Month: January 2018

For years, Microsoft’s most emotional and engaging ads–specifically, inspirational Super Bowl spots celebrating tech’s impact on people’s lives such as “Empowering Us All” (2014) and “Braylon O’Neill” (2015)–had an element of mystery. At the time of their release, Microsoft had credited “in-house” talent. But now, the mastermind behind the ad is talking. Andrew Panay, a…

Super Bowl LII is almost upon us. Sports fans are one step closer to Philadelphia versus New England, with the former pegged as the underdog by most (except Amazon’s Alexa, who says she’s “flying with the Eagles”). Everyone else is gearing up for the only day of the year when they’re actually excited for commercial…

Sandy DerHovsepian, vp, associate creative director, Cramer-Krasselt, and Adweek CEO Jeff Litvack. Refinery29’s Shannon Gibson and Amy Emmerich. (L. to r.) Christina Miller, associate channel director, VML; Maciej Szamowski, social media manager, Samsung; Shannon Pruitt, president, The Story Lab. Ivor Crotty, deputy creative and innovations director, RT; Gleb Burashov, head of creative social media strategies,…

Thanks to those pricey commercial spots, the Super Bowl is nearly as famous for hosting brands as football teams. But there’s one brand that the big game–that professional football, period–has planted so deeply in the national consciousness that millions of Americans know it, even though they don’t own it and it’s not for sale in…

Spark Foundry has appointed Lisa Giacosa to serve in its new role of head of analytics and insights–a move it described in a statement as proof of its “commitment to create enterprise-wide, sustainable solutions” for clients. Giacosa–formerly the global head of media at consumer goods company Kimberly-Clark (e.g. the company behind Huggies)–will be responsible for…

Pepsi is creating a virtual reality experience that places viewers inside two iconic Super Bowl ads, according to multiple sources. The effort is part of the brand’s broader Super Bowl campaign across digital and linear channels. The spots featured in the VR experience will include Cindy Crawford’s famous 1992 ad, which shows two adolescent boys…

Retailers may be closing some store locations, but the ones they are keeping are embracing technology to compete with online shopping.

If you’re a brand marketer putting your money on the line, you love to see big numbers–until someone asks if they’re a little too big. Fraudulent and bot followers have been inflating influencer fan counts for years, but they’ve come under increased scrutiny recently due to the marketing industry’s heightened concern about digital ad fraud….

Budweiser will feature its famous Clydesdales during the Big Game after all. The company will air a five-second bumper ad during the game to make sure Super Bowl viewers know that the “Clydesdale Cam,” a live feed of what the famous horses are up to, will be airing on Budweiser’s Facebook page. The spot will…

As the Trump administration takes steps to address violence in American communities, here are five facts about crime in the United States.