One can't blame the skepticism that greeted the purported accidental company press release from Volkswagen Group of America on Monday, when it unveiled the official change of its U.S. brand name Voltswagen of America. That's what marketers get when they play around with April Fool's jokes too often. Still, a decisive break with its past...
Vice Media Group (VMG) has acquired creative consultancy Pltfrmr, which will subsequently be merged with in-house creative agency Virtue. The acquisition will also see co-founders Chris Garbutt and Colin Mitchell take on leadership roles within VMG. Garbutt will become co-president and chief creative officer of Virtue, and Mitchell will become co-president and chief innovation officer....
America possesses a long history of Black enterprise. Conversely, it also has a deep history of tearing down Black-led businesses and entrepreneurship. The Tulsa race massacre and the resulting eradication of Black Wall Street--a thriving community in Tulsa, Okla., that was once a hub of Black-owned businesses--is a harrowing reminder of the lengths these communities...
Univision's PrendeTV, the first free ad-supported streaming service created exclusively for the U.S. Hispanic audience, debuted today. Top line PrendeTV launched with more than 40 streaming channels and 10,000 hours of VOD content, spanning movies, international drama series, reality shows, children's programming, telenovelas and sports programming. Between the lines PrendeTV is the first big project...
Google Chrome's proposed alternative to third-party cookies for ad targeting, known as FLoC, is now open to external testing in certain parts of the world. Initial testing of FLoC--short for Federated Learning of Cohorts--is taking place with a small percentage of users in Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines and the...
Makeup can be a means of revolutionizing your own appearance. Now London cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty is working with TikTok to lead a resistance against traditional beauty standards with #CreatorRevolution, a "modern-day beauty pageant for the digital age." A six-month campaign open to content creators around the globe, #CreatorRevolution rivals the conventions of processions in...
TikTok joined the Coalition to End Wildlife Trafficking Online, which was established by the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Traffic and the World Wildlife Fund in 2018. The group includes ecommerce, search and social platforms worldwide aiming to reduce online wildlife trafficking. TikTok global policy lead, illegal activities and regulated goods Luc Adenot and global...
The NFT (non-fungible tokens) craze is in full swing and whether or not you think it's a speculative bubble, there's serious money in its leading platforms. Dapper Labs, the Canadian blockchain company behind NBA Top Shot, just announced $305 million in private funding led by investment management company Coatue Management, which values Dapper Labs at...
Ogilvy U.K. CEO Michael Frohlich will return to his PR roots as he takes the unexpected step of becoming the CEO of Weber Shandwick EMEA. According to sources who asked to be anonymous, Frohlich resigned from his post two weeks ago to make the move out of the WPP creative agency, where he had previously...
Instagram is teaming up with GLAAD, Out magazine and The Trevor Project to mark International Transgender Day of Visibility Wednesday (March 31). GLAAD created a guide to highlight trans comedians who are using their platform to speak from personal experience with humor infused in their observations, including Rhea Butcher, Kai Choyce, Patti Harrison, D'Lo, Shakina...
Instagram began testing ads on its IGTV long-form video platform with a select group of creators in the U.S. last May, and the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing network said Monday that it is extending that testing to Australia and the U.K. The test will roll out in those countries over the next few weeks, with...
PetSmart wants to make sure pets aren't left out of this year's Easter festivities. The retailer released a Snapchat lens in Canada, Puerto Rico and the rest of the U.S. that enables people to dress their pets up for Easter without risking life and limb doing so. Easter falls on April 4 this year.
Venezuelan President Nicol?s Maduro joined former U.S. President Donald Trump in a very exclusive club: the club of world leaders who have been suspended by Facebook. Maduro's account was frozen over the weekend for spreading misinformation about Covid-19 by repeatedly claiming that Venezuelan-made mostly herbal liquid Carvativir can cure the virus. The last post on...
Just five months after promising to "take on the cableopoly," T-Mobile is discontinuing its TVision streaming TV service. TVision rolled out last November and offered existing T-Mobile customers low-cost options for live sports, news and network channels without needing a cable subscription. But T-Mobile quickly realized the model wasn't sustainable. The company will wind down...