A delightfully absurd ad goes viral. Plus, the latest Kim Kardashian West branding controversy: Friday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. You can get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device; sign up here. What people are talking about today A 3-year-old ad went viral yesterday; it’s a lovely tale with a surprise ending. No spoilers here. Do yourself a favor and watch it to find out what brand it’s for. It’s a tale of growing up, from birth to first steps to first love to independence. And as someone tweeted, M. Night Shyamalan "would KILL to be this good at plot twists again.” The ad went viral after Ryan Simmons, video director for SB Nation, posted the spot on Twitter with the comment, “i will give you one hundred thousand dollars if you can guess the brand by the end.” Simmons also thanked adman Kevin Weir for having spotted the ad, which got 2.4 million Twitter views in a day. Ad Age’s newsroom debated whether this was a spoof. Reporter Jessica Wohl reached out to the brand in question, which confirmed that it was a real ad from the brand released in Brazil in 2016. How could we have missed it back then? LoveFrom Jony Ive, Apple’s chief designer, is leaving the company after nearly 30 years. But he’s not going far; Ive is starting a new design company that will have Apple as a client. The new venture is called LoveFrom, and that’s a nod to late Apple founder Steve Jobs. Ive told the Financial Times that Jobs once said to Apple employees: “when you make something with love and with... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'

[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-28 10:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #procter gamble #saturday morning #honest conversation #forwarded email #nielsen

Other Publishing stories related to: ' A delightfully absurd ad goes viral. Plus, the latest Kim Kardashian West branding controversy: Friday Wake-Up Call '


People Prefer Big, Interruptive Web Ads

So much for blending in.  While the online ad industry falls deeper in love with native ads that fade into the background of Web pages, consumers prefer ads that get in their face by taking over their computer screens. At least, that’s according to a new study on high-impact ads conducted by... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #web publishers #ad types #web content


Diamond Calls 2013 “Our Best Year Ever”

Pointing to strong titles, a growing backlist, and retailer optimism, Diamond Book Distributors, the trade book unit of Diamond Comics Distributors, reported that its 2013 sales rose by “double digits” over 2012 in the U.S., Canada, and international markets. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #double digits #international markets


Facebook Tries a Mobile Ad Network

A Facebook spokesperson told Digiday that the program will not port Facebook-style ad units to other apps, however. Instead, it will simply use its data to target whatever formats those app publishers currently sell. The post Facebook Tries a Mobile Ad Network appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post facebook #app publishers


BuzzFeed's Peretti: Mobile is a Better Ad Vehicle

The Web publishing world has been slightly panicked over the growth of mobile consumption—mostly because for individual sites, the just money isn't there. Mobile banners are seen as a lousy brand vehicle, which is why so many are rushing to native ads. BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sold programmatically


Facebook to Brands: Post More Images

Brands have spent the past couple of years complaining the content they publish is rarely actually seen by users that like their pages. That's party because Facebook wants those brands to pay for ads, but also because it doesn't want them alienating users with annoying updates asking people to... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #images appeared #past couple


Facebook Testing Mobile Ad Network

Facebook is testing mobile ads that appear on apps other than its own, the company said. In a post today, Facebook says the test is for a mobile ad network it is creating. It marks an important step for the social network, showing its sponsored content outside its own properties is key to... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post today #important step #sponsored content #working directly #small number #coming months


Campaigners brand DCMS library stats 'bonkers'

A new Department of Culture, Media and Sport library report estimating that only 90 static... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Inside Hearst’s Native Ad Strategy

In a signal of its deepening commitment to native advertising, Hearst Magazines launched a new native ad campaign yesterday for Lancôme on MarieClaire.com.The post Inside Hearst’s Native Ad Strategy appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #native advertising


Why Publishers Are Enlisting Programmatic Ad Chiefs

A new senior role is rapidly emerging at the top of digital publishers’ sales organizations: the programmatic czar. Publishers initially approached programmatic advertising warily, concerned it would do little more than drive down their ad prices and further commoditize their inventory. That... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2014-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital publishers #senior role #ad prices


Publish and be branded: the new threat to literature's laboratory

Increasingly fixated on the stars of today, such as Hilary Mantel and JK Rowling, publishers are neglecting the experimenters who could save their industry tomorrow: the mid-list writersThe tickets sold out months ago. Long before the admiring reviews of the stage adaptation of Hilary Mantel's... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-01-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #nathan filer #costa award


Ad Page Bleeding Slows

The demand for print advertising continued to fall in 2013, but the pace of those losses has slowed, according to a year-end report from the MPA-The Association for Magazine Media. Total ad pages for the 207 consumer magazines tracked fell 4.1 percent year-over-ye Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2014-01-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #magazine media


'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson's book sales spike following controversy

Phil Robertson was temporarily removed from 'Duck Dynasty' after he made controversial comments in an interview.  Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #duck dynasty #phil robertson


Controversy Doesn't Slow 'Happy' Sales

Sales of the Duck Dynasty star's book, Happy, Happy, Happy, saw an 86% increase between the weeks ended December 15 and December 22. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ad Units in Magazines' iPad Editions Climbed 16% in 2013

Ad units in magazines' iPad editions climbed 16% in 2013, according to a report out Monday by MPA-The Association of Magazine Media and Kantar Media.The report, which looked at 69 magazines with monitored print and iPad editions, is a hopeful sign for traditional publishers stymied by secular... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2013-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ad units #magazine media #kantar media #ipad editions #hopeful sign #ad pages #print editions #roughly flat


Slate’s Most Viral Stories of 2013

Last week I shared the 10 most popular Slate stories from 2013, a list that paints with a broad brush about the stories our readers loved the most. Now it’s time to dig deeper to reveal which pieces were the most popular on our three strongest social networks: Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. As... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2013-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kanye west


Native Advertising Wasn't Really So Viral in 2013

Are we so sure that all this sponsored content is worth the trouble? Native advertising distribution firm Sharethrough compiled a ranking of the biggest brand-produced sponsored stories from 2013. And what perhaps sticks out the most is that none of these stories seems to have really taken off... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sponsored content #book lovers #single brand #social publishers #include video


An app to check your cholesterol is the latest way smartphones are evolving into medical devices

On mobile phones, health, and fitness are rapidly becoming big business. The latest idea? A concept from researchers at Cornell which demonstrates how your phone could be used to check your cholesterol levels, no visit to the lab required. In a paper published in the medical technology journal... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2013-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Obama's half-brother's memoir may prove controversial

Mark Obama Ndesandjo's book will reportedly detail abuse, beatings from the father he and the president shared. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Best Brand Content of 2013

The “brands are publishers now” line has become so ubiquitous in digital media that it risks becoming a cliché. While it is often true that companies are increasingly creating their own content, not all that’s published is created equal. Here’s to the brands that took the time and money to... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #created equal


Can the NYT Shift Native Ad Labeling Debate?

The New York Times is still the gold standard of publishers. Its embrace of native advertising is an important step in legitimizing this modernized version of the advertorial. Importantly, the Times is also looking to impose far more rigid standards that are currently used throughout the... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #gold standard #native advertising #important step #modernized version #publishing world