As fallout from Facebook and Cambridge Analytica continues, marketers shrug


Though marketers such as Mozilla and Pep Boys have said they’re pulling spending on Facebook ads at least for now, advertisers across the board are more likely to keep buying there. They’re giving the social network the benefit of the doubt, calculating that its problems won’t taint them or both.

“We at Clorox stand by Facebook as an essential partner in building our brands,” Clorox Co. Chief Marketing Officer Eric Reynolds said in a statement. “We feel good about the steps Facebook is taking to protect people’s privacy and security and are confident it will continue to be aggressive in honoring its commitments to the Facebook community of advertisers and users above all else.”

Facebook has done “soul-searching” both over the last year and since the Cambridge Analytica reports came out this month, Reynolds says. Clorox trusts this will “galvanize the company to increase security further and safeguard people’s information on the platform it built with great love and care so it can be a force for good.”

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Watch the newest ads on TV from Dunkin' Donuts, Bud, Burger King and more


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 eight million smart TVs. The ads here ran on national TV for the first time yesterday.

A few highlights: Dunkin’ Donuts wants you to now that its Go2s deals are “made for go-getters.” Budweiser says “You don’t just drink Budweiser. You clench it. You spill it. You spray it. …” (At least while watching baseball.) And Burger King blindfolds some of its customers and asks them to do something a little weird. (Creativity Editor Ann-Christine Diaz shares a related ad and the backstory on the campaign: “Burger King stages a silly debate to debut its latest offering, the Sourdough King.”)

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Pasta Garofalo: Not Your Average Conductor

Video of Pasta Garofalo: Not Your Average… Conductor | Director’s Cut

Natural Leve: New Juice Refill

Natural Leve Outdoor Ad - New Juice Refill
Natural Leve Outdoor Ad - New Juice Refill

Natural Leve is a restaurant from Northeastern Brazil that offers, as a priority, healthy meals. However, besides offering a lighter lifestyle to its clients, it also encourages a change of habits. Therefore, it created the Juice Refill, whose purpose is to motivate people to give soft drinks the cold shoulder. That’s precisely what the new product’s launch campaign reinforces by insinuating that icons from the biggest fast food chains in the world, famous for their “free refill”, decided to make good use of the promotion and replace the soft drink with juice.

Adidas: Adidas Swimwear Collection – Boat

Henry Rollins and Mercedes Explore the Vulnerable Side of ‘Toughness’ in Branded Content Series

Warrior-poet Henry Rollins has long been known for both his tough, muscular facade and the emotionally complex creative soul within. Discovering fame as punk band Black Flag’s frontman, Rollins has since become a master of spoken word and storytelling. So while advertising pitchman might seem an odd fit at first for Rollins, it’s clear he…

How to Avoid ‘Fake News’ Claims in Your Social Marketing

Many debates have been sparked about the effect of fake news on the 2016 U.S. election. While not every American voter was exposed to fake news, the misleading posts certainly made an impact. Political scientists from Princeton University, Dartmouth College and the University of Exeter found that more than 27 percent of U.S. voters, or…

Amazon dumps D.C. lobbying firms in the wake of fresh attacks from Trump


Amazon.com has cut ties with two Washington lobbying firms and brought on new advisers following passage of the tax overhaul bill last year and in the face of new challenges in the age of President Donald Trump.

The shakeup occurred last Friday, a week before Trump briefly sent Amazon’s stock tumbling with a Twitter attack on the world’s largest online retailer. Trump charged that Amazon doesn’t pay enough in state and local sales taxes, hurts retailers and gets an unfair edge on the back of the U.S. Postal Service.

Amazon ended its relationship with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, the law firm that attracts more lobbying revenue than any other K Street operation, and Squire Patton Boggs, last Friday, according to a person familiar with the decisions. At the latter firm, Amazon’s lobbyists included former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott.

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Jaguar: I-PACE – 3am

Video of Jaguar I-PACE | 3am

Metamucil: Love Story Number Two

In this sequel to the hugely popular first installment about a poo meeting his stool-mate, a brown-nosing third character plops onto the scene, leaving Miss Metamucil and Nugget’s once-smooth relationship in sloppy state. But who gets dumped in this messy love triangle?

Video of Can Metamucil help Nugget and Gutsy push past their differences?

Diesel: Embrace It

Diesel Outdoor Ad - Embrace It
Diesel Outdoor Ad - Embrace It
Diesel Outdoor Ad - Embrace It

Channeling their rebellious and irreverent spirit, Italian clothing brand Diesel launched a new advertising campaign titled “Embrace It.” Focused on the tumult of today’s world—in particular, the Stormy Daniels/Donald Trump saga—the campaign encourages people to embrace the absurd and ride the chaos of life. The brand plans on launching different executions as more stories pop up.

Hausmann: Hausmann Stories

Hausmann Design Ad - Hausmann Stories

Create a memorable label for a new beer brand blood orange spa by Housman Brewery. We told a short story about its original taste, whose plot unfolded together with its label.

Video of Hausmann label idea

What Nike’s Analytics Platform Buy Says About the Future of Brand-Consumer Relationships

When Nike announced its acquisition of analytics platform Zodiac in March, it spoke in broad terms about its plans to build closer relationships with consumers. Nike and its agency of record declined comment, but bringing a predictive analytics firm in-house will undoubtedly help it crunch all the data it collects as it rolls out connected…

Does Cambridge Analytica Herald the Rock-Bottom of Digital Dystopia?

Tell the truth: You’re getting a bit bored of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica story. You’d rather it was over and done with so you can stop feeling guilty or spooked (or both) every time you go on Facebook. The saga continues to roll on. Every day seems to bring news of either another scandal or another…

Broadcast TV Needs to Utilize Big Data and Bond With Its Viewers Over Ads

Web browsers and mobile apps have been able to collect data for years–the proof is in the custom ads that pop out from the sidebars and banners, advertising everything from cheap flights to the trendiest shoes. Internet companies do this by gathering your browsing and search histories, which are then compiled and profiled into behavioral…

Ad Age Survival Summit: How prepared is your brand for crisis?


These are challenging times to be a brand. A single tweet, ill-advised ad, product snafu or sexual misconduct allegation can throw a company into an unexpected chaos. And it isn’t just the brands, but the executives behind them being taken to task.

On May 2 in Chicago, the Ad Age Survival Summit will bring together brands, marketers and PR experts to swap strategies for how to weather adversity.

We’ll address the breakneck pace of the news cycle and how easily situations can escalate with a panel of executives from Nestl Waters, The Kraft Heinz Co. and Apco Worldwide.

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Lacta: The Taste of Love

Lacta chocolate, a symbol for love in Greece, wanted to convey that without love, life is tasteless. A 73 minute branded film was produced and released online and aired on TV on Valentine’s Day, titled “The Taste of Love”. In it, Aris, a 48-year old lonely man, is living with a beautiful young girl that predicts and satisfies his every wish without ever wanting anything in return. Because she’s in fact an android robot, and the year is 2038. ELLi, has a perfect human body and features the most advanced Artificial Intelligence as well as access to all his data in the cloud, acting as the ideal personal assistant. Until one day, her operating system is accidentally updated with “Artificial Emotions”, and now she feels neglected and wants to find out all there is about love. Aris dismisses her, telling her that love is the worst thing that can happen to man, but when she presents him with a Lacta chocolate and asks him to describe its taste for her since she cannot eat, he succumbs and starts telling her a story that began 20 years ago, in Athens in 2018…

Lacta presents a film about what really makes us human, what separates Artificial Intelligence from human nature, and what is the true taste of love and power of forgiveness.

Video of Lacta – The Taste of Love – Trailer

Storytel: Audio Booth

Divination by books is a very popular entertainment in Russia. Its purport is to loudly ask any question and then open a book on a random page. The first line that a person reads is the answer to the question.

The telephone booth are also a popular and recognizable image, however it is almost impossible to see such a booth in the city now – they have disappeared long ago.

We connected this two old traditions in a new hypostasis – literary booth. Russian classics such as Pushkin, Chekhov, or Dostoevsky offered passersby to ask any question, and then responded with lines from their works. With the help of our action, we made a gift to the city – introduced the rich literary heritage and broadcast the opportunity to listen books in any, even the most unexpected place.

Just like audiobook service that we promoted!

Video of Literary Booth Case

Superior Customer Experiences Start With These 3 Things

In 1997, I was flying out to San Jose, Calif., to attend a meeting that could transform my career. Upon arriving at the airport, I realized I had left my suitcase on the Amtrak train I’d taken earlier. I can still recall the panic I felt in that moment. That suitcase had all of my…

Germany Made Some Bonkers Lotto Ads That Are Obsessed With Your Fingers

Lotto ads are a weird genre. They say as much about a culture and its dreams as they do about the agency making them. Leo Burnett Madrid’s Spanish lottery ad from 2016 emphasized community over money, a common theme for the Spanish lotto because small villages, enterprises and other groups often pool around the same…