Most complained about ads of the year: Moneysupermarket.com’s hotpants and heels-wearing Dave caused more offense than Protein World’s “beach body ready” London Underground posters February 23, 2016 A man strutting down the street in hotpants and heels was more outrageous than revealing that Santa isn't real and telling women to be "bikini body ready". A Moneysupermarket advert which featured the booty-shaking character named Dave and strapline "you're so money supermarket" was the most complained about ad of last year, it's been revealed. It received 1,500 complaints from [...]
Facebook is biggest new TV advertiser as total ad spend passes record £5bn February 23, 2016 Facebook was the biggest spending new advertiser on British television last year as total spend hit record levels. Spending on TV advertising – from traditional 30 second spots to sponsorship, on-demand catch up platforms and product placement – hit £5.27bn in 2015, a rise of 7.4 per cent on the previous year and growth not seen since the end of the financial crisis. [...]
New Day is here: Meet Trinity Mirror’s new national daily tabloid February 22, 2016 Trinity Mirror has officially unveiled its new daily newspaper, New Day, which will hit newsstands in a week's time. The 40-page title will be published from Monday to Friday and will be handed out free on the first day of publication, Monday 29 February. A two week trial will put the price at 25p before [...]
Vertical Thinking: Teads’s Todd Tran on finding a “via media” with video advertising February 22, 2016 The case for vertical mobile ads has been won. Last year, Snapchat urged marketers and media companies to ditch wide-angle shots and go vertical, and Audi reported a completion rate which was 80 per cent higher when its mobile video ads were designed to be watched in portrait. Teads, which leads the field in native [...]
Creating disruption: Advertising financial services and Nutmeg’s new campaign February 22, 2016 When it comes to selling financial services, advertisers have their work cut out. Consumer scepticism is rife and the jargon is labyrinthine. “There’s a perfect storm,” says Laurence Green, co-founder of 101, which handles the creative for Scottish Widows. “Too often, financial services firms’ brief to advertisers is: ‘We’re basically the same as everyone else; can [...]
Amazon Studios acquires North American rights to Woody Allen’s upcoming film starring Blake Lively and Kristen Stewart and his new TV show with Miley Cyrus February 18, 2016 Amazon Studios has today acquired the North American rights to Woody Allen's latest feature film. Amazon Studios has obtained all the rights for the region, including theatrical and streaming. The film, which does not yet have a title, is a romantic comedy set in the 1930s starring Blake Lively and Kristen Stewart and is due to be released in cinemas [...]
Trinity Mirror’s launching a new daily tabloid called New Day within the next fortnight February 17, 2016 Trinity Mirror is preparing to launch a new daily newspaper slated to be called New Day just days after the Independent's run in print came to an end after three decades. New Day could launch in less than a fortnight, with plans due to be unveiled at the same time as its annual results on 29 [...]
Johnston Press boss Ashley Highfield on the i, Lebedev and the future of print media February 17, 2016 It wasn't easy to second guess his opposite number during negotiations for the purchase of the i newspaper, Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield has told City A.M. Speaking about the regional publishing group’s £24.4m acquisition from ESI Media last week, Highfield described it as a “unique” experience with its own particular challenges. “You’re dealing with [...]
Glastonbury Festival by numbers: How many times Coldplay has been a headliner, when the first festival was held and how much tickets cost February 16, 2016 The canny organisers of Glastonbury Festival are notorious for keeping music fans guessing about which bands they'll be treated to but they have let slip today that Coldplay will be among the headliners at the 2016 show. In honour of this information reveal, we've tracked the facts and figures you need to know about the festival: [...]
Google for gifs startup Giphy raises $55m valuing search platform and gif creator tool at $300m February 16, 2016 Time to start investing in gifs? The popularity of the animated pictures used everywhere online has helped the gif search engine and gif creator tool Giphy raise $55m (£38m) from venture capital investors. The cash follows a $17m round of funding just over a year ago which valued the firm at $80m, as well as crowdfunding some investment in the [...]