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Are You Ready For Pause-vertising? |
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Hello CMOs. Fancy picking up a Whopper for a cent?
To promote its app, Burger King is encouraging burger fans to drive to their nearest McDonald’s (bear with me).
Once they’re within 600 feet of a McDonald’s restaurant, customers can order their cut-price offer and the app will direct them their nearest Burger King to pick it up. Drive responsibly, folks.
To make sure we bring you CMO Today at the best possible time, we're testing two alternative schedules this week: delivery an hour later than usual (at 9 a.m. ET) this week, and an hour earlier (7 a.m.) next week. We'll watch the numbers closely, but you can also reply to this email to tell us your preference.
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| To See the Next Ad, Press Pause |
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PHOTO: EMILY PRAPUOLENIS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Some people in the industry like to joke that ad blocking or ad skipping existed long before browser extensions and the ability to fast-forward the DVR—we do it every time we grab a drink from the fridge or visit the bathroom during a commercial break.
So it’s with a slight upward curl at the side of my mouth that I bring you the next trend in TV advertising. Variety reports that companies including Hulu and DirecTV-owner AT&T want to show you ads right after you’ve pressed pause—in other words, demanding that you pay attention to the screen at the precise moment when you’ve deliberately chosen to do something else.
Nevertheless, the commercial logic of pause-vertising is apparently unassailable. “We know you’re going to capture 100% viewability when they pause and unpause,” says Matt Van Houten, vice president of product at Xandr Media, AT&T’s advertising division. “There’s a lot of value in that experience.” Perhaps it needs to be seen to be believed.
Rewind: Variety also reminds us that the concept of pause-vertising isn’t completely new, either. Back at the turn of the millennium, in the early days of the DVR, Coca-Cola and Universal Pictures were among the advertisers that placed banner ads during pauses on ReplayTV screens.
Now the technology is able to display full-screen videos when a user presses pause, although I can’t think of many creative directors who’d want their highly-crafted pieces of film inserted during the pause. I wonder how the ad rates will differ?
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PHOTO: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
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Apple built its brand on prestige. For years, every iPhone launch was met with lines snaking around Apple stores as consumers raced to empty their wallets.
Now demand appears to be waning. Apple no longer reports iPhone unit sales, and analysts are expecting a weak holiday quarter for the smartphone.
Apple has reshuffled its marketing resources to move some staff from other projects to focus on the iPhone, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who writes that one insider called the shake-up a “fire drill.”
In a rare move, Apple is also offering the iPhone XR for a $300 discount if the buyer trades in their current iPhone—a tactic more usually adopted by retailers, carriers or Apple’s smartphone rivals.
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PHOTO: LUKE SHARRETT/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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When Diageo started letting its brand managers ask their agencies for their gender-diversity and pay-gap statistics, at least one marketer was met with “blank faces” from some of the spirit giant’s agency partners.
Now Diageo CMO Syl Saller has gone a step further, writing a letter to all the company’s agencies asking them to report back with diversity data, the Drum reports.
“They don’t usually say no to me so I’m hoping by upping the ante a bit they will share,” Ms. Saller told the Drum. No word yet on what will happen to agencies that don’t respond. (As for Diageo itself, 40% of its executive committee and 45% of its senior marketing leadership are women, according to the report.)
Diageo isn’t the first company to demand that its agencies diversify their workforces. Back in 2016, former HP CMO Antonio Lucio (she’s now Facebook’s top marketer) mandated that HP’s advertising and PR agencies add more women and minorities. The same year, General Mills set out requirements that agencies pitching for its business had at least 50% women and 20% people of color within their creative departments.
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“I make the comparison of going to a party. We used to be the guys standing around and having lots of conversations with people but we were not the guys in the DJ booth making the music or the first ones on the dance floor. That was the drive and ambition for ourselves, to become part of the conversation”
| — Florian Alt, vice-president of global brand communications for Adidas Football on why the brand shook up its marketing three years ago to launch its bolder “There Will Be Haters” campaign |
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Google suspended two apps from its Google Play app store after Buzzfeed News reported last week that they could have been used in an ad-fraud scheme. [WSJ]
A draft report by lawyers hired by CBS claims former CEO Les Moonves obstructed the investigation into misconduct claims made against him. Mr. Moonves’s lawyer said Mr. Moonves “denies having any nonconsensual sexual relation” and “cooperated extensively and fully with investigators.” [New York Times]
A generation of digital-media darlings is preparing for a “frigid winter”. [Vanity Fair]
Hulu wants to be “at the table when the time comes” to bid on exclusive sports rights. [MediaPost]
AT&T’s Otter Media will reportedly lay off around 10% of employees across the organization, including at Crunchyroll, Fullscreen and Rooster Teeth. AT&T’s WarnerMedia will also reportedly move digital property Machinima under Otter Media, from Warner Bros. Digital Networks. [Variety]
Nordic electronics retailer Elkjøp’s holiday ad offers a powerful, cinematic reflection of a rich life story. [Adweek]
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