Adweekの March 18, 2019 の目次

On Friday, 49 people were killed in New Zealand when an Australian man walked into two mosques and gunned down Muslim worshipers. Dressed in military-style gear, the shooter apparently wore a camera on his helmet and livestreamed the atrocity to the world through Facebook Live. This tragedy ended one of the toughest weeks the social giant has seen in quite some time. Just before noon on Wednesday, Facebook and its satellite apps, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, suffered an hourslong outage causing users to search out other ways to fill their time. Advertisers, meanwhile, are hoping for a makegood. Agency sources tell us that aside from seeking confirmation from Facebook that they’re not going to be charged for their buys during the outage, clients are calm. And then day turned to…

As consumers grow more comfortable with talking to voice-activated devices, media organizations want to say something back. From The Washington Post to NPR, publishers have been lining up to partner with smart speakers to entice viewers and create a new revenue stream. The relatively cheap cost of entry (especially for those with audio content that can be easily repurposed), the rapidly growing consumer interest and what they can offer advertisers in this space make these technologies the hottest new thing media organizations want to get a footing with—even if it’s only proven lucrative for a handful of publishers. “The pace of innovation in this area is breathtaking. This is not just the latest shiny object,” said John Hassell, svp of content and editorial director for Advance Local, one of many…

Ben Goertzel gives us roughly five to 30 years before machines are smarter than humans. And he’d know. When Goertzel says he is creating benevolent, decentralized artificial general intelligence (AGI), he means he’s working on machines that will be more rational, compassionate and broad-minded than their human counterparts in order to eventually help regulate society—and potentially even solve some of the problems we haven’t been able to fix ourselves. “Benevolent superhuman AGI can create utopia for humans and machines alike,” Goertzel, founder and CEO of blockchain-based AI marketplace SingularityNet, said. “Nasty AGI at the human level, or even slightly infrahuman level, could create dystopia or even wipe out humanity. This is about as important as things get—within the human corner of reality, at any rate.” Since 2015, Goertzel has been…

Don’t call it a comeback—call it a renaissance, a golden age of retail. Contrary to headlines bemoaning the death of merchandising, the so-called “retail apocalypse,” it’s still alive and kicking and was all anyone talked about at this year’s Shoptalk retail/commerce conference. While legacy retailers are experimenting with all sorts of ways to keep customers coming through the door—nail salons, laundry service and buy-online-pickup-in-store offerings—a new breed of store is cropping up, one that brings the digital experience to a brick-and-mortar environment. A few of these—b8ta, Bulletin, Neighborhood Goods and Showfields—offer direct-to-consumer companies the ability to grow their brand, all the while taking a cut of sales, data or both. In an era where digital acquisition channels are becoming more costly, these new department stores suggest that not only is…

Brands that want to garner consumer trust might want to steer clear of Photoshop when working on their content, new data from digital experience platform WP Engine and The Center for Generational Kinetics suggests. Considering that 82 percent of Gen Zers and 77 percent of millennials are more likely to purchase from a company that provides consistent, relevant content, clearly, brands should be making sure their content shines. But it’s essential to make it informative and authentic rather than overly aspirational or perfect. “We’ve learned that aligning with key values is critical for these younger generations, increasing the importance of the purpose-driven stand many brands are currently taking,” said Jason Dorsey, president of The Center for Generational Kinetics. “Advertising and marketing communities should pay particular attention to this as they…

Almost two decades ago, Cassie Hughes and Gabrey Means were both working on the marketing teams of San Francisco-based retailers—Hughes at Levi’s and Means at Banana Republic. After an introduction from a mutual friend, the two split a bottle of wine and discussed how the agencies they both worked with were great partners, but were too specialized. “They could create an idea but couldn’t come up with an activation to save their lives,” said Hughes. So the two founded Grow, an experiential marketing agency that’s worked with brands like Google, PepsiCo, Target and Visa. Hughes and Means credit their development of a cross-industry client roster to the power of experiential viral hits. This work can take on many forms, from onetime events to a traveling experience like the “Tiny Schoolhouse”…