YouTube TV Arrives to Take on Hulu, Netflix and Traditional Pay Television


What’s on YouTube tonight?

Quite a bit of TV actually. On Tuesday, the Google subsidiary introduced YouTube TV with about 40 networks onboard to stream their live broadcasts and cable feeds to its subscribers.

YouTube will charge $35 for the “over the top” service, which will include all the major broadcast networks and cable channels such as ESPN, Disney and FXX.

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A Transgender Bride Makes the Most of a Rainy Wedding Day in This Defiant, Upbeat Insurance Ad

During Sunday’s Oscars telecast, as American ads celebrated young creativity and unity in times of division, one campaign running in Canada took a different tack. In a spot starring transgender actress Joslyn DeFreece, Toronto-based home and auto insurance company Sonnet took a “glass half full” approach to whatever challenges may disrupt the key events of…

Lady Gaga, Pharrell and Ellen Bring the Love in Revlon’s New PSA

If your definition of love is Lady Gaga in blonde bangs, you might enjoy this 30-second PSA that debuted on the Oscars telecast. Directed by Hollywood A-lister Brett Ratner, the black-and-white spot promotes “The Love Project,” a new social initiative from Revlon which, according to the cosmetics giant, “is based on the view that love…

Google anuncia “YouTube TV”, a mais nova rival das TVs por assinatura

A internet não vai matar a televisão, a TV quem vai migrar para a internet. É o que fica claro com o anúncio feito hoje pelo Google na Califórnia, divulgando a chegada do seu novo serviço de streaming de canais de TV, o YouTube TV. Dentre os canais oferecidos pelo serviço estão a ABC, CBS, […]

> LEIA MAIS: Google anuncia “YouTube TV”, a mais nova rival das TVs por assinatura

McDonald's Steps Up Sustainable Fish Message in Time for Lent


McDonald’s is not changing its Filet-O-Fish recipe, but it is tinkering with its marketing to emphasize sustainable fishing practices as the busiest season for the fried fish is about to begin.

Two new commercials and an upcoming digital video showcase the wild-caught Alaskan pollock used in the sandwich.

The Filet-O-Fish is available year-round, but the Lenten season, which this year begins March 1, is its biggest selling time. About 25% of all Filet-O-Fish sandwiches are sold during Lent, McDonald’s said.

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Faris Joins the ‘Advertising Is Really Just PR’ Chorus

So remember about a year and a half ago when Chuck Porter told a friendly crowd that PR had won the communications battle over paid advertising?

You probably don’t. But he was speaking to the global PR Summit in late 2015, telling attendees that “the best buzz is free buzz” because that is true. Everyone likes to get stuff without paying anything for it, even if it involves lots of manpower and work hours like most “earned” media efforts.

Now Faris Yakob agrees in an op-ed that happens to be promoting his own appearance at a trade event. In the Mumbrella (Australia) piece, Yakob argues that everything is already PR whether you admit it or not.

“We have seen a genuine discontinuity in the past couple of years, the last year even — one that requires us to fundamentally rethink our underlying communication assumptions … In a few short years the mediascape completely flipped, from scarcity to abundance.”

In short, he’s arguing that since nearly everyone is a publisher or “maker” now, we have to reconsider how we approach media, without which there would be no advertising.

“Anything and everyone became media, shouting endlessly into the void, millions of words and thoughts screaming for attention, which became suddenly scarce and increasingly valuable.”

He’s getting there, wait for it…

“Simple fragments of language, endlessly repeated, nicknames and soundbites, even when they were demonstrably false, got someone the most powerful job in the world.

The public is now the media and relating to it is the most important job. Welcome to the new paradigm of public relations.”

There we go. True is false, up is down, everything is spin.

But is he saying that every bit of content/information/messaging we receive should be read as an attempt to coerce us or a CTA leading down the digital rabbit hole to a purchase? Isn’t that what people already think of advertising?

And what about the fact that everyone in PR now accepts paid media as part of the equation and that comms firms are hiring agency creatives? Yeah, everything is communications. But the divide between people who make content and people who promote it is deep. Did Casey Neistat teach us nothing??

Anyway, go hear Faris speak in Melbourne next month. Or don’t. Everything will still be PR.

This Publicis Conseil Spot for BNP Paribas Will Probably Remind You of ‘The Hangover’

Publicis Conseil launched a campaign BNP Paribas around a pair of spots promoting the French bank’s mobile banking features.

In the more memorable of the ads, “Day After,” a man wakes up in a hotel room bathtub to find he’s due to check out in 30 minutes. He quickly discovers he’s gone on a spending spree of which he has no recollection. Obviously, the scene brings to mind the 2009 Todd Phillips comedy The Hangover (and to a lesser extent, its sequel, which was pretty much the same movie). The comparison (also noted by LBB) is pretty much unavoidable.

As the man moves through the room and discovers more items related to his apparent bender, he repeatedly increases his credit limit with the touch of a button. While clearly derivative of the aforementioned blockbuster comedy, it’s also a pretty clever and entertaining way to show off the feature.

Unfortunately, the second ad, “Dishes” fails to live up to the effort, showing two parents bribing an angsty goth teen to do chores as a way of showing off how easy BNP Paribas’ mobile payment feature is.

Credits:
Agency: Publicis Conseil
Executive Creative Director: Olivier Desmettre, Fabrice Delacourt
Copywriter: Marc Rosier, (Digital) Sébastien Dudas
Art Director: Jean-Marc Tramoni, (Assist) Agathe Bailly
Strategy: Alexandra Mimoun, Etienne Averseng’
Account Management:César Croze, Eric Forest, Sébastien Hamburger, Amélie Houles-Beauclair, Vincent Jegu, Vanessa Matias
TV Producer: Armelle Sudron

Production Company: Henry
Producer: Amandine Ledrappier
Director: Nick Ball
DOP: Sebastian Blenkov

Post-Production: Frédéric Lubin

Sound Production: Esmeralda Léo

Los Angeles 2024 Olympic Bid Committee Hires Weber Shandwick as Trump's Shadow Looms


The Los Angeles 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Bid Committee has hired Weber Shandwick for global communications support, and despite the current tumultuous political landscape, the committee is confident the city will be judged on its merits.

Weber Shandwick was awarded the business following a competitive review that included “several global PR firms,” said LA 2024 Chief Communications Officer Jeff Millman, who added that the Interpublic Group shop has a “track record of success” when it comes to the Olympics. The agency has been working on Olympic bids and with host cities for more than 20 years, including Sochi 2014, Beijing 2022 and Tokyo 2020.

If Los Angeles, which is up against Paris, wins the bid for the 2024 games, it will be the first time in nearly 30 years that the Olympics are held in the U.S. A decision will be made by the International Olympic Committee in September. While President Donald Trump recently gave his support for the bid city, a number of former Olympians and analysts have reportedly voiced concerns that the administration’s policies, such as the immigration travel ban, will hurt Los Angeles’ chances of winning.

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Havas Posts Revenue Growth of 4.2% in Fourth Quarter 2016


Havas reported organic growth of 4.2% in the fourth quarter of 2016, up from 2% in the third quarter of the year. Revenues were $2.4 billion for the year, up from $2.3 billion the previous year.

The positive numbers disguise some large discrepancies between the regions. Europe grew at 7.3% (after a 1.2% decline in the third quarter) and North America saw organic growth of 5.4% in the fourth quarter, but Asia Pacific was down by 8.7%, and Latin America by 12.8%.

The U.S. posted strong growth thanks to good performances from Havas Media, Havas Chicago and Havas Health.

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With Its Winnings Down, Target Bets Big on New Stores, New Brands, New Prices


Target is struggling just like its competitors. But unlike the competition, the marketer isn’t closing stores. Instead, the Minneapolis-based retailer intends to make its existing 1,800-unit fleet work harderand it’s spending heavily to make it happen. At its annual financial community meeting Tuesday in New York, Target announced it plans to invest $1 billion in annual operating profits starting this year, along with $7 billion in capital over the next three years, in order to remodel stores, improve digital infrastructure and supply chain operations and introduce new in-house brands.

“Evolution is in our blood,” said Brian Cornell, chief executive. “While others are pulling back, Target is investing to compete and investing to grow.”

It’s an aggressively risky strategy considering the chain also reported dismal holiday and 2016 results, as it continues to compete with Walmart and Amazon. Same-store sales for the fourth quarter fell 1.5% and dropped 0.5% for the full year. The company saw fourth-quarter sales fall 4.3% to $20.7 billion. Not pleased, investors sent the brand’s stock down more than 12% by early afternoon on Tuesday.

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Barring Reporters From Briefings: Does It Cross a Legal Line?

First Amendment experts say the White House decision to bar several outlets from a briefing last week may have been unconstitutional.

Even the NRA Riffs on Droga5’s NYT Work, Blaming ‘Media Elites’ for These Fiery Times

People who work in advertising are generally, understandably cynical. We get it!

But this ad is more nakedly cynical than most.

You probably saw the Droga5 New York Times campaign about “truth,” which the copy said is both “hard to find” and “more important than ever.” In a new video released yesterday to promote its presence at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the National Rifle Association pretty much recreated the Droga spot with its own spin not long after Donald Trump specifically referenced the work in a tweet calling it “bad.”

So let us look at the accusation here. The ad seems to imply that “media elites” have sparked the “fire” currently consuming our “times” by failing to report on the things mentioned in the video compilation like the rise of the tea party movement, international terrorism, economic uncertainty at home and gun violence in Chicago.

That’s how we read it, at least. But the NYT, along with many other publications, reported on all those things—just as the same outlets carried stories on the vast majority of the 78 terrorist attacks that White House called “underreported” earlier this month. This isn’t really approaching a rational argument. It’s more of an emotional appeal telling viewers that they should trust a professional advocacy group over a news organization. Wonder how they feel about the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times?

In a totally unforeseen coincidence, this video echoes an interview by the official White House stenographers at Breitbart, who ran headlines this week about Trump calling the NYT “so evil and so bad” and adding, “The stories are wrong in many cases, but it’s the overall intent.” Trump then referred to more than a dozen women who came out before the election and the Billy Bush tape to claim that he had sexually harassed or assaulted them in the past. He has not made good on his subsequent threats to sue them all.

It’s almost like the guy—who famously cited “an extremely credible source” to tell the world that Barack Obama’s birth certificate was fake and complained about anonymous leaks hours after his own team briefed journalists on condition of anonymity—just can’t handle negative feedback.

Good thing he doesn’t work in advertising!

Droga5 Cracks Open Its First Work for Best Damn Brewing

Last August, A-B InBev selected Droga5 to handle creative duties for its growing Best Damn Brewing Co. alcopop line, with the agency resigning work on Heineken’s Newcastle and Strongbow Cider brands in the process.

Now Droga5 has debuted its first work for the brand, introducing Best Damn Cream Soda and Best Damn Sweet Tea with its “These are the Best Damn Times” campaign, built around two 30-second and one 15-second spots.

The campaign is a “kind of refresh” which will see the brand “offer another flavor in the flavor war of hard sodas,” Best Damn Brewing Co. senior director Kathy Sattler told Adweek. “The consumer for this is someone who is really motivated by flavor [and something] new, so we’re putting out new versions and new flavors and options for them to choose.”

Translation: The consumer for this is someone in their young twenties who wants an alcoholic beverage that tastes like soda.

“Literally” introduces the approach and is constructed around the all-too-common misuse of that word. When a young guy says he’s “literally” so hungry he could eat a horse, a black-and-white portrait is quick to correct him. Best Damn Cream Soda, on the other hand, is literally aged on vanilla beans. As it so happens, another portrait was hungry enough to eat his horse.

The 15-second “Moving,” which introduces Hard Sweet Tea (eew), unfortunately, is built around the same premise — as applied to “literally” dying from the pressures of moving. “Selfies,” meanwhile, sees a group of portraits express their disdain for a group of youngsters’ incessant need to photograph themselves.

“We’re building a brand platform,” Sattler added. “Best Damn is going to have hard sodas, we have fruit brews, and at the end of March, we’re going to do a pilot, and we’ll have [a hard] sweet tea. So what’s very exciting for Anheuser Busch is that we’ve come across a brand platform that can continuously meet the needs of people looking for a change of pace.”

Credits:
Client: BEST DAMN Brewing Co./Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
Campaign: These are the BEST DAMN times.
Agency: Droga5 NY
Creative Chairman: David Droga
Chief Creative Officer: Ted Royer
Executive Creative Director: Matt Ian
Senior Copywriter: Nicholas Bauman
Senior Art Director: Sean Park
Copywriter: Kathryn Kvas
Art Director: Vignesh Seshadri
Chief Creation Officer: Sally-Ann Dale
Co-Director of Film Production: Jesse Brihn
Co-Director of Film Production: Bryan Litman
Senior Producer, Film: Bill Berg
Producer, Film: Jacob Vogt
Music Supervisor: Ryan Barkan
Music Supervisor: Michael Ladman
Associate Director, Business Affairs: Librado Sanchez
Business Manager, Integrated Production: Grant Thompson
Director of Art Production: Cliff Lewis
Producer, Art: Frannie Schultz
Global Chief Strategy Officer: Jonny Bauer
Co-head of Strategy: Harry Román-Torres
Strategy Director: Nick Maschmeyer
Senior Communications Strategist: Michael Pignone
Account Director: Stephanie Thiel
Account Manager: Tori Tessalone
Senior Project Manager: Joe Watana
Project Manager: Tessa Muchura
Associate Legal Counsel: Erica Palaia

Client: BEST DAMN Brewing Co./Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
VP of BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Rashmi Patel
Sr. Director, BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Kathy Sattler
Sr. Associate Brand Manager BEST DAMN Brewing Co.: Marni Baron
Sr. Manager, Insights Anheuser-Busch, Inc.: Van Blackwood

Production Company: HUNGRY MAN
Director: Conor Byrne
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Kevin Byrne
Executive Producer/Director of Sales: Dan Duffy
Executive Producer: Mino Jarjoura
Executive Producer: Caleb Dewart
Executive Producer/HOP: Jacki Sextro
Producer: Tyler Byrne
Production Supervisor: Chad Alburtis

Editorial: Cosmostreet
Editor: Aaron Langley
Editor: Craig Deardorff
Assistant Editor: David Otte
Executive Producer: Maura Woodward
Producer: Luiza Naritomi

Post Production: Eight VFX
Executive Producer: Alyssa St. Vincent
VFX Supervisor: Yannick Leblanc
Flame Lead: Luc Job
On Set VFX Supervisor: Kathy Siegel
VFX Producer: Michael McCarthy
VFX Coordinator: Patricia Burgess
Color: Aline Sinquin

Music: duotone
Creative Director: Jack Livesey
Executive Producer: Ross Hopman
Producer: Giovanni Lobato

Sound: duotone audio post
Mixer: Andy Green
Executive Producer: Greg Tiefenbrun

Cards Against Humanity’s Founder Sent His New Game, About Hitler’s Enablers, to All 100 U.S. Senators

Three intrepid game designers just sent their latest board game, called Secret Hitler, to all 100 U.S. senators, because “although the game takes place in 1933, we thought you and your staff might found our game relevant as you negotiate the balance of power with the Trump White House.” Rarely does a targeted influencer giveaway…

Oscars Oops Could Spell Lasting Brand Damage for PricewaterhouseCoopers


It was the blunder heard ’round the world.

At Sunday’s Academy Awards, presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway mistakenly read the wrong Best Picture winner as “La La Land,” not “Moonlight,” after receiving the incorrect card on stage. The flub was quickly, if awkwardly, corrected, but it didn’t take long for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that has overseen the award process for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for eight decades, to emerge as a culprit.

Experts say the lasting brand damage for the New York-based firm, the world’s second largest by revenue, could be severe for a company that has built its reputation on accuracy.

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Watch Last Night's New Ads From Snickers, Swiffer, Walmart and More


Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new and trending TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention analytics from 10 million+ smart TVs. The New Releases here ran on TV for the first time yesterday. The Most Engaging ads are ranked by digital activity (including online views and social shares) over the past week.

Among the new releases, Snickers takes on medical malpractice as part of its continuing campaign that makes light of hunger-related screw-ups — this time a doctor accidentally sews his phone into a patient’s belly — while Swiffer commiserates with parents whose kids (no matter how adorable they are) track dirt into the house. And Walmart draws attention to its Walmart Academy training program; “It’s all part of our commitment to take care of the people who take care of you,” an announcer says in the feel-good spot.

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FX’s ‘Feud’ Already Plans Second Season: Charles and Diana

“Feud,” which is the brainchild of the prolific producer Ryan Murphy, is the latest limited series for a network that is intent on stockpiling them.

Diesel Is the Latest Brand Taking on Walls in Marketing With This Video by David LaChapelle


YouTube’s recap of 2016 is still racking up millions of views nearly two months after the year ended, according to the latest Viral Video Chart by Visible Measures. Its “YouTube Rewind: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge” made its 10th appearance on the chart in the week through Sunday.

But the rest of the chart included plenty of newcomers, including campaigns from Nissan, Diesel and LG.

As always the chart reflects both organic views, in which consumers intentionally watched videos from the campaign, and paid views, where marketers put ad budgets behind them,

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Maya Angelou’s Voice Infuses This Colorful, Empowering ‘This Girl Can’ Sequel to Get Women in Sports

Even in death, Maya Angelou is making ripples with her poetry. After her rich and nourishing vocal cameo in Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign last year, her voice returns to us as the backbone to “This Girl Can: Phenomenal Woman,” a Sport England ad meant to encourage more women to exercise. Created by FCB Inferno…

Calling All Marketing Technology Trailblazers


Do you know someone who is doing extraordinary work in the field of marketing technology?

Ad Age is seeking the digital transformers, data scientists and stack stars that fuel the world of marketing technology. Our new Marketing Tech Trailblazers list, publishing April 17, will recognize industry movers who are creating, collecting and harnessing data to create smart marketing. And we are seeking your help for nominations for this influential list.

You may nominate someone at a technology vendor who is offering cool new products and showing the industry how to use it in new ways; the digital technologist at a marketer who is doing outstanding work applying digital tools of the trade to smartly manage and grow the company’s business; the data and insights strategist at an ad or marketing agency who is applying those learnings to business and winning.

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