Tag: Chatbots

Hello and welcome to your weekly OMD FWD bringing you the latest tech news to warm up on this chilly Autumn day. We start this edition with Tinder’s hot ranking as the top grossing iOS app as a result of charging people to see who has liked their profile. Next up, the Amazon and Apple rivalry sparks up as they join major Hollywood players in a bid to win distribution rights for James Bond, while eBay launches the specialised Entertainment Shop.

Brands can now target their user-base on third-party sites through LinkedIn’s new Audience Network. Comparatively, Whatsapp will offer a free app to small-to-medium size businesses, but will charge the larger ones, as it tests a chat button on Facebook that opens a conversation directly with business. 

HEADLINES

• Tinder has become the top grossing iOS app as a result of charging people to see who has liked their profile.
• LinkedIn’s new Audience Network allows brands to reach their audiences through their native ad formats which can run across third party sites.
• Amazon and Apple join the major Hollywood players in a bid to win distribution rights for James Bond, as EBay launches The Entertainment Shop, selling films, music, books, and video games.
• WhatsApp has introduced a free Business app for small-medium businesses (it will charge larger ones), as it tests a chat button on Facebook which opens a conversation directly with businesses.

INSIGHTS

• Learn what’s really on the nation’s minds with a list of the most searched for ‘how to’ questions in Google.
• A look at back to school shopping habits reveals 43% of shoppers will use their smartphones to do research, as retailers take advantage of ASMR.
• Find out what the fastest growing programming language is.

COOL

• Users across Facebook can help design Citroën’s latest TV ad, as they select their favourite scenes.
• Grolsch has used neuro headsets which have taken brain-waves stimulated by music and turned them into art.
• A new smartphone app could help diagnose Heart disease, potentially avoiding a 45-minute hospital procedure.

DEEP READS

• Google reveals a number of improvements to their Assistant features coming soon.
• Teens are spending more time on screen than ever, rather than socialising or exercising, which leads to greater risk of depression.
• There are over a million people helping to train AI, as one day it will be embedded into our everyday lives.

As usual, please share anything you find interesting using the hashtag #OMDFWD

The annual tech and innovation fest, Dmexco gets under way in Cologne this week. This year’s tantalising premise is that, “Digital is everything — not every thing is digital.” Why? Because digital marketing is about to get personal, according to OMD Europe global account director, Steve Blakeman. OMD Germany will be hosting a rather grand presence this year with a stand in the main exhibition area (Hall 7 B-041), which will showcase OMD alongside other OMG agencies. Mainardo de Nardis, our Global OMD CEO, will be taking to the main stage to discuss the changing marketing agency landscape at 11:45 am GMT on September 15th, 2016 which you can livestream. Earlier that morning, Blake Cuthbert will be taking part in the Mediatel breakfast panel where experts will discuss expanding the reach and delivering new customers with digital advertising. Don’t worry if you won’t be able to make it to the event, we will be bringing you live updates across our @OMD_EMEA social accounts.

HEADLINES

• The next Instagram update will be jam-packed with new features to match the new iPhone 7 functionality.
• The Guardian is exploring daily news flashes via Facebook chatbots
• Twitter is betting big on live events

INSIGHTS

• How Netflix are using fan power to drive awareness for their programming
• Buzzfeed is shifting focus to cope with a video-centric internet
• Bots aren’t for banking, yet, according to Forrester

COOL

• Why Nintendo finally brought Mario to the iPhone
• The coolest thing to hit Yosemite since Yogi bear – Obama narrates a 360 degree walkaround on Facebook
• Need to get out of an awkward text chat?  Meet the Phoney.Club app

DEEP READS

• How technology democratises art and creativity (even if the results are mixed)
• A glimpse behind Facebook’s notoriously secretive algorithm
• What self-driving cars can learn from GTA

As ever, share what you spot using #OMDFWD

Until recently Robyn Ewing was a writer in Hollywood, developing TV scripts and pitching pilots to film studios. Now Robyn is applying her creative talents towards building the personality of a different type of character- a virtual assistant animated by artificial intelligence, that interacts with sick patients and sends the data straight to a real doctor. As the creation of virtual assistants increases, Silicon Valley is being inundated with poets, comedians and fiction writers who are charged with engineering the personalities for a fast-growing crop of artificial intelligence tools. Share anything interesting you spot with #OMDFWD.

HEADLINES

• Several companies emerge as front-runners to buy Yahoo
• Amazon changes the model, adding standalone subscription options and taking aim at the competition
• Vine’s new Watch button takes the platform in a new direction
• Ticketmaster to start selling tickets on Facebook

 INSIGHTS

• A journey into the lives of ‘The Minecraft Generation’
• Early insights into the performance of Chatbots suggests they have a way to go, and to succeed they must take advantage of the messenger environment, rather than just ‘acting’ like bots
• US teens rate Snapchat as their number one social channel, edging ahead of Instagram

COOL

• Meet Facebook’s new slick 360 degree camera
• With this list of labels, it doesn’t get any cooler than connected clothes!
• Game of Thrones new season launches with a 360 degree interactive credit sequence

DEEP READS

• What the decline of personal sharing on Facebook means for brands
• How creatives are now being brought in to assist with the development of AI
• Interesting opinions from the NYT on the business of monetising publisher content