Case study: Viral prank surprises shoppers by showing their ‘Disney side’
What happens when Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Ana, Elsa, Olaf, Cinderella, Buzz Lightyear and other Disney Characters magically surprise unsuspecting shoppers? This viral video from Disney caused a huge buzz in February 2015, getting 5 million YouTube views in the process....Video viral of the week: LateRooms ditches ‘unrealistic’ travel ads with £5m campaign
Hotel booking site LateRooms.com has launched its first TV ad campaign since 2013 as it aims to improve brand awareness and move away from the ‘unrealistic, white noise’ advertising it claims its rival are currently offering. LateRooms.com is launching a new TV...Microsoft finally axes Zune music service
Microsoft has pulled the plug on its failed music service, Zune, officially ending the war with Apple’s iPod that it lost nearly a decade ago anyway. The subscription element of the service was quietly turned off today. The remaining customers will be migrated...Top Christmas ads of 2015: Aldi beats John Lewis in Netmums survey
With the John Lewis Christmas ad now a staple of the UK festive calendar, other big stores are also raising their game in the yuletide marketing stakes. New research polled families to rate the most effective TV spot this year, with Aldi coming out on top. The...Video viral of the week: Temptations lets cat owners say sorry for festive faux paws
Mars-owned cat treat brand Temptations has launched a #SaySorry campaign for the sake of grumpy cats dress up for the festive season. See why it’s our video viral of the week below… Accompanied by Elton John’s ‘Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word’, the...Alibaba buys ‘Chinese YouTube’ for $3.7bn
Ecommerce giant Alibaba has bought the remaining shares of China’s popular online video site, Youku Tudou, in an all-cash transaction estimated to be worth some $3.7bn. Founded in 2012 via a merger of rival sites Youku and Tudou and listed on the New York Stock...Snapchat catches Facebook for video views as audience triples since May
The number of videos viewed every day on Snapchat has tripled since May this year to six billion, catching Facebook fast. Snapchat confirmed the figure following a report in the Financial Times. To put the number in perspective, Facebook announced just this past week...Youku Tudou and Mirriad launch in-video ads in China
Chinese video streaming company Youku Tudou has joined forces with Mirriad Advertising for a new in-video advertising collaboration, with Samsung becoming the first brand to jump onboard. Using Mirriad’s technology on its video-on-demand (VOD) platform, Youku...John Lewis Christmas ad premieres on YouTube
The John Lewis annual Christmas ad has premiered on YouTube, ahead of its first terrestrial showing this evening, a sign that more brands are putting digital first in thier campaigns. The UK retailer spent £7m on a campaign that includes a smartphone game and...New Economist ad format guarantees reader attention
The Economist has launched ‘Attention Buy’, a new model that guarantees and trades on reader attention. The Economist is the first publisher to offer marketers the opportunity to buy slices of user attention cross-platform – in-app and online. The...L’Oreal creates in-house ‘content factory’ for brands
L’Oreal is stepping up production of its own content, launching a new “content factory” for all of the 35 brands in L’Oréal’s Canadian portfolio, with plans to take the project global. The content arm, housed in Montreal, initially consists of three people. The so...Facebook targets emerging markets with Slideshow ad option
Facebook has launched a new ad option called Slideshow for marketers trying to reach consumers in emerging marketers who have slower Internet connections. The format runs as a series of up to seven still images that display in a 15-second slideshow. Facebook said that...Dulux recruits lifestyle bloggers for visualiser campaign
Dulux is using influential bloggers to trial their Visualiser app, and write their own content as the paint brand embraces social media marketing. The augmented reality app which gives amateur and professional decorators the tools to try out colour and decorating...Jeremy Clarkson digs at BBC in new Amazon ad
Jeremy Clarkson has taken a swipe at his former BBC employers, in a TV advert for new employer Amazon. The presenter and his former Top Gear co-stars, Richard Hammond and James May, have signed up to front a new motoring show for the retailer, in a three-year deal...The Sun to scrap website paywall
The Sun will scrap the paywall on its website just over two years after it was introduced, after data indicated it had become the least visited UK national newspaper website. Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of Sun owner News UK, told staff in an email it would make...Target runs spooky virtual reality ads for Halloween
Target is marking Halloween with a YouTube virtual reality series and a mobile site that helps trick-or-treaters’ parents find the best houses. The virtual reality series, “The House on Hallow Hill,” was created in-house and will be available on...WTF? Twitter’s bizarre new TV ad confounds viewers
Twitter launched a new TV ad campaign last night, with a loud, garish and cartoony spot. But has the confusing mash-up alienated people new to the social network? Designed to promote the Twitter Moments feature (currently only available in the US) , the TV ad aired...Back from the dead: #CadburyCraveyard resurrects discontinued chocolate bars for Halloween
Cadbury’s is bringing one of its old chocolate bars back from the dead this Halloween, with a social media vote determining whether Cadbury Marble or Cadbury Fuse bars will make a return in a highly limited special edition.
