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Morning Update: ‘Poopy Cat Dolls’ spruik litter box; The Sun attracts 117,000 subscribers

This is our Morning Update, rounding up international media and marketing news from while you were sleeping.

Mashable: This Crazy Cat Little Ad Is Just Meow-tlandish

“The Dutch ad company that came up with this video might not be on-point when it comes to pop culture timelines, but they do get points for committing to absurdity.

And let’s be fair, promoting a disposable litter box is no easy task — but the ‘Poopy Cat Dolls’ do it with style.”

The Guardian: Daily Mail overtakes Sun as biggest-selling Saturday paper

“The Daily Mail overhauled the Sun in November to become the UK’s biggest-selling Saturday paper for the first time.

However, the News UK red-top remains by some distance the biggest-selling UK daily across six days – a position it has held since overtaking the Daily Mirror in 1978.”

Journalism.co.uk: Sharing the news of Nelson Mandela’s death on social media

“The @BBCBreaking Twitter account received a record number of retweets for the tweet which broke the news Nelson Mandela had died.”

AdWeek: This Video Will Make You Want to Be an Ass-Kicking Entrepreneur, Now or in the ’80s

“Grasshopper.com’s epic parody 1980s entrepreneurial video has all the right things. It has the word “epic” in the title. It has that one-take, walking toward the camera while grabbing props out of nowhere thing that people go nuts for. It has a great actor who went to the Shatner school of pausing. It references psychologically important American cult films like American Psycho. And it includes amazing ’80s music. It even has amazingly useless joke acronyms. And if you don’t love it for all that, watch it to see the best example of a business card ever conceived. All of which is why it’s another YouTube success for this small business that serves small businesses. The only thing that would have made it better is kittens.”

The New York Times: Production Is Shut Down for ‘Fast & Furious 7’ After Star’s Death

“Universal Pictures is shutting down production on “Fast & Furious 7” for an indefinite period following the death of one of the film’s stars, Paul Walker, ensuring a delayed release date for the big-budget picture.”

The Guardian: The Sun attracts 117,000 paying subscribers to its Sun+ digital service

“The Sun has attracted 117,000 paying subscribers to its £2-a-week digital service Sun+ since erecting a paywall around its website on 1 August.”

AdWeek: Budweiser’s Tweet-Powered Knitting Bot Makes Holiday Sweaters for Designated Drivers

“The beer brand has created a “Knitbot”—what it calls a tweet-powered knitting machine—to knit ugly sweaters for designated drivers. Every tweet tagged with the hashtag #jumpersfordes (jumper being British for sweater, and des being short for designated drivers) causes the machine to knit a little more. Everything about this—the grasping for relevance in social media, the uninvited participation in a tradition not directly connected to any brand—should be annoying. But it’s hard to argue against celebrating non-drunk-drivers. People always get sloppy wasted during the holidays, after all, so why not foster good will—and look less mercenary—by focusing on the chaperones?”

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