Hasta La Creative!

Samsung Electronics UK has called a pitch to appoint an agency or agencies for its below-the-line work.

We are awash in data. Every time we go online or use a smartphone or credit card, our purchases and movements are tracked. We keep our schedules, plan trips and celebrate birthdays online. When we go outside, ubiquitous CCTV and security cameras capture our movements. And a world of interconnected refrigerators, thermostats and other everyday devices — the Internet of Things — lies just ahead.

Julie Brill

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HMV has launched a website today that focuses on “curation, content and editorial” in an attempt to recreate the “authority” of its in-store experience.

(TrendHunter.com) Autumn is the perfect time of year to splash some color into your mane and these autumn-colored hairstyles are here to inspire you. Many people love going red for fall because it looks so glamorous…

When you’re Google, subtle shifts have a big impact. That was the case last month, when the search giant announced it would severely limit the information publishers or anyone else would receive on the keywords driving traffic to their websites.

Google still provides keyword data to search advertisers, but the move changed the game for organic search, leaving some publishers and advertisers in the dark.

“It’s one of the most significant losses of data marketers have seen in half a decade,” said Conductor CEO Seth Besmertnik, who claimed that on average half of the traffic to the search-optimization vendor’s clients’ sites comes through organic search.

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How do Axe and Old Spice buyers really differ? What pricey ice-cream brands do food-stamp recipients buy disproportionately? And who’s been buying more than their fair share of condoms?

Digital startup InfoScout has begun answering these and many other questions by enticing people to anonymously upload all their receipts via their smartphones, then analyzing the data.

To date, 5.7 million receipts have been scanned, and InfoScout has assembled a panel of 125,000 shoppers that it says is largely representative of the U.S. population, though CEO Jared Schrieber acknowledged it’s “a little light on people over 55.”

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On the eve of Twitter’s IPO, one of the largest advertisers in the U.S. has remained largely absent from the social network.

Johnson & Johnson is taking a pass on delivering its brand messages in 140 characters or fewer.

The consumer-goods and health-care giant has accounts aimed at foreign markets and a few corporate handles like @JNJNews, which is for the media, but well-known J&J products like Visine and Neosporin don’t have any Twitter handles.

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Grocers and retailers like Stop & Shop and Walmart have seen the future of the checkout, and it is mobile scanning.

The potential rewards for them are clear. Allowing people to scan and tally their totals as they shop promises reduced checkout times and staffing needs, more space for products and the chance to differentiate the shopping experience. It also generates lots of real-time data that can be used to target offers as customers wander the aisles.

But don’t say good riddance to that bagboy anytime soon. The self-checkout, for example, has existed for years and it’s still common to see those lines completely empty while cashiers are backed up.

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O2 has partnered with Lady Gaga to offer people exclusive access to the music star’s new ‘Artpop’ album six days before it goes on general release.

‘Strictly Come Dancing’ beat ‘The X Factor’ in the Saturday night battle for viewers again this week, delivering an average of 9.7 million compared to 7.9 million for the ITV show.