Robert Dyas Christmas advert wins weirdest ad of 2015 for “we’re gay, straight and bi” YouTube video December 13, 2015 We've had John Lewis's Christmas advert bonanza, then the Man on the Moon spoof (from Aldi, who else), as well as the curveball surprise hit of the Christmas ad season (a Spanish lottery ad, if you missed it). Now, we have the winner of the title for weirdest ad of the year (and not just Christmas). Of [...]
Alibaba buys South China Morning Post as media interests grow December 11, 2015 Alibaba has added to its expanding media empire by buying the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong's biggest local English-language newspaper. Read more: Alibaba made £9.4bn in 24 hours on Singles Day The Chinese e-commerce giant did not disclose the financial terms of the deal for the 112-year old paper owned by SCMP Group Ltd – a [...]
Twitter will show ads to people who don’t even use Twitter December 10, 2015 Twitter is testing out a new way to advertise by showing promoted tweets to people who are not logged in to the site in a bid to expand its sources of revenue. Apparently 500m people visit Twitter pages every month with out logging in, many via results which appear in Google search, and that's 500m eyeballs [...]
The EU wants customers to be able to access Sky, Netflix and other online subscriptions anywhere in Europe December 9, 2015 The EU wants to create a Digital Single Market. Wait! It's more interesting than it sounds: it means customers will be able to use their online subscriptions such as Netflix, Canal+ and Sky for free anywhere in Europe. The proposal was put forward by the EU's executive body the European Commission today. But, it is likely the scheme will face strong opposition from the media [...]
Yahoo share price rises after confirming it won’t spin off Alibaba stake December 9, 2015 Yahoo has performed a u-turn on its plans to spin off a lucrative stake in Chinese giant Alibaba, confirming speculation following a meeting of chief executive Marissa Mayer and the company board. "After careful review and consideration of how to best drive long-term value for shareholders, [the board] has unanimously decided to suspend work on the pending [...]
Apple’s live TV streaming plans “on hold” December 9, 2015 Apple's plans to stream live shows to its TV service have been put on hold, according to reports. The plans to bring live broadcasting from several US media companies to its internet TV platform have stalled, Bloomberg reports, as one TV executive said talks have paused. The service would work in a similar way to traditional cable subscription [...]
US telecoms firm Verizon would “look at” Yahoo if it went up for sale December 7, 2015 Verizon has indicated its interest in Yahoo, saying it would "look at" the internet business if it were put up for sale. The US telecoms company's finance chief Fran Shammo told a conference in New York it was too early to talk about acquiring Yahoo, but that it could be interested if "Yahoo was right". Verizon has been pegged [...]
The new influence: The&Collective founder Jenny Halpern Prince on why vlogs matter December 6, 2015 Video bloggers, or “social influencers” are fast becoming the BFF of marketers looking to court younger consumers. Brand advocacy is widely agreed to be more powerful than brand awareness, and social influencers with thousands of followers allow brands to engage with highly social audiences, unlike more traditional paid media. Last week, Jenny Halpern Prince, [...]
Why strong brands are stock market darlings December 6, 2015 The marketing industry is built around the understanding that a strong brand can drive sales and therefore deliver returns to shareholders. But new research from brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance has now put hard numbers behind this. The consultancy releases an annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, the Global 500. In 2015, for [...]
Alan Yentob quits £183,000-a-year BBC creative director role following Kids Company storm December 3, 2015 BBC stalwart Alan Yentob has stepped down from his creative director role following revelations about his involvement with the now defunct charity Kids Company. In a statement he said: The BBC is going through particularly challenging times and I have come to believe that the speculation about Kids Company and the media coverage revolving around my role is [...]