As VML's chief creative officer of Innovation for North America, Walter T. Geer III has a strong pulse on culture. His beginnings go back to the early digital media days, where he is behind the patents of multiple ad units marketers might remember adding to media plans in the early 2000s. But today, Geer is...
Independent agency Via has promoted from within to launch its next phase of growth. The Portland, Maine agency has elevated longtime head of planning Scott MacLeod to president. In addition, the agency has expanded its four key specialty practices to help it handle more non-AOR business and retain its long-term clients. MacLeod becomes the first...
As personal AI assistants become commonplace, they will usher in an era where a product's appeal will be more closely linked to its objective substance, the experience it offers and its legitimacy as evidenced by AI-crawlable digital sources. In response, brands must evolve their approach to connecting with consumers; they must now appeal to AI...
The Economist Group announced two key executive hires, naming Luke Bradley-Jones as the new president of The Economist and Leon Saunders Calvert as the new president of Economist Intelligence. Bradley-Jones will assume the role this summer, while Saunders Calvert will begin his tenure in April. Both men are based in London and will report to...
For the uninitiated, a total solar eclipse takes place when Earth's moon passes between our planet and the sun. During the eclipse, the moon's umbral shadow moves along what's known as a path of totality, a long diagonal arc below which the daytime sky darkens suddenly, approximating dusk. That's the scientific explanation, anyway. But if...
At the end of 2023, nearly one-half (48%) of the top news websites, based on reach, across 10 countries blocked OpenAI's crawlers, while nearly one-quarter (24%) blocked Google's AI crawler, according to a study by Reuters Institute. Reuters Institute analyzed the robots.txt of the 15 online news sources with the widest reach, including titles like...
Global confectionary producer Mondelez International moved to protect its purple packaging by issuing a lawsuit against independent rival Tony's Chocolonely. The move came after Tony's began mimicking competitor brand packaging in a campaign to highlight child labor practices within cocoa farming. The campaign from Dutch-based Tony's, released in Germany and Austria, saw it adopt similar...
The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, a global nonprofit aimed at improving the social and environmental impact of the fashion industry, is expanding into new territory: home furnishings, sporting and outdoor goods, bags and luggage. With the expansion comes a rebrand for the coalition, which counts more than 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, industry associations and...
Ikea is fresh off launching its first global ad campaign at the ripe old age of 80, and its most senior marketer is hopeful a unified approach will help the retailer appeal to customers across borders battling the same cost-of-living crisis. "When Ikea first started in 1943, we were only based in Sweden. Since then,...