Advertising news

• Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad ads banned for misleading claims

  06-12-2023 01:01 via theguardian.com
  UK advertising watchdog says firms could not corroborate claims on environmental impact of air travelAdverts from Air France, Lufthansa and Etihad have been banned by the UK’s ad regulator due to concerns they have misled customers about the environmental impact of air travel.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has banned three adverts identified in July using artificial intelligence that suggested flights operated by leading airlines were sustainable. Continue reading...
  
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• UK ad watchdog to crack down on ‘biodegradable’ and ‘recyclable’ claims

  04-12-2023 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Consumers left angry and dismayed when they found out the truth about these terms, says Advertising Standards Authority studyPlastic bottles, takeaway cups and food packaging that could take an unlimited amount of time to break down are being advertised as “biodegradable”, with the advertising regulator calling for more clarity on such claims from businesses.British consumers believe they are making green choices while disposing of waste when they are often not, according to a new re
  
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• Fertility patients in UK targeted by ‘concerning’ IVF adverts on social media

  02-12-2023 11:00 via theguardian.com
  Some clinics are claiming to ‘guarantee’ success or offer ‘no baby, no fee’ promotions onlineVulnerable fertility patients are being targeted by adverts on social media that experts warn could be breaching rules by guaranteeing couples a baby or making other misleading claims.The Guardian discovered a number of adverts for IVF clinics on Instagram that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) described as concerning and is now reviewing. These adverts are directed at use
  
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• Can Elon Musk stop X going to the wall after tirade at advertisers?

  30-11-2023 15:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Ad revenue used to service debt unlikely to return soon, meaning deal with lenders or cash injection may be neededMusk hurls defiant, profanity-laced retort at fleeing advertisersElon Musk’s extraordinary tirade on Wednesday has once again raised questions about the survival of X.When the world’s richest person took over the social media platform then known as Twitter on 27 October last year, he acquired a historically loss-making business. Continue reading...
  
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• Elf Bar vape adverts banned in UK over ‘greener’ recycling claims

  29-11-2023 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Ads gave misleading impression that recycling vapes is easy and can be done at home, says watchdogAdverts for the vaping company Elf Bar have been banned after using the slogan “recycling for a greener future” over concern they were misleading because of the environmental damage of discarded vapes.A study by Material Focus shows that 260m disposable vapes were thrown away in the UK in 2022, making them a leading cause of the rise in plastic pollution in recent years. Continue reading
  
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• Channel 4 chief says TV advertising slump is worst in 15 years

  28-11-2023 15:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Broadcaster is considering using an emergency £75m credit facility next year, Alex Mahon tells MPsChannel 4’s chief executive has said the TV industry is reeling from the worst advertising downturn in 15 years, forcing the state-owned broadcaster to consider tapping an emergency £75m credit facility next year.Alex Mahon said that Channel 4 expects the traditional TV ad market to slump by 14% this year, which will see the broadcaster move to a loss in each of the next two years.
  
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• Prime-time gambling ads would be banned in Victoria under proposal by Labor-led inquiry

  28-11-2023 05:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Inquiry says gambling advertising ‘increasingly pervasive’ and should be banned in public places and during TV prime timeFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Victorian Labor government is being urged to ban gambling advertising in public places and during television prime time by some of its own MPs, in an effort to reduce the “increasingly pervasive” nature of sports betting ads
  
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• £700 and a friendly dog: how a bar in Enniskillen made this year’s best Christmas ad

  27-11-2023 17:28 via theguardian.com
  The tearjerking video has won widespread praise – including from John Lewis, the retailer renowned for its festive campaignsName: Charlie’s Bar, Enniskillen.Age: Nearly 80. The venue opened in 1944. Continue reading...
  
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• NSW minerals lobby advertising blitz doesn’t come clean on the dirty realities of coalmining | Temperature Check

  23-11-2023 00:56 via theguardian.com
  State’s Minerals Council says campaign aims to educate the public – but its claims of responsible, low-emissions mining don’t stack upGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast“Because in New South Wales, we mine responsibly. For today and tomorrow,” comes the proud declaration at the end of an ad from the state’s mining lobby.The advertisement from the NSW Minerals Council, seen on streaming services including SBS, features four
  
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• Toyota SUV adverts banned in UK on environmental grounds

  22-11-2023 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Advertising Standards Authority says Hilux poster and video condone driving that disregards ‘impact on nature’The UK advertising watchdog has banned two Toyota adverts for condoning driving that disregards its environmental impact in a landmark ruling, stating that the SUV ads had been created without “a sense of responsibility to society”.It is the first time the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has blocked an SUV advert on the grounds of breaching social responsibi
  
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• The Guardian view on festive marketing: stop spending like there’s no tomorrow | Editorial

  21-11-2023 19:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Between Black Friday and Christmas we will see adverts encouraging people to desire things that don’t reveal what they could cost the planetLate in November 1998, a British newspaper alerted its readers to a strange quirk of American culture. At 5am on the day after Thanksgiving, queues were forming at US shopping malls, and the roads were busy with more would-be shoppers. It was called “Black Friday”, explained the reporter, the day when retailers could expect to see their bot
  
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• Ad industry grapples with role selling consumption in climate crisis

  21-11-2023 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Does being an effective agency mean helping sell more products or can it mean helping mitigate climate emergency?When Bartle Bogle Hegarty won one of the advertising industry’s most coveted prizes – the Effectiveness award – for their amazing car-selling prowess, two executives from another company worked out that the resultant carbon emissions of the extra 132,700 Audis that BBH had managed to shift came to about 5.2m tonnes, roughly equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of U
  
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• Rows and rockets blow up as Elon Musk’s firms endure turbulent weekend

  19-11-2023 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Another space launch failed, but it’s the loss of major advertisers on X that has enraged the tycoonIt has been an explosive weekend for Elon Musk. The American billionaire has had to witness not only the public “rapid unscheduled disassembly” of another of his rockets, but also watch while a group of well-known global companies, including Apple, Disney and IBM, pulled advertising from X, his social media platform.The businesses, all of them household names, made the decision t
  
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• Sounds of Australia: Slip, Slop, Slap and Menstruation Blues join national archive

  13-11-2023 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Cancer Council’s 1980s sun safety campaign and Robyn Archer’s five-minute musical rant are among 11 recordings deemed of cultural significance in 2023Get our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe Slip Slop Slap skin cancer awareness campaign from the early 1980s and Robyn Archer’s Menstruation Blues – a five-minute musical tirade from the same decade – are among 11 soundtracks that have been added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s Sounds of Australia r
  
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• BMW, Subaru and Porsche drivers ‘more likely to cause a crash’, study finds

  11-11-2023 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Research found speeding or jumping a red light less likely in a Skoda or Hyundai than in brands sold as ‘performance driving’What came first, the boy racer or the sports car? Academics have called for further research into the marketing of cars after analysis of UK accident data suggested that drivers of certain brands are more likely than others to cause a crash.A study of more than 400,000 UK road accidents found that when “risky or aggressive manoeuvres” played a part
  
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• ITV cuts spending on programmes as ad slump hits production arm

  08-11-2023 14:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Broadcaster trims outlook for Love Island maker ITV Studios, in further worrying sign for TV jobs market‘To leave is heartbreaking’: the film and TV makers forced into other jobsA slump in demand for TV productions has hit ITV’s studio division, the maker of shows including Love Island and Come Dine With Me, as traditional broadcasters pull budgets for new commissions in the face of the ad market drought.The UK’s largest free-to-air broadcaster cut its fourth-quarter grow
  
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• Shock of the old: 10 scandalous vintage medicines – from asthma cigarettes to cocaine wine

  07-11-2023 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Cure any ailment! Never known to fail! Early medicine adverts made grand claims but they look alarming todayThe confusion with patent medicines starts with the name, since they were rarely ever patented; manufacturers just thought it sounded cool. Bamboozling was always part of the package: from the 17th century, concoctions of water, alcohol and herbs were sold with wild claims and exotic origin stories. In the 1630s, Anderson’s Pills were hyped with dubious claims that the recipe came fr
  
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• Monsters of the road: what should the UK do about SUVs?

  05-11-2023 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  They have higher emissions, hog roadspace and are more dangerous for other road users. Yet SUVs are selling better than ever. As calls for curbs increase, some people are taking matters into their own handsIt’s midnight on the edge of Clapham Common in early September. The streets are eerily quiet as a shadowy figure in black shirt, shorts and baseball cap emerges from the common. He is wearing a red face mask, his features, except for some blond locks, hidden from view.A university-educat
  
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• M&S advert ‘puts two fingers up to spirit of Christmas’, says headteacher

  03-11-2023 23:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Katharine Birbalsingh tells retailer its Christmas ad featuring celebrities’ seasonal peeves will stifle children’s happinessA prominent headteacher has said she feels “deep disappointment and outrage” over Marks & Spencer’s Christmas advert showing celebrities destroying their least favourite parts of the festive season.Katharine Birbalsingh, an education reform campaigner who has been labelled Britain’s strictest headteacher, called for the advert to be
  
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• ’Tis the season to be emotionally manipulated: the battle of the Christmas adverts has begun

  01-11-2023 15:42 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s November so there’s a glut of high-concept schmaltz on your small screen – plus Sophie Ellis-Bextor with a blowtorchName: Christmas advert wars.Age: Instigated by John Lewis in 2007. Continue reading...
  
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• Seven Network fined over betting ad breach as SBS lets viewers opt out

  01-11-2023 06:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Media regulator cracks down while federal government considers recommendation to ban online gambling ads within three yearsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastThe Seven Network has been fined $13,320 by the media authority for “repeated breaches” of a ban on gambling advertising during live sport, while SBS has become the first broadcaster to offer viewers the chance to block gambling ads.The c
  
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• ‘Sexual’ Temu online shopping adverts banned by UK authority

  01-11-2023 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  One of Chinese e-commerce app’s ads appeared on British news site ‘portraying child in sexual way’Five adverts for the Chinese shopping app Temu have been banned in the UK for their sexualised nature, with one found to have been irresponsible in how it depicted a young girl to sell bikinis.The company has been warned against presenting under-18s in a sexual way in future or portraying adults as “stereotypical sexual objects” after several ads featured “disembo
  
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• Historic England asks for ‘ghost sign’ photos to create online map

  27-10-2023 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Halloween-timed initiative is partly to encourage new audiences to look up at the rich history on high streetsThey are haunting reminders of a bygone age, some so faded the writing can hardly be deciphered, others still vivid reminders of the colour and variety that high streets once had.Over this Halloween weekend, Historic England is asking people to help record the “ghost signs” still to be found on buildings across England and send them in for an online map. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘In tatters’: can Martin Sorrell return S4 Capital to top table of ad world?

  24-10-2023 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘Faster, cheaper, better’ digital model that helped build business into £5.2bn company has been hit hard by advertising recessionWhen Sir Martin Sorrell set up S4 Capital it was meant to mark a triumphant last act, a return to the top of ad land and a means of rehabilitating his tarnished reputation, but the worst slump since the advertising recession of the late noughties is threatening to derail his comeback.Sorrell launched the digital marketing group at lightspeed just a ma
  
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• ‘Never again’: Tel Aviv billboard campaign backing army divides Israelis

  23-10-2023 18:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Ofer Rosenberg hopes provocative words and images will help restore trust in security forces after Hamas attackHuge billboards depicting leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah looking beaten and bound as Israeli soldiers stand over them, line the main thoroughfares in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. The words: “We love you, we trust you,” directed at the Israeli army and: “Never again,” are printed big and bold. The graphic AI-generated imagery has elicited different responses from
  
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• More than a million gambling ads aired on Australian TV and radio in a year, research finds

  17-10-2023 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Nielsen study commissioned by Acma says most gambling ads shown on free-to-air were from online bookmakersGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMore than a million gambling ads aired on free-to-air television and radio in just 12 months, with the media watchdog estimating $238m was splashed on campaigns to lure people into betting.The findings came as the federal government considered whether to accept a bipartisan parliamentary committee’s recommendation
  
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• Take this addictive food away from me! | David Mitchell

  15-10-2023 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Putting a sticker on ultra-processed foods may not be the solution it seemsAccording to the British Medical Journal, “Not all foods have addictive potential.” Sounds like the writer had just struggled through a couscous salad. There’s some very non-addictive grub out there, and most of it’s good for you. Heaps of runner beans, great squidgy clods of spinach, bottomless bowls of vegetable soup, vast leaves of molar-defying kale – we’d all live for ever if that
  
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• Dylan Mulvaney says woman-of-the-year award ‘means so much more’ after Bud Light backlash

  14-10-2023 00:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Attitude magazine celebrates TikTok star who collaborated with beer maker who left her high and dry after conservatives boycottedAfter gaining Attitude magazine’s first-ever woman of the year award, US trans activist Dylan Mulvaney said receiving such recognition from the UK-based LGBTQ+ publication “means so much more” after a substantial transphobic backlash undermined her Bud Light advertisement.“No matter how hard I try or what I wear, or what I say, or what surgeries
  
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• ‘Staggering’ rise of gambling among school-aged children leads to calls for urgent inquiry

  04-10-2023 00:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Without action, a ‘generation of young people’ could be addicted to gambling, says independent MP pushing for government to urgently interveneFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMPs have called for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the impact of advertising on children and young people by harmful industries after revelations by Guardian Australia of a 16% rise in young people seek
  
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• ‘Staggering’ rise of gambling among school-age children leads to calls for urgent inquiry

  04-10-2023 00:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Without action, a ‘generation of young people’ could be addicted to gambling, says independent MP pushing for government to urgently interveneFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMPs have called for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the impact of advertising on children and young people by harmful industries after revelations by Guardian Australia of a 16% rise in young people seek
  
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• MPs call for inquiry into harmful industry ads after rise in young people seeking help for gambling

  04-10-2023 00:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Without action a ‘generation of young people’ could be addicted to gambling, says Independent MP pushing for government to urgently interveneGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMPs have called for an urgent parliamentary inquiry into the impact of advertising on children and young people by harmful industries after revelations by Guardian Australia of a 16% rise in young people seeking help for gambling in the last financial year.The ca
  
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• Facebook and Instagram could charge for ad-free services in EU

  03-10-2023 15:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Meta’s social networks considering charge of €13 a month on mobile and €17 on desktop, say sourcesMark Zuckerberg’s Meta is considering charging users in the EU €13 (£11) a month to access an ad-free version of Instagram or Facebook on their phones, as the company grapples with regulatory pressure on how it uses people’s data.Meta is also weighing a €17 charge to use Instagram and Facebook without adverts on desktop, according to sources close to the d
  
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• The parallels between tobacco and gambling are striking, so why are we ignoring the lessons of the past? | Samantha Thomas

  02-10-2023 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It’s time politicians recognised that gambling’s links to sport have created a public health issue that threatens our young peopleGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMany of us will remember growing up seeing tobacco promotions saturating our sporting environments. While tobacco advertising was increasingly curbed, then banned, tobacco sponsorship remained. Despite overwhelming public support for complete marketing bans, thanks to lobbying from co
  
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• ‘A massive public health problem’: Australian children as young as 10 are hooked on gambling

  02-10-2023 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: A Guardian Australia investigation has found an increase in the number of young people seeking help for problem gambling, with calls for urgent actionGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastSteven* was just 10 years old when he started gambling online, an addiction that by the age of 15 would see him lose about $2,000 and grappling with embarrassment and despair.He remembers gambling away $500 in birthday money when he was 12. “I was late to scho
  
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• Has Google’s monopoly on the search engine market finally timed out? | John Naughton

  30-09-2023 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The US justice department is belatedly addressing the company’s stranglehold on digital advertising technologies in the most significant antitrust case for more than two decadesAlthough you’d never guess it from mainstream media, the most significant antitrust case in more than 20 years is under way in Washington. In it, the US justice department, alongside the attorneys general of eight states, is suing Google for abusively monopolising digital advertising technologies, thereby subv
  
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• Erwin Olaf obituary

  29-09-2023 16:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Dutch photographer who constructed his own surrealist dreamworld in meticulously staged imagesThe Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, who has died aged 64 following a lung transplant, straddled the world of art, advertising and fashion photography with a sumptuous cinematic and painterly aesthetic. Into his meticulously staged works he introduced subtle imperfections to stir disquiet in his audience: “There should be a riddle in every powerful image, so you are intrigued and invited to look ove
  
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• NSW raises concerns about volume of gambling ads but declines to endorse total ban

  27-09-2023 08:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Advocate Tim Costello fears state resistance could be excuse for federal Labor to ‘kick the ad ban recommendation into the long grass’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastNew South Wales has raised concerns about the “volume of gambling advertising” but declined to endorse an inquiry’s call for a total ban within three years, prompting concerns federal Labor may use state resis
  
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• Hollywood Screenwriters reach tentative deal to end strike

  25-09-2023 15:33
  
  Union said to have gained concessions on key points, including higher wages.
  
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• Hollywood Screenwriters reach tentative deal to end five-month strike

  25-09-2023 15:33
  
  Union said to have gained concessions on key points, including higher wages.
  
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• What Gen Z loves—and hates—about brand marketing

  25-09-2023 12:00
  
  Hear more from Gen Z professionals at the Ad Age Business of Brands conference on Nov. 8 and 9. 
  
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• TikTok’s Tube Girl trend—how brands are embracing her self-confidence ethos

  25-09-2023 12:00
  
  Sabrina Bahsoon’s motto of self-confidence is resonating with brands such as MAC, Spotify and AirBaltic.
  
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• NFL’s Marissa Solis on the ‘Run With It’ campaign, and finding her calling in marketing

  25-09-2023 11:45
  
  The league’s global brand and consumer marketing chief reflects on a career left turn that made all the difference.
  
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• How generative AI misrepresents the Latino experience brands aim to portray

  25-09-2023 11:30
  
  Stories and identities are already difficult to grasp, and harder still for machines trained on limited data sets.
  
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• 7 CMOs on how their children influence their marketing approach

  25-09-2023 11:30
  
  Top marketers at American Eagle, Chili’s, Chipotle, Claire’s, KFC, Marriott and Nissan on how their kids are often a secret weapon.
  
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• Gambling companies accused of using big tobacco’s tactics in push for weaker regulations

  23-09-2023 22:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Multinational group of public health experts urges governments to approach betting companies in same way they deal with tobacco industryGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastA dozen public health experts have accused gambling companies of replicating the tactics of big tobacco by funding research into the harms they cause while lobbying governments to soften regulation.The academics have co-written an editorial, published in the journal Health Promotion Interna
  
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• How often do brands think about the Roman Empire? A lot, evidently

  22-09-2023 19:10
  
  The latest TikTok trend has brands piling in on Threads.
  
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• A top NBCU ad exec is set to depart

  22-09-2023 18:31
  
  Krishan Bhatia to leave the media giant after nearly 13 years.
  
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• TikTok changes how it measures ads, Univision grows, political advertising explodes: Datacenter Weekly

  22-09-2023 17:51
  
  Plus, Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp get JIC nod, macroeconomic news in a nutshell, and more.
  
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• Google mocks Apple with ‘iPager’ spoof in fight over texting technology

  22-09-2023 17:00
  
  ‘It's 2023, and texting shouldn't feel like using a pager,’ Google says as Android-iPhone texting problems continue.
  
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• McDonald’s raising fees for some franchisees

  22-09-2023 16:38
  
  Fast food chain relies on franchisee fees to help fuel its marketing spending.
  
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