Tag: Game of Thrones

Hello and welcome to this week’s OMD FWD! Despite it being officially summer you can’t blame us for saying “Winter is coming”…as this week Facebook rolled out a special Game of Thrones photo filter for the season finale (don’t panic no spoilers included!).

Facebook has also been making some changes to the platform, moving towards TV-like content after seeing higher engagement from serialised publisher content, blocking advertising on pages that share fake news and withdrawing some of the less business-focused ad formats. Meanwhile, Amazon continues to rise in the ranks of the online giants, expanding its programmatic offering and moving into the FinTech space. However, Walmart and Google are partnering to challenge Amazon’s ascent by taking on Alexa in the voice-shopping market. It also appears that Alexa may face some other intruders in the future…kids!

Do you think you have an idea that could turn you into a tech titan? Perhaps involving smart homes or self-driving cars? Take a look at Uber’s first pitch to get some ideas on how to do it!

HEADLINES

• Facebook clamps down on fake news and withdraws some of the less business-focussed ad formats
• Walmart and Google to partner to challenge Amazon’s Alexa in the voice shopping market
• Amazon expands it programmatic offering and is looking to get into banking
• Google refunds the service fees for a host of advertisers whose ads were only seen by bots

 INSIGHTS

• People prefer watching serialised publisher content on Facebook and Buzz Sumo share insights from analysis of 100 million videos on Facebook
• Expect to see an increase in video ‘rewards ads’ in your favourite mobile games
• CNN Is ditching Snapchat Discover in favour of a daily news show
• New study is tracking the potential privacy issues in a fully IoT enabled home 

COOL

• This is what it looks like to travel at 200mph in SpaceX’s Hyperloop
• Facebook rolled out a special camera filter for the season finale of Game of Thrones 7
• With a mobile temporary tattoo printer, the possibilities are endless

DEEP READS

• An account of how Tesla’s marketing of ‘Autopilot’ nearly caused an engineer revolt, offering us all some learnings for the marketing of AI powered or automated services
• Here is Uber’s first pitch deck: next steps… ‘buy 3 cars, develop app…’!
• How growing up with digital butlers may affect children’s behaviour

If you see anything FWD worthy in the week ahead, please share using #OMDFWD

With ad blocking, ad fraud, mobilegeddon, messaging, chat bots, app overload, fragmented attention spans, et al, the landscape is changing beyond all recognition. And this represents a huge opportunity for brands and agencies to reinvent the future, to drive greater innovation around fostering more meaningful customer engagement, experiences and relationships. Please do share anything interesting you spot on Twitter with #OMDFWD

HEADLINES

• Facebook alter their algorithm to give preference to dwell times over clicks – is this the end of click baiting?
• Apple demands that all new Apple watch apps be native
• Google has launched a new start-up incubator called Area 120 for their employees
• Snapchat includes competition winners in special Tribeca Discover channel

INSIGHTS

• There has been a rapid rise of users who use mobile only to go online, and 70% of over 55s using social media daily. These and other nuggets from the UK OFCOM media use report
• 8 ways tech early adopters use Twitter
• An interesting read on Facebook’s different ventures – are they on a path to world domination?

COOL

• STRATA is a multisensory ‘book’ for the digital age (view on mobile)
• Persol is creating a graphic novel in real-time in Instagram
• Find your ‘Game of Thrones’ kindred spirit based on your Spotify music tastes

DEEP READS

• Digital Darwinism has created a market of digital narcissists
• A look at the history and the future of VR
• Have we reached ‘peak smartphone’?

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