Month: August 2024

Fifty years after Schoolhouse Rock introduced kids to “I’m Just a Bill,” Washington state has crafted a friendly new character to educate state voters on the serious issue of election security.

Ahead of the 2024 elections, a new marketing campaign in Washington state aims to bolster trust in voting systems. The $1.8 million campaign, paid for by the Washington Secretary of State’s office, goes beyond boosting voter turnout to explain mail-in voting and how the process is safe, secure and transparent.

The campaign, which launched last month, stars an animated ballot aptly named “Mark The Ballot.” Video ads show “Mark” happily explaining his route from the elections office to voter mailboxes to official drop-off points to where each is thoroughly verified and officially counted. The visuals strongly resemble the 1970s Schoolhouse Rock classic, which featured a bill named Bill explaining how Congress passes laws on Capitol Hill.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Agency consolidation once again continues apace.

Omnicom’s Doremus+Co, a 121-year-old agency that specializes in business-to-business work, will merge with Merkley and Partners, another Omnicom-owned agency, as of Sept. 30, according to two sources who have been made aware of the change. The move is part of ongoing consolidation throughout agencies and holding companies as holding companies look for ways to drive efficiencies and boost revenue.

It’s unclear what the move will mean for the agencies’ clients or employees. While the Doremus’ brand and B2B capabilities will continue, the shop will now share resources including HR, accounting and creative, among others, with Merkley and Partners. Representatives for Merkley and Partners and Omnicom declined to comment. Representatives for Doremus+Co did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Golf’s established powers want to bring new audiences into the sport. This week, they took a big swing with a new tournament featuring only YouTube creators.

The Creator Classic was contested Wednesday between YouTube golfers including Peter Finch, Gabby DeGasperis and Nick Stubbe, and shown on both ESPN and YouTube. “Our motivation is to really put PGA Tour content in front of as many fans as humanly possible,” said Chris Wandell, svp of media at the PGA.

The event was a first for the PGA. But it’s not the only sports media player making moves to include more creators in their marketing strategies. Italian soccer club Juventus broadcast an August preseason clash via several creators’ channels, while NBC added 27 creators to its Olympics coverage plan.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Mindful of the impact of social virality, but by no means demure in its aggressive embrace of it — see what I did there? — Stagwell agency Gale has quietly built out a 50 person team to lead clients into the turbulent but potent waters of culture-riding across the social spectrum. 

Gale, which has historically been known for CRM specialization, data-crunching and use of channels others have forgotten about (email, for example) to find business opportunities for its clients, assembled this new immersive social culture unit to leverage all social elements in rapid turnaround fashion to launch clients’ new brands or expand them into new markets, explained Brad Simms, Gale’s president and CEO. 

Simms brainstormed with several team leaders at Gale, asking them to consider how they would launch a new brand today. The answer was clear: “No one’s thinking TV, no one’s thinking out of home,” said Simms. “Everyone’s thinking social first. And that doesn’t necessarily mean social platforms all the time, but it means finding a community, understanding what’s going on in that community, tapping into it, [and] have them create content.”

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

One of ad tech’s most celebrated CEOs, Megan Clarken of Criteo, is planning her exit within the next 12 months. And just like that, the internet’s armchair analysts are off to the races with their hot takes and wild theories.

The rumor that’s really caught fire? Clarken is stepping aside to clear the way for a big, game-changing acquisition — one of the last few pieces on ad tech’s chessboard.

As wild as that might sound, it’s not completely out of the blue. Criteo has been in talks with potential buyers multiple times and even put itself on the market as recently as last year. Whether a deal materializes before Clarken’s exit is anyone’s guess, but if it does, here are a few rumored contenders to keep an eye on.

Continue reading this article on digiday.com. Sign up for Digiday newsletters to get the latest on media, marketing and the future of TV.

Building a future with first-party data with guardrails means advertisers must find ways to provide consent from consumers – and discover a method to keep their brands safe from outside influences.

X is facing a potential ban in Brazil after a Brazilian Supreme Court judge warned it would be suspended if Elon Musk does not name a legal representative for the platform by Thursday night. X last
week officially shut down its Brazilian office and removed its employees to avoid arrest of local staff members for its failure to comply with a previous warning regarding the spread of misinformation
and harmful content in violation of the country’s internet laws. Brazil is X’s sixth-highest usage market in the world, with over 21 million users. Restricting access in the region, even temporarily,
could result in a major loss in ad revenue and usage for the company.

Amazon reportedly pulls in $46.9 billion a year in overall global advertising. A small part of this – streaming/OTT and CTV – is estimated to total $4.72 billion this year.

It’s season 2 for Chef Carmy Berzatto and Calvin Klein. Season 1 broke the Internet while reviving the brand.

While conventional local TV, radio and newspaper news outlets still rank highest, social media, search engines, and newcomer locally focused apps (Nextdoor, Ring) are increasingly becoming go-tos.