After last week’s news that Facebook is revamping its News Feed, small businesses needed some good news from Facebook, and they received it in the form of an update on the Facebook Community Boost program, which was originally announced last November. Facebook Community Boost is aimed at helping small businesses in the U.S. grow and…
We’re getting pretty well-versed in testicular cancer awareness ads, and in the weird–sometimes creepy–ways associations find of getting people to do something we oddly all hate doing: checking ourselves regularly to ensure early prevention. Here’s the Colombian League Against Cancer’s approach. It might not be the most imaginative, but we like how the act of…
NBC News is still hoping to secure an interview with President Trump on Super Bowl Sunday, a tradition that goes back more than a decade. “Without getting into specifics, I can tell you that there have been conversations between NBC News and the White House about a conversation format, the timing, the location, those sorts…
Instagram’s latest update to its iOS and Android applications borrowed a feature from sister app Facebook Messenger. The app’s messaging feature, Instagram Direct, now includes activity status, which adds a line below user names sharing the last time those users have been online. Users can opt out of the feature, but should they do so,…
One of the neatest things about living outside the U.S. is discovering soccer culture, which is as strident and culturally charged as football is in America. On March 9, Italian club F.C. Inter Milan will turn 110 years old. To celebrate that historic benchmark, in November it launched “He110, this is Inter,” a massive project…
It looks like more laughs are coming to Super Bowl LII. “Saturday Night Live’s” Bill Hader will star in Pringles first-ever Super Bowl commercial, Jessica Wohl reports. The spot will highlight the idea of stacking various flavors of the snack to create unique flavor combos. Bacon-wrapped jalapeno popper anyone?
Going away
GoDaddy is foregoing the Super Bowl this year and instead will sponsor race-car driver Danica Patrick’s final races before she goes into retirement. GoDaddy had been known for its raunchy and risqu ads before it revamped its marketing strategy in 2013. CMO Barb Rechterman said GoDaddy is skipping the game in favor of more long-term opportunities. That may be true, but GoDaddy’s more recent Super Bowl ads have been less memorable than its raunchier tactics. Last year, GoDaddy brought the internet to life with a spot filled with nods to the web’s greatest hits. While it sat out of the 2016 game, in 2015 it stirred up some controversy with its lost-puppy ad depicting a puppy being sold online. It ultimately pulled that spot and replaced it with a much more mundane commercial featuring a guy working at a desk and a voice over.
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: Zaxby’s hypes its $5.99 Spicy Honey BBQ Boneless Wings Meal with the help of a silent woman (who’s apparently drooling, but let’s not dwell on that). Apple serves up a six-second spot that ran during “How to Get Away With Murder” on ABC, suggesting fans use Siri to get more information about the show. And AT&T promotes its upcoming “History By Us” initiative (“Black History Told By Those Making It”).
Happy Friday! The week started off with us remembering the legacy of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday and it will wind down tomorrow with the Women’s March in cities around the world. We expect to see lots of agencies supporting the cause with signs, t-shirts and more.
Now on to this week’s agency roundup.
Hey Mr. President!
Credit: Illustration by Tam Nguyen/Ad Age
The digital gold rush prompted by Bitcoin has some social media agencies heading “to the moon”cryptocurrency speak for whenever someone sees massive gains.
“One-hundred percent, influencers are being used to market these token sales,” says Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential, an agency that connects brands with influencers. “In the last eight months, it has become a common request for us. And yes, everyone is doing it.”
The host of “New Day” on CNN keeps a tight schedule to balance his work, life and being the parent of three young children.
Based on a real call, ING takes the pitfalls and drama of buying a home and turns it into an Indiana Jones-style adventure, that highlights the importance of having dedicated client relationships.
Based on a real call to ING Direct, the story of a man’s lost credit card and keys.
(TrendHunter.com) Portable gaming has become a mainstay part of the modern video game market, so this PSP concept by Hwan Kim identifies what can be done to make the process more immersive for users to enjoy. The…
Let’s share the video, light the trump candle and just wait for the meltdown. Join the movement. TheTrumpCandle.com
To increase footfall at Bulgaria Mall during Christmas period, we created a giant AR Advent Calendar. Mall visitors who scanned the calendar, could win a Xmas gift from mall tenants and interact with unique animations, each day till Christmas.
Oppikoppi is a beloved South African festival that takes place at what is affectionately known as ‘The Dust Bowl’ in Limpopo. The festival is all about community and great local and international music so in 2017 Jägermeister unveiled the MeisterHaus – an orange German house that stands tall amongst the fever trees, a place where festival goers can escape the heat with an Ice Cold Shot, enjoy a lime infused Jäger cocktail or just chill out and listen to the uplifting sounds Jägermeister Brass Cartel.
The convention for brands at events is a community manager on site doing basic communication and an after-movie showing the highlights of the event. There is a distinct lack of consistency in quality and narrative between the on-the-ground content and the after event content. Jägermeister wanted to change this – taking a production team to Oppikoppi to create high quality production value content on the ground. Creating content that moves at the speed of the feed and culture.
To close the gap between on-the-ground and post-event content, we released high-quality production from the event in less than half an hour of its recording. That meant that excellent content was published instantaneously, keeping the relevance current and avoiding the inevitable post-event fatigue. Throughout the festival the videos were filmed, edited and posted on the same day, making those who couldn’t be there feel directly involved through our all-access content.
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