1. It's no secret that Twitter has been struggling to clean up its platform in recent months. The social media giant has been under fire for everything from allowing fake accounts and spam to proliferate on its site to failing to crack down on hate speech and harassment. Now, it appears that the platform has a new problem: child pornography.
Recently, several high-profile companies have pulled their marketing campaigns from Twitter due to the prevalence of child pornography on the platform. Ecolab, Dyson, and Mazda are just a few of the companies that have suspended their ads or removed them from certain parts of the site altogether. In a statement, Ecolab said that it was "appalled by the content" that its ads had appeared alongside and that it "has strict standards for where we advertise."
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2. This week is National Inclusion Week (NIW), and to celebrate, Bloom UK has launched its Allyship Code. The Allyship Code is a set of commitments that individuals can make to further inclusion in the workplace. This year's NIW theme is "All
Together Better," and we believe that by making these commitments, we can make our workplaces better for everyone.
Why Allyship?
The term "allyship" has been gaining traction in recent years as a way to describe the role of those who are not part of a marginalized group in supporting that group. As advocates for gender equality, we believe that allyship is an important part of creating inclusive workplaces. Men can be allies
to women in the workplace, and vice versa. People of all genders can be allies to LGBTQIA+ people, people of color, people with disabilities, and other marginalized groups.
What is the Allyship Code?
The Allyship Code is a set of commitments that individuals can make to further inclusion in the workplace. The Code was created by Bloom UK, a professional network for women in communications. It consists of four parts:
education, amplifying voices, allocating resources, and being accountable.
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3. As Halloween approaches, Heinz is once again giving us the gift of Tomato Blood ketchup. This limited-time offering pairs the brand's classic ketchup recipe with a festive bottle design, and it will be sold for $2.99 in grocery stores
nationwide through October. To promote Tomato Blood, Heinz has enlisted popular TikTok creator E.J. Marcus to play the role of vegetarian vampire Toby in a playful spot that will debut on Oct. 2 during the premier of AMC's "Interview with the Vampire." The video will also be featured on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
With so many brands competing for our attention during the Halloween season, why has Heinz chosen to focus on Tomato Blood ketchup? For one thing, Heinz is a
brand that has always been able to pivot quickly and adapt to whatever is going on in pop culture. Remember when they released green ketchup back in 2000? That was a response to the popularity of movies like "The Matrix" and "Alien Resurrection," which featured characters who were very into green clothing and products. Similarly, Heinz's decision to release Tomato Blood ketchup is a response to the current popularity of vampires in pop culture (due in no small part to shows like "True Blood" and
"The Vampire Diaries").
4. In a recent turn of events, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), CEO David Zaslav and CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels have been sued by a pension board claiming that the executives misled shareholders in various ways. One of the most significant claims is that they artificially inflated HBO Max’s subscriber numbers by as many as 10 million during the process of the Discovery - Warner Bros. merger earlier this
year.
5. Despite a seemingly never-ending stream of big events that could have upended advertising forecasts over the last year, the industry's leading research firms have remained remarkably consistent in their estimate for U.S. ad growth in 2021. And while Thursday's update from IPG Mediabrands Magna unit brought that figure down slightly, the message is still clear: The U.S. is on track to expand nearly 12% following
one of its greatest expansion years ever in 2021. Thanks, in part, to a post-pandemic and recessionary recovery. So, what does that mean for your marketing plans? Well, if you were waiting for a sign to go big in 2021, this is it. Time to get those ad budgets expanded! (And maybe start thinking about 2022 too...)
6. As any Netflix user knows, the platform has been on a steady rise in recent years, becoming one of the most popular ways to watch
TV and movies. However, it looks like Netflix's days of domination may be coming to an end. According to eMarketer's Insider Intelligence, Netflix is set to lose 2.3% of its U.S. viewers in 2019, for a total of 169.3 million. This marks the first time that Netflix has seen a decline in viewers, and it's likely due to rising competition from other streaming platforms such as Hulu and Amazon Prime. With inflation also on the rise, it's becoming increasingly difficult for Netflix to
maintain its subscription prices without passing on the costs to its users. As a result, many people are starting to cancel their subscriptions or downgrade to a lower-priced plan. While this is bad news for Netflix, it's good news for its competitors. So if you're looking for a new streaming platform to try out, now is the time!
7. Warner Bros. Discovery held a company-wide town hall on Wednesday, with CEO David Zaslav and his top creative
deputies discussing the state of the company, and their vision for the future. Zaslav was joined by HBO chief Casey Bloys, WB film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy and WB TV topper Channing Dungey. READ MORE ON ADOTAT.com
8. It's been a rough week for
'Fast Company.' First, the website was hacked. Then, it had to take its site offline for several days to fix the security breach. And now, the site is back up - but in limited form.
Visitors to 'Fast Company' will notice that some articles are missing, and that the comments section has been disabled. The company says it is still working to restore all of the content that was lost in the hack. In the meantime, it is encouraging readers to sign up for its newsletter to
stay up-to-date on all the latest news.
This is certainly not the way 'Fast Company' wanted to start off the new year. But hopefully, with a little time and patience, everything will be back to normal soon.
9. Are you an extroverted business owner who loves nothing more than talking to customers? Or are you an introverted business owner who would rather hide under a desk than answer the phone? Well, Facebook has
just introduced a new feature that is sure to change the way you do business. Customers can now request a call back from your business when they click on your Facebook Call Ad. Previously, when customers clicked on a Call Ad, they automatically called your business. Now customers will see a “request a call” option which allows them to type a callback message and wait for your call instead. This is sure to be a game changer for businesses everywhere. So whether you’re an extroverted or
introverted business owner, get ready to embrace this new change.
10. Macy's just announced that they're launching their own marketplace, powered by Mirakl. Advertisers lucky enough to be part of Macy's "select, curated group of sellers and brands" would be able to access a seller's dashboard and submit products for review.
It's not clear how many products will be available on the Macy's marketplace, or what
criteria they'll use to select sellers. But one thing is for sure: if you want to be part of Macy's new marketplace, you'll need to get in line and hope that you're chosen.
This is a smart move by Macy's, and it could be a great way for them to boost sales. But it also means that there will be even more competition for sellers who want to be part of the platform. So if you're thinking about selling on Macy's, start getting your products ready—and cross your fingers that you'll
be one of the lucky few who are selected.
11. A recent survey says that nearly half of Netflix subscribers in the United States would consider an ad-supported tier, and I'm here to tell you that those people are absolutely crazy. Ad-supported streaming is the worst possible way to watch television, and I can't imagine why anyone would want to subject themselves to it. First of all, you're constantly being bombarded with ads, which are
often loud and disruptive. And even if you manage to tune them out, there's always that nagging feeling in the back of your mind that you're missing something important. Secondly, ad-supported streaming services are often plagued by buffering issues, which can be incredibly frustrating. Lastly, you never know when an ad is going to pop up, so you can never really relax and enjoy your show. In short, ad-supported streaming is a terrible idea, and I wouldn't recommend it to
anyone.
12.Roku is building on its relationship with Nielsen to expand measurement capabilities, enabling marketers running ads with the streaming platform to deduplicate reach and frequency of ads across four screens: traditional TV, connected TV, desktop and mobile. The move will give marketers a more complete picture of their audiences, and allow them to tailor their campaigns more effectively. It's a smart move by Roku, and one
that is sure to benefit marketers and consumers alike.
13. TikTok has become the latest victim of fake profile creation, with a 62% jump in the number of fake profiles being created on the app. The majority of these fake profiles are being created by bots, which are automated accounts that are designed to mimic real users. These bots are often used to boost followings and engagement levels, as well as to generate advertising revenue.
TikTok has vowed to crack down on these fake profiles, but it remains to be seen how effective this will be. In the meantime, users can protect themselves by being aware of the signs that a profile is fake. These include a high follower count, excessive posting, and generic or duplicate content.
14. Walmart is diving into the metaverse with two immersive experiences on the Web3 platform Roblox, the retail giant announced Monday. In
Walmart Land and Walmart's Universe of Play, Roblox users can shop in a virtual store of merchandise, go on a Ferris wheel, and unlock tokens and badges by playing various games and competitions. The immersive Walmart Land includes a space similar to a music festival, with an interactive piano walkway, a dance challenge, and a Netflix trivia experience; a "House of Style" featuring a virtual dressing room; a cosmetics obstacle course; and a roller-skating rink; and "Electric Fest", a
motion-capture concert celebration featuring performances by popular artists such as Madison Beer, Kane Brown, and YUNGBLUD. Walmart's Universe of Play is geared more towards younger children and features themed areas inspired by Disney's "Frozen" franchise, Cartoon Network's " Adventure Time," Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob Squarepants," and Mattel's Barbie Dolls. In both metaverses, users can purchase items using real-world currency which can then be used to buy virtual goods within the game. The
move signals Walmart's entry into the growing market for metaverse experiences which offer shoppers an alternative to traditional online shopping.
15. TV has long been the go-to medium for advertisers looking to reach a mass audience. But as viewers increasingly shift their attention to streaming platforms, brands are following suit and shifting their ad spend to connected TV (CTV). According to a new survey from Advertiser Perceptions, 200
U.S. advertisers and 100 UK advertisers are shifting CTV spend to programmatic buys via demand-side platforms (DSPs). The move is motivated by a desire for greater targeting control and transparency via data tools such as Content Object signals. PubMatic, which is among the programmatic platforms that offers Content Object signals as part of inventory buys, conducted the survey in June and July. These findings suggest that programmatic advertising is becoming the preferred method for
buying CTV inventory. And as more brands adopt this approach, it's likely that we'll see even more spending shift to CTV in the months and years to come.
16. Just as television advertising is evolving, so too are the demographics that marketers target. Auto brands, in particular, are moving away from traditional audience demos in favor of first-party data that can deliver more effective results. This shift was recently exemplified by General
Motors, which became the first brand to adopt NBCUnified, a Comcast platform that consolidates audience data into anonymized IDs. The move represents a major change for the auto industry, and it is likely that other brands will follow suit in the coming months. As first-party data becomes increasingly important, auto marketers will need to adapt their strategies to stay ahead of the curve.
17. Great American Media, the company behind
the Great American Family network, which features a bunch of really white people talking- launched this week a free direct-to-consumer app – Great American Community – featuring a slate of brand-new original programming. Sixteen series debuted on the platform, encompassing a variety of genres, like cooking, fashion, lifestyle, DIY and more. The platform's flagship series is "The Great American Housewife," which follows the daily lives of four very traditional housewives living in
different parts of the country. While the show is ostensibly about their families and homemaking skills, it's clear that the real focus is on their social status and material possessions. In one episode, for example, the wives compete to see who can throw the most lavish birthday party for their children. Another episode revolves around a competition to see who can bake the best apple pie. It's all very fascinating stuff, if you're into that sort of thing.
18. Eros Investments, the company behind the development of the metaverse IMMERSO, has announced today the official launch of their project. It is an expansive universe inspired by ancient mythology and pre-historic sci-fi that provides a one-of-a-kind multi-user experience. Through interaction with others in the 14 realms (Lokas) spread across planets, players will have the opportunity to take part in virtual socialization, entertainment, and commerce. The
team at Eros Investments has worked hard to create an innovative and artfully designed world that provides users with an escape from reality. So come on in and explore all that IMMERSO has to offer!