Mumbrella’s Summer Shorts series – ep. 15

Mumbrella is busy screening your marketing, media and advertising news for you.

The result is a Summer Shorts series to keep you informed and entertained as Australia contemplates returning to work during these uncertain COVID times.

Check back on this page for updates throughout the day, and stay safe out there.

Short Shorts

• Lexus has appointed Toyota Australia’s CMO as its new head.
• Publicis Groupe has acquired Tremend, one of the largest independent software engineering companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Tremend reaches 60 million of its clients’ end users and will serve as the newest global delivery centre for Publicis Sapient. Based in Bucharest, Romania, Tremend was founded in 2005 by Ioan Cocan and Marius Hanganu, and serves a large and diverse client base that includes companies such as Carrefour, ING and Orange. With over 16 years of experience in product engineering, Tremend has 650 strong software engineering talent across high demand skills. The transaction remains subject to customary approvals by the relevant competition authority.
• Effie Asia Pacific has made Nicole McMillan – vice president FMCG Hong Kong and group marketing for DKSH – the 2022 awards chairwoman.
• Sources: WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS are exploring a sale of a significant stake or all of CW Network, and Nexstar Media Group is among possible buyers. (Wall Street Journal)
• Hiveminds Innovative Market Solutions, the digital specialist unit of Madison World has appointed Saurabh Tyagi to lead its enterprise clients. Saurabh was previously working in Madison Media Omega as vice president.
• The escalating boycott of the Sydney Festival over a grant from the Israeli embassy has disrupted more than 20 shows and events, including cancellations, withdrawals from the program and cast changes. (SMH)
• After nearly three years as the editor-in-chief of Slate, the online publication and podcasting platform, Jared Hohlt is stepping down. (The New York Times)
• Don’t Look Up viewers are shocked to discover the 1-800 number featured in the Netflix movie is in fact a phone sex hotline in what many believe is a prank by the film’s director. (The Daily Mail). Meanwhile, Netflix recreated a real-life doomsday in New York City. Advertisement created by whoisthebaldguy.

• Shares of Pinterest closed down 9% after Guggenheim downgraded the stock from buy to neutral, citing user declines. It also lowered the price target from $46 to $39. (CNBC)
• The Grammy Awards, planned for January 31 in Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, have been postponed indefinitely due to COVID-19 concerns. (Variety)
• KFC India marked World Braille Day with braille-enabled menus across restaurants. (Campaign Brief Asia)
• ‘Hot Sauce’ Rosebud is officially postponed from its original date of (this) Sunday January 9th, 2022. Artists and key management staff have tested positive for Covid-19 and are in isolation.
• Artificial intelligence technology startup Fractal said it has received a $360 million investment from private equity firm TPG through its Asia focused investment platform. (Reuters)
• Chicken Treat CEO Mimma Battista plans to open another 30 stores around Australia within 18 months. (The West Australian)
• DDB Group Singapore has elevated Jeff Cheong to the role of chief executive officer, effective immediately. (Campaign Brief Asia)
• Financial wellness and savings app Flamingo has launched in Australia. (FinTech Futures)
• “I will not be shamed”: Andy Cohen has “no apologies” for drinking during CNN’s New Year’s Eve special. (The Howard Stern Show/YouTube)
• Venmo, PayPal and Cash App will now have to report transactions totaling more than $600 to the IRS as Joe Biden plans to ramp up financial enforcement. (The Daily Mail)
• Mercedes-Benz has finally revealed its Vision EQXX electric car. It also has an impressive 47-inch TV screen on board. (The Sun)

• AMC Networks buys anime streamer and distributor Sentai, including its anime-focused Hidive subscription streaming service, Anime Network, and Sentai Studios. (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Instagram is testing the ability to switch between three feeds, including one that displays posts in chronological order, rolling out to all users in H1 2022. (9to5Mac)
• Meta says it is still working on a “highly specialized OS” for its AR/VR devices, and it is not “halting or scaling back” operations in building AR/VR software. (The Verge)
• Court docs: Mail on Sunday will pay Meghan Markle just £1 for invading her privacy, on top of confidential sums for infringing her copyright; MoS won’t appeal. (The Guardian)
• Restaurant spending generally declines in the period between Christmas and New Year, but research from ANZ suggest that the decline this year was greater than in previous years. The decline in expenditure on dining between the week ending 24 December to the week ending 2 January was 24 per cent, compared to declines of 18 to 20 per cent in previous years. The ANZ suggest the greater than usual decline is due to a combination of people being reluctant to eat out because of the new Omicron variant, food delivery problems and hospitality closures due to COVID outbreaks. (The Australian)

• ARN’s parent company HT&E Limited has completed its acquisition of Grant Broadcasters. HT&E acquired 46 of Grant Broadcasters’ radio and digital operations across the country in a deal announced on 12 November last year. When combined with ARN’s existing 13 stations, ARN now owns 58 stations across 33 markets plus 46 DAB+ stations. Due to ACMA licence area ownership regulations, ARN will sell its Brisbane Classic Hits station 4KQ. (radioinfo)
• Quentin Tarantino says he will proceed with selling NFTs based on Pulp Fiction screenplay excerpts, defying a Miramax copyright lawsuit. (CoinDesk)
• Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com has had two ads banned as misleading by the UK’s advertising regulator, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). (Coindesk)
• NBCUnified will let advertisers track and monitor consumer relationships without cookies or device IDs as NBCUniversal unveils first-party advertising identity platform. (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Kosovo bans crypto mining in an attempt to curb energy consumption as the country faces its worst power crisis in a decade. (Reuters)
• American Girl has debuted its first Chinese American doll amid rise in hate crimes. Her name is Corinne, she likes to ski, and she’s the only Chinese American doll in the brand’s roster. (Ad Age)

• The Stuttgart Regional Court has decided that regional advertising on national German TV channels is legally possible. The decision, which implements a ruling of the European Court of Justice, clears the way to screen regionalised advertising campaigns on commercial TV channels, enabling broadcasters to tap into new customer groups. (BroadbandTVNews)
• Nielsen has launched Streaming Signals, a new solution for connected TV (CTV) operators and advertisers to better understand who is watching a show within the household. A first-of-its-kind solution that unbundles household viewing, Streaming Signals enables both media buyers and media sellers to optimise and measure CTV reach for more efficient advertising, maximising ad revenue and delivery to streaming audiences.
• Complaints against YouTuber Callum Airey for featuring two ads for 888 on his channel in August 2021 have been dismissed by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). (SBC News)
• Major US brands would’ve spent an additional $17 billion on advertising, according to Standard Media Index’s Covid-19 Advertising Report, which recently looked at what ad spend would’ve looked like during the first 13 months of the pandemic — if it had never happened. (Morning Brew)
• Germany’s federal cartel office ruled that Alphabet Inc.’s Google should be subject to extended supervisory powers, ramping up pressure on the company as probes into Google’s processing of personal data and its Google News Showcase service continue. (Marketwatch)
• AT&T CFO says HBO Max and HBO ended 2021 with about 73.8 million subscribers, ahead of the company’s forecast. (The Hollywood Reporter)
• Deloitte has appointed new CMO Ben Perkins to lead its UK division. The role will focus solely on Deloitte’s marketing strategy for the UK. (Campaign)
• Michael Melling, the former general manager of CTV News Toronto, CP24 and BNN Bloomberg, has been announced as the new head of CTV News. (NewsConcerns)
• Cadbury has hidden rare creme eggs worth thousands in UK stores – but there’s one catch to win: winners can only claim their reward if they can prove they haven’t eaten the chocolate eggs. (Ad Week)
• Arthur Tzaneros, CEO of trucking company Australian Container Freight Services, said around half of its workforce are having to isolate through having COVID or being a close contact, and they are experiencing significant delays in getting the PCR test. (The Australian Financial Review)
• The spirit world is taking on beer. Are you Team Spirits or Team Beer?
• Engage Studio, a newly-launched creative division of influencer marketing agency Engage Hub, has launched with a number of new clients. The creative division, based in London and Manchester which launched at the end of October 2021, has worked on a number of creative campaigns and secured new clients with brands including Birra Roma, Blue Moon, Paul & Joe Beaute, Alpecin and Berry Bros. (Prolific North)
• Disney has closed down its pay-tv channels Fox Life and Viajar in Spain as the company shift its focus to its direct-to-consumer model and streaming service Disney+. (TBI)
• Volvo Cars will launch a direct integration with the Google Home ecosystem in the coming months. The integration should allow car owners to turn their car on and off, control the temperature and get car information like battery life by issuing voice commands to Google Assistant-enabled home and mobile devices. (TechCrunch)
• Marriott introduced its first NFT collection at Art Basel in December. The NFTs included loyalty points for Marriott’s Bonvoy program. The hotelier is looking at how the metaverse and virtual goods can be used as a marketing tool to educate customers about its brands. (Ad Age)
• Sundance Film Festival in-person events, planned to start January 20 in Park City, Utah, are moved online, making the event entirely virtual for the second year. (Deadline)
• Cyber protection firm Acronis has named Michael Callahan as its new chief marketing officer. Callahan joins the team with extensive sales and marketing experience, serving in senior leadership roles at companies such as McAfee, HP, and Juniper, and most recently as the senior vice president of global marketing for Cofense. (PR Newswire)
• Peugeot has named former Infiniti exec to lead marketing and communications. Phil York, a 20-year veteran of the Renault-Nissan alliance, replaces Thierry Lonziano, who moves to Peugeot Italy. (Automotive News Europe)

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• Tiger Beer, the leading Asian beer brand from The Heineken Company, has signed on global football icon and leading South Korean player Son Heung-Min as its ambassador. (The Drum)
• Brands debut more than 30,000 new products every year, and roughly 95% of them do not see long-term success, according to research from Harvard Business School. (Ad Week)
• Media agency Audience Precision has been engaged by Lyre’s Spirit to provide it with advice on how it can tap into growing world demand for non-alcoholic drink alternatives. Lyre’s Spirit manufactures a range of non-alcoholic spirits, and Audience Precision is assisting it with advertising strategy, planning and buying, along with research on how it can expand its operations. Lyre’s Spirit is already operating in over 60 markets, including Australia, Germany and South Africa, while Lyre’s Spirit global chief marketing officer Paul Gloster notes that no two markets are the same when it comes to non-alcoholic drinks. (The Australian Financial Review)
• ASX-listed poker machine company Aristocrat Leisure launched a $3.9 billion bid for gambling software group Playtech in October. Playtech was founded in Estonia 22 years ago and is listed on the London Stock Exchange; it has operations in 24 countries. However, Aristocrat’s bid has hit a last-minute hurdle, with Playtech advising the London stock market that it was seeking more time to consider a rival bid from JKO Play, with JKO Play having until 2 February to advance its bid. (The Australian)
• Perth journalist, Tom Baddeley, has been named as ABC Radio Perth’s new breakfast presenter, taking up his new role on Monday 7 February 2022. Baddeley said it was a privilege to be given the opportunity to present the show and to take over the reins from his “good mate” Russell Woolf, who died suddenly last October.

A listen back on the big news in marketing, media and advertising: