AOL Buys Adap.tv, Mag Circ Down Again, Guinness Does NFC

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A Happy Tim Armstrong

- AOL has agreed to buy Adap.tv for $405 million allowing AOL to expand its video advertising offerings.

- Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen -- whose company has 35-plus broadcast stations off the air in a fee dispute -- expects more blackouts, with programmers continuing to raise prices for carriage rights.

- According to the Alliance for Audited Media, formerly the Audit Bureau of Circulations, total magazine circulation fell 1% from 292.9 million in the six-month period ending June 2012 to 289.9 million in the six-month period ending June 2013.

- OMG! L'Oreal model Cheryl Cole is appearing in a skincare campaign...wait for it...without wearing foundation

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 7-13    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Celebrity, Magazine, Policy, Social



Yawn. Yet Another Brand Does the Vine Video Thing

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It would seem brands are tripping over themselves to launch Vine campaigns despite the fact Instagram video seems to be crushing Vine. Well, brands won't let that minor detail deter them from having their day with Vine.

Just today, Honda has returned with its Live Vine Day promotion in which the brand responds to people who use particular hashtags. And now we have Jack in the Box unleashing 101 Vine videos that illustrate the brand's Go Big or Go Hungry approach to dining.

While the brand, working with Struck, is urging people to create their own Go Bog or Go Gome Vines, we're not sure we really need more than 101 videos illustrating just how insane people are when it comes to consuming -- or playing with -- food.

by Steve Hall    Aug- 6-13    
Topic: Social



Honda Returns With Another Live Vine Day

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To promote its annual summer clearance sale, Honda, today, will do another Live Vine Day in which the brand will respond directly to consumers who use the #HondaLove hashtag on Twitter with live Vine videos encouraging them to share their personal stories of #HondaLove.

The brand's initial effort on July 15 responded to tweets with the #wantnewcar hashtag with live Vine videos encouraging users to ditch their old cars and purchase a new Honda through the Summer Clearance Sales Event. On Twitter, the hashtag #wantnewcar received more than 100 million impressions and nearly 10,000 #wantnewcar mentions.

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 6-13    
Topic: Social



Samsung Does Survivor With 'SOS Island'

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It's not the first time Survivor has been copied nor will it be the last. After all, who doesn't love watching a collection of hot and not, smart and dumb, strong and weak compete with one another for our own vicarious pleasure?

TV star and "survival expert" Les Stroud will train 16 contestants to compete in SOS Island: Survival of the Smartest, an online video series sponsored by Samsung. It will be shot and live-streamed from the remote SOS Island in the Caribbean. Viewers will vote for a winner with the last remaining contestant winning the grand prize: their own island.

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 6-13    
Topic: Online, Social



14 Examples of Royal Baby Real-Time Marketing (Better Late Than Never)

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Everyone's doing it, right? In two ways, actually. Everyone's getting on the real-time marketing bandwagon which kicked up steam with this year's Super Bowl and then again during the Academy Awards. Now we have the Royal Birth and, of course, marketers were all over that as well. Oh and the other way? Everyone's writing about it too. So pardon us if we join the party.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-25-13    
Topic: Social



Toshiba and Intel Offer Up Moustache and Unibrow Hilarity With 'The Power Inside' Social Film

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Going in a completely different direction than they did with Intel + Toshiba's The Beauty Inside, Pereira & O'Dell is out with The Power Inside, a hilarious new content marketing film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon and starring Harvey Keitel.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-25-13    
Topic: Brands, Social, Video



Google Ads Favicons to AdSense Ad Units

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- Google has added favicons to its AdSense ad units.

- Awesome advice for those looking to become a social media guru:)

- Here's more data that support Apple's latest ad campaign is a failure.

- Seems a couple of ad ladies are miffed over the fact Nike doesn't sell shoes in women's sizes and aren't designed appropriately for women. Need more pink, we guess.

- AOL plans to launch an ad-tech upfront with a focus on programmatic. AOL CEO Tim Armstrong says,"It's essentially a machine upfront. We believe you will have an upfront commitment cycle that will rival TV."

- Not everyone is a fan of the Dove Real Beauty campaign. Predictably, it's a fashion form founder who has become a vocal critic of the campaign.

by Steve Hall    Jul-24-13    
Topic: Online, Research, Social



Social Media Causes Low Self Esteem Among Teenage Girls

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- A new study finds too much social media usage causes low self esteem in teenaged girls? How about in us grownups who can't stand reading about the latest and greatest accomplishments of their peers?

- Joe Jaffe's Evol8tion has acquired Bob Knorpp's Beancast podcast. Bob will continue the podcast and become SVP Chief Analyst of Evol8tion's BrandWatch product.

- A grounded viewpoint on inbound marketing that doesn't trash inbound marketing.

- This is just funny. To promote the 2013 Wiener Nationals (a dog race), Orange County-based DGWB shot a promo using GoPro cameras.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-23-13    
Topic: Agencies, Research, Social, Video



200 Instagram Users Create 2014 Lexus Ad

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After watching this film touting the 2014 Lexus IS created by LA-based Team One which was made by editing together photos from 200 Instagrammers who shot the vehicle over the course of a day, you might ask why bother?

Or you might marvel at the thinking behind the effort which leveraged the Instagram social community and the power of hashtags to uniquely create an ad in a manner which has never been done before.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-19-13    
Topic: Social



Loren Feldman Creates the Best Movie About Social Media You Will Ever See

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Considered by many...and by no one...a genius, a madman, a poet, a puppeteer and, yes, an internet douchebag, Loren Feldman has just debuted #SoMe, a biting satire which skewers the rampant, over blown, buzzword bingo-laden idiocy of social media, its personalities and, as well, how it has brought out the pettiest of behaviors in people and caused journalism to sink to a new low.

At the same time, the hour and 15-minute documentary-style video also examines some of the things social media has forever affected (both positively and negatively) such as the way we communicate with each other, authenticity, privacy, anonymity, friendship and purpose.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-18-13    
Topic: Social, Video