Morning Update: China’s trippy propaganda ad; Twitter turns to TV ad; SXSW reinstates Gamergate panel
AdAge: Watch the Monty Python-Influenced Chinese Propaganda Ad That’s Going Viral
In the past, propaganda about the Chinese Communist Party sometimes relied on stock photos of rice paddies, skyscrapers and the Great Wall, paired with a soaring voiceover. Or it used man-on-the street interviews with foreign exchange students to lavish praise on President Xi Jinping (not only “a wise and resolute president,” but also “handsome, yeah, he is super charismatic.”
The new propaganda video that popped up Tuesday is a complete departure. To explain China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, it uses a catchy music video with psychedelic animation reminiscent of Terry Gilliam’s vintage cartoons for Monty Python. One shot includes the president’s face, a pink disco ball and a VW bus. There’s perhaps a touch of the “Dumb Ways to Die” cartoon aesthetic in there, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GX63F57xVo
Digiday: ‘Gamechanger’ or ‘chaotic’? Twitter’s new TV ad leaves people confused
To promote its flashy new Moments feature, Twitter went old school.
Last night, Twitter debuted its second-ever TV commercial during Game 1 of the World Series in an attempt to get people excited to use its recently unveiled chaos-taming tool. Weird and loud, the 30-second spot showcases trending moments during the Major League Baseball playoffs through tweets and memes.
AdWeek: Cindy Gallop Says Cancellation of SXSW Anti-Harassment Panels Shows Industry’s Gender Imbalance
Speaking at the 3 Percent Conference in New York on Tuesday, Cindy Gallop—founder and CEO of IfWeRanTheWorld and former chief of BBH New York—called on ad agencies and brands to boycott South by Southwest Interactive this year following the organization’s decision to pull two anti-harassment panels from the 2016 lineup.
“I want every single agency and brand to refuse to go to SXSW 2016 unless they reinstate those panels,” Gallop said.
In a statement, SXSW cited an outpouring of online harassment and threats of violence as its main reason for cutting from its lineup two panels on harassment in the gaming industry. The cancellation sparked even more backlash, with BuzzFeed and Vox saying they’d skip the event unless the panels were reinstated.
The Guardian: Local World deal boosts Trinity Mirror as focus turns to Richard Desmond titles
Trinity Mirror’s share price has surged as much as 10% as the publisher confirmed a £220m deal to create the UK’s biggest regional newspaper group, and refused to rule out making another move to buy Richard Desmond’s national titles.
Trinity Mirror’s deal to acquire Local World will effectively double its regional newspaper operation to more than 160 titles, accounting for 30% of the weekly circulation of all local papers in the UK.
Investors were cheered by the deal, which Trinity Mirror sorely needed to drive growth after suffering steep falls in advertising revenue through the summer, with its share price jumping as much as 10% to 176.5p in trading on Wednesday.
TechCrunch: Facebook Bakes Ad Buying Into Its Free, 200K-User Mixpanel Competitor “Analytics For Apps”
Facebook’s platform strategy is finally coming to fruition as it builds ad buying into the free analytics tool it offers app developers.
Today Facebook gathered reporters before its FbStart developer event to provides updates on the social network’s platform:
- Facebook’s free, lightweight Mixpanel competitor “Analytics For Apps” hit 200,000 apps onboard and got some major revenue-driving updates
- There’s a new version of the “Share To Facebook” tool that mimics composing a status update on Facebook itself and doesn’t require a seperate login like the old API-based sharing tool
- Facebook announced 7200 startups are now in its FbStart program that gives out free third-party developer tools
- Facebook’s next F8 developer conference will be April 12-13, 2016 at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco
