Morning Update: Snapchat reveals messaging 2.0; NBC’s Olympics goldrush; VW charged; twerking dogs; Netflix & Friends pre-roll
Ad Age: What Marketers Should Know About Snapchat’s Update
Snapchat today announced a significant update to its chat function, a move that could give other messaging apps increased competition.
Snapchat, which says it has more than 100 million daily active users and more than 8 billion video views every day, is calling its update Chat 2.0 and gives users a much broader way to communicate with other Snapchat users. One of the most alluring aspects to the update is that users can change how they’re communicating while they’re still in a chat.
Ad Week: NBC Rings Up $1 Billion in Ad Sales for Rio Olympics, 4 Months Faster Than London
Earlier this year, NBC said ad sales for this summer’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro were pacing ahead of London in 2012. Today NBC Sports said it has surpassed $1 billion in national advertising sales for the Rio Olympics, four months earlier than the 2012 Games.
NBC reached that mark July 25, 2012, just two days prior to the opening ceremonies. This year, NBC reached that mark with 129 days left to go until the Aug. 5 opening ceremonies. The $1 billion figure includes national broadcast, cable and digital sales.
Ad Age: FTC Charges Volkswagen With Deceptive Advertising
Volkswagen Group of America deceived consumers with advertising that promoted “clean diesel” VWs and Audis that were later discovered as being fit with illegal emission defeat devices, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
The FTC alleges in a complaint filed in federal court that Volkswagen during a seven-year period “deceived consumers by selling or leasing more than 550,000 diesel cars based on false claims that the cars were low-emission, environmentally friendly, met emissions standards and would maintain a high resale value,” according to an FTC statement.
Hindquarters, a luxury dog accessory brand, has launched its brand with a surreal online campaign in which dogs “twerk” in the style of popular music videos.Created by Saatchi & Saatchi London, the 90-second ad’s soundtrack is Walk the Dog, a new track released last week by Geranimo & Mikey, the offshoot of Basement Jaxx’s Felix Buxton. The ad, released online today on Basement Jaxx’s YouTube page, satirises modern dance music videos by showing dogs shaking their rear ends to imitate twerking.
https://youtu.be/K_3uKmLFHRI
It seems that popular sitcom Friends has found a new life – and audience – through Netflix, this clever pre-roll campaign from Ogilvy, Paris is helping it along in France, too.
To promote the debut of all ten seasons of the sitcomin the country, the agency created responsive video ads that were tailored to the content that YouTube viewers set out to watch. The “Friendly Preroll Campaign” for Netflix tagged some of the top-searched videos and created pre-roll from “Friends” footage that related to the subject at hand.
Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) has turned to influencers in a campaign from Razorfish which looks to discover a lesser-known side to the destination.
Tourism officials paid for influencers to travel to Hong Kong who produced videos of their trip and shared experiences on social media using the phrase “I Never Knew”.
The aim is to encourage their followers to share stories from Hong Kong using the hashtag #DiscoverHongKong and bring “hidden gems” to light. It is the first user generated drive undertaken by the HKTB.
Mumbrella Asia: Publicis agency Rokkan launches in Singapore
Publicis Groupe-owned media and creative agency Rokkan is expanding into Asia Pacific with the opening of an office in Singapore. The US-based agency, which sits in the Publicis Communications division, was acquired by the group in late 2012.
Publicis said the expansion follows “momentum from recent global work”. Rokkan also won the global digital business for pearl brand Mikimoto, an account that will be handled from Singapore.
