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MediaMonks has made its first acquisition since itself being acquired by Sir Martin Sorrell’s S4 Capital with film studio Caramel Pictures. 
 
The Amsterdam-production company will expand the content studio capabilities of MediaMonks with its roster of directors, specialist crew, robotic equipment, high-end digital photography and film services. 
 
Victor Knaap, chief executive of MediaMonks said: “Agencies and brands are in growing need for high quality content,

It goes without saying that Apple has dominated the tablet market, despite efforts from Google and Microsoft to have their say. But iPads lie in a sort of limbo for traditional productivity – better than a phone, but not quite as good as a laptop. A big reason for that is the lack of support for a proper mouse, but that may soon change. Several sources are reporting that Apple is working to add USB mouse support to iOS – perhaps as soon as iOS 13’s upcoming reveal during WWDC

Snapchat is no longer bleeding users. While advertisers can take some joy in the modest growth its parent company Snap shared in its first quarter earnings report, the industry is eyeing how Snap builds out its latest ad offering.
Earlier this month, Snap announced plans to launch its Audience Network, which will integrate its inventory of vertical ads into third-party apps.
On the earnings call, chief business officer Jeremi Gorman said Snap is taking a long-term approach to building out its Au

Shadow IT is an issue that just about every organization faces on some level, but when I speak to executives and IT leaders, it’s simply not a topic that comes up. When I do bring it up, it quickly becomes clear that the tech industry as a whole underestimates the size and scope of the issue. And that lack of awareness and understanding is posing an ever-increasing threat to data protection and cybersecurity. Some executives I speak with haven’t even heard the term “shadow IT,

In the era of Trumpian politics the public forum is no longer the evening news or the morning paper: it’s Twitter. We decided to see which politicians were embracing the platform to discuss what we feel will be one of the most important issues of their potential presidency: artificial intelligence. What we found wasn’t good. We gathered a list of every AI-related tweet 2020 Democratic hopefuls sent over the past 12 months. Our expectation was that there’d be a few thousand or

In the era of Trumpian politics the public forum is no longer the evening news or the morning paper: it’s Twitter. We decided to see which politicians were embracing the platform to discuss what we feel will be one of the most important issues of their potential presidency: artificial intelligence. What we found wasn’t good. We gathered a list of every AI-related tweet 2020 Democratic hopefuls sent over the past 12 months. Our expectation was that there’d be a few thousand or

MTN Dew has introduced a new phrase that it hopes will take off, thanks to Kevin Hart and a sweepstakes encouraging people to take some deserved time off from their jobs.
The soft drink brand is launching its new ‘Dew Time Off (DTO)’ campaign, empowering people to do more of what they love and removing the barriers that get in the way of their passions.
To introduce ‘DTO’, MTN Dew enlisted the help of some famous friends, starting off with Hart, and, over the next month,

Sacramento, California. For the longest time, those from the Bay Area identified it as a stop on the way to Lake Tahoe. And millions of fifth graders, meanwhile, failed to identify it as the capital of California.  However over the last decade the once semi-quiet government city has transformed itself, spurred by an economic renaissance and the no longer far-fetched conviction of Sacramento’s leaders that their city is an emerging tech hub. And indeed, Sacramento is grabbing headline

The NFL Draft becomes a bigger deal to fans and sponsors every year, and this year is the first time that ABC will air all three days of the event – meaning sponsors get prime time network coverage as well as on the NFL Network. Longtime NFL sponsor Bridgestone is hoping that the 2019 NFL Draft brings even more eyeballs to its tires.
Bridgestone, the ‘official tire of the NFL’ this year welcomes football fans from around the world to its home city of Nashville for the upcoming

Amazon has poached Andrew Saunders from Tastemade to head up its entertainment marketing division.
Saunders, who has relocated from New York City to Los Angeles to take the role, will sit within XCM, Amazon’s cross category, cross channel global marketing team. He has been tasked to educate customers by “building meaningful connections for them across entertainment and culture”.
Amazon confirmed Saunders’ hire but would not disclose further details on his job spec to The

Nintendo is preparing to offer up its next mobile game, and rumor has it the company is hoping this one will be a gold mine. Given the franchise it’s from — and what Nintendo has done adapting its less well-known series — it probably will be. A new report from Bloomberg, which focuses on the prospects of Nintendo in China after a rather lackluster stateside year, quotes an insider as saying the company is betting a lot on the upcoming smartphone app Mario Kart Tour. Analy

Considering how much data most of us are looking to save that we don’t need to access regularly, services like Zoolz are perfect. They offer up vast cloud storage possibilities for low monthly rates on content you can safely lock away for the day you absolutely have to have it.It’s even better when you can find it at a discount...like right now, with a Zoolz Cloud Backup For Home 1TB membership from TNW Deals. It’s currently 90 percent off for a one-year plan, just $19.99.

With exactly two weeks to TNW Conference, we’re getting super excited — especially for the parties! Our official side events will be going on all week, all across Amsterdam, but today I’d like to talk about one of my favorites: the TNW2019 opening party. We’re having a street party On May 9, don’t miss out on the most epic street party in town. We’re taking over Regulierdwarsstraat, located in the heart of Amsterdam, from 19:30 onwards. Last year’s

Nike Inc has submitted a trademark application for the word ‘cryptokicks’, signalling it may be gearing up to launch its own digital currency and a host of cryptocurrency related products. The application, filed on April, 19, outlines how the company‘s proposed digital currency could be used by an online community. The document also describes an online footwear and clothing marketplace, as well as “a website featuring technology that enables users to mine, earn, purchase

Snapchat has hired its first chief marketing officer in McDonald's marketer Kenny Mitchell. 
The exec will join Snap's senior leadership team in June, reporting into founder Evan Spiegel. He will be tasked with leading all consumer and product marketing for the business and its flagship app.
Mitchell joins from McDonald’s USA, where he was vice-president of brand content and engagement. Prior to McDonald's, he was managing director of brand and consumer marketing at Nascar, and direct

Snapchat has hired its first chief marketing officer in McDonald's marketer Kenny Mitchell. 
The exec will join Snap's senior leadership team in June, reporting into founder Evan Spiegel. He will be tasked with leading all consumer and product marketing for the business and its flagship app.
Mitchell joins from McDonald’s USA, where he was vice-president of brand content and engagement. Prior to McDonald's, he was managing director of brand and consumer marketing at Nascar, and direct

Actress, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Zoe Saldana has been announced as a judge of the Chivas Venture, an annual competition that gives away $1 million in no-strings funding to the most promising social startups that blend profit with purpose. The Avatar and Avengers star has significant experience in business and philanthropy. As the founder of digital media platform BESE, which aims to celebrate diverse cultures and combat their lack of representation in mainstream media, Saldana wor

At some point in their lives, almost everyone I know has constructed entire worlds from LEGO, the foot pain-causing multi-colored bricks. So, it’s nothing but brilliant to see that Lego‘s looking to change more people’s childhoods through the announcement of Braille Bricks – a product to help blind children learn the writing system. They work like this. Instead of the normal dots (the company refers to them as “studs”) you see on top of Lego bricks, this vers

Bitcoin is the cryptocurrency OG, it started it all and redefined the field of digital currencies. It was released the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in their seminal white paper. The original idea was to create an online peer-to-peer cash that allowed users to exchange value online without being required to reveal their identity. As it’s so commonly touted today, Bitcoin is decentralized. There are no central bodies to provide trust to transactions and ensure everything operates as it sho

Volvic will launch its largest marketing campaign for the Touch of Fruit sugar-free range that has set the mineral water brand back a cool £1.7m.
It will be the second installment of its 'Well That's Refreshing' campaign that launched last year to promote the healthier version of its Touch of Fruit water range.
Landing on 6 May, campaign activity will include out-of-home that immersively plays with smell and taste. To promote the rhubarb Touch of Fruit, at London's Kings Cross station, the

Volvic will launch its largest marketing campaign for the Touch of Fruit sugar-free range that has set the mineral water brand back a cool £1.7m.
It will be the second installment of its 'Well That's Refreshing' campaign that launched last year to promote the healthier version of its Touch of Fruit water range.
Landing on 6 May, campaign activity will include out-of-home that immersively plays with smell and taste. To promote the rhubarb Touch of Fruit, at London's Kings Cross station, the

Creative Director’s Choice gives creative directors a chance to highlight the work they think is the best out in the ad world — the ads and campaigns they believe are making a difference.
This week, Brad Blondes, vice-president global brand creative and design at MetLife, talks about Spotify’s redesign and use of data to connect with consumers.
Show me entity :: 26705
As a regular Spotify user, I have always been a fan of the brand and how they create a holistic experience

Two Nigerian nationals face charges of attempting to defraud US residents through numerous Bitcoin investment scams. But the pair are yet to be apprehended by US authorities. Onwuemerie Ogor Gift and Kelvin Usifo are facing a 13-count indictment, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and 11 instances of wire fraud, OregonLive reports. Gift and Usifoh ran a number of websites on which they promised investors risk-free investments with guaranteed returns of between 20 and 5

A week-long ban of popular social video creation app TikTok in India has been reversed, according to a report by Reuters, citing two lawyers involved in the case. The Android and iOS apps, however, are yet to return to Apple and Google’s app stores. The Madras High Court moved to lift the ban on the condition that sexually explicit material will not be uploaded to the platform and that it will address any content-related complaint in three to 36 hours, failing which contempt of court

Welcome to CHEAP, our series about things that are good, but most of all, cheap. CHEAP! We’re big fans of board games here at TNW. As much as we love technology (and we truly do), sometimes there’s nothing better than unplugging, sitting back, and playing some games with friends. Well, that’s got a whole lot easier today. Yes, the terrific board game Pandemic has a full 27 percent off its retail price – making the whole thing a wonderfully reasonable (some

The well-documented burger rivalry between Burger King and McDonald's has heated up once more, with the former teasing the latter about its cooking methods via a series of well-placed billboards (or 'grill-boards').
Burger King prides itself on its flame-grilling; a burger preparation that the fast-food chain loves to tout as its differentiator against competitors.
To highlight its point of difference, Burger King Denmark has placed a billboard next to a McDonald's chain in Copenhagen that direc

Cybersecurity incidents are gaining an increasingly high profile. In the past, these incidents may have been perceived primarily as a somewhat distant issue for organizations such as banks to deal with. But recent attacks such as the 2017 Wannacry incident, in which a cyber attack disabled the IT systems of many organizations including the NHS, demonstrates the real-life consequences that cyber attacks can have. These attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated, using psychological manipula

Although dating apps set out to make dating easier, they also carry a greater risk of non-consensual interactions and new, easy opportunities for perpetrators to target and abuse victims. Whether it’s an abusive message waiting in your inbox, or an unsolicited nude image from a complete stranger, “surprise” dick pics are an all too common form of online sexual harassment — but Bumble will soon automatically detect and blur “lewd” images sent on its platf

VMLY&R has hired Karen Boswell to fill the newly-created role of chief experience officer for EMEA coinciding with the launch of its new 'customer experience (CX) 'centre of excellence' which will serve the market out of London. 
Boswell joins from Adam&Eve/DDB where she was head of innovation. In her new position, she will lead experience practice for the recently-consolidated VMLY&R in her market. The agency said the new division Boswell will oversee is focused on "driving val

McCann London and Xbox have delivered a gaming ad that stands out from the crowd by subverting tourism board creative. The spot entices viewers not to visit a specific locale, but instead explore the painstakingly crafted worlds featured in top games. 
These words, as displayed by the Xbox One X Enhanced, Microsoft's top-of-the-line console, are shown in their splendor during moments of calm before the storm. The scenes, shot by in-game photographers, include abandoned beaches, to lost

The Drum has published a special one-off supplement dedicated to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the marketing world, and was also banging the drum loudly at The Drum Arms in Austin at SXSW talking AI and automation. There is little doubt that AI and automation are transforming businesses and the world that we live in. What that means is we also need to be focused on the ethical side, the human side of the story. 
The Drum Network asked its members: ”What do you think are t

Instagram has long been a place for airbrushed beach selfies, colourful vegan salads, and four-bed new build houses decorated in so much grey that you can’t tell where the walls end and furniture begins. Celebrities aside, the most popular feeds have more often than not been carefully curated so that each image works in harmony with the next. This phenomenon started with ordinary users but as with most social trends, brands followed suit.
However, these painstakingly perfect profiles seem

Welcome to The Drum's Business on the Move column, where we collate agency account news, reviews, agency launches, rebrands and acquisitions.
This week's acquisitionsBauer Media Group France aims to acquire TV magazine Télécâble Sat Hebdo.
Unilever is set to acquire Olly Nutrition. Global wins
Johnnie Walker has handed its global creative account back to Anomaly. 
EMEA wins
The Drum understands Superdrug has awarded Grey London its creative agency.
Br

A dangerous new wave of cryptocurrency mining malware has struck the internet, and it has already infected thousands of high-value enterprises across Asia. Known as “Beapy,” the malware uses leaked NSA exploits and hacked credentials to spread through exposed networks as quickly as possible. It’s even capable of infecting patched machines. Cybersecurity research firm Symantec, which has been tracking the threat, reports Beapy is a file-based coinminer that uses email as a

Facebook may be reeling from a string of privacy disasters, but in terms of sheer usage, the social network continues to be unstoppable in its quest for growth. And in its latest earnings report, the company has revealed that it’s happy to throw money at anything that stands in its way. For the quarter ending March 2019, Facebook said it reached 2.38 billion monthly users and 1.56 billion daily active users, pulling over $15.08 billion in revenue. That’s a 26 percent increase YoY, i

Facebook is to set aside $5bn to cover a mammoth privacy fine levied by the US Federal Trade Commission over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, eating into $15bn of revenue generated over the first quarter.
The social network was further hit by a $3bn legal bill incurred in fighting the fine, all of which conspired to feed into a 51% year-on-year decline in net income to $2.4bn. When the one-off effects of this penalty are excluded however its operating margin would have actually increased.
In a s