Table of contents for November 14, 2016 in Adweek

The next time you need help removing a stain from clothing or are searching for cocktail recipes, don’t be surprised if help comes in the form of sponsored voice messages from Tide or Johnnie Walker. After years of hype, Amazon, Google and Apple’s vision for the Internet of Things is starting to come to fruition with the rollout of smart home devices like Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple’s Siri and its HomeKit, which launched in September. In fact, 6.3 million voice assistants will be shipped in 2016, amounting to $890 million, according to research firm Futuresource Consulting. No surprise then that marketers are hoping to cash in on this new AI technology by embedding voice-activated experiences. “A lot of what we had done before was so visual in nature—creating…

The 2016 holiday shopping season is upon us. With online retailers gearing up to meet consumer demands, finding out what shoppers want from their experiences can provide invaluable insight. Radial, an ecommerce-tech company based outside of Philadelphia, recently asked shoppers what they wanted. One of the more surprising findings: Nearly all of them are willing to spend more on a site to qualify for free shipping. “These findings provide a holistic view of the modern-day consumer and his or her ever-changing expectations ahead of the busy holiday rush,” said Radial chief product and strategy officer Stefan Weitz. “Marketers and advertisers should take note that consumers expect convenience, exceptional customer service and a personalized experience at every stage of the purchase funnel.”…

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, just hours after the election of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the United States, the show’s co-hosts and panelists sat around a table in 30 Rock’s famed Studio 8H. The home of Saturday Night Live was packed with a live audience—and yet, this was a quiet room. The conversation bounced from how Trump pulled off his historic upset to how the media missed the story of the century entirely—an analysis that would go on to dominate the conversation in the days that followed. “The media was all in on this narrative,” co-host Joe Scarborough told his audience. “Everybody was marching in lockstep: Clinton is going to win, Clinton is going to win.” In fact, just 24 hours earlier, the chatter on Morning Joe and…

Though Omnicom’s win of most of P&G’s media business took the industry by surprise, it was the result of a conscious effort to organically build out data expertise—and long before it was the hot thing to do. November 2010 Daryl Simm taps PHD’s Scott Hagedorn to lead Annalect, an early data management platform. 2013 Hagedorn pitches the idea of Hearts to P&G’s Mark Pritchard and then CEO Bob McDonald. 2015 P&G parks the biggest chunk of its media with OMG, which forms an unnamed third media network. 2016 Now called Hearts & Science, it lands AT&T’s consolidated media business.…

Kate Spade Scallop Bangle Tracker $128 Just in time for the holiday shopping rush, Kate Spade has debuted its first line of connected jewelry that’s just as pretty as it is smart. Available in gold, silver or rose gold, the scallop bangle bracelet offers fitness and sleep tracking, smartphone notifications, music control and doubles as a selfie remote (perfect for showing off your new bauble). Use the Kate Spade app to track your progress, count down to big events and set personal goals. It even offers encouraging messages to help you get there. Buy it: katespade.com TO-GO At the Ready Pinch Provisions Tech Kit $26 Stay prepared for any smartphone-related emergency with this pint-sized kit. The mini zip pouch packs 10 tech essentials, including a 3-in-1 charging cable, USB wall…

Your show, Lidia’s Kitchen, doesn’t feel manufactured. It feels about as honest as a chef can be about his or her cooking environment. I’ll tell you exactly how we develop a show. There’s a book always that comes first and a book usually takes two years. The first year you gather all the recipes, you adjust them, you fix them, you make them and then you test them all. And then the second year I test the book, take photography. But also in the second year, once I have the format of the book, the shows evolve from that—they are kind of a companion book. It gives people an opportunity to watch me, to listen to me and then to follow me in the book. Because, for me it’s important…

What’s the first information you consume in the morning? Howard Stern. That’s information, right? That or Audible. I love driving while listening to books on tape. Right now I’m listening to Norm Macdonald’s Based on a True Story. I’m reading it and listening to it, which I love doing. What are your go-to social platforms? I enjoy looking at Twitter. I’ll post stuff for the show, but I don’t get into arguments on there. And Instagram. I’ve had Instagram since it first started. I was obsessed with how arrogant people could be just through a photo, so I did a show at the Upright Citizens Brigade called the Instagrammys where I awarded people on their self-indulgence. Apart from Norm Macdonald’s book, what else is on your reading list? I’m rereading…

‘Now I understand how marketers think, and that will help me when I knock on doors.’Paola Kuri, founder, Soccer Without Gender Camila Pirelli wants to corral thousands of disadvantaged youngsters from shantytowns in her native Paraguay and teach them life lessons through sports—and maybe cultivate a future Olympian or two—while Paola Kuri travels around Mexico teaching girls to play soccer and advocating for the first professional women’s league in the country. Both women, along with about a dozen more, have been part of a mentor program that brought them to ad agencies, media companies, sports leagues and top-tier brands in the U.S. for a residency of sorts. During their monthlong stay this fall, they fine-tuned ideas to improve their communities—with most programs aimed at women and children in low-income areas—and…

Once upon a time, global agency networks were created to help brands achieve their ambition of global expansion. Set up an office in a new country and sell your clients’ products to new people; it was that easy. So easy, in fact, that we saw a plethora of agency networks—predominantly from the USA—spread around the world to handle their increasingly global clients. Now, decades later, there are so many of these agencies in existence that most holding companies are struggling to find a need for all of them. So how do agencies in this era identify a purpose and ensure a long and prosperous future when simply being global no longer guarantees success? The regional hub-based model During the initial quest for globalization, agency networks established offices in major cities…

Last December, an agency with no name, no office and no full-time employees shocked the media buying and planning world, without warning, by scooping up the lion’s share of the North American business of Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest advertiser. It followed that coup this past August by winning AT&T, the second-biggest media client in North America. The pair of wins encompassed approximately $5 billion in annual billings for two highly visible accounts that had been with Publicis and WPP, respectively, before moving on to their main rival, Omnicom (Dentsu Aegis’ Carat retained some P&G business). It seemed like a modern miracle. But the agency, Omnicom’s Hearts & Science, is anything but an overnight success story. New York’s 7 World Trade Center rises 52 floors above the footprints of…

THE POOCH Toast, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel with 370,000 followers on Instagram, prefers top luxury brands. But she’s not opposed to a Milk-Bone now and then. THE INGREDIENT Originally called Malatoid, the brand changed its name to Milk-Bone in 1915 to market the fact that the batter was made with cow’s milk. THE SHAPE When dogs balked at his early formula, inventor Carleton Ellis tried baking biscuits in the shape of a bone. The trick worked in 1907—and has ever since. If it weren’t for the organic chemist who invented margarine, the dogs of America would have no treats. Or so the story goes, but first the facts. Dog treats are serious business in this country. According to the American Pet Products Association, over 54 million households include a…