Aug
23
Aug
23
WTF: Some Thoughts on the F-Word in the Ad Industry
Posted in: Uncategorized
The Federal Communications Commission has a very clear and simple guideline when it comes to profane words. According to an FAQ on its website: “What makes material profane? Profane language includes those words that are so highly offensive that their mere utterance in the context presented may, in legal terms, amount to a nuisance. In its Golden Globe Awards Order the FCC warned broadcasters that, depending on the context, it would consider the F-Word and those words (or variants thereof) that are as highly offensive as the F-Word to be profane language that cannot be broadcast between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.”
As for the newspaper industry, there is no federal oversight regarding profanity. Community standards, advertiser and agency sensibilities and editorial decorum set the tone and content.
But the Associated Press AP Stylebook does offer some guidance. Here is an excerpt:
Aug
23
Rio Olympics: These Marketers' Ads Are the Most-Seen So Far
Posted in: Uncategorized
As the medal counts get underway in earnest, it’s also time to take stock of how the Olympics’ TV advertising is playing out. And not every big spender is getting the same amount of eyeballs.
Halfway through the Olympics, 351 brands have run 667 unique TV ads a total of 7,867 times, 1,488 of them in primetime, according to data from iSpot.tv. That’s spanning NBC and its NBC Universal siblings NBC Sports, USA Network, BRAVO, MSNBC and CNBC.
By analyzing ads appearing on the screens of 11 million smart TV sets, iSpot.tv estimates that NBCU has already delivered more 7.7 billion TV ad impressions in the U.S. The games are providing solid retention for advertisers too, with ads viewed to completion an average of 90% of the time and 97.4% of all ads getting viewed live or same day.
Aug
23
Where Are the CMOs (Chief Media Officers)?
Posted in: Uncategorized
Right now I suspect that media recruiters are very busy. The ANA has decreed that every big brand should have a chief media officer, a new senior post that will be crucial to maximizing the value of their media investments.
The hunt is on to find people who can fill this role; however, chief media officers — perhaps best called media officer to avoid confusion with the CMO — need a broad range of skills and they aren’t going to be easy to find. Recruitment agencies will earn their fees if they can identify the best people for this role.
The new media officers will have three central goals. First, to help their organization be the best possible media client; second, to ensure they identify the best agency partners; and third, they need to ensure that media is accountable and delivering business growth.
Aug
23
Why The SaaS Business Model Has Been Bad for Marketing
Posted in: Uncategorized
Marketers’ trust in the ad-tech world is on the decline for lots of reasons: complexity, lack of transparency or standards. Gartner’s Hype Cycle research puts ad tech deep in the “trough of disillusionment.”
One can cast blame in many directions, but one of the biggest corrosive factors eroding trust between advertisers and ad tech is the relative newcomer to marketing — the SaaS (software as a service) ventures that dominates marketing today.
Here’s why.
Aug
23
NYT: 'Effort to Save Mr. Trump From Himself Has Plainly Failed'
Posted in: Uncategorized
Seven paragraphs into the Sunday New York Times’ front-page, top-left story titled “Inside the Failing Mission to Tame Donald Trump’s Tongue” came a curious passage that almost felt like baiting:
In private, Mr. Trump’s mood is often sullen and erratic, his associates say. He veers from barking at members of his staff to grumbling about how he was better off following his own instincts during the primaries and suggesting he should not have heeded their calls for change. He broods about his souring relationship with the news media, calling Mr. Manafort several times a day to talk about specific stories.
I almost expected to see a note in brackets addressing Donald Trump’s allegedly needy relationship with his campaign chairman Paul Manafort along the lines of: “[Editor’s note: Donald, you gonna go cry to Paul about this story too, ya big baby?]”
Aug
23
It's Not the Election, Stupid — It's the Day After
Posted in: Uncategorized
As our country barrels toward the final act of its quadrennial POTUS pageant like a whistle-stop circus train careening down the tracks, one thing is certain — there is a 100% chance our next commander-in-chief will have a plus-fifty unfavorable rating.
No matter which side wins (or feels like it, “Lost, dammit! I can’t believe we lost!”), America will wake up the next morning with a YUGE political hangover and its patriotic unmentionables in a heap somewhere beneath the bed.
So what’s an agency to do when staffers, clients and consumers are asking, “Now what the hell do we do?” Here are four surefire steps you can take to plan for the unknown even before the first vote is allegedly deleted.
Aug
23
Flyers Set to Take Off, Go Online as China Eases Airline Phone Rules
Posted in: Uncategorized
Millions of flyers in China may soon see their wish come true: authorities are considering lifting restrictions on the use of mobile phones on planes, paving the way for wider in-flight connectivity that is now available only in developed markets.
A legislation to amend regulations that limit the use of electronic devices on board is underway and the norms will be relaxed by the end of this year or early 2017, Zhu Tao, director of the air transportation division at the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said in an interview. The changes follow revised safety standards issued about three years ago by regulators in the U.S. and Europe.
The amendment, if approved, will enable passengers to surf the internet, use applications such as WeChat, and shop online at cruising altitudes with smartphones, the most preferred device for web browsing in the world’s most populous nation.
Aug
23
Donald Trump Is Not Going to Like How He Looks on the New Cover of Adbusters
Posted in: Uncategorized
The latest issue of Adbusters hits newsstands in the U.S. on Tuesday and its coverboy is a man who needs no introduction. The six-times-a-year title, which is published by the Adbusters Media Foundation, a 27-year-old Vancouver-based nonprofit group that was behind the Occupy Wall Street protests, presents The Orange One in stark black and white and makes creative use of the magazine’s actual Universal Product Code.
The coverline, “Cool Fascismo,” is also the theme of the issue, which the magazine’s editors describe thusly:
Adbusters Issue #127 takes on the rise of global fascism, exposing the symptoms of a sick and outdated system. Everywhere you look, fascist tendencies are creeping into view as each day our world falls further and further into chaos. Have we forgotten the lessons of the past? Will we bury our heads into the comforts of virtual reality while egomaniacs capture the imagination of the masses? Cool Fascismo is an unprecedented exploration into a world where a culture of cool becomes a culture of fear.
Aug
23
In China, Brands Are Casting More Two-Child Families in Ads
Posted in: Uncategorized
A recent Ikea commercial from BBH China features a school-age girl in pigtails talking about the importance of getting kids involved in household chores. The ad features Ikea plates and cutlery in bright colors, but what’s more striking is that the girl has a sidekick: a little brother.
Now that China’s one-child policy has officially become a two-child policy, brands including Ikea, Volkswagen, real estate developers, and airline and travel companies are jumping on the trend with ads featuring two-child families.
“It’s a novel image in ad campaigns. It can catch the eye more because people aren’t used to seeing that kind of family depicted,” said James Roy, analyst with China Market Research Group, who has followed the trend. “It’s an interesting way to stand out and show that you’re with the times.”
Aug
23
Let Machines Do the Advertising Grunt Work
Posted in: Uncategorized
In 1950, computing pioneer Alan Turing posed a heretical question: Can machines think?
Some 66 years later, the answer is clear. Evidence of machine learning is all around us. Execute a Google search and you’ll reap the benefits of machine learning. When Google presents results to a user, the user votes on those results via a click. The machine records that click, and then uses that data to inform future results.
Even though such technology is now commonplace, some fear machine learning. That’s because we have been inundated with science fiction stories and movies over the past few decades about machines taking over. Some in the advertising industry may also dread the idea of a machine taking over their jobs.
Aug
23
The Next Big Mobile Ad Platform — Your Car
Posted in: Uncategorized
Earlier this month, a Tesla Model X (assisted-driving car) drove itself to a hospital and saved the owner’s life. Some people still see these examples and think autonomous driving is in our far-off future. Yet, in reality, it’s already here. The technology isn’t perfect, but it’s improving at a blistering rate. Certainly faster than we humans will improve our driving abilities or improve safety mechanisms in cars. Not only will self-driving cars start to transform our infrastructure, they’ll fundamentally change our culture — something that translates to a big opportunity for marketers.
According the American Driving Survey, Americans spend 30 to 60 minutes driving each day. Of note, higher income earners and potentially more valuable consumers fall toward the high end of that spectrum. If these individuals get back hundreds of hours a year, advertisers will no doubt attempt to make use of that new free time.
Here are some of the channels that will likely be impacted by self-driving cars and how marketers can respond:
Aug
23
Tencent's Splurge on Entertainment Pays Off, With Ad Revenue up 60%
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tencent Holdings’ shopping spree on premium content from Game of Thrones to NBA broadcasts has again helped defy investors’ expectations and a slowing Chinese economy.
Second-quarter sales and profit soared as the operator of the WeChat and QQ social network services splashed out on mobile games and content, including anything from anime and comics to novels. That strategy paid off as user numbers grew and online advertising revenue swelled 60%, confounding fears about marketing cutbacks.
Tencent is paying upfront for rich media titles to tap the purchasing power of its billion-plus users and appeal to advertisers. It’s an approach mirrored by Alibaba Group Holding, which — while making forays into cloud computing and overseas — is also shelling out for videos, music and games to cater to a domestic audience hungry for high-quality programming. Costs overall for Tencent almost doubled in the quarter.
Aug
23
Alibaba's Popular Ad-Blocking Web Browser Hits Bump in China
Posted in: UncategorizedUC Browser, a web browser owned by China’s Alibaba Group, has been a major factor in the spread of ad-blocking in Asia. It claims over 400 million active users, many of them mobile users in China and India. Ad-blocking is built right into its browsers, which have “more users than all other forms of ad blocking, combined,” according to a May report from PageFair. The company once touted its blocking capabilities with a cartoon showing a squirrel — the animal on its logo — whitewashing over advertising posters on a wall. “Block the ads, clean the world,” was the cartoon’s caption.
But UC Browser’s vision of ad-free user experience has hit a roadblock in China, where the government is enacting new measures cracking down on ad blocking.
China’s new advertising regulations prohibit applications or hardware to intercept, filter, cover, fast forward or limit other people’s legitimate ads. The rule is vague, but the consensus among legal experts is that most or all forms of ad blocking will probably be banned. Some say the phrasing suggests blocking will still be permitted for ads that break China’s rules on internet advertising. And there are more and more rules, some of them very detailed; pop-up ads have to be closable in one click, for example.
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