CNBC debuts in-house creative agency
US media giant CNBC is launching a full-service, in-house commercial agency, continuing the trend for media owners taking their creative team in-house. Dubbed CNBC Catalyst, the agency launcheswith an international ad sales team and content studio. CNBC is an American...Facebook lets brands create AI chat bots
Facebook has launched a ‘bots store’, letting brands create their own robotic customer service reps that can interact with WhatsApp and Messenger users. Opening his company’s annual F8 developer conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, Facebook CEO Mark...Yahoo sale: Bidders gets deadline as Mayer future in doubt
Yahoo is officially up for sale, with bidders for the embattled internet pioneer given until April 18th to make a move, according to a news report. CNN reports that interested parties have until April 18 to make their offers. The list of interested parties include...Jeep first brand to use ‘Edge’ mobile ad format
Car maker Jeep has become the first brand is the first to use ‘Edge’ – a new ad format designed to to overcome ad blocking and increase viewability metrics. The format, developed by InSkin Media, runs along the edge of a mobile screen in a bid to be non-intrusive. It...Mobile ad blocking: Top 10 reasons revealed
Annoying ads that take up too much screen space are the top reason for using an ad blocker, according to new research. The data, from Global Web Index, looks the motivations which are driving people to block ads on their mobiles specifically. To date, the common...Microsoft AI creates ‘new’ Rembrandt painting
Microsoft is showing off its artificial intelligence abilities, with a new program that can produce an ‘original’ Rembrandt painting based on the master’s old works. The project is a collaboration between ING, Microsoft, Delft University of Technology, The Mauritshuis...Newspaper giants attack “illegal” ad blocking Brave Browser
A new web browser that blocks ads and serves its own, giving the viewer a cut of the ad revenue, has been branded “blatantly illegal” by US publishers. More than a dozen major US newspaper publishers have sent a cease-and-desist letter to the creator of the Brave...The death of mass media? Marketers bet on one-to-one relationship with consumers
Nearly 90 percent of marketers believe their departments will exercise significant influence over business strategy by 2020, according to the results of a new survey. A study of nearly 500 chief marketing officers (CMOs) and senior marketing executives from around the...Virgin Media creates YouTube 360 ‘virtual party’
Virgin Media has become the first brand in the UK to use Virtual Reality to place viewers directly into the middle of a TV advert. The YouTube ad is based around the Vivid House Party ad that appeared on TV screens earlier in the year. In the VR version, viewers can...State of the data nation: Biggest programmatic ad spenders revealed
A “state of the data nation” infographic reveals that the European market for audience data almost tripled from Q4 2014 to Q4 2015, experiencing a massive 154% growth. The findings, from Eyeota, come as part of its first annual Index looking at audience...Persado gets $30m funding boost for AI-generated content
Marketing tech firm Persado has secured a $30mn Series C financing led by Goldman Sachs and previous investors include both Bain Capital Ventures, Start Vest partners and American Express. Persado uses algorithms to generate a precise combination of words, phrases and...Social shopping: Facebook syncs ad data with Tesco’s dunnhumby
Facebook has teamed up with Tesco’s data business dunnhumby to tie ads on the social network in with off-line sales. The move could help deliver greater understanding of the effectiveness of brands’ spending in social media. The deal syncs up Dunnhumby...Half of people using ad blockers find ads ‘annoying or irrelevant’
What are the key motivations behind ad-blocking? This new research from Global Web Index suggests that annoying ads, rather than privacy issues, drive most people to filtering software. Although ad-blockers are slightly more likely than the average internet user to...Online influencers ‘more influential’ than celebrities in children’s fashion market
What is ‘in vogue’ in children’s fashion is now being led by trend setting online influencers and the children of celebrities, according to new research. The study, from Rakuten Marketing, explores the factors that influence children’s fashion purchases. In a UK-wide...Video viral of the week: Guinness ‘Alive Inside’ targets Africa’s next generation
Guinness is renowned for making high-impact ads, and this vibrant new video for its ‘Africa Special’ stout is no exception. See why it’s our video viral of the week below… Guinness Africa’s new ad features an eclectic mix of young artists and an up-tempo...April Fools’ round-up: Gmail prank backfires as Sony busts ghosts
April Fool’s Day has become a major event in the digital calendar, with many brands and media owners creating elaborate pranks to show off their funny side (and get plenty of social media shares and column inches in the process). We’ve put together some of the best hoaxes from 2016’s pranksters for your viewing pleasure…
