Advertising
Amazon’s Home Surveillance Company Is Putting Suspected Petty Thieves in its Advertisements
Samantha Cole, Vice
Ring, Amazon’s doorbell company, posted a video of a woman suspected of a crime and asked users to call the cops with information.
Bagel Bites Reunites With Tony Hawk, 17 Years Later
Jessica Wohl, Ad Age
The pro skater turned agency co-founder hawks the frozen snack in a dad-themed campaign.
Heinz, Superfan Ed Sheeran Team to Offer ‘Edchup’
Karlene Lukovitzm, MediaPost
Chart-topping singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran — a self-declared lifelong Heinz Ketchup lover who has the Heinz logo tattooed on his arm — has teamed with the brand to create limited-edition “Edchup” bottles.
Mastercard suspends Neymar ads while Nike expresses ‘concern’ following rape allegation
Rebecca Stewart, The Drum
Mastercard has paused an ad campaign featuring Brazil forward Neymar following an allegation the footballer raped a woman in a Paris hotel room.
What Advertisers Should Know About The Facebook And Google Probes
Garett Sloane, Ad Age
Brace for major changes to the online landscape even before federal regulators have their say.
Media and Entertainment
AT&T Eyes $16- to $17-a-Month Streaming Service in Strategy Shift
Lillian Rizzo and Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal
New package is expected to include HBO, Cinemax and Warner Bros. content for barely more than HBO’s current streaming service.
BuzzFeed Rethinks Hollywood Strategy, Names New Studios Chief
Natalie Jarvey, The Hollywood Reporter
Cindy Vanegas-Gesaule is adding oversight of film and TV projects to her existing role as head of programming for BuzzFeed News.
Entertainment Weekly Goes Monthly, Taps JD Heyman as New Editor in Chief
Sara Jerde, Adweek
People magazine’s editor succeeds Henry Goldblatt, who is exiting the brand after 17 years.
BeIN Shopping Stake in Miramax
Benjamin Mullin and Erich Schwartzel, The Wall Street Journal
BeIN Media Group is seeking to sell up to 50% in the studio in a deal that would value Miramax at $650 million.
Inside publishing’s push notification mania
Max Willens, Digiday
Anybody who thinks that push notifications have run out of control should strap in and get comfortable.
Change Is Hard: NBCU Brass On Future-Proofing The Peacock
Brian Braiker, Ad Age
NBCUniversal’s Linda Yaccarino and Josh Feldman join the ‘Ad Lib’ podcast to break down the TV landscape and their own blueprint forward.
Social Media and Technology
Here’s how to see what stuff Instagram tells advertisers you’re into
Emma Hope Allwood, Dazed Digital
To be human in 2019 is essentially to be a walking talking string of keywords, ready and waiting to be seduced by advertisers. But what do the algorithms, and the giant, ominous tech companies that operate them, know about us?
Facebook plans June 18th cryptocurrency debut. Here’s what we know
Josh Constine, TechCrunch
Facebook is finally ready to reveal details about its cryptocurrency codenamed Libra. It’s currently scheduled for a June 18th release of a white paper explaining its cryptocurrency’s basics, according to a source who says multiple investors briefed on the project by Facebook were told that date.
Snap’s 180% Surge Aided by More Teens Loving Augmented Reality
Kamaron Leach and Kurt Wagner, Bloomberg
Business is once again booming for Snap Inc., and the stock’s more than 180% surge since a December low may uncover a path to regain the social dominance it once had among teenagers.
Your phone carrier can now block robocalls by default
Brian Fung, CNN
Robocalls are flooding cell phones, interrupting dinners, and scamming people out of money. Relief could finally be on the horizon, but perhaps at a cost.
Agencies voice concerns that Instagram is killing organic reach
John McCarthy, The Drum
Scores of Instagram users and agencies recently took to the social network to voice concerns over a sudden dip in engagement on their posts.
Microsoft Deleted a Massive Facial Recognition Database, But It’s Not Dead
Jordan Pearson, Vice
The database contained 10 million photos of 100,000 individuals including activists and journalists.
PR and Marketing
As Walmart turns to robots, it’s the human workers who feel like machines
Drew Harwell, The Washington Post
To Walmart executives, the Auto-C self-driving floor scrubber is the future of retail automation — a multimillion-dollar bet that advanced robots will optimize operations, cut costs and revolutionize the American superstore.
Stitch Fix is spending more on marketing
Anna Hensel, Digiday
During Stitch Fix’s third-quarter earnings call earlier this week, CEO and founder Katrina Lake said that the company spent $16 million in brand marketing last quarter, and is looking to spend even more heavily on it during the second half of the year as the company looks to diversify from its “normal bread and butter performance marketing.”
How Amazon’s In-House Brand Biz Measures Up To Rivals
Adrianne Pasquarelli, Ad Age
The online retail giant gets just 1 percent of revenue from private label brands, but that is still a huge amount.
Barnes & Noble Nearing Deal to Be Acquired by Elliott Management
Cara Lombardo and Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg, The Wall Street Journal
Barnes & Noble Inc. is nearing a deal to be bought by hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., according to people familiar with the matter, as the nation’s largest bookstore chain seeks a new owner following years of decline.
Gucci Owner Kering Uses AI Tools to Help Keep Up Growth
Robert Williams, Bloomberg
Kering is equipping sales assistants with new software and using artificial intelligence to better allocate stocks in the hopes that digital tools can keep up rapid growth at brands including the red-hot Gucci label.
From Beds to Beads to Bracelets, It’s Bad Out There in Retail
Anne Riley Moffat et al., Bloomberg
The outlook for retailers is getting grimmer by the earnings report.
Uber to Launch Helicopter Service in New York
Cory Weinberg, The Information
In 2016, Uber published a report on the future of urban, short-distance air travel that said “helicopters are too noisy, inefficient, polluting, and expensive for mass-scale use.”
This Startup Wants To Remake The Last Mile Of Parcel Delivery
Alex Davies, Wired
We’re a few minutes into a short drive around Oakland’s Jack London Square neighborhood, a place of wide streets and old warehouses, when we hear a metallic bang behind us.
The Real Difference Between Cheap and Pricey Beauty Products
Kari Molvar, The Wall Street Journal
With a new influx of skin care products at extreme price points, the psychology of why we buy what we buy has never been more complex. A peek into the mind-vanity connection.
Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research
Overthrow the Prince of Facebook
Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal
Big tech has become too powerful and abusive. We know enough about it to break up its dominance.
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