and improve shopper experience.

The latest release of the platform, announced earlier this year, leverages YOTTAA’s in-depth data on eCommerce technologies collected over hundreds of millions of page views to create faster, more secure, and more profitable online experiences for the company’s eCommerce customers.

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MarTech Cube 2019-12-18
img

SmartBug Media® a leading Intelligent Inbound® marketing agency that assists businesses in generating leads, increasing awareness, and building brand loyalty through inbound marketing, digital strategy, design, marketing automation, and public relations—today announced that it’s founder, Ryan Malone, has been named a “Best CEO” by Comparably Martech News.

The recognition underscores the fact that SmartBug’s® unique remote workforce model, along with its new Healthy SmartBug initiative, is having a positive impact on its employees.

This is the eleventh Comparably award earned by SmartBug Media in the past two years and the fourth award for the company in 2019.Malone founded SmartBug 10 years ago as one of the country’s few fully remote marketing agencies and has become a thought leader and evangelist for moving companies to a distributed workforce.

The remote model has brought the company much success in a short period of time, as SmartBug has grown rapidly, expanding to represent more than 100 clients and employ nearly 80 full-time employees.

In addition, SmartBug has been recognized for its achievements time and again, racking up prestigious awards such as: being named to the Inc. 5000 list for the third consecutive year; making the inaugural Adweek 100: Fastest Growing Agencies List; earning nearly 100 Marcom Awards for client work this year alone; and remaining the highest-rate HubSpot partner in the world.“Being named a Top CEO by Comparably is not only an incredible honor, but it is also very humbling given the company I share with this year’s winners.

It’s an important reminder that in order to have strong leaders, you have to have great people.

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Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Of prime importance going into those negotiations was whether the JPC, which negotiates on behalf of the advertising industry, would respond to the continuing concerns voiced by signatory agencies and advertisers that they cannot compete with their non-union counterparts from a talent cost standpoint.

With the changing dynamic of the advertising industry, most notably advertisers putting multiple advertising agencies on their rosters, the playing field most in need of leveling is the one played on by the signatory agencies.

And thus of particular concern going into this year’s negotiations was whether there was more that could be done to help those agencies stem the loss of business, both existing and prospective, to non-union agencies.

The big splash in the new Commercials Contract is the Alternative Compensation Structure, or ACS, which provides for different upfront talent payment packages—essentially, flat fees paid up front—that are intended to simplify compensation calculations and provide potential cost savings to signatory advertisers.

In terms of its potential competitive impact, the ACS is available only to signatory advertisers and agencies, which the JPC touts as helping to “level the playing field,” presumably because the ACS cost savings are not available to non-union advertisers that engage SAG-AFTRA talent through third-party signatories.

The ... contract contains some new provisions intended to ease the strain from a competitive standpoint.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Back in 2017, Long Beach, Calif. restaurant Sweet Dixies got itself into hot water for trying to pass off Popeyes’ chicken as its own.

The ruse had been going pretty well until a Yelp review—and subsequent story in the Long Beach Post—called them out.

The owner responded with a heavy dose of snark and indignation and the article was picked up by Huffington Post, ABC and Complex among others.

The “Louisiana Kitchen” is releasing the brand’s first nationwide chicken sandwich on Aug. 12th, but first, it will be available at Sweet Dixies today and tomorrow as a preview for the eventual launch at the QSR’s stores.

“To be honest, I thought they were calling to sue me,” said Sánchez.

“We have a long history with Popeyes, but we’ve always said Popeyes chicken is the best fried chicken we ever had.

collect
0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

You’re not going to like this ad, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it.

In its newest gut-punch of a PSA, New Zealand anti-smoking initiative Quitline reminds us that humans aren’t the only ones who suffer from exposure to cigarettes.

While one would hope that knowing the damage you’re doing to yourself and your family would be enough to break an addiction, the reality is that these points have been hammered by health advocates for decades.

The reality of smoking cessation is that different messages work on different people, which is how you end up with angles like this one.

The spot shows a blue-collar Kiwi’s bond with his loyal dog, with most of the 2-minute story told from the dog’s point of view.

That perspective makes the largely predictable and tragically unavoidable turn of events all the more potent, as it contrasts the owner’s love with the harm he’s doing to his “best mate.”

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Texas-based migrant advocacy group RAICES, one of the leading voices in the political debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, today posted a letter calling for ad agency network Ogilvy to stop working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Published on Twitter, the letter is addressed to Lauren Crampsie, president of Ogilvy’s New York operations, and signed by RAICES chief advocacy officer Erika Andiola.

While ostensibly directed at Crampsie, whom the letter describes as a “self-styled progressive and feminist,” the letter’s ire is primarily aimed at Ogilvy global CEO John Seifert over his defense of the agency’s CBP work and decision to stick with the client despite employee backlash and negative publicity.

Please read, think about it & let us know what you decide to do.

As a Board member of @makers & a proud sibling of @timesupnow, we implore you to make the right decision.

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) August 9, 2019

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

McDonald’s, Burger King and Subway are “serving” ads programmatically through an unlikely medium: newspapers.

With help from digital agency Isobar Brazil, the three chains recently ran promotions that could only be accessed through a QR code in Brazilian newspaper O Estado de SĂŁo Paulo.

If readers opted to scan it, their geolocation (if accessible) and time of day would then determine what kind of ad they would see.

For instance, early morning readers likely saw ads for coffee and breakfast sandwiches for the chain closest to them.

“The new format allows advertisers in the same segment to split the page and offer, in real-time, their best deals to the readers,” Isobar Brazil said.

According to Rui Branquinho, chief creative officer at Isobar Brazil, the ad is still in beta.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

If you’ve had it up to here with political posts and discussions on social platforms, you are not alone, according to Pew Research Center.

A recent Pew survey of U.S. adults found that 46% of social media users feel “worn out” by the number of political posts and discussions they encounter on social networks, up nine percentage points from the last time Pew asked the same question, during the summer of 2016.

Meanwhile, 15 percent of respondents like seeing political posts on social media, while 38% didn’t feel strongly one way or the other.

Pew senior researcher Monica Anderson and computational social scientist Dennis Quinn wrote in a blog post, “Well over a year before the 2020 presidential election, many social media users in the U.S. are already exhausted by how much political content they see on these platforms.”

The research group also broke out its findings by race and political affiliation.

Pew found that 52% of white social media users said they were worn out by political posts, while just 36% of nonwhites expressed the same sentiment.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

There’s a big difference in how it feels to be stoned out of your mind versus just “barely high,” but a new PSA campaign out of Ontario wants to remind cannabis fans that any level of buzz is enough to make you an unsafe driver.

Created by McCann Worldgroup Canada for the government of Ontario, the “Barely High Is Still Too High to Drive” campaign features brief, surprisingly charming vignettes about everyday people getting just a bit high.

Through voice-overs, they describe the differences between how they act when fully lit compared to when they’re “barely high.”

While the ads don’t judge people for their half-baked peculiarities, they do make it clear that any of these scenarios would be signs that you’re too high to drive.

The agency based the campaign on Ontario government research into perceptions of cannabis use, and then McCann supplemented the data with its own field research and focus groups featuring a key demographic: Canadian millennials.

“The idea that being a little stoned and getting behind the wheel is OK is both pervasive and untrue,” says Josh Stein, executive creative director at McCann Toronto.

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0
Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

That gong you just heard?

The over-the-top experiential marketing experience is open for just four days in the desert east of Los Angeles, taking over a boutique setting and remaking it in the brand’s own quirky, sauce- and sass-filled image.

On Thursday, the Irvine-based brand packed The Bell for the first of four nights that the pop-up will be operating in Palm Springs, and Adweek was there for all the festivities.

The lineup included food tastings (announced, of course, by gong), synchronized swimmers in hot-sauce suits, a poolside concert by Fletcher, a “freeze” lounge, a slew of Baja Blast variations and more selfies than anyone could possibly count.

No one seemed to mind.

Media—Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, Tastemade, local television stations, and yours truly from Adweek—occupied plenty of the space, as did hard-core fans who were extremely quick on the draw when reservations became available.

MarTech Cube 2020-10-12
img

47 in its annual Adweek 100: Fastest Growing feature.

Fastest Growing honors the 100 top agencies and 10 top solution providers — large and small, from all over the world — whose industry presence is on the rise.

Accepting entries from every agency and solution provider category, this distinction is awarded to those organizations that have achieved exceptional growth over the past three years.Omni Direct was also ranked no.

1 in Adweek’s list of “Top 5 Fastest-Growing Agencies Over 20 Years Old” and no.

No doubt it is a testament to the great products and services our clients offer, the incredible potential of the Hispanic market as well as our highly talented and hardworking team at Omni Direct,” said Alex Agurcia, CEO of Omni Direct.Complete results of Adweek 100: Fastest Growing, including company profiles, can be found at https://www.adweek.com/agencies/adweek-presents-the-100-fastest-growing-agencies-and-10-solution-providers-of-2020/ and in the October 5th issue of the award-winning Adweek magazine.

Omni Direct achieved astounding three-year revenue growth of 158%.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

With the next generation of wireless network, 5G, set to open the door to a host of new connected-device markets, Qualcomm has been remaking its marketing operations to accommodate a dramatic expansion of its customer base.

After years of catering to the same 300 or so mobile manufacturers, the telecom equipment giant is now in a position to serve business-to-business customers ranging from factory operators and automakers to speaker brands and performance venues.

But the company is also finding that not all industry leaders are well-versed in what it sees as some of 5G’s more far-flung applications beyond mobile speeds—uses like coordinating assembly lines, remaking retail spaces or streaming media to connected cars.

Qualcomm CMO Penny Baldwin spoke to Adweek about how the company is marketing across these varying levels of technical familiarity, 5G’s potential to change marketing and how her department is eating its own 5G “dog food,” so to speak.

With 5G expected to bring wireless service to an array of devices beyond handsets, how does that change the pool of customers to which Qualcomm is now marketing?

It will have a transformative impact on our marketing.

Aspiration Worx 2021-07-17
img

Are the Snapchat ads better for conversions?Snapchat is presenting brand-new alternatives for advertisers, allowing them to run ads for as long as three minutes.The brand-new advertisement devices, called extended play commercials, can still be missed after six seconds like various other Snapchat ads.

Prolonged play commercials will certainly be shown as mid-roll ads, similar to much shorter Snapchat commercials.The prolonged play format is created to give marketers an opportunity to tell longer stories to involved customers.

Snapchat informs AdWeek that it’s poised to catch a higher share of the video advertisement market with this brand-new format:“The firm believes the flexibility that prolonged play commercials provides to video marketers will aid it get a lot more share of the overall online video advertising market.”Snapchat’s brand-new prolonged play commercials are currently offered in a closed beta.

Whitelisted advertisers can access them in Snapchat’s Advertisements Manager.Those that wish to have early accessibility to extended play commercials can ask for accessibility from their Snapchat advertising and marketing rep. Brands can also request gain access by connecting to the business with the Advertisements Supervisor.Snapchat’s VP of Global Agency Collaborations, David Router, highlights the advantages of the brand-new ad layout:” We’re dedicated to developing high-impact, long-form video clip ad layouts, as well as extended play commercials are a fantastic alternative for online video as well as TELEVISION buyers.

Heading right into the holidays, this layout is a powerful new means to reach our Generation Z as well as a millennial target market in Snapchat’s costs, brand name safe Discover content.”

MarTech Cube 2019-12-18
img

SmartBug Media® a leading Intelligent Inbound® marketing agency that assists businesses in generating leads, increasing awareness, and building brand loyalty through inbound marketing, digital strategy, design, marketing automation, and public relations—today announced that it’s founder, Ryan Malone, has been named a “Best CEO” by Comparably Martech News.

The recognition underscores the fact that SmartBug’s® unique remote workforce model, along with its new Healthy SmartBug initiative, is having a positive impact on its employees.

This is the eleventh Comparably award earned by SmartBug Media in the past two years and the fourth award for the company in 2019.Malone founded SmartBug 10 years ago as one of the country’s few fully remote marketing agencies and has become a thought leader and evangelist for moving companies to a distributed workforce.

The remote model has brought the company much success in a short period of time, as SmartBug has grown rapidly, expanding to represent more than 100 clients and employ nearly 80 full-time employees.

In addition, SmartBug has been recognized for its achievements time and again, racking up prestigious awards such as: being named to the Inc. 5000 list for the third consecutive year; making the inaugural Adweek 100: Fastest Growing Agencies List; earning nearly 100 Marcom Awards for client work this year alone; and remaining the highest-rate HubSpot partner in the world.“Being named a Top CEO by Comparably is not only an incredible honor, but it is also very humbling given the company I share with this year’s winners.

It’s an important reminder that in order to have strong leaders, you have to have great people.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Back in 2017, Long Beach, Calif. restaurant Sweet Dixies got itself into hot water for trying to pass off Popeyes’ chicken as its own.

The ruse had been going pretty well until a Yelp review—and subsequent story in the Long Beach Post—called them out.

The owner responded with a heavy dose of snark and indignation and the article was picked up by Huffington Post, ABC and Complex among others.

The “Louisiana Kitchen” is releasing the brand’s first nationwide chicken sandwich on Aug. 12th, but first, it will be available at Sweet Dixies today and tomorrow as a preview for the eventual launch at the QSR’s stores.

“To be honest, I thought they were calling to sue me,” said Sánchez.

“We have a long history with Popeyes, but we’ve always said Popeyes chicken is the best fried chicken we ever had.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-09
img

Texas-based migrant advocacy group RAICES, one of the leading voices in the political debate over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies, today posted a letter calling for ad agency network Ogilvy to stop working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Published on Twitter, the letter is addressed to Lauren Crampsie, president of Ogilvy’s New York operations, and signed by RAICES chief advocacy officer Erika Andiola.

While ostensibly directed at Crampsie, whom the letter describes as a “self-styled progressive and feminist,” the letter’s ire is primarily aimed at Ogilvy global CEO John Seifert over his defense of the agency’s CBP work and decision to stick with the client despite employee backlash and negative publicity.

Please read, think about it & let us know what you decide to do.

As a Board member of @makers & a proud sibling of @timesupnow, we implore you to make the right decision.

— RAICES (@RAICESTEXAS) August 9, 2019

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

If you’ve had it up to here with political posts and discussions on social platforms, you are not alone, according to Pew Research Center.

A recent Pew survey of U.S. adults found that 46% of social media users feel “worn out” by the number of political posts and discussions they encounter on social networks, up nine percentage points from the last time Pew asked the same question, during the summer of 2016.

Meanwhile, 15 percent of respondents like seeing political posts on social media, while 38% didn’t feel strongly one way or the other.

Pew senior researcher Monica Anderson and computational social scientist Dennis Quinn wrote in a blog post, “Well over a year before the 2020 presidential election, many social media users in the U.S. are already exhausted by how much political content they see on these platforms.”

The research group also broke out its findings by race and political affiliation.

Pew found that 52% of white social media users said they were worn out by political posts, while just 36% of nonwhites expressed the same sentiment.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

When it comes to events, few players are more powerful than Eventbrite and Giant Spoon.

Jon Haber, co-founder of Giant Spoon, credits the agency’s larger-than-life activations for its rapid growth since its founding in 2013.

“It’s the thing that really seems to be resonating and breaking through almost more than anything,” he said.

Adweek spoke with Haber and Eventbrite CEO and co-founder Julia Hartz about what makes an experience that people connect with and the explosive growth of experiential marketing.

Here are five takeaways from that conversation.

Millennials—and current consumer habits—are fueling experiential’s growth

John Jack 2020-04-02
img

 The deceptions of fake social media accounts are getting high day by day and the issue is the primary concern for social influencers and famous personalities, as the false accounts are shown on the global mainstream media.

Adweek and The New York Times have both completed several articles about social media fake and false accounts and here is a keen look at them.The fake account issues have caused several further problems such as businesses getting lower results and deceiving followers on social media.

This article will help you to connect to the right person instead of the fake one.

Moreover, when more people are aware about recognizing fake social media accounts, it helps social media platforms become more transparent and secure from deception.Low Engagement and High Followers CountIt is the most apparent indication of a deception on social media or the account that enhances its followers by buying followers.

Too Rapid Engagement Rate  Several fake account users are becoming smarter, and they can even trick you in the above indication.

Still, you can recognize them if you observe the account activity and engagement carefully.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

It’s been seven years since Ann Curry last regularly appeared on live television, when she exited as co-anchor of the Today show, where she had worked since 1997.

Now Curry is returning to live TV with Chasing the Cure, a 90-minute series debuting tonight on TNT and TBS that will use a combination of crowdsourcing and top doctors to help people suffering from various undiagnosed and misdiagnosed medical mysteries.

Curry—who anchors and executive produces the multiplatform series—spoke with Adweek about returning to the “tremendous power” of live TV, why she couldn’t say no to Chasing the Cure and her thoughts about getting left out of Today’s recent 25th anniversary celebration video.

This project lets people who are rarely heard be listened to and have their cases considered.

How do we make sure that we do this correctly, and is there a way to ethically do this?” And my second response was, “If we could do it ethically, if we could do it right, how could I say no?” Because it’s an opportunity to help people who are at their wit’s end, people who are undiagnosed—and there are millions who are misdiagnosed every year.

So that’s why I said yes.

MarTech Cube 2020-01-02
img

YOTTAA, Inc., the leading Cloud platform for accelerating eCommerce, today announced it has won a Best in Biz Award in the Most Innovative Enterprise Product of the Year category Martech News.

The Best in Biz Awards are the only independent business awards program judged by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America.Since 2011, Best in Biz Award winners have spanned the spectrum, from the most innovative local companies and start-ups to some of the most recognizable global brands.

With more than 700 entries, the 9th annual 2019 program attracted a record number of impressive public and private companies.

Winners in the Best in Biz Awards are determined based on scoring from independent judging panels assembled from some of the most respected publications in North America, including AdWeek, Associated Press, Barron’s, Consumer Affairs, eWeek, Investment Advisor Magazine, USA Today, and Wired.“It seems to get harder each year to select the best of the best in Best in Biz Awards,” said Mark Huffman, Consumer Affairs, returning to judge Best in Biz Awards for the sixth year.

“As a consumer reporter, it is particularly gratifying to me to see so many businesses, such as YOTTAA, striving to enhance the customer experience.”YOTTAA won a Best in Biz Award for its eCommerce Acceleration Platform, a SaaS platform which helps online retailers and brands create faster websites that increase conversion rates and improve shopper experience.

The latest release of the platform, announced earlier this year, leverages YOTTAA’s in-depth data on eCommerce technologies collected over hundreds of millions of page views to create faster, more secure, and more profitable online experiences for the company’s eCommerce customers.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

Of prime importance going into those negotiations was whether the JPC, which negotiates on behalf of the advertising industry, would respond to the continuing concerns voiced by signatory agencies and advertisers that they cannot compete with their non-union counterparts from a talent cost standpoint.

With the changing dynamic of the advertising industry, most notably advertisers putting multiple advertising agencies on their rosters, the playing field most in need of leveling is the one played on by the signatory agencies.

And thus of particular concern going into this year’s negotiations was whether there was more that could be done to help those agencies stem the loss of business, both existing and prospective, to non-union agencies.

The big splash in the new Commercials Contract is the Alternative Compensation Structure, or ACS, which provides for different upfront talent payment packages—essentially, flat fees paid up front—that are intended to simplify compensation calculations and provide potential cost savings to signatory advertisers.

In terms of its potential competitive impact, the ACS is available only to signatory advertisers and agencies, which the JPC touts as helping to “level the playing field,” presumably because the ACS cost savings are not available to non-union advertisers that engage SAG-AFTRA talent through third-party signatories.

The ... contract contains some new provisions intended to ease the strain from a competitive standpoint.

Geekz Snow 2019-08-08
img

You’re not going to like this ad, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch it.

In its newest gut-punch of a PSA, New Zealand anti-smoking initiative Quitline reminds us that humans aren’t the only ones who suffer from exposure to cigarettes.

While one would hope that knowing the damage you’re doing to yourself and your family would be enough to break an addiction, the reality is that these points have been hammered by health advocates for decades.

The reality of smoking cessation is that different messages work on different people, which is how you end up with angles like this one.

The spot shows a blue-collar Kiwi’s bond with his loyal dog, with most of the 2-minute story told from the dog’s point of view.

That perspective makes the largely predictable and tragically unavoidable turn of events all the more potent, as it contrasts the owner’s love with the harm he’s doing to his “best mate.”

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McDonald’s, Burger King and Subway are “serving” ads programmatically through an unlikely medium: newspapers.

With help from digital agency Isobar Brazil, the three chains recently ran promotions that could only be accessed through a QR code in Brazilian newspaper O Estado de SĂŁo Paulo.

If readers opted to scan it, their geolocation (if accessible) and time of day would then determine what kind of ad they would see.

For instance, early morning readers likely saw ads for coffee and breakfast sandwiches for the chain closest to them.

“The new format allows advertisers in the same segment to split the page and offer, in real-time, their best deals to the readers,” Isobar Brazil said.

According to Rui Branquinho, chief creative officer at Isobar Brazil, the ad is still in beta.

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There’s a big difference in how it feels to be stoned out of your mind versus just “barely high,” but a new PSA campaign out of Ontario wants to remind cannabis fans that any level of buzz is enough to make you an unsafe driver.

Created by McCann Worldgroup Canada for the government of Ontario, the “Barely High Is Still Too High to Drive” campaign features brief, surprisingly charming vignettes about everyday people getting just a bit high.

Through voice-overs, they describe the differences between how they act when fully lit compared to when they’re “barely high.”

While the ads don’t judge people for their half-baked peculiarities, they do make it clear that any of these scenarios would be signs that you’re too high to drive.

The agency based the campaign on Ontario government research into perceptions of cannabis use, and then McCann supplemented the data with its own field research and focus groups featuring a key demographic: Canadian millennials.

“The idea that being a little stoned and getting behind the wheel is OK is both pervasive and untrue,” says Josh Stein, executive creative director at McCann Toronto.

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