Month: February 2020

Facebook will not be participating in this year’s Game Developers Conference, March 16 through 20 in San Francisco, due to concerns over Covid-19, more commonly known as coronavirus.

The company said it is removing the Facebook Gaming and Oculus booth footprints from the Moscone Center floor and advising against its employees traveling during the event.

Facebook said it will still share all of the announcements it had planned for GDC 2020, but it will now do so via digital formats such as videos and online question-and-answer sessions. The company will also host GDC partner meetings remotely in the coming weeks.

The GDC team said in a blog post, “We believe that, based on the strict U.S. quarantine around coronavirus and a large number of enhanced on-site measures, we are able to execute a safe and successful event for our community. Locally, the Department of Health for both the State of California and the City of San Francisco support the convening of public events. We are also continuing to follow the latest CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and WHO (World Health Organization) guidance, following in the footsteps of other large international events that are taking place successfully at the Moscone Center.”

Facebook Gaming added in its blog post, “GDC is always a highlight of our gaming event lineup. However, the health of our employees and the wider games community comes before anything else. We thank UBM, GDC’s parent company, for all they’ve done to help build the games industry, and appreciate their efforts to share safety guidelines and additional health measures as the event draws closer. We’re long-term partners with UBM, and we’ll continue to collaborate with them in their efforts to support the game industry and gaming community. We plan to be at GDC next year and beyond.”

Finally, Oculus said in its blog post, “GDC brings together an international community of game developers to reflect on the industry’s momentum and look forward to its increasingly vibrant future. Sadly, we’re unable to participate this year. We’re committed to building the future of immersive gaming alongside virtual reality developers—and sharing that journey with the entire VR community.”

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For ThirdLove, now may be the best time to grow in light of difficulties at rival Victoria’s Secret. With that in mind, the intimates brand is pursuing every strategy, from opening stores in select markets to bringing on board creative agencies, to bolster its marketing and branding efforts.

Just last year ThirdLove celebrated multiple million-dollar days, according to David Spector, co-founder and co-CEO, who spoke during a presentation at communications firm ICR’s annual growth conference in January. Though the intimate apparel retailer would not divulge details about its financials, it gives some idea of how big the brand is and how far it has come since 2015, when it achieved its first million-dollar day.

As ThirdLove enters 2020, it is looking to bolster its marketing and branding needs. Though it has not had and doesn’t now have an agency of record, there is the likelihood it could hire one within the year, according to co-founder and co-CEO Heidi Zak. ThirdLove previously teamed up with agency Partners & Spade to produce the company’s first national brand campaign “To Each, Her Own,” a spokesperson noted. Horizon Media has served as the company’s television ad buyer.

The intimates brand will utilize outside agencies in addition to internal creative, likely because it is ramping up its television ad spend. According to Spector, ThirdLove will spend more money this year on traditional forms of advertising, from billboards to radio and television. Digital, meanwhile, will continue to be directed in-house, he said, pointing out that the company’s internally produced digital ads have performed well.

Spector pointed to the startup’s larger rivals, who initially began with traditional advertising and then went into digital; ThirdLove is going in the opposite direction. In fact, ThirdLove wants to become less reliant on digital and to focus on television, he added.

On the brick-and-mortar front, while ThirdLove doesn’t need hundreds of stores (as Victoria’s Secret has long operated), opening a flagship or two in large metropolitan areas makes sense to Spector. The brand plans to open stores in select markets this year after launching its first concept space in New York last year, according to a spokesperson. The store served as a pilot that ThirdLove could learn from in terms of consumer demand, shopping patterns, store traffic and more.

Founded in 2013, ThirdLove has raised at least $70 million, with the company in constant contact with investors, according to Zak.

“There has been a lot of interest in ThirdLove, and [we] believe the best years are ahead,” a spokesperson said in a statement. The brand’s investors currently include firms such as L Catterton and Allen & Co., and well-known personalities such as Katie Couric.

ThirdLove’s major innovation, and the foundation of its growth, is its Fit Finder. The online tool allows women to shop from home by being able to determine their size without having to go to a store, Spector explained.

Once the company helps customers find their size, it’s easy for them to order and reorder. Admittedly, developing the technology and determining sizes was the difficult part, with several patents protecting ThirdLove’s development of the tool, Spector said.

And ThirdLove’s T-shirt bra, through which many women discover the brand, continues to lure customers and introduce them to its other products, such as sleepwear.

In the meantime, ThirdLove continues to benefit from its culture of inclusivity in terms of bodies and diversity, appealing to all ages and demographics. Since its beginnings, the brand has tapped into and been surprised by how open women are to discussing issues such as sexuality and fertility. This ties into customers touting the benefits of ThirdLove’s products, growing the brand’s reputation through word of mouth.

In light of L Brands’ deal with private equity firm Sycamore Partners to unload Victoria’s Secret, ThirdLove provided a statement from Zak: “This is a positive step for our industry, which was historically dominated by unrealistic ideals and images of what femininity and sexy should be.”

She added: “ThirdLove was created with inclusivity in mind, and over the last several years we’ve seen inclusion become table stakes for most modern brands. We helped create a new norm, a new future, where women are defining what it means to be sexy, and we are proud to have built a brand that is celebrating every shape, size, age, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.”

Anomaly is parting ways with Eric Segal and eliminating the New York CCO role.

An agency spokesperson confirmed the move and explained the decision came about as a result of founding partner and global CCO Mike Byrne’s desire to take a more active role in driving the agency’s creative. Byrne will now take on the role of driving creative for the New York office as well as managing creative globally.

Founding partner and executive chairman Carl Johnson also confirmed the news about Byrne’s new role in a statement.

“[Mike] will take over the day to day leadership of New York while still retaining his current global responsibilities,” Johnson said. “[Eric Segal] will be leaving the company. He made a huge contribution to the success of the agency over six years and deserves enormous thanks and gratitude.”

Segal’s move marks something of a new era for Anomaly New York, as Segal has long shaped the office’s creative output.

“It’s been a hell of a run,” Segal said in a statement, “and I leave feeling incredibly proud of the team we’ve built and all we’ve accomplished together these past six years.”

An agency veteran of more than six years, Segal ascended to the role of Anomaly New York CCO in July of 2017, after being made a managing partner in 2015. During his tenure with the agency, he helped Anomaly bring in a number of new accounts and expand in size. Some of Anomaly New York’s best-known campaigns from his time with the agency include a series of Super Bowl ads for Budweiser and its work for Johnnie Walker, including “This Land” and “Jane Walker.” More recently, Anomaly was the agency behind New York Life’s Super Bowl ad.

Before joining Anomaly as an executive creative director, Segal spent over four years in the same role at Grey New York, where he led the NFL account, including working on creative that resides in the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art.

The news also follows the end of a longtime client relationship, as Hershey and Anomaly parted ways in the U.S. last November. Anomaly continues to work with the client in Canada.

Facebook Watch will be the exclusive home for live event coverage from The Ironman Group for the third consecutive year following the extension of an agreement between the social network and the Wanda Sports Group company.

The 2020 slate contains 19 events from 12 different countries and four continents.

Ironman said over 5.3 million people have watched at least one minute of one of its live events on Facebook during the first two years of the pact.

Coverage of the events will be produced with Facebook’s connected audience in mind, taking advantage of features including Watch Parties, real-time polls, fan discussion and user-generated content from spectators along the course.

The live coverage will be hosted by past Ironman and Ironman 70.3 champions including Dede Griesbauer, Matt Lieto and Michael Lovato, as well as World Champions and Hall of Famers Paula Newby Fraser and Greg Welch.

The full Ironman Facebook Watch schedule follows:

• March 7: Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand, Taupō, New Zealand
• March 29: Ironman African Championship, Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa
• May 2: Ironman North American Championship, St. George, Utah
• May 31: Certified Piedmontese Ironman Tulsa, Tulsa, Okla.
• June 7: Cairns Airport Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship, Cairns, Australia
• June 21: Ironman Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
• June 28: Mainova Ironman European Championship, Frankfurt, Germany
• July 5: Ironman Austria-Kärnten, Klagenfurt, Austria
• July 12: Ironman Switzerland, Thun, Switzerland
• July 25: Ironman Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa, Calif.
• Aug, 15: Ironman Kalmar, Kalmar, Sweden
• Aug. 23: Subaru Ironman Mont-Tremblant, Mont-Tremblant, Québec
• Aug. 30: Subaru Ironman Canada, Penticton, British Columbia
• Sept. 6: Ironman Wales Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales
• Sept. 19: Ironman Italy Emilia-Romagna, Cervia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
• Sept. 26: Ironman Portugal-Cascais, Cascais, Portugal
• Oct. 10: Vega Ironman World Championship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
• Nov. 2: Visit Panama City Beach Ironman Florida, Panama City Beach, Fla.
• Nov. 28 and 29: Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Taupō, New Zealand