Campaign’s School Reports are out, so which agencies impressed us, why do some agencies score themselves so much higher than we do, and what does it all mean for the state of our industry?
Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. What people are talking about today: President Trump surprised his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron by brushing a bit of alleged dandruff off the Frenchman’s stylish suit a meme-worthy moment that inspired a lot of armchair psychology. Was it a put-down? A power play? Or just an affectionate gesture capturing their bromance for the cameras? (Hmm.) Obviously, Head & Shoulders found something to say about this on Twitter. The Procter & Gamble brand made a GIF of someone packing anti-dandruff shampoo in a crate to be shipped to the French Embassy. “Whether you’re meeting the president or on your first date, we believe everyone should be 100% flake-free,” it wrote. In a fraught political moment, it isn’t easy to find the right tone for this kind of thing, and Head & Shoulders played it safe. There were snarkier jokes to be made. Maybe Saturday Night Live will make them.
‘Groundhog Day’
“In a scene that could be taken straight out of the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ YouTube will once again find itself having to quell advertisers’ fears during its NewFront presentation next week,” writes Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi in her preview of the event. That’s because YouTube is facing flak over brand safety, which is exactly what happened last year before the Google-owned video platform made its big pitch to advertisers. CNN Money reported last week that ads from over 300 companies and organizations were showing up on channels featuring unsavory content including white nationalist messages, conspiracy theories and North Korean propaganda. Google’s VP of agency and media solutions talked to Poggi about its brand safety efforts: “I think everyone appreciates this is a journey, but clients feel good about the progress.”
360i is elevating president Jared Belsky to CEO and making current CEO Sarah Hofstetter the agency’s chair. Bryan Wiener, who had held the chairman role, is leaving to become comScore’s chief executive after 13 years of leadership at the agency.
The Dentsu Aegis Network-owned shop which works with clients including HBO, National Geographic, Chili’s and DSW in late March also shifted CMO Abbey Klaassen to president of the agency’s New York headquarters.
Belsky joined 360i in 2008 as managing director of the Atlanta office and has been president since 2013. Hofstetter has been at the agency for more than a decade, and has held the CEO title for nearly five years.
The Financial Conduct Authority has revived its surreal PPI campaign with two new online films featuring its Arnold Schwarzenegger character going back in time.
With Avengers: Infinity War out tomorrow, Disney is once again going to town with its brand partnerships as it seeks to maximise the mileage of the superhero crew.
(TrendHunter.com) It’s no secret that the smartphone has surged past traditional PCs and laptops in terms of popularity for everyday tasks like browsing and social networking, so the conceptual MacBook X…
The complexities of the digital world are prompting many advertisers to rethink how they plan and buy media. MediaCom’s Nick Lawson explains how media agencies should respond.
The Campaign Big Awards, now in its tenth year and being co-chaired by Sir John Hegarty and Chaka Sobhani, is now open for entry.
Welcome to Campaign’s weekly round-up of the hires, departures and promotions across the industry.
Understanding creativity and people is at the heart of great marketing, but the brand owners that succeed are those who recognise that it is also a science, Ebiquity’s chief executive argues.
The time has come for augmented reality to move beyond bite-sized fun activations and towards everyday utility that consumers depend and rely on, finds a trends report released by Mindshare and Zappar.
The IPA has called for a moratorium on micro-targeted political advertising following the recent data scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica.
Pladis, the owner of the UK’s top biscuit brand McVitie’s, has appointed Dmitry Ivanov to the newly-created position of chief commercial officer.
High-profile figures from the world of film will join PR and advertising experts as speakers at next week’s must-attend Brand Film Festival London.
Nabs has appointed a new president as demands for its services reach six-year high.
Kraft Heinz makes Kraft macaroni and cheese, Jell-O desserts, Maxwell House coffee, Heinz ketchup, Oscar Mayer cold cuts and Kool-Aid flavored drink mixes. But it’s been lacking in cookies, until now.
The company, formed in 2015 out of the merger of two food giants, just launched its first cookie brand, and it was created for China. The brand name is Kraft Jif Jaf, the mascots are quirky personified cookies with big eyes, and the products include wafers and chocolate sandwich cookies with fillings in unusual flavors like matcha tea, chili and cheese. (Cheese-and-chocolate sounds weirder than it is: Ad Age did a taste test, and the filling is overpowered by the chocolate biscuit. There’s a faint cheesy tang when you sniff it, though.)
Oreo redux?
Another NewFronts, yet another brand-safety scandal.
In a scene that could be taken straight out of the movie “Groundhog Day,” YouTube will once again find itself having to quell advertisers’ fears during its NewFront presentation next week. The Google-owned video behemoth enters the pitch-a-palooza after reports surfaced last week that it ran ads from over 300 companies and organizations on extremist channels that promote white nationalists, conspiracy theories and North Korean propaganda, among others.
Certainly, YouTube is familiar with this song and dance. In the weeks leading up to the 2017 NewFronts, a bevy of advertisers including AT&T and Walmart boycotted the company when it was discovered their ads were showing up on racists and terrorist videos.
Without a good culture you won’t have a chance at long-term success, says MediaCom’s chief transformation officer.
(TrendHunter.com) These examples of alcoholic beverage packaging range from coaster-infused wine bottles to glowing gin labels. When it comes to packaging, more and more alcohol brands are embracing solutions that…
Ms. Reid, a MSNBC host who apologized in December for old anti-gay posts, said newly surfaced writings were an effort by hackers “to taint my character.”
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