Morning Update: Meijer Christmas ad spreads holiday cheer; PR exec fired after AIDS Tweet
This is our Morning Update, rounding up international media and marketing news from while you were sleeping.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IUErryWHXw
AdWeek: Wait, There’s Still Time for One More Christmas Ad You’re Going to Love
“It’s getting down to the wire, but we’re still finding little gems of Christmas cheer in holiday ads on YouTube. This one’s for Meijer, the superstore chain, and it should bring a smile to even the most Grinch-like viewer. Sadly, it’s only gotten 6,000 views in over a month. Let’s help lift that number a bit. Agency: The Distillery Project in Chicago.”
Mumbrella Asia: Dove ‘Real beauty sketches’ is Asia’s ‘most successful’ ad on YouTube in 2013
“YouTube has released a list of the “most successful” ads on the social network in Asia this year.
Measured by a combination of organic and paid views, Unilever is the region’s top advertiser on YouTube, occupying the top two slots with Dove and Lifebuoy soap. Samsung has four ads in the top ten.”
The Guardian: Farewell 2013, the year of living with uncertainty
“Trends – as habitually bolstered by forecasts and predictions – are what Decembers are all about: tidings of comfort, grief, and unwelcome realities intermingled. Thus (to take a notional example), shopping trends might indicate that, at current rates, our otherwise blighted high streets will be choked by Amazon delivery vans come 2024. But who’ll point out that a landscape so infernally blighted will repel rather than attract shopaholics? This is what is called, in all common sense, a non-fulfilling prophecy, excitable tabloid extrapolations turned ridiculous down a long tunnel of blinkered vision. Which brings us to 2013, the media year of trending obsessively – and living uncertainly.”
The New York Times: A Twitter Message About AIDS, Followed by a Firing and an Apology
“A message about race and AIDS in Africa posted on the Twitter account of a Manhattan public relations executive at an Internet media giant on Friday caused a global outcry on Twitter and around the web. The executive apologized on Sunday after she was fired on Saturday.”
Mashable: Zany Fake Ad Will Make You Reconsider Eating Beans in Space
“A moon landing goes horribly wrong in a fake video spot from visual-effects studio Cinesite.
The studio’s cautionary tale provides a good reason why astronauts shouldn’t eat beans. It’s not clear if such a campaign would pass muster for a real company. (“Haynes,” the brand in the fake ad is obviously modeled after Heinz.)”
Journalism.co.uk: Social news wire Storyful bought by News Corp in £15m deal
“NewsCorp today announced their acquisition of Storyful, the social news agency and verification platform,
Storyful, which first launched in 2010, will continue to work with its current partners while complementing News Corp’s existing video services, including WSJ Live.”
The Guardian: Editor sounds the last Post, but his journalistic spirit lives on…
“Liverpool Post editor Mark Thomas has been reflecting on the reasons his newspaper has been axed after 158 years of publication.
In a farewell column about the “extraordinary challenges” facing the newspaper industry, he points first to the impact of the digital revolution.”
AdWeek: Did Xbox Really Ask Its Own Support Account for Hardware Help on Twitter?
“If true, this is rather embarrassing. Several Twitter users last night reportedly caught @Xbox tweeting an Xbox One support question to Microsoft’s own @XboxSupport team. The assumption, of course, is that the question (now deleted) was meant to be posted elsewhere, with some theorizing it was intended for a fake user account to make Xbox Support look responsive.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_hoWiPiWpM
AdWeek: Here Are the New American Stereotypes, According to French Ads for McDonald’s
“This series of French McDonald’s ads for three new sandwiches proves that, for better or worse, European stereotypes of Americans have changed a bit over the years. Instead of being fat tourists or dumb rednecks, we’re now hockey players, cops and sexy lifeguards demanding that total strangers hand over their Double Shiny Bacon burgers.”
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
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