Digital Agency Croud Eyes US Expansion as M&A Hunt Begins

Digital marketing agency Croud is set to go on a merger and acquisitions (M&A) hunt with the appointment of Amit Khanna, an investment professional and corporate lawyer, to lead the expansion plan. The 10-year-old business, led by co-founder and chief executive Luke Smith, received a minority investment of $42 million (30 million pounds) in November…

Shopify Rolls Out a New Buy-Now-Pay-Later Option in Partnership With Affirm

As the buy-now-pay-later payment model continues to grow in popularity, Shopify is unleashing a new feature that will allow its hundreds of thousands of merchants to offer customers the option of shopping through installment plans. The new product, Shop Pay Installments, will be powered through an exclusive partnership with buy-now-pay-later giant Affirm in the United…

This Black and White Banking Ad Is a Call to Arms for Small British Businesses

In a bid to inspire entrepreneurship, British fin tech bank Mettle released its first brand campaign to encourage small businesses and sole traders to take up its services. Mettle, a part of the Natwest Group, offers a free, mobile-only business account to small and independent companies. The first campaign to promote the brand was created…

VC Pledged to ‘Do Better’ on Diversity. It’s Barely Changed

The Black Lives Matter protests drew sympathetic public statements from investors in 2020. One year later, signs of progress are harder to find.

With its Google-Funded ‘Sidewalk Issue,’ Pop-Up Magazine Inches Toward Normalcy

After a 15-month hiatus, Pop-Up Magazine has returned to the analog world. The self-styled live magazine launched its Sidewalk Issue, its first in-person event since February 2020, in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Brooklyn last week. Using funding from Google, the publisher collaborated with more than a dozen artists to create a series of art…

Local TV Ads Sink 19% This Year, Rising 20% In 2022

Core, non-political advertising is expected to grow 5.4% this year, partly reversing a 23% decline in 2020. BIA says local TV-owned digital advertising will rise 7% in 2021.

UK Advertising Census Reveals Industry Views on Equality

According to an industry census, much of the U.K.’s advertising sector believe their companies are taking steps in the right direction when it comes to being more inclusive. However, there were continuing issues highlighted when it came to gender equality. The “All In Census” was founded as a collaboration between industry bodies the Advertising Association,…