Hasta La Creative!

Data is the lifeblood of successful digital campaigns today and its use is nearly ubiquitous across major brands and agency partners. In fact, The Economist recently compared the value of data to that of oil.

But here’s the tricky thing: While everyone seems to be using data, very few marketers are fully confident in the transparency of their data partners. Moreover, many of them do not understand the origins of the segments they target.

These findings were revealed as part of a comprehensive research project fielded by Bazaarvoice Advertising in partnership with Ad Age. Through 300+ interviews with mid- to senior-level brand marketers, agency buyers, and media, we explored how digital marketers are viewing the impact and credibility of their data partnerships.

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Publicis Media shop Starcom USA has taken over Lionsgate’s nearly $400 million media account from incumbent GroupM’s Mindshare.

Mindshare had won Lionsgate’s consolidated media account in 2013 following a lengthy review after Lionsgate’s acquisition of Summit Entertainment. Summit had been a Mindshare client since 2007. Mindshare chose not to defend the account.

Lionsgate’s television division has produced and co-produced shows including “Orange Is the New Black” and “Mad Men,” and Lionsgate Films is the studio behind franchises like “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight.”

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Porn bots are the bane of many a Twitter user (or so we’ve heard), but Pornhub is hoping that its own artificial intelligence system can help it organize the user-generated content posted on its site.

The site’s AI system, reports Engadget, “will scrub through every frame of every video in its catalog. The system has been fed thousands of images of specific models and acts to create a database of names, faces and positions.” (Amateurs, notes Engadget, will remain anonymous.)

The data will then be “compared with the clips on Pornhub’s system to automatically tag and catalog all of its vast library of content,” Engadget says.

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Today is National Coming Out Day, and Grey has decided to celebrate by highlighting the personal journeys and experiences of the agency’s own members of the LGBTQ community in a film created with VideoOut, a library dedicated to LGBTQ coming-out stories.

The video, which went live today, features Grey New York employees sharing their own stories. This is the first time the WPP agency has commemorated National Coming Out Day, and the idea came from the Grey People’s Council, which includes three groups: Grey Pride, Famously Effective Women and InteGREYted.

People’s Council was founded in January 2016 and is “focused on embracing and encouraging all facets of diversity and inclusion within the agency,” says Debby Reiner, Grey New York CEO.

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Every weekday, we bring you the Ad Age/iSpot Hot Spots, new TV commercials tracked by iSpot.tv, the real-time TV ad measurement company with attention and conversion analytics from more than seven million smart TVs. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time yesterday.

A few highlights: VW promotes the Volkswagen Atlas feature of its Digital Cockpit as the ideal road-trip assistant. Xbox gets personal in a couple of spots for its “Middle-Earth: Shadow of War” game, directly addressing a couple of engrossed players named Jerry and Brian. And McDonald’s promotes its $2 McCaf offferings as perfect treats to consume during TV binge-watching sessions.

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In a year when Unilever thwarted an unsolicited takeover bid and Procter & Gamble Co. fended off (in preliminary results) an activist investor seeking a board seat, it’s clear the packaged-goods industry is a mess. Now, two longtime P&G agency hands have offered to help clean it up.

Cliff Francis and Vaughan Emsley, who headed, respectively, creative strategy and client service on the global P&G account at Saatchi & Saatchi from 2000 to 2015, have launched Cleanup on Aisle 7, a consultancy aimed at quick strategic and creative fixes for CPG players.

Emsley comes directly from heading strategy and client service at creative crowdsourcing shop Tongal, which he joined last year. He says he made the move to join his old friend and colleague Francis, now free from Saatchi contractual restrictions. They aren’t looking to displace or replace agencies, though Emsley says he may make referrals, including to Tongal, when clients want.

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(TrendHunter.com) In a way, the October 2017 timepiece trends are a beautiful example of a centuries old design concept. However, one might also argue that the entire concept of keeping time is in truth merely…

(TrendHunter.com) The top October 2017 wearable tech ideas include everything from wearable flashlights to pedestrian safety lights, as well as sensor-equipped space boots that have been designed to help with…

(TrendHunter.com) October 2017 personal care and beauty trends reveal the inclusion of traditionally “lowbrow” ingredients being used in upscale beauty items, as well as at-home tech based programs that…

The actor is convinced that typewriters are making a comeback.