Richard Smullen says a painfully long wait for a Delta Air Lines customer service rep inspired him to join the world of artificial intelligence. One night about a year ago, having grown tired of waiting for a phone operator to change his flight, he turned to the airline's mobile app—only to find he had to scroll through pages upon pages, unable to get what he needed. In the middle of a formal dinner at the time, he decided it would be faster just to message his sister and have her do it for him. It took her two minutes. "I had kind of an epiphany moment, and this idea arose," he explained. Smullen founded Pypestream, a 50-person firm that makes automated messaging services for companies around the world. Its mobile platform, which launched this past December, has already amassed 3,500 clients in 50 countries, ranging from utilities like Washington Gas to publishers like Billboard. Pypestream joins a growing number of startups using automated messaging to help consumers do everything from hailing cabs to paying bills. Some say these services, known as chatbots, could be the biggest digital to-do since mobile apps. The bots are forms of artificial intelligence that create personalized one-to-one interactions. "I think you're going to see a bot explosion," predicted Beerud Sheth, CEO of messaging platform Gupshup. "I think it's safe to say that this is the year of the bot. All the technology pieces are in place." That explosion is expected to get even more fuel next... Continue reading at 'AdWeek'
[ AdWeek | 2016-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
Ongoing global supply issues and a paper shortage have conspired to create the "perfect storm" for the book industry as publishers, booksellers and authors are all finding it difficult to keep up with reader demand. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2021-11-17 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s special-edition NewFronts Now newsletter. Check your inbox daily for a roundup of the biggest news, trends, insights and takeaways from IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for NewFronts Now. And... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2020-06-23 20:11:12 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s special-edition NewFronts Now newsletter. Check your inbox daily for a roundup of the biggest news from IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts and takeaways from the week, along with key trends and insights. And join Ad Age on Friday at 2 p.m. EDT when we will close out the IAB’s... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2020-06-22 22:25:58 UTC ]
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As brands scramble to reimagine their events in the wake of cancellations resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a resurgence of interest surrounding the virtual event space—one that looks a whole lot different than it did 10 years ago. Live broadcasts and on-demand content are... Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2020-03-18 17:30:22 UTC ]
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Farmers seeking government assistance knew where to make their case: on Fox News, in TV ads with tractors and corn stalks designed to snag the attention of President Donald Trump. U.S. airlines, opposed to subsidies for foreign competitors paid by Qatar, took the same broadcast route to the... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-08-28 16:12:29 UTC ]
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While there are only a handful of feminist bookstores in the U.S., several of them report that the perfect storm of Donald Trump’s 2016 election and the subsequent #MeToo movement have reinvigorated their businesses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Specs Who Co-founder, CEO Joe Speiser and president, COO Gretchen Tibbits What Branded content studio Where New York From tasty bacon hacks to soldiers' homecomings from overseas, publisher LittleThings has become a hub for useful and meaningful videos since 2014. After starting out as an... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The next-generation television company may be in your pocket. Snapchat, once pegged by the public as a social-messaging app and recently self-declared camera-based platform, is actually starting to look more and more like TV for young viewers who prefer smartphones over flat screens, industry... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Alvin Zhou is not your typical video producer. On a recent fall afternoon, he's hovering over a table in a test kitchen cutting and prepping vegetables and meat that he'll later whip into an ersatz "fried rice" dish made with cauliflower. As I watch, I'm offered a hot chocolate chip cookie... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-10-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Seventeen years ago, The Blair Witch Project revolutionized movie marketing by turning an indie horror film into a blockbuster with a low-budget viral campaign. Now, just ahead of the third installment of the franchise on Sept. 16, Lionsgate wants to conjure some of the same promotional magic... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook is determined to defeat ad blockers. Daniel O'Leary The most aggressive force in ad-blocking technology is pitted against the world's mightiest social network. The stakes have never been higher for both parties. And there seems no end in sight, as Adblock Plus continues to attack... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Today's media landscape is undergoing enormous, exciting change. In many ways, we have evolved from a "social first" to "social only" strategy. Christian L. Tom, NowThis Media Alex Fine It's an understatement to say that the current media climate is in flux. In fact, with ever-growing... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Just six months ago, Reddit—whose famous slogan is "The front page of the internet"—was a dangerous place for marketers because of its reputation as a pool of trolling and harassment. Now, the viral-minded site is trying to flip the narrative and draw in advertisers with new ad targeting and... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Richard Smullen says a painfully long wait for a Delta Air Lines customer service rep inspired him to join the world of artificial intelligence. One night about a year ago, having grown tired of waiting for a phone operator to change his flight, he turned to the airline's mobile app—only to... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Specs Steve Hasker Current gig Global president and COO, Nielsen Previous gig Global president, Nielsen Age 46 Adweek: What are you tackling in the new position? Steve Hasker: Two things. One is the translation of total audience [measurement], which is now implemented into the new state of... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The resurgence of vinyl has everybody talking, and listening. Maybe you've thumbed through a trend piece in The New York Times, crediting analog-loving millennials as the impetus for the revival. Or, you've read in Billboard or on Pitchfork about the trouble that comes with manufacturing vinyl.... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The resurgence of vinyl has everybody talking, and listening. Maybe you've thumbed through a trend piece in The New York Times, crediting analog-loving millennials as the impetus for the revival. Or, you've read in Billboard or on Pitchfork about the trouble that comes with manufacturing vinyl.... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sourcepoint, a New York-based content compensation platform for publishers, recently released new data on the effects of ad blockers on its clients' sites. "As the threat of ad blocking is becoming more prevalent, publishers are working hard to identify sustainable ways of being compensated for... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2016-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Advertising Week XII, the Lollapalooza of marketing and media, brought with it a trove of data illustrating the growing mobile reach of social platforms Facebook, Google, Instagram and Snapchat. There was also no shortage of numbers revealed during the New York event affirming the impact of... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2015-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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