While marketing budgets continue to grow, agencies and marketers both say finding top talent remains a problem. A recent New Year Outlook survey by RSW/US found that 60 percent of marketers and 52 percent of agencies expect marketing budgets to increase either "somewhat" or "significantly" in 2018, marking the second straight year that 60 percent...
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Marketers and Agencies Are Struggling to Find Top Talent, Even as Spending Increases
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King Winter Woos Mother Earth in Interflora’s Sweet, Sad Love Story
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...
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How Facebook Ads Are Helping These 2 Retailers Reach New Audiences
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 a share of mobile (versus desktop) conversions increase from 43 percent in 2016 to 64 percent on Cyber Monday...
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There’s No Stopping Peak TV, as 487 Scripted Series Aired in 2017
In 2015, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf coined the phrase "Peak TV" to describe the overwhelming amount of TV available on broadcast, cable and streaming platforms. That year, a then-record 422 scripted series aired on those outlets. But Peak TV still isn't close to peaking, according to new estimates from FX's research team that Landgraf...
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FX’s John Landgraf Says Being Bought by Disney Could Be ‘a Really Good Thing’ for His Network
When Disney announced that it would be acquiring 21st Century Fox for $52.4 billion, one of the biggest questions about the deal--which the company expects to close in 12-18 months--was how an edgy brand like FX would fare under its family-friend new owner. But FX Networks CEO John Landgraf has no such worries, he said...
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Switching to Healthy Ingredients Is Riskier for Brands Than You Might Think
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...
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The Golden Globes Red Carpet Show Will Be Livestreamed on Facebook
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...
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Donald Glover Says Season 2 of Atlanta Will Be More Like Tiny Toon Adventures
The freshman season of Donald Glover's FX comedy Atlanta was a critical and commercial hit, but Glover said audiences shouldn't expect more of the same when the series returns for Season 2 in March. "We didn't look back at Season 1 for inspiration," Glover said at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour. "If you...
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Stephen Colbert Says His Trump Series Is Animated to ‘Accurately Capture’ White House Life
As Stephen Colbert prepares his new Showtime animated series about Donald Trump, Our Cartoon President, the talk-show host joked that he has a bone to pick with Michael Wolff, the author of the explosive new Trump book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. "I think Michael Wolff stole all 10 of our episodes....
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When It Comes to Netflix’s $8 Billion Budget, Showtime Says Bigger Isn’t Necessarily Better
Just five years after launching House of Cards, Netflix has turned into the Big Bad Wolf in the eyes of many networks, intent on steamrolling everything in sight with an original programming budget of up to $8 billion this year. But Showtime Networks president and CEO David Nevins said his company has what it takes...
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This 2013 Ad About Michael Wolff Is Now Hilariously Topical
Michael Wolff's name has saturated cable news and social media for the past week, thanks to his bombshell book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." While Wolff is well known and somewhat notorious in media circles, many outside of journalism are likely just learning about him for the first time as he becomes...
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Fiji Water Is Using the Golden Globes to Kick Off an Initiative Supporting Female Directors
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...
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How Marketers Are Turning Your Car Into a Branded Experience
While autonomous cars won't be in every garage anytime soon, today's vehicles have never been more connected. That's leading marketers, agencies and automakers to transform cars into the next media and marketing platform. Radio once held drivers hostage as the only form of in-car entertainment, said Scott Symonds, managing director of AKQA Media, adding it...
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What These 5 Women Are Doing to Solve Tech’s Diversity Problem
At a time when diversity remains a front-burner issue within the tech industry, this year's Consumer Electronics Show--the tech world's largest conference--is surprisingly lacking in, well, diversity. While, in the past, the agenda-setting conference has showcased powerhouse solo women keynoters such as IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, General Motors CEO Mary Barra and former Yahoo CEO...
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Virtual Reality Hardware and Content You Should Expect to See in 2018
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...
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Why AI Is the New Battleground for Brand Marketers
Most brand experiences will be delivered through AI by 2025. The only question is whether your brand will still exist. Some perspective: When Ray Kroc walked into the McDonald brothers' restaurant in 1954, he was taken aback with the efficiency and replicability of the facility. That evening, "visions of McDonald's restaurants dotting crossroads all over...
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Here’s What to Expect From CES 2018
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...
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What Needs to Come First for VR to Take Off, Mass Hardware Adoption or Compelling Content?
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."...
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Infographic: What Marketers Really Think About Artificial Intelligence
In a world of tech innovations, new platforms and constant competition, it's easy for words to lose their meaning, even when the concepts they represent are changing the industry. Pushing any concept too hard, too fast and with too few tools can rapidly morph the buzzy into a buzzword--and "artificial intelligence" isn't immune, according to...
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Intuit to Run Its First Brand Spot During the Big Game
Intuit will kick off its first-ever corporate brand campaign with a 15-second spot in Super Bowl LII. Phenomenon, agency of record for the Intuit parent brand and Passion Animation Studios, will be tasked with creating the ad, which will "introduce two characters who are featured prominently in the company's new brand campaign," according to a...
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