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Wendy’s Brings Its Beef Against Frozen Burgers to Fortnite |
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Hello CMOs. Wendy’s has taken its sassy PR and social-media blitz against its rivals’ frozen hamburgers to Fortnite.
In the world of the massively popular battle royale game, a feud is playing out between two fictional fast-food chains, “Durr Burger” and “Pizza Pit,” as part of a new team battle mode called “Food Fight”.
On Thursday, Wendy’s entered the fray—and not on the side you might expect. Pledging allegiance to #TeamPizza, the Wendy’s avatar dropped into Durr Burger and blasted it to smithereens over and over again. Your move, McDonald’s!
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PHOTO: DOMINIC LIPINSKI/ZUMA PRESS
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Publishers were up in arms earlier this year when Facebook introduced new systems to improve transparency around political advertising on the platform. Paid posts from media organizations promoting news articles about political figures and electoral issues were lumped in with political ads in Facebook’s political ad archive, provoking concern among publishers that journalism would be put in the same category as paid-for partisan advocacy.
No longer! Facebook has now said ads from news organizations will no longer be indexed in its political ads archive. It looks like a rare victory for publishers, who often lock horns with Facebook over everything from algorithm changes to the subsidies it pays (or doesn’t pay) for content.
Speaking of which, the Columbia Journalism Review has more on Mic, the news site that was hit by the cancelation of a video series for Facebook Watch. Mic’s fall from grace, CJR writes, is another cautionary “pivot to video” tale of questionable metrics, a mediocre advertising experience and the danger of relying on a single platform.
Mic laid off almost all of its staff ahead of its sale to women-focused publisher Bustle Digital Group for about $5 million, The Journal reported Thursday. The company was valued at $100 million less than two years ago.
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DJ Khaled. PHOTO: DANNY MOLOSHOK/REUTERS
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Do you remember that perplexing period just over a year ago when every celebrity—from rappers to athletes, even Paris Hilton—seemed to be plugging cryptocurrencies?
For two celebrity crypto bros, those social-media endorsements came at a high price. Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and DJ Khaled on Thursday became the first celebrities to be punished for touting cryptocurrency deals that regulators say were fraudulent. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged the pair touted initial coin offerings without revealing they had been paid.
Mr. Mayweather agreed to pay a $300,000 fine and forfeit an additional $300,000, representing his gains from touting Centra and two other token sales, the SEC said. DJ Khaled will give up the $50,000 he earned and will pay a $100,000 penalty, according to the SEC. Both men are also barred from being paid to promote or publicize any securities offering for at least two years.
It's a warning for influencers who endorse products without disclosing that they are paid to do so.
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Madonna Badger and Jim Winters of Badger & Winters, in back, and Andrew Essex and MT Carney of Plan A, seated in front. Plan A acquired Badger & Winters using its equity. PHOTO: PLAN A/JUAN PATIÑO PHOTOGRAPHY
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CMO Today’s Nat Ives reports: Plan A, a new entrant to the ad business, has acquired branding and design agency Badger & Winters, calling it "the preeminent voice in the way that women are depicted in contemporary communications," as Plan A co-founder Andrew Essex put it.
Badger & Winters opened in 1994 but has gained prominence in the last few years as co-founder Madonna Badger became a vocal advocate for changing the way marketers portray women.
Plan A, meanwhile, is one of several attempts to make agency holding companies more nimble for marketers. It “is really a federation of independent states that are all sort of one governing body,” Ms. Badger said. Of course, this is what holding companies all say about themselves—“but in many instances it’s a lot of competition amongst the agencies themselves because so many of them overlap,” she said.
Badger & Winters received equity in Plan A but no cash, in line with its new parent's model.
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“Shuttering an entire news operation at a moment’s notice, primarily as a result of an inexperienced leadership and chronic mismanagement, cannot become the new norm in media.”
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AT&T is planning a three-tiered WarnerMedia streaming service to take on Netflix. [WSJ]
The Washington Post’s first CMO, Miki King, is chasing subscribers, not advertisers. [Digiday]
Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo unit is trying to warm up consumers on self-driving cars with an “early rider” volunteer program. [The Washington Post]
The first episode of “WSJ At Large With Gerry Baker,” a new Fox Business Network series, airs at 9.30 p.m. ET Friday. In the first episode, Mr. Baker, The Journal’s editor-at-large, will interview former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. (Reminder: Fox and The Wall Street Journal share common ownership.) [MarketWatch]
J.Crew will discontinue its Mercantile budget clothing line and shut down its new Nevereven brand. Mercantile is the only brand J.Crew sells on Amazon, which puts that deal into doubt. [WSJ]
Microsoft has redesigned the icons for programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Who will overreact first—copywriter ninjas, spreadsheet jockeys or sales rainmakers? [Fast Company]
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