A massive outage affecting Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp on Wednesday and Thursday meant users of the platforms found themselves suddenly untethered from the endless and addictive social media scroll, unable to check their news feeds, send messages or upload new content for up to 24 hours. For some advertisers, the outage, which Facebook blamed on…
Denstu Aegis Network-owned Merkle has announced the promotion of Peter Randazzo to global chief technology officer from chief technology officer, product. The self-described technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency said the appointment comes as it expands the remit of its Enterprise Solutions Group, applying its product and platform operations across all of its global brands. Randazzo…
Mirum U.S., the WPP agency formed in 2015 via the consolidation of J. Walter Thompson’s global digital properties, has announced a series of key promotions following the recent departures of founder and former global CEO Dan Khabie, who resigned to pursue other opportunities in January, and global CMO John Baker. Baker, who just confirmed to…
If you happen to be a bank in the United States, you’ve got your work cut out for you. No, not in terms of making money: FDIC-insured banks’ Q4 net income rose $33.8 billion over the same period last year. The problem, of course, is image. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, financial services institutions…
As retailers of a certain age scramble to resonate with consumers in 2019, 57-year-old Kohl’s has implemented an interesting tactic: It is downsizing some stores and leasing or selling “underutilized square footage” to brands like discount grocer Aldi and gym chain Planet Fitness. In a January 2019 SEC filing, Kohl’s said it will close four…
Tech companies, facing intense scrutiny for the spread of misinformation about the safety of vaccinations on their platforms, on Wednesday received a letter from a leading medical professional organization imploring them to do more to address the issue. The letter, from the professional group the American Medical Association (AMA), begged executives like Amazon CEO Jeff…
W. Pendleton Tudor, one of the three executives who founded Adweek in 1979, died Tuesday in Montecito, Calif. His children Beth and Doug were with him. Tudor was 89 years old. A nationally recognized marketing and publishing executive, Tudor was born on March 5, 1930, and despite his courtly name, most everyone just called him…
The usual Super Bowl network rotation order–CBS, Fox and then NBC–is about to be shaken up. NBC and CBS have agreed to swap their next Super Bowl telecasts, which means that CBS will broadcast Super Bowl LV in 2021, and NBC will air Super Bowl LVI in 2022, Adweek has confirmed. The move allows NBCUniversal…
Struggling ad agency network MDC Partners announced the acquisition of This Also, a digital brand and product innovation studio in Brooklyn, for an undisclosed amount. The deal was led by Instrument, the Portland agency that MDC owned a 51 percent stake in as of last April. This Also, a 14-person agency founded in 2013, will…
Yext and Adobe are collaborating to give brands a tighter grip on their digital reputation. The partnership, which Yext announced Wednesday morning, will enable brands on Adobe’s platform to boost their data outside of their Adobe-hosted sites and across all of the properties under Yext’s purview, including dozens of search engines, mobile apps and voice…
Retailers and banks are sinking more money than any other industry into artificial intelligence capabilities, according to a new study from the International Data Corporation. The retail category as a whole will spend $5.9 billion this year on tools like automated customer service agents and product recommendation generators, while the banking sector is set to…
Less than four months after forming Wunderman Thompson from the merger of the world’s oldest creative shop, J. Walter Thompson, and direct marketing pioneer Wunderman, WPP has made another big agency move. The Seattle offices of Wunderman, Possible and Cole & Weber will join to become Wunderman Thompson Seattle in what is essentially an extension…
Finding the right products for your skin can be impossible if you don’t know what’s wrong with it. Now, L’Or?al believes it can help you solve that problem using technology and creating more personalized products for your skin. At South by Southwest, the beauty brand created a pop-up experience called Know Your Skin, where consumers…
Last April, Bed Bath & Beyond began to quietly expand the square footage of furniture displays (“vignettes,” it calls them) at its thousand-plus locations in North America. On a call with analysts, CEO Steve Temares explained that “the goal of this pilot includes raising awareness of our growing furniture business,” adding that the stores will…
Thirtieth birthdays often inspire celebration and introspection in equal measure and this is certainly true of the World Wide Web, which was first proposed by computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee on this day in 1989. In a blog post commemorating the anniversary, Berners-Lee outlined some of the 30-year-old web’s biggest problems, including: Malicious intent, which he…
For its spring campaign, MM.LaFleur, the direct-to-consumer women’s workwear brand, is playing a grown-up version of a childhood favorite: Mad Libs. But instead of creating the most ludicrous, laugh-out-loud story possible, filling in these blanks gives you an empowering story about the background and dreams of a few inspiring females, including Amy Sherald, who painted…
Sens. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) unveiled legislation today that would update and strengthen the two-decades-old Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998. Legislators have continually tried to improve COPPA, which prohibits tech companies from collecting location data and other personal information on children under the age of 13 without the consent of…
One year after Adweek sat down with Quiz Khalifa Scott Rogowsky to discuss HQ Trivia dictating when and how consumers use apps, Rogowsky is celebrating a new win–and an HQ landmark. On Sunday afternoon at Austin’s SXSW, he hosted the mobile trivia app’s first live gameshow. And while plenty of mobile fads end up being…
Mention Mars Inc. to your average consumer, and they might know the company makes popular candies like M&Ms and Starburst. It’s less likely they’ll know that Mars is also a big player in the pet-care industry, not just with brands like Iams and Pedigree but through chains of animal hospitals and emergency veterinary providers. And…
Microsoft is releasing a new set of artificial intelligence courses geared toward business leaders. The free instructional videos and case studies focus on the less technical aspects of the technology as it applies to top execs attempting to integrate AI, including strategy, company culture and ethical responsibilities, into their operations. They’re the latest in a…
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