Now Heathrow Airport’s trying to swoop in on the Christmas ad battle with this tear-jearker featuring two teddy bears November 17, 2016 First it was John Lewis that routinely took the crown for best Christmas ad. But in recent years other retailers have been upping the ante – from Sainsbury's to M&S to Waitrose's adorable robin. And now, not content with winning the battle over airport expansion (for now), Heathrow Airport has unveiled its very first Christmas ad [...]
Brexit and Donald Trump prompt Oxford Dictionaries to crown “post-truth” the international word of the year November 16, 2016 If you thought you could escape Brexit and the shock rise of Donald Trump when it came to the 2016 word of the year, we have some bad news for you. After a "highly charged" 12 months, Oxford Dictionaries has named "post-truth" as its 2016 international word of the year (though maybe it should be [...]
Interim manager Gareth Southgate’s fingerprints were all over a courageous England performance against Spain November 16, 2016 It may not have been Spain at their strongest but England fans will have been encouraged by their team’s display in that 2-2 draw and manager Gareth Southgate was entitled to call it a special performance. The hosts were great until the later stages and, particularly in the first half, which tends to be tighter [...]
Dump opinion polls for social media to understand people’s real preferences November 15, 2016 So the pollsters and pundits got it wrong again. After the General Election last year and then Brexit, it is perhaps not surprising. What is surprising is just how wrong they were. The real problem is the enormous confidence with which they pronounced that Hillary Clinton would win. The Princeton Election Consortium was probably top of [...]
You can now choose genders other than man or woman on Tinder as it seeks to become more inclusive November 15, 2016 Tinder has announced its newest update which allows users to opt for a gender identity other than man or woman. From its launch back in 2012 up until today, the app only offered users two options when selecting their gender: man or woman. For those who identified as transgender or between or outside the gender [...]
Facebook and Google have finally taken some action on fake news November 15, 2016 Facebook and Google have both responded to a firestorm around the proliferation of fake news during the US Presidential race by promising to crackdown on advertising against such content. Google has said it will restrict advertising on pages "that misrepresent, misstate or conceal information about the publisher, the publisher's content, or the primary purpose of the [...]
Advertising expenditure forecast up despite Brexit uncertainty November 14, 2016 A WPP-owned group has upgraded its UK advertising growth forecasts for this year and next despite uncertainty around the UK’s Brexit vote. Expenditure is expected to grow 7.2 per cent in 2016, up from a previous estimate of 6.3 per cent. The same level of growth is forecast by GroupM for 2017, up from 5.8 per cent. [...]
Are iPhones about to become a bargaining chip in Trump’s China trade talks? November 14, 2016 "Making things difficult for China politically will do him no good." That was the gist of an op-ed column in a state run newspaper in China yesterday, which amounted to a threat to take action against any measures on trade with China put forward by Trump: "China will take a tit-for-tat approach then." And iPhones could [...]
The Battle for Virality: How the advertising industry stole Christmas November 14, 2016 Consumer capitalism is like an annual balloon, pumping in steady increments throughout the year. It grows and grows, stretching and straining around November, taut before the Black Friday Pin; the pressure too much, one prick and the balloon explodes in a relentless cloud of Christmas advertising. But where has this volley come from? We can’t even [...]
“More than 99pc of what you see on Facebook is authentic” insists Mark Zuckerberg November 13, 2016 Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has been forced again to respond to accusations that the social network influenced the result of the Presidential elections by failing to address the proliferation of fake news on the site. He insisted that "more than 99 per cent of what people see is authentic" but admitted there was more that could [...]