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Morning Update: Audi channels Bowie; Google axes Samsung ad blocker; Schumer and Rogan in Bud Light ad; Yahoo to focus on fewer ads

AdWeek: Audi Heads to Space With a Stirring Super Bowl Ad Set to David Bowie’s ‘Starman’

Audi unleashed its 2016 Super Bowl ad on Wednesday, and it’s destined to have one of the most talked-about soundtracks of any commercial on the game – Starman – the 1972 track by David Bowie, who died last month at age 69.

The classic Ziggy Stardust song was enjoying a renaissance even before Bowie’s death. It was played in full during a sequence of Ridley Scott’s space film The Martian. And Bernie Sanders has been using it on the campaign trail.

Yahoo brand logo

The beleaguered media business outlined a flurry of strategic changes yesterday evening (2 February) in an attempt to ease investor concerns after it announced a $4.4bn loss in 2015. It summed up another mediocre year for Yahoo, which chief executive Marissa Mayer admitted had become too dependent on banner ads and desktop users, both of which are in decline.

AdAge: See Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer in Bud Light’s Super Bowl Ad

Bud Light, which has been teasing its celebrity-filled, political-themed Super Bowl ad for nearly two weeks, finally released the spot today. Amy Schumer and Seth Rogen are shown rallying support for the “Bud Light Party.”

“We’ve got the biggest caucus in the country,” Mr. Rogan says. “But it’s not like too big, like you can handle it,” quips Ms. Schumer in an apparent innuendo that is the edgiest part of an ad that otherwise relies on fairly tame one-liners.

 

The Verge: Google removes Samsung’s first Android ad blocker from the Play Store

Just days after it shot to the top of the Play Store, Android’s newest ad blocker has been removed for violating developer guidelines. Called Adblock Fast, the plug-in from startup Rocketship Apps worked within Samsung’s mobile browser thanks to a partnership with the phone maker, which opened an API this week allowing third-party developers to build content blocking features for the preinstalled Samsung Internet app.

According to Rocketship developer Brian Kennish, Google says Adblock Fast violates section 4.4 of of its Developer Distribution Agreement, which disallows apps or plugins offered through the Play Store from “interfering” or “disrupting” devices, networks, or services of third parties. Google confirmed to The Verge that it did remove Adblock Fast, but would not clarify why the content blocker was removed despite Samsung’s open participation. Kennish provided this message from a representative at Google:

Superbowl 50 logo

Digiday: What a $5 million Super Bowl ad can buy you in digital media (tl;dr: a lot)

Tata Zica

The Guardian: Saying Tata to Zica: when brand names go wrong

Mosquitoes have never had a good reputation but it has worsened in the past month, as worries over their role in the transmittal of the Zika virus grow. Unfortunately for car makers Tata Motors, they can also be absolutely terrible news for anyone trying to launch an entry-level hatchback.

On Tuesday the Indian company announced that it was changing the name of its heavily promoted Zica car (an abbreviation of “zippy car”), to avoid a troublesome association with the mosquito-borne virus. Tata isn’t the first company to say bye-bye to a brand name because it has developed unfortunate connotations. In the 1970s a popular brand of appetite-suppressing caramels called Ayds advertised itself with slogans such as “Ayds helps you lose weight”.

CampaignLive: Cadbury reveals new Milk Tray Man is firefighter from Liverpool

Cadbury, the Mondelez International confectionery brand, has picked Patrick McBride, a firefighter from Liverpool, to be its Milk Tray Man.

McBride will bring the iconic figure to the 21st century. He will also show a caring and sensitive side, as well as going to extreme lengths to deliver the box of chocolates to women much like the previous Milk Tray Men.

McBride fought off competition from 20,000 people and takes over from James Coombes, the previous Milk Tray Man. The campaign kicked off in October last year.

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