Morning Update: Digital media caught in a ‘crap trap’; Facebook filters the news; would you buy a gay turtle?; the influential women of media
The Information: Escaping the Digital Media ‘Crap Trap’
Digital media companies are caught in the “crap trap,” mass-producing trashy clickbait so they can claim huge audiences and often higher valuations.
Here is how they fell into this lethal trap: They got into the content game to produce news or info they might be proud of, believing they could lure us to read it and maybe even pay for it. They quickly realized it’s expensive to produce quality content and hard to get a lot of people to click on it, much less pay for it.
So they deluded themselves that the better play was to go for the biggest audience possible, using stupid web tricks to draw them in. These include misleading but clicky headlines, feel-good lists, sexy photos and exploding watermelons.
Wired: Facebook Has Seized the Media, and That’s Bad News for Everyone But Facebook
When Facebook News Feed guru Will Cathcart took the stage at F8 to talk about news, the audience was packed. Some followed along on Twitter. Others streamed the session online. Journalists, developers, and media types all clamoured to catch a glimpse of “Creating Value for News Publishers and Readers on Facebook”—value that has become the most coveted asset in the news business as Facebook becomes a primary way the public finds and shares news.
Campaign Live: Amnesty International Turkey “#GayTurtle” by TBWA\Istanbul
Amnesty International has found a novel way to highlight homophobia in Turkey – film what happens when you offer people a gay turtle.
The online film, which is set in a pet shop in Turkey, was created by TBWA\Istanbul. It shows what happens when the pet shop employee tells shoppers that the turtle they are interested in purchasing is gay. The customers’ reactions (all real, according to TBWA) are uncomfortably absurd – eg. “No, just give me a normal, non-gay, standard turtle” – and seek to highlight the worrying levels of homophobia and transphobia in Turkey.
Ad Week: Meet 4 Influential Women in Marketing and Media Who Are Creating a Culture of Change
Name one industry today that is untouched by the extraordinary pace of progress. Breakthrough technologies and the consumers who use them are inspiring the next generation of digitally forward businesses to challenge old-guard companies at every turn. The rules for their survival are clear: grow scale, but think nimbly or risk irrelevance.
Of equal importance is the need to cultivate talent. A global economy calls for myriad points of view, which, in theory, should make gender equality and diversity a no-brainer. Marketers, as well as media and technology companies, also must adjust to 21st century thinking. Some are doing just that, handing the reins to agents of change whose visions of tomorrow are being activated today.
Mumbrella Asia: ‘Brave work is usually the most effective’ says Neal Davies, Effies’ president
In a Q&A with Mumbrella in Singapore before the APAC Effies last week, the former founding partner of Naked Communications New York and marketing director of Kodak was asked what makes an Effie more worth winning than a Creative Effectiveness Lion, why there weren’t more creatives on the judging line-up, rewarding bravery that isn’t effective, and why some agencies are pulling back from awards shows.
Cannes is now giving out Lions for effectiveness. So, which is worth more – Cannes Creative Effectiveness Lion or Effie Gold?
I think if you were to ask a client or an agency of the plethora of awards that are out there, with new awards shows launching every week seemingly, ‘what are the important ones to win?’ you’d have shortlist of two pretty quickly. Which is a Cannes Lion for creativity and an Effie for effectiveness.
Ad Week: R/GA Promotes Its Longtime CCO to the New Role of Vice Chairman
R/GA has officially promoted longtime veteran and global chief creative officer Nick Law to the newly created position of vice chairman.
In this role, Law will work even more closely with the agency’s senior clients and global leadership to help shape both its business strategy and its larger vision moving forward. He will continue to work out of R/GA’s New York headquarters and report directly to chairman and CEO Robert Greenberg.
“Over the past 15 years, Nick has been an incredible partner to me and the entire executive team,” said Greenberg in a statement. “Under his leadership, we will continue our relentless pursuit of innovation far into the future.”
The Poke: Everyone is mocking this banking ad with the same joke
Nothing beats the Daily Mail’s obsession with exploding pustules.
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Fact is the Crap trap is a double down: poor content and no real revenues.
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