Morning Update: Johnnie Walker overhauls Keep Walking; WPP boss on skills shortage; Comedian’s bizarre lies about surviving 9/11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9R9YtaoYAE
Ad Age: Johnnie Walker makes big changes to keep walking
Johnnie Walker is calling on a diverse cast of characters — from actor Jude Law and a race car driver to a psychologist who studies happiness — as it overhauls its 16-year-old “Keep Walking” campaign. The new effort will be Johnnie Walker’s “largest ever global marketing campaign,” according to the Scotch brand.
The new tagline, “Joy Will Take You Further. Keep Walking,” moves the campaign from a work hard-and-persevere message to one that promotes the idea that joy is the key to making progress.
The old tone “doesn’t resonate in the way it used to,” said Guy Escolme, global brand director for Johnnie Walker, which is owned by Diageo. The new campaign, he said, is meant to convey the idea “that if you start from a place of happiness, optimism and joy, it is a big accelerator of people’s progress and success in their lives.”
Campaign: Immigration could be solution to talent shortage, says Martin Sorrell
Talent will be “the defining competitive dynamic” in the future, WPP’s chief executive Martin Sorrell told a digital marketing conference this morning.
Sorrell gave the opening keynote speech at this week’s Dmexco conference in Cologne, Germany, discussing the global trends that will impact the future of the advertising industry.
One of these is the talent shortage, partially caused by a decline in birth rates.
Ad Week: Comedy Central, Buffalo Wild Wings are reconsidering deals with comedian who lied about 9/11
Comedian Steve Rannazzisi, best known for his role as Kevin on the The League, has admitted that he faked his account of surviving the 9/11 attacks.
In December 2009 Rannazzisi told the tale to Marc Maron, whose interview style lends itself to a confessional environment for guests, on his WTF podcast. Rannazzisi detailed working for Merrill Lynch on the 54th floor of the south tower when the first plane hit the north tower.
“I was there, and then the first tower got hit, and we were jostled all over the place,” he told Maron. “I went downstairs, walked outside, saw all the pandemonium, and then about 5 or 6 minutes later, wsssh, bang. … I called up to the office, and it was pandemonium.”
CNet: #IstandwithAhmed: Support grows for teen arrested for clock that ‘looked like a bomb’
He was wearing a NASA T-shirt. And handcuffs.
Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Mohamed went to MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, on Monday, believing it was just another day. It didn’t quite turn out that way.
Mohamed brought a clock he made to school. He wanted to show it off to teachers. As the Dallas Morning News reports, Ahmed is one of those teens who likes to tinker and make things. He’s made his own radios, even his own go-kart.
Digiday: We asked New Yorkers: What’s the first thing you’d dislike about Facebook?
Click “like” if you like something on Facebook; comment if you don’t. But that can be a lot of work. After years of people clamoring that Facebook make some sort of “dislike” button, Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday that the company is working on some sort of feature like that.
And the Internet, of course, went crazy. So we decided to ask a few New Yorkers what they would dislike on Facebook.
