Hasta La Creative!

The advertising world loves big, shiny, techy things. Agency and client ears perk right up when they hear about virtual reality kiosks, gadget-filled activations and holograms of dead rock stars. But then there are the tech innovations that sound a bit, or a lot, less sexy. Things like deep learning.

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that essentially teaches computers to find patterns in sounds, images and other data. And while that may not seem like much fun to your average social marketer or copywriter, the tech giantsthe Facebooks, Apples, Googles, Netflixes, Microsofts and Baidus of the worldare investing massive sums of money in it. For instance, Google reportedly spent more than $500 million to acquire deep learning firm DeepMind in 2014. Baidu, the Chinese smartphone giant, runs deep learning and artificial intelligence-centric R&D centers in Silicon Valley and Beijing. Apple hires deep learning experts at fever pitch.

Why the frenzy? Deep learning technology lets you unlock your phone with your thumbprint. It enables Facebook and government agencies to identify your face in pictures. And it helps Siri and Alexa understand just what the hell you’re saying. Advertisers are experimenting with using deep learning to count how many passersby stare at billboards. The self-driving cars that we’re told are just around the corner rely on deep learning to avoid hitting other cars. Or people.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Ahead of its season two debut, the Bravo series Imposters is getting the SXSW treatment. Fans of the show, which follows the story of Maddie, a persona-shifting con artist and the trio of her recent, heart-broken victims. In Austin, Bravo partnered with Priv to give fans make-up touch-ups and manicures. Guests can also take photos…

What will cities of the near future look like when buildings, cars, people and a whole slew of other things can communicate with each other? Earlier this month, tech companies and telecoms at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, tried to answer that question, showing off their plans for 5G–a next-generation wireless network that will…

ABC’s surprise revival of American Idol, which had ended its run on Fox in 2016 after 15 seasons, dominated last May’s broadcast upfront week. While ABC touted the pickup as a great fit for its network, its rivals publicly questioned the economics of the move. “The price is so expensive, you need a 35 share…

The best way to survive a brand crisis is to start planning before the crisis hits. Get your plans in order Each crisis may come as a surprise, but your response should not be. Smart organizations have a crisis management plan in place that involves every aspect of the organization–including HR, legal and technical. “Ninety-five…

The Advertising Association, Nabs and Wacl have joined forces to launch a new initiative called timeTo to address the problems of sexual harassment in the advertising industry.

Minutos antes de Rohit Bhargava subir no palco pra começar a sua palestra “7 Tendências Não-Óbvias Que Vão Mudar o Futuro”, o Ballroom D do Austin Convention Center tinha vindo abaixo com a aparição surpresa de Elon Musk. Recebido como popstar pela platéia, o CEO da Tesla Motors estava ali para divulgar o documentário sobre …

O post SXSW 2018: 7 tendências nada óbvias que vão mudar o futuro apareceu primeiro em B9.

No primeiro dia do SXSW 2018 eu assisti o painel da Christiane Amanpour (Que a Juliana Wallauer comentou aqui), no qual ela foi aplaudida algumas vezes – no meio de frases, inclusive – enquanto falava de alguns insights e pensamentos (corretos, na minha opinião) sobre algumas das preocupações atuais do mundo, como relações internacionais e …

O post SXSW 2018 precisa trazer o outro lado para a festa apareceu primeiro em B9.

Nearly 20 percent of U.S. households now contain 10 or more connected devices, and as consumers increasingly work new communication tools into their daily lives, they are also demanding multichannel options when they need customer service and expect it to be faster and easier to use than ever. Not all companies, however, are meeting those…

A scandal-plagued former Tory politician banned for life in 2015 by his party has left his Unilever marketing job amid an internal investigation into sexual-harassment allegations by an unnamed contractor.

The original political scandal that engulfed Mark Clarke included allegations of sexual assault and harassment, bullying a young Conservative Party member who committed suicide and blackmailing fellow party members. Unilever officially declined to acknowledge his continued employment as senior director of marketing analytics in 2016, but he remained with the company until now. He worked on social-media analytics.

None of the allegations that fueled Clarke’s political scandal involved his Unilever work, but he now becomes the latest marketing-industry executive brought down in the global #MeToo wave of sexual-harassment allegations.

Continue reading at AdAge.com