Hasta La Creative!

As Viacom leans heavily into digital content production to reinvent its networks, including MTV and Comedy Central, for younger viewers, it’s giving “Jersey Shore” its own YouTube channel.

Viacom is rebranding its Awestruck YouTube channel, which caters to millennial moms, to a dedicated “Jersey Shore” hub, the company announced during the Digital Content NewFronts West taking place in Los Angeles this week. The Awestruck channel currently boasts nearly 820,000 subscribers.

MTV revived “Jersey Shore” earlier this year, with the premiere becoming the highest-rated unscripted cable series debut in the 18-34 demographic since 2012.

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Less than 48 hours after its release by the Fire Ted Cruz PAC, an ad titled “Is Ted Cruz ‘Tough As Texas’?” has gone viral, closing in on nearly a million views on YouTube alone.

Directed by Houston-based filmmaker Richard Linklater (“Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Boyhood,” etc.), it’s a breath of fresh air for a few reasons: First, it’s unlike most of the political attack ads flooding the airwaves and social media these days, in that it’s entirely understated (no menacing soundtrack or quick-cut montage of a politician looking shady here). It’s perfectly cast. And, well, it’s just really funny (particularly at the very end).

In the 30-second spot, an elderly Texas manSonny Carl Davis, who also appeared in Linklater’s 2011 film “Bernie”sits in a coffeshop and says “Somebody left something on my door the other day. It said ‘Ted Cruz: Tough as Texas.’ He breaks into a laugh and adds, “I mean, come on. If somebody called my wife a dog and said my daddy was in on the Kennedy assassination, I wouldn’t be kissing their ass.” (He’s referencing, of course, things that Donald Trump said in 2016 on the campaign trail.) Davis is obviously getting worked up and at this point his laughter morphs into anger as he continues: “You stick a finger in their chest and give ’em a few choice words. Or you drag their ass out by the woodshed and kick their ass, Ted.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Less than 48 hours after its release by the Fire Ted Cruz PAC, an ad titled “Is Ted Cruz ‘Tough As Texas’?” has gone viral, closing in on nearly a million views on YouTube alone.

Directed by Houston-based filmmaker Richard Linklater (“Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Boyhood,” etc.), it’s a breath of fresh air for a few reasons: First, it’s unlike most of the political attack ads flooding the airwaves and social media these days, in that it’s entirely understated (no menacing soundtrack or quick-cut montage of a politician looking shady here). It’s perfectly cast. And, well, it’s just really funny (particularly at the very end).

In the 30-second spot, an elderly Texas manSonny Carl Davis, who also appeared in Linklater’s 2011 film “Bernie”sits in a coffeshop and says “Somebody left something on my door the other day. It said ‘Ted Cruz: Tough as Texas.’ He breaks into a laugh and adds, “I mean, come on. If somebody called my wife a dog and said my daddy was in on the Kennedy assassination, I wouldn’t be kissing their ass.” (He’s referencing, of course, things that Donald Trump said in 2016 on the campaign trail.) Davis is obviously getting worked up and at this point his laughter morphs into anger as he continues: “You stick a finger in their chest and give ’em a few choice words. Or you drag their ass out by the woodshed and kick their ass, Ted.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

As the great philosopher James Tiberius Kirk once said: “There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves.” This week, Banksy must surely be wondering if he has fueled the very machine of late-stage capitalism that he famously despises. The iconic street…

After starting her career as an assistant working in the fashion closet of Teen Vogue, Lindsay Peoples Wagner will return as the publication’s editor in chief. Peoples Wagner, currently fashion editor of New York Magazine and The Cut, will oversee the brand’s content platforms and expansion into experiential, including the Teen Vogue Summit. She starts…

These days, there’s no shortage of brands trying to outcompete each other and win the wallets of consumers–especially because with social media, companies of all sizes can now get their brand story out there with less marketing spend. Leesa Eichberger, head of brand marketing at Farmers Group, calls this phenomenon a “democratization in media.” So…

(TrendHunter.com) The Lighthouse Office has been designed by architects Kagan Taylor and Justin Rice of Knowhow Shop as an office space in their backyard to offer dedicated space for working on and showcasing their…

The Association of National Advertisers says the FBI has contacted its outside counsel to request cooperation of the trade association and its members in what it calls a “criminal investigation into media buying practices.”

The probe, first reported by the Wall Street Journal in September, claimed Havas SA is one advertising company under scrutiny, citing people familiar with the situation. News of the investigation came after years of industry claims about non-transparent practices in the media-buying industry, including a bombshell 2016 report from the ANA that claimed cash rebates and other non-transparent practices were pervasive in the U.S. media-buying ecosystem.

ANA CEO Bob Liodice emailed a letter Wednesday morning to its 2,000-strong membership saying the FBI contacted Reed Smith, the ANA’s outside counsel. In the letter ANA said that on advice of counsel it has agreed to “share information about potential next steps member companies can take with the FBI if they believe they have been victimized.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com