Twentieth Century Fox wants to talk to teens the way that they do with their friends, so it's using GIFs to chat with them on mobile messaging app Kik. The film studio and agency Trailer Park are launching a campaign today for the sci-fi flick Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the sequel to 2014's Maze Runner based on T.S. Nowlin's book trilogy. In the movie, a group of boys are stuck in a maze, and the only way out is to go through a series of challenges given out by a secret organization called WCKD. To play off of the movie's twisting plot, Fox is using Kik's Promoted Chats to let fans talk to a bot version of the WCKD character. The bot offers text-based information and a total of 12 GIFs that walk users through a series of challenges to help them get out of the maze. Like the movie's story, the app's messaging can go several ways. "It kind of feels like one of those choose-your-own adventure books that you may have played as a kid, but played out in a much more modern way," said Paul Gray, Kik's director of platform services. Fox's campaign is the first time that a brand has used GIFs on Kik, Gray said. It's also the first work to be born from the technology Kik gained when it acquired GIF messaging app Relay last year. "One of the things we're always trying to work on is developing storytelling and combining that with emerging technology," said Glenn Sanders, group creative director at Trailer Park. "The story that we wanted to tell actually matched up... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'
[ AdWeek | 2015-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
In early 2013, Thad Woodman, a manager at an economics consulting firm, reached out to Larry Levitsky, previously the publisher and general manager of the computer book publishing division of McGraw-Hill, about developing a startup that would combine the services of a legacy publisher—editing,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Conde Nast is beginning to sell the audiences of BonAppetit.com and Epicurious.com together, the company said Monday afternoon, in a bid to better attract advertisers that want bigger audiences than the sites provide on their own.Bon Appetit VP-Publisher Pamela Drucker Mann will oversee both... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agencies are pushing for transparency from publishers on all fronts, but viewability has by far become their most pressing priority. GroupM, the biggest digital media buyer in the U.S., announced it would shift its buying from open exchanges to private ones, in a push for greater transparency.... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Krantz took the reins as YP CEO in 2012, when the listings directory spun away from AT&T Interactive, which was his former employer and the brand's former parent. Since then, he's been busy pushing what consumers for more than 125 years called the Yellow Pages—which rebranded to its... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Stacy Lellos has been appointed senior v-p and general manager for Klutz, Scholastic’s books-plus unit. She succeeds Jeff Pinkser who was named to lead the division in 2012. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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For going on a year, LinkedIn has been repositioning its ad business around content marketing. Now it's launching new tools to let advertisers see how they're faring as publishers within its walls.LinkedIn will now start assigning brands content-marketing scores to gauge the effectiveness of... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two major players in online video advertising, Ebuzzing and Teads, are merging to create a new company with plans to list on the NASDAQ in 2015.Both companies are French, and have separately been developing "outstream" video advertising allowing the distribution of video advertising outside of... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google announced a new partnership with comScore today that it said will improve its ability to tell brand marketers about their digital campaigns. Google touted a new measurement tool—available to DoubleClick advertisers and publishers—that will deliver real-time data about who is seeing ads... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We find out so little about a person by watching them on Big Brother or reading their secrets exposed in the Daily MailWe just met half an hour ago. But I'm sitting in a Soho tapas bar, drinking sherry, and telling Josh Cohen my life story. The joke – lost on neither of us – is that he has just... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The sale of The Panoramic Publishing Group, publisher of the weekly Laker newspaper and 10 other ancillary publications, to Daniel L. Smiley, general manager of Turner Publishing in Turner, ME has been completed. Brad Lipe had bee ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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He was the scourge of Mitt Romney in the 2012 US election, now Obama's 'backroom Brit' is heading Labour's digital response team for its 2015 campaignIn his new book about the 2012 US presidential election campaign, the Time journalist Mark Halperin singles out the role played by a young Briton... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A battle for the hearts, minds and pockets of small and medium-sized newspaper publishers is being fought over the new system of press regulation.The large publishing companies who created the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) are urging smaller publishers to sign up to their... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-11-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google's got an ad exchange. So does Facebook. Twitter is said to be working on one too. But in the meantime, the company has just purchased MoPub, a burgeoning mobile ad exchange business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. MoPub has built an ad exchange through which mobile publishers... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2013-09-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Foyles' Siôn Hamilton, general manager at the Charing Cross Road store, has been... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scott Mozarsky has joined UBM Tech as president, media and partner solutions. Mozarsky was formerly executive vice president and global chief commercial officer for PR Newswire.Meredith Corporation has named Lisa Clune as SVP and general manager of MXM's Health Practice, BIG Communications.... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2013-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As print magazine and book publishers struggle to stay afloat, Not Safe For Work, a print magazine and news startup in Las Vegas, has raised $250,000 in seed funding from Base Ventures, VentureWire has learned. The company offers a monthly print ma ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Mail's consultant literary editor Jane Mays has predicted that reviewing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-06-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Graham Money [pictured], general manager of Hachette-owned distributor Bookpoint, is to retire in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Daily Mail's Marcus Rich is among the executives lined up for the Professional Publishers Association's annual conference, which will examine how to boost digital revenues and explore whether content is still king. Continue reading at Media Week
[ Media Week | 2013-03-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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