Small Businesses Can Stock Up for the Connected Consumer

Since the introduction of Amazon’s signature virtual assistant Echo, powered by Alexa, customers have engaged with brands differently and with ease. Increasingly, consumers are getting more comfortable using voice-enabled devices to help with tasks like shopping. According to research conducted by Amazon last year, 39% of customers said they were quite comfortable starting their shopping…

Why Brands Are Boycotting Facebook

If it seemed like you heard rumblings of a Facebook advertiser boycott, then blinked and realized it had grown into a massive movement involving many of the world’s top brands, there’s a simple reason for that: It really did happen that quickly. Coca-Cola, Diageo, Ford, HP, Kimberly-Clark and many others (you can keep up with…

What Disbanding the Police Really Meant in Camden, New Jersey

Since the city overhauled its force in 2012, reported crimes fell, but electronic surveillance increased. Some community activists are unhappy.

Amid Boycott Pressure, Facebook Agrees to Brand Safety Audit

Facebook has agreed to a brand safety audit amid industrywide pressure over its policies about hate speech and their enforcement. The announcement comes as a number of brands have said they will take their advertising dollars elsewhere this month and generally reexamine their social media spends over what they characterized as the social network’s inaction…

Group of Agencies Band Together to Offers $1.5 Million for Women and POC Founders

A new coalition effort between four agencies and Black-led venture fund Harlem Capital has pledged to commit $1.5 million biannually in pro bono marketing services to diverse founders. The Diversity Marketing Consortium (DMC) launched Wednesday with employee experience agency Cheer Partners, influencer agency Social Studies, SourceCode Communications and marketing firm Superbolt committing to offer free…

NBCU Stations’ Advanced Ad Group Strikes CTV, OTT Ad Inventory Deal With Mediaocean

The deal with Mediaocean allows media buyers to buy NBCU stations’ OTT inventory alongside traditional TV without changing their current workflow. MediaOcean’s Spectra platform offers media planning,
buying, and selling tools, as well as invoicing and payment functions.

5 Walk Out After Periscope Parent Company Bars Posting About Black Lives Matter

At least five employees at Minneapolis agency Periscope walked out today in objection to the actions of parent company Quad. The walkout was created to protest two issues: alleged interference by its parent company in Periscope’s social media communications about the Black Lives Matter movement and staffer concerns that Quad was releasing deceptive data about…

Investors Ask Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to End Relationships With the Washington Redskins

On Friday, three separate letters signed by 87 investment firms and shareholders worth a collective $620 billion asked Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo to terminate their business relationships with the NFL’s Washington Redskins unless the team agrees to change its controversial name. Native American leaders have pushed for the Washington, D.C., NFL team to change its…