|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon Aims to Grow Ad Sales Further by Automating Creation; LimeWire Buys Fyre Festival Brand; Ben & Jerry’s Co-Founder Quits, Citing Loss of Autonomy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Today, marketers are offered another AI tool to generate ads for them; one formerly infamous brand buys a recently infamous one; and Jerry Greenfield says Unilever has silenced Ben & Jerry’s.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon, which presented its ad offerings to Canadian marketers at an event in Toronto in May, hopes new AI tools will attract small and midsize advertisers. Photo: Mathew Tsang/Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon has released a chatbot-style creative assistant designed to help advertisers produce and distribute multimedia ad campaigns almost entirely with artificial intelligence, Patrick Coffee reports for CMO Today.
At the push of a button or five, the assistant can develop and edit concepts, scripts, images, videos and voice-overs promoting a given product, said Jay Richman, vice president of product and technology.
The move is the latest development in a race among ad sellers to use AI to lure new business, particularly among small and medium-size companies that can’t afford to hire ad agencies or create their own campaigns.
“We’re not talking about professional marketers,” Richman said. “These are customers that really need our help growing their business.”
More AI: YouTube added Veo 3, the new AI video generator from Google that’s giving game developers and filmmakers jitters, for everyday users to make eight-second vertical videos. [WSJ]
Business Insider told reporters they can use ChatGPT to generate first drafts of their articles. [Status]
|
|
|
|
|
Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
|
|
|
How Gen AI Can Transform Investment Management Sales and Marketing
|
|
Facing increased competition and more sophisticated client needs, investment management firms can consider using generative AI applications to improve their sales and marketing functions. Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fyre co-founder Billy McFarland tried to mount a Fyre Festival II, but wound up selling the brand. Photo: Yoshiyuki Matsumura for WSJ. Magazine
|
|
|
|
|
|
LimeWire, a file-transfer service using the name of the early-2000s site popular with music pirates, has emerged as the mystery bidder who won the Fyre Festival brand at an eBay auction in July.
Plans aren’t fully set, but they will include “real-world experiences, community and surprise,” Ashley Wong writes.
One of LimeWire’s first moves with its infamous new asset was a licensing deal with Ryan Reynolds’s production company, Maximum Effort, to produce the new Fyre Festival-themed ad for Visa.
“Fyre became a symbol of everything that can go wrong,” LimeWire Chief Operating Officer Marcus Feistl said in a statement. “Now it’s our chance to show what happens when you pair cultural relevance with real execution.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jerry Greenfield, right, with Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen, said the brand ‘has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power.’ Photo: Oliver Parini for WSJ
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield said he is quitting the brand after 47 years because it was no longer allowed to stand behind social justice issues that were core to its business, Aimee Look reports.
“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” Greenfield wrote in social-media posts shared on co-founder Ben Cohen’s account.
Ben & Jerry’s agreed to be acquired by Unilever in 2000 in a deal explicitly preserving its decision-making over social stances and marketing. It has had several disputes with its parent in recent years, including over positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Unilever’s ice-cream business, the Magnum Ice Cream Company, said it was dedicated to the Ben & Jerry’s product, economic and social commitments.
“We disagree with his perspective and have sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world,” the company said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
President Trump pushed back enforcement of the TikTok ban until December amid deal discussions. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
|
TikTok’s U.S. business would be controlled by an investor consortium including Oracle and Andreessen Horowitz under a framework now being finalized between the Trump administration and China. [WSJ]
Agency holding companies and independents are squaring up for an intense new stage of competition over media planning and buying. [Ad Age]
Starburst’s redesign uses simplicity, bold colors and nostalgia to refresh the brand. [Creative Bloq]
General Mills’ sales fell in its latest quarter, but the company said its push to return to growth through investments in price, advertising and new products is beginning to work. [WSJ]
Luxury shoe brand Christian Louboutin named rapper and actor Jaden Smith its first men’s creative director. [Fashion United]
Vogue publisher Condé Nast plans to introduce an influencer storefront platform called Vette where creators can curate e-commerce sites. [Business of Fashion]
Best Buy held an upfront-like event for advertisers, pitching offerings like “takeovers” that let brands saturate stores’ ad inventory. [Modern Retail]
Costco recalled bottles of prosecco sold under its Kirkland store brand, saying they could spontaneously shatter. [USA Today]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
