News

Morning update: Virgin America’s six-hour pre-roll; More cats than you can shake a diet coke bottle at; HBO standalone streaming service

Morning all, welcome to our morning update and a smattering of news which happened overnight around the world

Mashable: HBO to offer standalone streaming service in the US in 2015

HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler has announced that the popular premium cable channel will offer its streaming platform as a standalone service in the U.S. in 2015.

The move brings HBO closer into competition with other streaming companies like Netflix. Currently, HBO Go, the company’s streaming offering, is only available to those who pay through expensive cable subscriptions.

Speaking at the Time Warner investor meeting on Wednesday, Plepler emphasized the chance to reach new customers as motivation for the move.

“That is a large and growing opportunity that should no longer be left untapped. It is time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO,” he said.

AdWeek: Virgin America has produced a six-hour – yes, six-hour – pre-roll that is creepy, warholian and sort of brilliant

People have a hard time sitting through five seconds of pre-roll on YouTube. How will they react to almost six hours of it—much of which is intentionally, preposterously, stultifyingly boring?

Virgin America is about to find out.

The airline today breaks a curious new online campaign from ad agency Eleven in San Francisco. And the centerpiece is a strange, Warholian Web film depicting—in real time—the experience on a typical rival carrier (here it’s called BLAH Airlines, and yes, it has a website) during a 5-hour-and-45-minute flight from Newark to San Francisco.

The passengers are mannequins—they’re so bored, they can’t even move a muscle. And indeed, BLAH is the antithesis of Virgin. The seats are cramped, the lighting is harsh, there’s scant entertainment and no real food.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okTokQgOo6I

Creativity-Online: Would you rather fight 100 kittens-sized Taylor Swift or one Taylor Swift-sized kitten? 

Diet Coke’s new “Get a Taste” campaign, from Droga5, poses the question “What if life tasted as good as Diet Coke?” Previous answers to that question have involved a crowded flight and a carwash, but the latest “Get a Taste” spot has a much simpler setting: a living room.

Except the living room happens to be populated by Taylor Swift and an adorable kitten. No, wait — two kittens! Scratch that —seven kittens! Oh, hold on now — dozens of kittens!

So the answer to “What if life tasted as good as Diet Coke?” in this case is clearly cute overload and internet meltdown.

Media Week: Sir Martin Sorrell label Omnicom CFO exit “bizarre”

WPP chief executive Sir  Martin Sorrell has hit out at the recent departure of Omnicom chief financial officer Randall Weisenburger, labelling the move :remarkable”.
In an interview with Campaign US, the WPP boss said the recent departure of Weisenburger, who left after 16 years to return to private equity, was “remarkable” since the he was reportedly the subject of all the difficulties during the failed Omnicom and Publicis Groupe merger.
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