Viral Video Chart: Barack Obama, Novak Djokovic and Will Ferrell

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/30/barack-obama-noval-djokovic-will-ferrell

1. BBC Breakfast | Happy
Sunny side up

2. French open in the rain with Novak Djokovic
Brolly volley

3. Will Ferrell and Chad Smith Drum-Off
Beat that

4. South Downs National park Rave up
Unexpected trip

5. Bill Murray Crashes Bachelor Party, Advises Groom
Bill's secret for happiness

6. Matt Smith Impression
Doctor Who's that?

7. Michael Jackson - Slave To The Rhythm
Jacko backo

8. Raw Video: The President Takes a Surprise Walk
Obama care

9. Aug(De)Mented Reality
Quite a draw

10. What a dance by a chubby Korean baby!
Cute tot

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 29 May 2014. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Ad break: Nigel Farage proclaims love for Europe, Lionel Messi for Adidas

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/29/ad-break-nigel-farage-europe-lionel-messi-adidas-world-cup

See the Ukip leader's speeches mashed up in a cheeky viral campaign and a World Cup ad starring the Argentinian striker

Virtual reality and wearable technology offer opportunities for retailers

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/may/28/virtual-reality-wearable-technology-retail-google


While we can't be sure what will happen in a post-mobile world, or which manufacturer will prevail, we can make educated predictions about what the next generation of devices could signify for retail. Perhaps they will imply a closer relationship between wearer and retailer, increase convenience but also increase potential for annoyance. Of the utmost importance is that they could fundamentally change some of the ways people shop.

10 ways that driverless cars will change the world

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/10860036/Ten-ways-that-driverless-cars-will-change-the-world.html
Google has unveiled a cute driverless car with a top speed of 25mph. It may not look it, but this tiny machine is going to change your life. Matthew Sparkes explains how

The art of adverts: How social media is changing the way companies speak to consumers

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/advertising/the-art-of-adverts-how-social-media-is-changing-the-way-companies-speak-to-consumers-9442415.html

The Business Insider website had visited the offices of Huge, a digital design and advertising agency in New York of the sort that now also crowds London. As social media have become an easy and affordable means of reaching giant audiences, companies employ experts to run their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Président, a French brand trying to roll into a cheese wasteland (America), depends on Huge to get the word out about Camembert and its optimal serving temperature. But before anyone posted the tweet, it reportedly passed through several layers of project managers, strategists, copywriters and designers in a process that took a month and a half.

Public Apathy Plays Into Kremlin Propaganda

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/public-apathy-plays-into-kremlin-propaganda/500915.html

What is surprising is that, despite the fact that more than 50 percent of the population now has Internet access, many people continue to get their news from television. In fact, not only do people get their news from television, but they form their worldview based on what they see on the screen.

The real problem with Russia is not that five state-controlled television channels have brainwashed the population with lies and propaganda, or that Putin eliminates all major independent and opposition media the moment they gain popularity. The problem with today's Russia is that the people do not demand the truth.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/05/ukraines-election-0

Magazine chiefs urge industry change from burning platform to growth

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/25/magazine-change-digital-job-cuts

Rich believes the rise of innovations, such as programmatic advertising, the clever use of software to buy digital ad space more efficiently, mark a new era of opportunity. "I really think this is our time, in the world of big data and programmatic advertising," he said. "Really smart marketers are talking about small data, insight and deeply engaged audiences. In a nutshell we do that better than anyone else."

Popular Demand - US Media in Numbers

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/26/business/media/25most.html?ref=media&_r=0

Television still dominates the information landscape, with average weekly viewing by adults topping 27 hours. Usage holds across all ages, at 98 percent for 35-to-54-year-olds and those 55 and older, and 95 percent for people 18 to 24.

The threat facing online comments

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/9c0cf256-e197-11e3-b7c4-00144feabdc0.html#axzz32cxOPitq

The judgment also says that if a commercial website allows anonymous comments, it is both “practical” and “reasonable” for it to be held legally responsible for the contents of those comments.

In January, responding to the implications of this ruling, a group of media organisations, internet companies, human rights groups and academic institutions sent an open letter to Dean Spielmann, a 51-year-old judge and president of the ECtHR, warning that the judgment could lead to “serious adverse repercussions for . . . democratic openness in the digital era”. The 69 signatories included Google, Guardian News and Media, the Daily Beast, PEN International, and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (of which the Financial Times is a member).

Why Europe works - By Simon Kuper

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/51dd9432-db03-11e3-8273-00144feabdc0.html#axzz32cxOPitq

Most inspiringly of all, as Kiev’s “Euromaidan” protests showed, western Europe has become a beacon to less happy countries. The post-communist era could have gone horribly wrong. After 1989, eastern Europe’s ex-communist countries could choose among various models to follow – including some nasty populist ones. Few of these countries had a democratic tradition. But those closest to the EU chose the European model. From 1995 to 2013, the world’s fastest-growing middle-income economies were the Baltic states, Poland and Slovakia, says Marcin Piatkowski, the World Bank’s senior economist in Warsaw. These countries grew faster even than South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong. That was mostly because they looked at the EU, saw what they wanted to be and set about getting there fast. They copied European laws, and got billions in EU funds after joining the union in 2004. Now Europe can inspire Ukraine, Tunisia and Turkey after Erdogan.

The Economist’s ad man - Ad-mirable

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21602717-ad-mirable

DAVID ABBOTT, who died on May 17th, was a creative genius with principles. His advertising agency, Abbott Mead Vickers, refused to do campaigns for tobacco or toys. In 1984, when a small but ambitious British newspaper invited him to design its ads, he had to be talked into it. But the campaign he devised, featuring white letters on a plain red background, captured the essence of the product’s appeal simply and memorably. The first poster ran: “‘I never read The Economist.’ Management trainee. Aged 42.” The campaign was hugely successful. Thanks, from a grateful client.

The New York Times ponders the bold changes needed for the digital age

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21602714-new-york-times-ponders-bold-changes-needed-digital-age-read-it-and-leap

Nearly 60% of those reading Times articles now do so on smartphones and tablets, often receiving them via Twitter, Facebook and other social networks, search engines and apps. That means fewer of them encounter the full package of reading that editors so painstakingly put together. Traffic to the Times’s home-page has fallen by half from its peak in 2011; only a third of readers of Times articles ever visit it. This makes it a lot harder to persuade them to consume a broader range of the paper’s content, and to charge them for it.

Other newspapers regard the Times as a farsighted digital pioneer. It now claims 760,000 digital subscribers, and in recent months it has completed a sleek online makeover and launched new mobile apps. So if the Times is anxious, they should be too. The authors of its internal review are right to worry about losing readers. It is true that some of its new rivals barely make money, and others, such as Business Insider and Quartz, are believed to be losing it, whereas last year the Times had more than $150m in profits. But the times are changing fast and the Times must change with them.

Viral Video Chart: Jennifer Lopez, David Guetta parody and Star Wars

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/23/jennifer-lopez-david-guetta-star-wars

1. When will the bass drop? (ft. Lil Jon)
Guetta parody

2. Barry from Watford calls Iain Lee about Blue Badge Holders
This takes the biscuit

3. Amazing street hack 
App-oplectic

4. Amazing jam session - Three random guys sing together
The power of music

5. Girlfriend Proposes To Her Boyfriend (Jamich Proposal)
Tissues at the ready

6. Talent Rally Highlights 2014 
Wacko Jacko

7. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Trailer 2 (OFFICIAL)
Marvel-ous fun

8. Star Wars: Force for Change - A Message from J.J. Abrams
Making space for charity

9. Woodstock: Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends - Misheard Lyrics
Great Cocker-up

10. We Are One (Ole Ola) [The Official 2014 FIFA World Cup Song] (Olodum Mix)
Pitch perfect?

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 22 May 2014. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.

Ad break: Keith Lemon in Hooch, Hugh Jackman in X-Men Days of Future Past

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/22/ad-break-keith-lemon-hooch-hugh-jacman-x-men-days-future-past

Watch the Celebrity Juice star try to revive the alcopop's fizz and James McAvoy, Jimmy Carr and more in a Channel 4 promo

Starstruck or star-crossed? Leveraging celebrities in strategic marketing

http://www.economistgroup.com/leanback/consumers/celebrity-branding-starstruck-or-star-crossed/

One of the biggest problems in the world of celebrity branding is that marketers engage superstars like Beckham to build awareness, but fail to consider celebrity influence in more focused ways at other stages of the consumer decision-making process. Why stop at brand awareness when the power of Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry can increase active product evaluation or consumer loyalty? 

The terrifying new McDonald's mascot – and other creepy corporate monsters

http://www.theguardian.com/media/shortcuts/2014/may/20/terrifying-mcdonalds-mascot-creepy-corporate-monsters


You can see where these people are coming from. But Happy is in good company. Mascots are often terrifying. They are all Frankenstein's monsters, in one way or other, the alter ego of a brand, an event, a campaign. There is always a sense of someone else hidden inside the suit. That is scary. And they want to make you like them just a little bit too much. So don't panic, Happy, here are some equally creepy playmates for you

How O.J.Simpson Killed Popular Culture - Vanity Fair

http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2014/06/oj-simpson-trial-reality-tv-pop-culture

Two decades after America dropped whatever it was doing to watch a white Bronco cruise down the San Diego Freeway, the O. J. Simpson case remains unparalleled as noir mystery, soap opera, and (though no one knew it at the time) TV’s first reality show. Examining how the cast—Kato Kaelin, Marcia Clark, Faye Resnick, et al.—got its hooks into popular culture, Lili Anolik accuses Simpson of a different murder.

Rotten Apple? British public loses faith with tech giant's retail arm

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/rotten-apple-british-public-loses-faith-with-tech-giants-retail-arm-9405908.html

Top 20 shops: How they rated

1 Lush (83%)

2 Disney Store (82%)

3 Richer Sounds (81%)

4 John Lewis (80%)

5 Waterstones (80%)

6= Clarks (79%)

6= JoJo Maman Bébé (79%)

6= Lakeland (79%)

6= Screwfix (79%)

10 White Stuff (78%)

11= Bonmarché (77%)

11= The Perfume Shop (77%)

13 Apple (76%)

14= Independent electricals (75%)

14= Jones Bootmaker  (75%)

14= Maplin (75%)

14= Sony Centre (75%)

18 Dunelm Mill (74%)

19 Wilkinson (74%)

20= Early Learning Centre (73%)

20= The Body Shop (73%)

Google overtakes Apple as world's most valuable brand

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/10844575/Google-overtakes-Apple-as-worlds-most-valuable-brand.html

BrandZ Top 20 Most Valuable Global Technology Brands 2014

RANK	BRAND	BRAND VALUE 2014 ($M)	BRAND VALUE CHANGE	RANK 2013

1	Google	158,843	+40%	2
2	Apple	147,880	-20%	1
3	IBM	107,541	-4%	3
4	Microsoft	90,185	+29%	4
5	Tencent	53,615	+97%	6
6	SAP	36,390	+6%	5
7	Facebook	35,740	+68%	8
8	Baidu	29,768	+46%	9
9	Samsung	25,892	+21%	7
10	Oracle	20,913	+4%	10
11	HP	19,469	+19%	12
12	Accenture	18,105	+10%	11
13	Siemens	16,800	+36%	14
14	Yahoo!	14,174	+44%	16
15	Twitter	13,837	N/A	NEW
16	Cisco	13,710	+16%	15
17	LinkedIn	12,407	N/A	NEW

Cannes Film Festival: how do they make those giant posters?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/10843541/Cannes-Film-Festival-how-do-they-make-those-giant-posters.html

Köck added that, what has really made it possible to print the massive posters is the evolution of digital printing. 15 years ago, many billboard posters were still produced using offset printing, which was very cost effective if you were printing 10,000 copies of the same poster but became very expensive for short print runs.

Digital printing makes it much more cost-effective to print a small number of posters, or even unique ones. It even makes it possible to print personalised fliers or labels, as in the case of Coca Cola's recent campaign, whereby it created personalised labels with people's names on.

Advertising Anonymous: The battle of egos between Maurice Levy and John Wren matters little in the grand scheme of things

http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/may/20/advertising-anonymous-levy-wren

First, technology is extracting more and more fat out of the marketing process, disintermediating anyone that stands in the way of a brand and it's customer. As marketing goes from analogue dollars to digital dimes to mobile pennies, there is no room for legacy companies built on analogue systems.

Second, advertising technologies, especially on the media side of the business are additionally commoditising online media radically as digital trading desks replace consulting based businesses that are compensated for their peoples' time.

Third, creativity is democratised. Those companies built to power this new era of creativity, including YouTube (Google) and Facebook, have a big advantage. They are essentially massive crowdsource platforms that are allowing anyone from anywhere to monetise their creativity.

Publisher's new chief says the Future's not content – it's job cuts and adverts

http://www.theguardian.com/media/media-blog/2014/may/18/publisher-future-magazines-content-advertising


Advertisers want to sleep with you but also want you to remain a virgin. They want to believe the favours they were granted are not being extended to the next hobbledehoy who comes along. They believe in the division of church and state as long as they can set up their stall at the altar. They talk about how important it is to maintain the credibility of the brand, while quietly hoping the brand will lower its standards just this once to let them have their evil way. If they're the only ones paying they'll get their way.

Popular Demand - US Media in Numbers

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/05/19/business/media/19most.html?ref=media&_r=0
A strong weekend depends on factors like other potential blockbusters, star power and popular sequels. “Fast and Furious 6” opened opposite “The Hangover III” last year, and in the second week of “Star Trek Into Darkness.”

Ad break: Wall's onesies, Dove 'real beauty', Oscar Mayer Turkey Bacon

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/16/ad-break-walls-onesies-dove-real-beauty

See an innovative fashion idea from the sausage brand and a tribute to mothers in our review of new advertising work

Viral Video Chart: Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Stephen Sutton

www.theguardian.com/media/2014/may/16/viral-vide-chart-jay-z-beyonce-ed-sheeran-stephen-sutton

1. Cat SAVES Boy From Dog Attack. Hero Cat Saves Young Boy from Attacking Dog Bakersfield California
Safety claws

2. Bunny Eating Raspberries!
In the pinkl

3. Jay Z ATTACKED by Beyonce's Sister Solange [FULL VIDEO]
Lift off!

4. Stephen's Story - When life gives you cancer
RIP Stephen Sutton

5. The Fault In Our Stars I Ed Sheeran - All Of The Stars I Official Music Video
Cancer weepie

6. Video Game of Thrones: Super Mario World
Game on

7. Le poids des apparences | The importance of appearances experiment
Walk on by

8. Painted: An Adventure in Stop Motion Body Art
Make-up magic

9. Bars & Melody - Simon Cowell's Golden Buzzer act | Britain's Got Talent 2014
Bully for them

10. Swim Cap Trick in Slow Motion - The Slow Mo Guys
Hats the way to do it

Source: Viral Video Chart. Compiled from data gathered at 14:00 on 15 May 2014. The Viral Video Chart is currently based on a count of the embedded videos and links on approximately 2m blogs, as well as Facebook and Twitter.