Morning Update: Bud Light axes Schumer/Rogen ads; Fox Sports begins native ads; what I hate about your whisky; Havas hires CEO for China
Ad Age: The Party’s Over: Bud Light Ends Campaign Amid Slow Sales
Almost exactly one year ago today, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito teased what he described on an earnings call as “revolutionary new creative” for Bud Light coming from Wieden & Kennedy, which had just won the nation’s largest beer account from BBDO.
But the politically themed Bud Light Party campaign starring Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer, which debuted during the Super Bowl, has proven to be a major disappointment by failing to reverse declining sales trends.
Digiday: Fox Sports is running native TV ads during the World Series
If you were watching the first game of the World Series on Tuesday night, you might have noticed something different happen in the middle of the third inning: Instead of cutting to the usual commercial break, Fox Sports went to its studio booth for some early in-game analysis from Alex Rodriguez, Pete Rose and Frank Thomas.
The “commercial-free break” which ran for two minutes and 30 seconds, was “brought to you by T-Mobile,” Fox Sports studio host Kevin Burkhardt said when introducing the segment.
Ad Week: Ad of the Day: Andy Daly Brilliantly Reads 3.5 Hours of Real Insults About Laphroaig Scotch
What happens when you mix mean tweets, improv comedy, political satire and user-generated content? This new ultra-long-form ad from scotch brand Laphroaig that’s so entertaining, you might actually find yourself watching the whole thing. (Well, maybe.)
That would be three and a half hours of comedian Andy Daly, of Comedy Central’s much-loved and now-defunct Review, doing what the brand is calling a “filibuster”, so he can read three years’ worth of consumer comments. Some of them are fawning, but most are negative, even downright blistering. There are even some twisted haikus.
Havas Media has hired Karl Wu from Mediacom to lead the China operation as group CEO based in Beijing.
He replaces Christophe Cases, who has ran the China business for just over a year and a half having joined the media agency from management consultancy Accenture. Cases move into a new role, still based in China, as deputy global MD of Havas Media Group.
The Guardian: Turkey shuts 15 media outlets over alleged terrorist links
Turkish authorities have passed two more emergency decrees shutting down 15 media outlets, including one of the world’s only women’s news agencies, over alleged links with “terrorist organisations”.
More than 10,000 civil servants were also dismissed over alleged links to the US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom the government blames for the bloody coup attempt of 15 July.
Poynter: NPR names its first general manager of podcasting
NPR on Friday appointed its first general manager of podcasting, yet another sign of the medium’s growing importance.
It’s Neal Carruth, the supervising senior editor for NPR’s business desk. Carruth, a 17-year veteran at NPR, will oversee Planet Money, Embedded, Hidden Brain, Code Switch, Pop Culture Happy Hour and NPR’s Politics podcast.
