Hasta La Creative!

Wendy’s has a, um, beef to pick with McDonald’s, so it’s calling out its biggest competitor on the ad world’s biggest stage.

The chain said it will return to the Super Bowl on Sunday with a shade-filled message squarely pitting its square burgers against McDonald’s.

McDonald’s is set to nationally introduce fresh beef patties for some of its burgers this year, but Wendy’s says it always has used fresh beef for all of its burgers. Wendy’s, already well known for bringing the heat on social media, is bringing the message to TV.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

M&C Saatchi is backing a new production company that will feature an all-women roster of directors.

The two actors will join Robin Wright for the political thriller’s final season, after Kevin Spacey was fired over allegations of sexual misconduct.

-Leo Burnett Toronto launched a “We All Play For Canada” Olympic campaign for Canadian Tire, including a spot featuring Wayne Gretzky, the Wayne Gretzky of hockey (video above).

–Andrew Panay spills the beans on Microsoft agency BLK-Ops.

-Adweek lists “5 Ads You Don’t Want to Miss During Super Bowl LII.”

-Millions of Twitter followers vanished in recent days amidst inquiries into fake followers.

-Dallas-based Medieval Times is replacing its kings with queens as part of a new plot. But are there any women knights? #feminism

-Facebook is banning ads for cryptocurrencies.

-The Drum takes a look at why some brands are sitting out Super Bowl LII.

Amazon on Wednesday rolled out its full Super Bowl spot, and the marketer clearly went all in–buying 90 seconds of airtime and roping in numerous celebrities for what has turned out to be one of the more entertaining spots released so far. As hinted at in the teaser, the plot involves Alexa–the voice assistant on…

Last Saturday’s story in The New York Times, The Follower Factory, further exposed the serious issue of fraud that lurks within the influencer space on Twitter and other platforms, as well. The story outed Devumi, a company with a fake Manhattan address that appears to make its money by generating fake followers for social media…

In 2016, Americans ate about 14 billion hamburgers, 1.3 billion wings and guzzled 51.7 million cans of beer, according to the National Restaurant Association. This year’s 1.35 billion wings is the equivalent of placing 625 wings on every seat in all 32 NFL stadiums said the National Chicken Council. But not all snacks are created…

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Keanu Reeves surfs on a motorcycle in Squarespace’s Super Bowl ad. That’s just about it. He also recites some words of encouragement while he’s up there.

Reeves, who uses Squarespace to host the site for his company Arch Motorcycle, performed the stunt himself, according to the company.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

NFL ratings were down 10 percent this season, but NBC Sports execs haven’t given up hope of topping their own Super Bowl viewership record–114.4 million tuned in to watch Super Bowl XLIX in 2015, the last time it aired on NBC–during Sunday’s game. “We love having the record; we would love to break our own…

Next on Amazon’s list of industries to disrupt: health care. The ecommerce giant announced a new venture with Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to figure out a new health-care solution for their employees. The new company will focus on the effort and be “free from profit-making incentives and constraints.” Several health-care and retail…