Woman Up’s mission statement is to “empower and foster the women of R/GA and attract the best female talent”.
As part of the initiative, Woman Up will host a number of talks, workshops, client collaborations and award programmes.
Morning Update: X Files takes a pasting; Big Brother slammed for showing Bowie ex-wife crying; Should you be on Peach?
Hollywood Reporter: The X-Files’: TV Review
In messy, tedious form, the revered sci-fi series starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson limps back for a limited run on Fox.
We can debate endlessly whether it was even a good idea to bring back The X-Files from the dustbin of popular culture after years of being revered as a thing that once was great, just as we can argue that Fox should have sent more than one (of the six) episodes to critics to get an accurate reflection of what this special revamp is all about.
But The X-Files is indeed back and we did indeed get only get one. There’s no getting around that.
Or this: It’s not very good.
AdWeek: Every Celebrity Ever* in a Super Bowl Ad in 30 Seconds
Hollywood A Listers, B Listers, professional athletes, politicians, reality TV stars — and some people who are many of those things — have long been the coin of the realm for Super Bowl advertisers.
From Farrah Fawcett and Joe Namath’s then-very naughty pitch for Noxzema to Charlton Heston growling “I love you, man” for Bud Light in the 1990s, famed faces haven’t been off-screen for long during Super Bowl commercial breaks.
Digiday: Brands and publishers pounce on Peach, the latest social fad
Try as they might, brands and publishers simply can’t resist the latest shiny social bauble.
The latest object of interest: Peach, a new social networking app that combines Slack-like commands with a Facebook Messenger-style interface, introduced last Friday. Major brands like Asos and Merriam-Webster are up and running, along with several publishers like Vice and The Washington Post.
On Monday afternoon, clothing retailer Asos penned a literal love letter to the app on its corporate blog.
Mashable: TV station slammed for broadcasting Angie Bowie’s reaction to ex-husband’s death
Viewers have criticised Channel 5 show Celebrity Big Brother for broadcasting Angie Bowie’s reaction to her ex-husband David Bowie’s sudden death, calling it disgusting and distasteful.
The programme showed a short clip at the end of Monday night’s programme, promoting Tuesday night’s episode of the show. In it, the 66-year-old American breaks down telling Big Brother: “I haven’t seen him in so many years, I can’t make a big drama out of it”.
The Drum: Tough Mudder – It’s All Been Training
Few of life’s undertakings are as unappealing to a sane mind as taking on the Tough Mudder challenge – as a result, creative agency Rokkan had a tough sell when tasked with producing the event’s first ever global campaign.
Rokkan embraced the madness of the marathon as it looked to push more potential runners into the mix globally, intent on combating dissenters claiming they are ‘not ready’.
Three videos, ‘Battery’, ‘The Escape’ and ‘The Swingset’ propose that by living life, participants are already prepared for the rush and the #ItsAllBeenTraininghashtag looks to help this proposition go global.
Mumbrella Asia: Amazon boss re-imagined as Lord Vishnu on Fortune magazine cover irks Hindu group
Fortune magazine has been criticised by a Hindu group for depicting Amazon boss Jeff Bezos as Lord Vishnu to illustrate the cover story of its January international edition.
The story is about Amazon’s ambitions to succeed in India, and features the cover line ‘Amazon invades India’.
US-based Hindu rights campaigner Rajan Zed said the cover trivialises a venerated deity and requested that the Time Inc-owned magazine publish a disclaimer on its website and the next issue with a an explanation about Lord Vishnu and Hinduism. Read more »
Campaign: R/GA London sets up initiative to inspire women
R/GA London has set up an internal group to help inspire women at the agency and in the marketing, advertising, digital and technology industries.
AdWeek: With Tourism Win, Mcgarrybowen Takes on the Job of Selling America to the World
McGarrybowen’s continuing global expansion got a vote of confidence as the agency edged out larger networks to become the creative agency for Brand USA, America’s first national marketing organization.
Spending by the public/private partnership is estimated at $20 million to $30 million. Brand USA’s search RFP estimates agency revenue to come in between $1 million and $3 million.
Until Brand USA was created in 2010, America had been one of the few countries without a national destination tourism effort, leaving that task to individual states, regions and cities. Brand USA awards its marketing contract on a three-year basis, with JWT and, more recently, WPP corporate sibling Geometry behind its launch. During the RFP process where some 17 proposals were submitted, including one from the incumbents, the number of finalists came down to an undisclosed handful of global agencies.
Re/Code: Google Now Has an Official Virtual Reality Boss to Take On Facebook’s Oculus
As Facebook and Microsoft have plowed ahead with virtual reality, Google has looked like it’s behind. But, in 2016, it may be serious about catching up.
The search giant is forming its own dedicated division for virtual reality computing, with CEO Sundar Pichai moving over a key deputy to run it, according to multiple sources. Simultaneously, the move signals Google’s emerging intent to build a viable enterprise business. Because with the executive shift, Google’s massive consumer Web applications now fall under incoming SVP Diane Greene.
