Inhaltsverzeichnis für July 11, 2016 in Adweek

It’s no secret that Twitter wants to make its mark as a video platform—after all, the future of social media, if you believe the hype, is all about recorded and live video. Last week, the social network offered a glimpse into what kind of TV-like platform it could become for sports fans—one of its most loyal groups of users—by making its first foray into high-definition video with a livestream of Wimbledon. There were no ads during breaks in the action, nor did Twitter appear to be selling Promoted Tweets around the tournament; rather, the user experience was the point here. It seems likely, though, that targeted ads will appear alongside sports video in the near future. As Twitter has a $10 million deal with the NFL for livestreaming rights, the…

The pitches have become so plentiful that every time you close your eyes, you might be able to replay a mail-order mattress ad in your head. Except, you’re rarely closing your eyes. Americans are notoriously—and increasingly—sleep deprived. More than one-third of the U.S. adult population admits to routinely not catching enough z’s, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with serious sleep disorders on a steep incline. And where there’s zombie-like sheep counting, there’s opportunity. Enter a whole boatload of products, services, gadgets, books, supplements and programs to help us get more rest. They range from Huffington Post co-founder and editor in chief Arianna Huffington’s history and how-to tome, The Sleep Revolution, to $13,OOO sleep pods for the office to iPhone’s new “night shift” feature. Innovative bed-in-a-box makers (and…

With apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Snapchat vying with conventional SMS to be the preferred texting method, the line between social media and texting is more blurred than ever. And brands have a real chance to capitalize on this, according to a newly released study by Dallas-based marketing group Epsilon. ”We are on the verge of a transformational moment, as consumer behavior is dictating a shift towards intimacy of sharing content and experiences versus public sharing,” said Epsilon chief digital officer of agency business Tom Edwards. “Messaging apps now boast more active users than social networks, and this shift from social media to social messaging will redefine how we, as marketers, will approach connecting with consumers.”…

JUNE 2010 Grizack joins Winston-Salem ad agency The Variable as a freelance consultant after more than four years with financial-planning software company SimpliFi, which he co-founded. OCTOBER 2011 Grizack becomes chief strategy officer at The Variable and plays a lead role promoting its new “proprietary software” Brand Forensics, which it uses as a sales tool for new business pitches. Grizack claims this product can “change the nature of a relationship between a brand and its agency.” MAY-JUNE 2012 To satisfy requirements of a partnership proposal, Grizack claims he independently pitched and won the business of Coca-Cola and Brown-Forman, parent of Jack Daniel’s. He presents three contracts worth nearly $1 million—all of them fake. JUNE-JULY 2012 The Variable pitches Brand Forensics to other local agencies, finding a partner in McKinney, which…

USA Network used to be best known for “blue skies” procedurals. But the network’s signature show is now Mr. Robot, its Golden Globe-winning dark drama about a group of hackers (led by Rami Malek and Christian Slater) intent on bringing down one of the world’s biggest conglomerates. “It’s been a brand builder for us and really points to where our characters have evolved,” said Chris McCumber, president, entertainment networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. As the show returns for Season 2 on July 13, he said, “We have a high demand from our ad clients, which is why we are in the business of trying to build out this franchise beyond the 12 episodes that are going to be on this summer.” That also requires a delicate marketing and brand blitz…

Fox News’ historical documentary series Legends & Lies is in its second season. What’s your role as executive producer? I go over the outline of the series in the beginning with [production company] Warm Springs and I say, “Look, this is what we’re going to do.” They get a writer who whips up the script and then it comes to me. It’s the same thing on the movies—I just got back from the Killing Reagan set... I went down and talked to Rod Lurie, the director, and said, “Look, are you guys going to depart from the script?” And they said a few places and we sit down and talk about it. So that’s what the executive producer does. Legends & Lies opens with a slate that says, “News is…

It’s one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the country, with record amounts of venture capital flowing in, and is home to at least a half-dozen unicorns (companies valued at $1 billion or more) and plenty more “soonicorns” expected to hit that mark. Universities there are churning out science, tech, math and engineering grads by the thousands, creating a highly skilled, digital native workforce. It’s home to a thriving community of content creators, giving rise to YouTube stars like Devin Graham (better known by his alias, “Devin SuperTramp”), The Piano Guys and the Shaytards, while the area has spawned chart-topping bands Neon Trees and Imagine Dragons, electronic dance music DJ Kaskade, and Julianne and Derek Hough from ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. Are we talking about Silicon Valley, or maybe…

When Stellene Volandes was promoted in March from Town & Country’s executive style director to editor in chief, she knew that the magazine’s 17O-year legacy was one of its greatest strengths. That history comes to life in T&C’s offices, headquartered on the 33rd floor of the Hearst Tower in New York, where the walls are punctuated with archival pictures from some of the world’s most famous photographers and back issues of the magazine. When Volandes moved into her new space, she sought to incorporate T&C’s legacy into the décor. “I knew I wanted it to feel comfortable and NYC apartment-like, but still very much an office,” she said. “The blue-and-white ginger jars make it feel comfortable, but the books and all the T&C portraits and archival images clearly set the…

Snapchat is set to cash in on its surreal selfies. Eight months after securing 2Oth Century Fox for its first sponsored lens to promote The Peanuts Movie, the number of marketers signing on for Snapchat’s bespoke filters has steadily grown. Lenses, which add colorful filters to selfies—from rainbow vomit to zombie faces—are wildly popular with users, namely millennials. Lenses change regularly, keeping users coming back every day. And since last fall, brands can pay Snapchat to create sponsored filters that appear in the same section of the app for one day at a time. ‘ “Snapchat is a very shiny object right now,” said Craig Atkinson, chief investment officer at PHD. And sponsored lenses are “probably the white-hot center of their shiny object for a marketer.” Adweek recently tracked Snapchat’s…

Today’s media landscape is undergoing enormous, exciting change. In many ways, we have evolved from a “social first” to “social only” strategy. It’s an understatement to say that the current media climate is in flux. In fact, with ever-growing access to the web via mobile devices, the media today is seeing rapid changes the likes of which advertisers and publishers have never experienced. That may seem terrifying, but what underlies it is unbelievably exciting, and there is opportunity around every corner. The ongoing evolution in media has created new and better ways to connect directly with audiences, facilitating a two-way conversation. At NowThis, having a real conversation—finding the humanity in every story—is our lifeblood. Engaging with our audience happens every minute of every day, exactly where our audience lives, at…

‘The defendant engaged in simulated correspondence, presumably with himself ... to create an appearance of legitimacy.’W. SCOTT HARKEY, N.C. STATE PROSECUTOR THE ADVERTISING BUSINESS WAS BROKEN, AND BILL GRIZACK KNEW HOW TO FIX IT. “AT THE VARIABLE, IT WAS MY JOB TO INVENT THE FUTURE OF CREATIVE ADVERTISING STRATEGY,” HIS LINKEDIN PROFILE BOASTED. “I DEVELOPED THE STAFF AND THE TECHNOLOGY THAT LEVERAGED BIG DATA INTO MEANINGFUL CREATIVE INSIGHTS AND BUILT A CREATIVE TEAM THAT new [sic] how to use those insights to create brilliant work.” Switching to the third person, he wrote: “One of the luckiest periods in his life was working on both Coca-Cola and Jack Daniel’s at the same time. For a man that went to college in the Southeast, there isn’t much better than that.” Those statements,…

July 25 Creative 100 A homage to the creative masters of 2O16. SPECIAL SECTION MOBILE MARKETING GUIDE Aug 8 CMO Report 3 (Auto) Third in quarterly series spotlighting major ad sector. SPECIAL SECTION SOCIAL & VISUAL MARKETING GUIDE Aug 22 Invention Issue Hailing the standout inventions in media, marketing & advertising. featuring PROJECT ISAAC WINNER SHOWCASE Sept 5 Ad Tech Issue All the “need to know” data on the latest developments coming out of the ad technology sector. SPECIAL SECTION PROGRAMMATIC EVERYTHING GUIDE Sept 12 Media Plan of the Year Honoring the hottest plans from around the globe! SPECIAL SECTION ADCOLOR AWARDS Sept 19 Fall TV Preview What to expect from this year’s top producers. ALL CONTENT IN PRINT, ONLINE & TABLET To advertise contact your Adweek Sales Representative:…

Lyric Speaker approximately $3,000 Bring your favorite songs to life with the Wi-Fi-connected Lyric Speaker. Designed by Japanese creative firm SIX Inc., the Lyric automatically displays the lyrics of more than 120 million songs on its translucent LCD screen when played via almost any smartphone app. By detecting the tune’s mood and structure, the speaker even tailors its graphics to suit the song—for example, using softer text for a more mellow song or a larger font for an energetic one. The Lyric’s sound quality is equally as impressive, boasting high-resolution audio and two renewable coaxial loudspeakers. Pre-order: lyric-speaker.com CARRY ME Make Your Mark Lindroth Design Lyford Tote $195 Here’s one way to ensure that no one accidentally swipes your beach bag this summer: add a pair of hand-painted initials. Bahamas-based…

What’s the first information you consume in the morning? My email or if someone texted me overnight. Then I usually go to Twitter where I follow a lot of different media Twitter accounts or people that link a lot to news stories or stories that other people on my feed are joking about or talking about or getting angry about or posting memes about. By the time I scroll to the middle I have a sense of what happened while I was asleep. Do you use Facebook? I go to Facebook if I want to post something from myself as a human being, something personal—and personal doesn’t mean, like, “Guys, I lost the baby,” necessarily. It could be, “I have this opinion and I need to vent,” and for obvious…