Tag: #OMDFWD

Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.

Things are heating up this week – and not only on our thermostats – as the FIFA World Cup kicks off. Victory, defeat and stellar performances are sure to be the chat of the office (if you can pull yourself away from Love Island) – so get yourself acquainted early with The 13 Greatest World Cup Goals ever scored.

Following a deal with the Premier League, Amazon is getting serious about streaming live sports. It’s an opportunity to broadcast major events like the Premier League or the U.S. Open tennis championships that ‘will help Amazon prove to rights holders that it has the reach and the monetization credentials to contend with traditional broadcasters’. Also jumping on the bandwagon is Beats by Dr. Dre who have enlisted Guy Ritchie to direct a ‘mix-tape’ of athletes’ journeys. Your last bit of football fever could well come from the Adidas World Cup ad which is brimming to the roof with famous creators. Let the games begin.

HEADLINES

• Amazon gets serious about live sports streaming with Premier League package purchase
• Microsoft acquires GitHub (and its 28m active coders) for $7.5 billion
• BuzzFeed restructures its advertising unit to better fit future growth potential

INSIGHTS

• iOS 12 is upon us, so here’s the best new updates you can expect for your i-devices
• 45.5% of the UK population now listen to online audio, an 11.2% rise from 2017
• Here’s 5 key skills for every modern marketer

COOL

• Beats by Dre bring in Guy Ritchie to direct their new “mix-tape” World Cup ad, and it is very Guy Ritchie
• Facebook is finally bringing back music to social media profiles (MySpace fans rejoice!)
• Adidas and Nike have teamed up with Bitmoji to let fans wear World Cup kits virtually

DEEP READS

• Why are Microsoft putting data centres at the bottom of the ocean?
• Lush vs Spycops: Should ‘brand purpose’ be used as a platform for engaging consumers?  (Oasis doesn’t think so!)
• Should tech companies such as Amazon be more responsible for who they sell their products to?

As always, please share anything you find interesting using #OMDFWD

Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD.

Things are heating up this week – and not only on our thermostats – as the FIFA World Cup kicks off. Victory, defeat and stellar performances are sure to be the chat of the office (if you can pull yourself away from Love Island) – so get yourself acquainted early with The 13 Greatest World Cup Goals ever scored.

Following a deal with the Premier League, Amazon is getting serious about streaming live sports. It’s an opportunity to broadcast major events like the Premier League or the U.S. Open tennis championships that ‘will help Amazon prove to rights holders that it has the reach and the monetization credentials to contend with traditional broadcasters’. Also jumping on the bandwagon is Beats by Dr. Dre who have enlisted Guy Ritchie to direct a ‘mix-tape’ of athletes’ journeys. Your last bit of football fever could well come from the Adidas World Cup ad which is brimming to the roof with famous creators. Let the games begin.

HEADLINES

• Amazon gets serious about live sports streaming with Premier League package purchase
• Microsoft acquires GitHub (and its 28m active coders) for $7.5 billion
• BuzzFeed restructures its advertising unit to better fit future growth potential

INSIGHTS

• iOS 12 is upon us, so here’s the best new updates you can expect for your i-devices
• 45.5% of the UK population now listen to online audio, an 11.2% rise from 2017
• Here’s 5 key skills for every modern marketer

COOL

• Beats by Dre bring in Guy Ritchie to direct their new “mix-tape” World Cup ad, and it is very Guy Ritchie
• Facebook is finally bringing back music to social media profiles (MySpace fans rejoice!)
• Adidas and Nike have teamed up with Bitmoji to let fans wear World Cup kits virtually

DEEP READS

• Why are Microsoft putting data centres at the bottom of the ocean?
• Lush vs Spycops: Should ‘brand purpose’ be used as a platform for engaging consumers?  (Oasis doesn’t think so!)
• Should tech companies such as Amazon be more responsible for who they sell their products to?

As always, please share anything you find interesting using #OMDFWD

Hello and welcome to our Halloween 🎃 issue of FWD! This week, iPhone X pre-orders are off the charts, and Facebook Workplace, an ad-free platform version of Facebook for the office, is set to crush Slack. Facebook also launches a screen-sharing feature into Live videos, opening possibilities in the gaming space, and denies eavesdropping on users’ conversations to target advertisements.

Into Stranger Things, Snapchat’s 3D World Lenses lets users access the experience by physically walking into an AR portal door and eBay launches computer vision search tools to find items using photos. If you follow the latest mobile apps, you will know HQ, a viral trivia sensation, that looks like the future of mobile gaming and live TV. Lastly, Amex and Acxiom create a prediction engine based on purchase data that can successfuly predict fraud.

Is it Man? Machine? Or Monster? Get spooked 👻 with these terrifying horror stories generated by an AI.

HEADLINES

• Facebook launches screen sharing into its Live video, opening up a wealth of potential in the gaming space, in a week when it’s continued to deny that it’s listening to your conversations to garner targeting information
• Facebook are also touting the strong adoption of Workplace as it looks to draw users from Slack
• UK Ad viewability reaches an 18-month high
• Reports suggest Apple’s iPhone X (US) pre-orders are very healthy

 INSIGHTS

• The Guardian have persuaded 800K readers to pay for their content without a paywall as Facebook allows 10 publishers to test subscription models on Instant Articles
• Mobile devices are going to account for a third of online Christmas orders 
• Acxiom and Amex are building a prediction engine based on purchase data

COOL

• Snapchat launched their first World Lens for the Netflix Series ‘Stranger Things 2’
• Viral trivia app HQ is causing a stir and has people touting it as the future of both mobile gaming and live TV
• eBay launches visual search integration

DEEP READS

• Benedict Evans postures Facebook role in culture as the same as an ‘haute couture’ fashion house’s on fashion. Less shaping public style and more reflective of it. Fave line: “Social is pop culture”
• Why AlphaGo Zero is so impressive and what it means for machine learning
• According to The Economist we are entering a more grown-up era of tech that will see Silicon Valley companies needing to lean into existing political power structures to protect their interests. Conversely the AI ‘industry’ is already applying pressure to ensure it remains un-shackled from regulation.

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

Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! This week we say goodbye to summer and hello to a new harvest of autumnal updates from the tech world. With a new season comes a new wardrobe and this year you could not only get your hands on the Nike x NBA Connected Jersey that connects wearers to exclusive content, but it’s also rumoured Amazon is working on Alexa-powered smart glasses. Still feeling end-of-Summer blues? Sing them away with the now most streamed song on Spotify!

HEADLINES

• What does $1.1bn allow you to buy? Enter Google, who have purchased HTC’s Pixel mobile division
• OK, well what does $16bn get you? Enter Intel, who have acquired a computer vision software (for autonomous driving purposes)
• Slightly smaller yet no less significant, Apple have changed the Siri IOS browser from Bing to Google

INSIGHTS

• There is a new song that rules them all on Spotify
• The future of Britain demands for 25% more electrical capacity
• The latest Deloitte Mobile Survey, the UK Cut has been released. Smartphone addicts, essentially

COOL

• Rumours abound that Amazon are attempting to create a pair of Alexa compatible smart glasses
• Watch how Barmer, a German insurance company, have successfully engaged with a younger audience
• A new and beautiful wearable from Nike – the NBA connected jersey

DEEP READS

• The potential future outlook of Amazon in the entertainment space (a clue, it’s bright)
• How the NFL (and presumably the Super Bowl) are facing an awkward audience future
• Google property DoubleClick will allow for refunds on verified future ad-fraud

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

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

Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! Now that the football transfer window has closed, have you ever wondered how long it would take you to earn a footballer’s salary? Use this online tool to find out…and if you need cheering up after that, have a go at the new 360-degree version of ‘Where’s Wally?‘!

Other big winners this week include Dara Khosrowshahi, who Uber announced as their new CEO and has already given a masterclass in leadership, and YouTube, who revealed a brand new logo.

HEADLINES

• Uber picks former Expedia head to be new CEO
• Google updates the YouTube logo and redesigns the mobile and desktop experience
• ARCore is unveiled by Google, which will make 100m android phones into augmented reality-capable machines 

INSIGHTS

• Funding isn’t everything. Here’s the 10 most-backed start-ups who failed in 2017
• 64% of UK mobile owners think the loss of the data held on their phones would be emotionally damaging, yet so few take out phone insurance
• Google has teamed up with an interactive visual data journalist to bring to life all of the ‘how to’ searches we make (and it’s a lot!) 

COOL

• Lenovo’s augmented reality Star Wars glasses have just gone to the top of my Christmas list
• Now that the football transfer window has closed, have you ever wondered how long it would take you to earn a footballer’s salary? This very depressing tool will tell you
• Think you’re an ace at Where’s Wally? This 360-degree version just raised things up a few levels

 DEEP READS

• There’s a Black Market of people paying for ‘blue tick’ verification of their Instagram accounts
• Data +/vs Creativity: Is Spotify changing the way that music is made?
• If data is the new oil, does it need stricter regulations?

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

Hello and welcome to your weekly FWD! Now that the football transfer window has closed, have you ever wondered how long it would take you to earn a footballer’s salary? Use this online tool to find out…and if you need cheering up after that, have a go at the new 360-degree version of ‘Where’s Wally?‘!

Other big winners this week include Dara Khosrowshahi, who Uber announced as their new CEO and has already given a masterclass in leadership, and YouTube, who revealed a brand new logo.

HEADLINES

• Uber picks former Expedia head to be new CEO
• Google updates the YouTube logo and redesigns the mobile and desktop experience
• ARCore is unveiled by Google, which will make 100m android phones into augmented reality-capable machines 

INSIGHTS

• Funding isn’t everything. Here’s the 10 most-backed start-ups who failed in 2017
• 64% of UK mobile owners think the loss of the data held on their phones would be emotionally damaging, yet so few take out phone insurance
• Google has teamed up with an interactive visual data journalist to bring to life all of the ‘how to’ searches we make (and it’s a lot!) 

COOL

• Lenovo’s augmented reality Star Wars glasses have just gone to the top of my Christmas list
• Now that the football transfer window has closed, have you ever wondered how long it would take you to earn a footballer’s salary? This very depressing tool will tell you
• Think you’re an ace at Where’s Wally? This 360-degree version just raised things up a few levels

 DEEP READS

• There’s a Black Market of people paying for ‘blue tick’ verification of their Instagram accounts
• Data +/vs Creativity: Is Spotify changing the way that music is made?
• If data is the new oil, does it need stricter regulations?

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

Hello and welcome to this week’s OMD FWD! We weren’t so lucky to witness the solar eclipse earlier this week. But, hopefully, some of you were able to follow it with Snapchat’s new ‘Actionmoji’. In any case, we’ve curated the latest tech news for you to munch on, from Heinz making it possible to try Instagram food posts to Amazon’s new offline daily essentials programme that might pose a threat to bricks-and-mortar convenience stores.

In the attempt of becoming the WeChat of the West, Whatsapp is adding a peer to peer payment function to their app. While Reddit introduces auto-play silent video ads to encourage video consumption and advertising on the platform. Microsoft’s AI reaches human level accuracy in speech recognition. Also, Formula One enters the virtual realm launching its first eSport championship.

Moreover, as we approach the August bank holiday weekend, a study predicts that searches for Christmas-related items will start on Friday!

HEADLINES

• WhatsApp to add peer to peer payments function to the app
• From order to delivery in 120 seconds? Amazon soft rolls out its ‘Instant Pickup’ programme
• Home to 48m users globally, Reddit launches its own video player to increase user retention (and presumably, advertisers)

 INSIGHTS

• An interesting report on the UK growth of the beauty market and how ‘Make Up’ searches are up 300%
• It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas; how Seasonal Shopping starts this Friday!
• How Formula One attempts to tap into a new, younger audience

COOL

• Eat what you like? How Heinz made social posts edible
• What is an ‘Actionmoji’? How the Solar Eclipse showcases the potential of SnapMaps
• How Nike made the outdated marketing scavenger hunt young again

DEEP READS

• Facebook for the face? What Facebook’s patents tell us about their glasses product
• How Amazon have slowly built a vast collection of secret brands
• Microsoft’s speech recognition software is statistically on a par with ours

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

Hello and welcome to your weekly OMD FWD! This week Disney breaks up with Netflix to launch their own streaming service, YouTube enables in-app direct messaging and sharing features, and Facebook dives deeper into the broadcaster space. The social media giant is also armouring up to combat cloaking and ‘fat-finger’ ad clicks to protect users from unwanted content, while Google launches an initiative to help reduce annoying advertisements online.

Facing the future, the next billion mobile users could mean the end of typing. Accordingly, ASOS ‘photo searches’ lets iOS app users upload photos of outfits they like to shop for similar designs. Meanwhile, the music industry uses social data to predict new hits and Toyota launches a road safety app.

HEADLINES

• Facebook moves closer to YouTube and TV with new shows through its newly designed Watch The company is taking steps to stop unintentional mobile ad clicks and tackle bad content ‘cloaking’ with AI
• YouTube has enabled direct messaging and sharing tools in app, as Google lets you know whether your ads are annoying
• Bitcoin surges past $4,000 in a record high
• Disney will end its deal with Netflix, as it announces the launch of its own streaming service in 2019

 INSIGHTS

• The music industry uses your social data to try and assess where the next hits will come from
• European viewability standards are addressed
• Find out how people spend time on social platforms globally in five charts
• Under Apple’s upcoming Safari changes, there will be a shake-up of ad tech

COOL

• ASOS ‘photo searches’ lets iOS app users upload photos of outfits they’ve seen and shop for them
• Toyota launches its ‘Safe and Sound’ ad to embarrass teenagers into becoming safer drivers
• Lonely Planet launches an Instagram-like Trips app, where you can search for categories like “Adventure” or “Wildlife and Nature.”

DEEP READS

• The next billion users will explore through videos not search, swiping rather than typing and use voice search instead of keypads, which will mark the end of typing
• Amazon is in talks to offer event ticketing in the U.S. according to Reuters
• With the popularity of Amazon’s Alexa and the democratisation of technology, AI continues to dominate the present and future, here are some handy tips

If anything catches your eye, please share using #OMDFWD

Hello and welcome to your weekly OMD FWD! This week Disney breaks up with Netflix to launch their own streaming service, YouTube enables in-app direct messaging and sharing features, and Facebook dives deeper into the broadcaster space. The social media giant is also armouring up to combat cloaking and ‘fat-finger’ ad clicks to protect users from unwanted content, while Google launches an initiative to help reduce annoying advertisements online.

Facing the future, the next billion mobile users could mean the end of typing. Accordingly, ASOS ‘photo searches’ lets iOS app users upload photos of outfits they like to shop for similar designs. Meanwhile, the music industry uses social data to predict new hits and Toyota launches a road safety app.

HEADLINES

• Facebook moves closer to YouTube and TV with new shows through its newly designed Watch The company is taking steps to stop unintentional mobile ad clicks and tackle bad content ‘cloaking’ with AI
• YouTube has enabled direct messaging and sharing tools in app, as Google lets you know whether your ads are annoying
• Bitcoin surges past $4,000 in a record high
• Disney will end its deal with Netflix, as it announces the launch of its own streaming service in 2019

 INSIGHTS

• The music industry uses your social data to try and assess where the next hits will come from
• European viewability standards are addressed
• Find out how people spend time on social platforms globally in five charts
• Under Apple’s upcoming Safari changes, there will be a shake-up of ad tech

COOL

• ASOS ‘photo searches’ lets iOS app users upload photos of outfits they’ve seen and shop for them
• Toyota launches its ‘Safe and Sound’ ad to embarrass teenagers into becoming safer drivers
• Lonely Planet launches an Instagram-like Trips app, where you can search for categories like “Adventure” or “Wildlife and Nature.”

DEEP READS

• The next billion users will explore through videos not search, swiping rather than typing and use voice search instead of keypads, which will mark the end of typing
• Amazon is in talks to offer event ticketing in the U.S. according to Reuters
• With the popularity of Amazon’s Alexa and the democratisation of technology, AI continues to dominate the present and future, here are some handy tips

If anything catches your eye, please share using #OMDFWD