Oprah Winfrey’s speech after accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award dominated conversation on Facebook and Twitter during the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards Sunday night. At the time of this post, the video of the speech, shared via the Golden Globes Facebook Watch page, had been viewed nearly 24 million times and shared over 400,000…
After serving 10 years as GroupM’s U.K. CEO, Nick Theakstone is being repositioned to the newly created role of global chief investment officer at the WPP-owned media investment management company. Theakstone will be succeeded in his previous position by Tom George, who most recently was chairman for MEC’s U.K. and Northern Europe division and its…
On a night when Hollywood tried to affirm a commitment to respecting women after decades of the opposite, it was bizarre to see a L’Or?al commercial that likened a famous actress’ career to damaged hair. Even more strange, perhaps, was that a vocal minority of viewers seemed to love the spot–even as it was being…
Twitter used a tried-and-true public-relations tactic late last week: If you have an announcement that people are not going to like, release it late on a Friday. President Donald Trump’s tweet last Tuesday taunting North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un and reminding him that the U.S. possesses a “nuclear button,” as well, sparked outrage,…
The Golden Globes was, probably unsurprisingly, a hot topic on social media last night. Overall the awards show drew 3.3 million tweets, beginning Sunday and carrying through into the early hours of Monday morning. The evening was dominated by women calling for an end to sexual harassment in their acceptance speeches (although no men mentioned…
The entire month of January is like one long hangover from the holidays. For this reason, it’s probably apt that the first ad campaign I’m writing up this year revolves around gifts, if outside the boundaries of the season. In Prada’s “The Postman’s Gifts,” Elijah Wood stars in a series of Autumn de Wilde-directed films…
Media giant Viacom is dipping its toes in the influencer marketing waters, announcing an agreement Monday to acquire Whosay. Terms of the transaction were not revealed, nor were any plans to reduce headcount at the New York-based influencer marketing shop. The two companies have a history together, as Whosay has worked with Viacom on more…
As consulting firms continue to move aggressively into ad agencies’ territory (with major players including Accenture, Deloitte, IBM and PricewaterhouseCoopers), WPP has come back to assert its dominance through Kantar, its data and investment division. Combining four of its existing brands–Kantar Added Value, Kantar Futures, Kantar Vermeer and Kantar Retail–the company officially streamlined its consulting…
This year, several major tech companies are planning to debut next-generation virtual-reality hardware, promising to be cheaper–and less tethered–than anything currently on the market. Meanwhile, media and tech companies are racing to create content that people actually want to watch. “I think it’s a content play,” said Intel CMO Steve Fund. “There is not enough…
This week, Las Vegas will become “the world’s gathering place” for consumer technologies. Spanning 11 venues and a whopping 2.5 million square feet, this year’s CES will draw an estimated 170,000 people, including major players from tech giants, heads of startups and renowned tech journalists, all flocking to Sin City to take a peak at…
Each January, tech experts at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas peer into their crystal balls and declare that “this is the year of something.” For about 10 years, it was the “year of mobile.” After that it was the “year of connected cars,” which was then eclipsed by “the year of smart devices.”…
Drink water, snap a photo and help up-and-coming female directors? That’s the proposition Fiji Water has set up for stars during tonight’s Golden Globes and the awards season at large. For every star photographed sipping Fiji Water during tonight’s Golden Globes red carpet–and upcoming awards shows like the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Screen Actors Guild…
Last year was supposed to be a big year for Twitter TV. The social platform inked numerous deals–from business news video content like Cheddar and Bloomberg to sporting events like National Football League games–but one of the most compelling arguments was that there was prime opportunity for awards shows, pop culture’s catnip, to tap into…
In this simple yet stirring animated fairy tale for flower delivery service Interflora, Danish agency Brandhouse tells a love story that might just melt your heart (among other things). Set deep in a magical, frosty forest as the frigid weather wanes, King Winter–a bearded hunk (of snow and ice) with sad eyes–become smitten with Mother…
It’s no secret that Facebook is a great way for retailers to target and reach audiences. In a blog post published today, Facebook details just how well holiday campaign ads worked for retailers. Overall, Facebook saw online mobile (versus desktop) conversions increase 64 percent on Cyber Monday. From Facebook’s perspective, the success is due to,…
As of Thursday, patrons of Dunkin’ Donuts could step into the shops and behold a small miracle–racks and racks of those dizzyingly colorful donuts, all of them chemical free. After much work, the donut chain finally gave the boot to artificial coloring (though some limited-edition donuts may still contain it). “Eliminating artificial dyes from our…
For decades, women’s stories of harassment, assault, rape and abuse have been met with the same phrase: “He said. She said.” Four words that may seem like they’re intended to balance a story have been manipulated and used to upend countless accounts of wrongdoings. In a beautifully simple new 30-second spot, which will debut Sunday…
When the 75th Golden Globe Awards airs this Sunday, movie buffs will be treated to a wonderful blast from the past, courtesy of Culligan Water. The brand decided to retire its 59-year-running “Hey Culligan Man” ads in favor of an ad that nods to cult-favorite film, The Princess Bride, in the best way possible–with a…
After more than two and a half years of legal developments, holding company Omnicom has reached a settlement in a discrimination suit brought by a now-former employee of its agency DDB. The case went through a series of dramatic turns, including a dismissal by a U.S. District Court Judge in 2016, before the plaintiff successfully…
You know you have a good advert on your hands when organizations similar to yours, thousands of miles away, want to pick it up and run it. That’s the case with “I Will Survive,” a PSA released in early 2017 by Ireland’s government heath service, the HSE. The minute-long spot, which shows people lip-syncing to…
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