Officials from Canada have concluded that Facebook “committed serious contraventions of Canadian privacy laws” when the personal data of more than 87 million worldwide users (and 622,000 Canadians) was leaked and leveraged by Cambridge Analytica. Canada’s Office of the Privacy Commissioner said today that it planned to take Facebook to federal court and seek an…
Nearly 60 years ago, Londoners were agog at a prototype on display at the Second Automatic Vending Machine Exhibition. It was called the Evva Whisky Vending Machine and, as the name suggested, it used technology to replace the bartender. Drop a few coins in the slot, make your selection (whiskey and soda, or just whiskey…
The direct-to-consumer (DTC) craze has birthed businesses that have challenged the mattress marketplace, the eyeglass shopping experience, options for luggage and sneaker selections, among many other sectors. But rarely has it come for one specific category: your groceries. Magic Spoon, a DTC company that launched earlier this month, is changing that. The company sells cereals…
Verizon is expanding internship program AdFellows, its paid fellowship that allows participants to explore working in a variety of roles at Verizon and its agency partners, to two more brands–American Express and AB InBev will now be full members of the program. Verizon announced the expansion as this year’s group of 29 fellows–that’s up from…
Holding company WPP released its annual report for investors on Tuesday, and several insights stand out among the voluminous documents laying out the holding company’s strategy for 2019 and beyond. Key among them: WPP sees consultancies like Deloitte and Accenture as key competitors, even as the latter faces a multimillion-dollar lawsuit from a client claiming…
It’s a legendary slice of a sales exec’s or adman’s life on the road–sealing a deal over cocktails at the hotel bar. As far back as anyone can remember, road warriors have used the bar off the lobby to conduct business, often over a martini. Actually, make that two or three martinis. But a new…
Hertz, one of the world’s largest rental car brands, is suing former marketing partner Accenture LLP for breach of contract, claiming the company failed to deliver when Hertz hired it to redesign its website and mobile apps. In a lawsuit filed on April 19 in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New…
Any internet user, regardless of ad-tech savvy, can use ads.txt to see which ad networks are keeping the lights on for publishers across the internet–and that includes some of the most controversial corners. Breitbart’s file, for example, reveals a slew of ad-tech companies (including a few industry bigwigs, like AppNexus) vying to emblazon themselves across…
In a mashup of much-hyped technologies, British wireless carrier EE Limited used artificial intelligence and 5G wireless service to turn a computer-generated Instagram influencer into a virtual fashion stylist for this year’s British Academy of Film Awards. Helmed by agency Poke London, the campaign starred an Instagram model persona called Shudu–one of a growing crop…
H&M may be known as a fast fashion brand, but it’s also becoming a pioneer in transparency. Today, the Swedish-based retailer said that beginning Tuesday, it will list the supplier or factories where a garment was made on H&M’s website. The supplier information is not only arriving on H&M’s website but will also be available…
Ad-tech company Broadsign announced the acquisition of cloud-based platform Ayeda today. The partnership of the two Montreal-based companies promises to bring a more streamlined media, marketing and sales management platform to publishers thinking of stretching their digital offerings out of the home (OOH) and into the streets. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. In…
A killer asteroid is a bigger threat to the world than climate change. And all that alarmist talk about melting polar ice caps? It’s a scam perpetuated by the liberal media and the celebrity elite. Anyway, if the Earth ever becomes too unlivable, “There are other planets.” This is the kind of chatter that happens…
This February, MedMen released the first commercial for cannabis. The two-minute spot, a collaboration between director Spike Jonze, actor Jesse Williams, MedMen’s internal creative team and creative shop Mekanism, chronicled the history of cannabis, documenting everything from George Washington to criminalization to the future prospect of cannabis as a burgeoning industry. Today, the company released…
Sizmek has agreed to sell its data management and demand-side platforms to Zeta Global in a deal that will see the latter pay up to $36 million for the assets. The proposed private sale was announced late on Friday afternoon. If accepted as part of Sizmek’s Chapter 11 filing, Zeta Global, which has been on…
Kraft Heinz is getting a new chief executive. Today, the company announced that Miguel Patricio will take over for its current CEO Bernardo Hees this summer. Patricio comes from Anheuser-Busch after spending two decades at the company, which also has ties to 3G Capital. Most recently, he was on the executive team in a variety…
Most people have experienced the brand and agency case study. Most of the time, the focus is on the “what” of the project–the process, work and results. Often, audiences aren’t treated to the “why” behind certain decisions. At Design Week Portland, experiential agency Manifold recently shared an experiential project with their client, High West Whiskey…
Monday is the most environmentally friendly day of the year–it’s Earth Day, the holiday dedicated to honoring our planet and pushing for people to take better care of it. And with talk around climate change and a Green New Deal hitting a fever pitch, this year’s Earth Day is sure to resonate more than ever….
Entrepreneurs like to talk about “white space,” those spots in the market where there’s a need for a product and yet, somehow, incredibly, nobody has thought to make it yet. There’s no single good way to identify white space, of course, but Kyle Groth is happy to tell you how he found his. It was…
It was meant to celebrate the heroism of photographers who brave international hotspots to capture the plight of victims. Instead, it became a victim of modern-day political tensions over an event that captivated the world’s attention 30 years ago. Leica’s five-minute short film “The Hunt” from agency F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi in Brazil tells the…
Beer doesn’t grow on trees, but one brewer wants you to appreciate them anyway. Just in time for Earth Day, Busch and the National Forest Foundation (NFF) have published a book about America’s trees. The hard-cover coffee table book, made of recycled paper, showcases about two dozen trees in an effort to raise money for…
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