Enjoy AdForum’s daily roundup of the latest news, trends, and notable work in the advertising industry.
(Stormtroopers via Reuters.)
Star Wars Promotes “The Force Awakens” with Masses of Stormtroopers at Great Wall of China
“As the excitement builds ahead of the new Star Wars film, a huge display of Stormtroopers has been assembled at the Great Wall of China. The 500 replica characters were placed on the steps at the Juyongguan section of the wall near Beijing for a promotional event yesterday. Stormtroopers are elite soldiers wearing white armed with blaster rifles who are the key ground troops of the Galactic Empire in the series. Tickets for Stars Wars: Episode VII went on sale two days ago, even though the movie does not open in cinemas for another two months.” Read more at Daily Mail.
Fantasy League Ads Banned from NCAA March Madness
“Don’t expect to see daily fantasy sports leagues posting wall-to-wall advertising in next year’s NCAA March Madness event. The NCAA has banned all sponsorship/advertising activity in televised college sports championships for DraftKings and FanDuel -- which have exploded this NFL season with seemingly wall-to-wall advertising on TV networks.” Read the full story at MediaPost.
Heineken Advertising Goes Upscale by Targeting Fashionable Men
“Once, showing your love for your favorite beer meant buying a logo T-shirt or cap. Thankfully, there are more refined options now. For its #Heineken100 program, Heineken works with designers and boutiques to create a line of subtly branded menswear. One hundred fashion influencers are then given Heineken-branded duffel bags, shoes, backpacks and leather goods from each designer or boutique collaboration, essentially creating a street team of brand ambassadors.” Read the full story at Digiday.
Job of the Day: Account Supervisor at Razorfish in New York City
Responsibilities:
• Conferring with creative and media teams to develop the campaign strategy, select applicable media, determine the timing and placement of ads, and estimate all campaign costs
• Submitting advertising/marketing campaign proposals, suggested concepts, and estimated budgets to client for approval
• Conferring with client, utilizing product knowledge and research, to determine advertising goals and budget limitations
• Providing clear and timely direction to all other agency departments regarding the campaign via team meetings, work orders, work order revisions, creative/media briefs, task/status reports or similar communication vehicles
• Coordinating client/brand team meetings, including project kick-off meetings, weekly update meetings and periodic update meetings with the client
For more details, visit Razorfish.
Airbnb Stops Acting Like a Little Baby about Having to Pay Taxes
(Image via Adweek/Facebook: Martha Kenney.)
“It didn't take long for Airbnb to take down its tax-hating ads around San Francisco after many people criticized the short-term housing rental startup for publicly complaining about fulfilling its civic duty. The digital-based company told SF Weekly late on Wednesday that it was taking the promos down because of the backlash. Yesterday, ads started popping up on bus stops and billboards around the city, offering not-so-subtle hints that the company was unhappy having to pay $12 million in hotel taxes. Earlier this year, the company paid millions of dollars in back taxes to the city after failing to pay the 14 percent hotel tax.” Read more at Adweek.
Google: Mobile Searches Have Surpassed Desktop Searches
“During the earnings call, new Google CEO Sundar Pichai, who reports to Alphabet CEO Larry Page, said Google now has six services that each has more than a billion users. Joining Google search, Android, Google Maps, Chrome, and YouTube, Google Play now tops 10 figures as well, Pichai said. For its part, Android has grown from 1 billion users to more than 1.4 billion. And highlighting Google’s dominance on mobile devices, Pichai said there are now more Google mobile searches than desktop searches worldwide.” Read the full story at Fast Company.
Agency of the Week
Critical Mass: Critical Mass is a global experience design agency with a relentless focus on the customer. We’ve been doing digital for nearly two decades, but we still meet every challenge head on, with the same tenacity as we have since day one.
We’re thinkers. Tinkerers. Makers. Do’ers. We speak a dozen different languages and are inspired by a million different things. But no matter our discipline or where we are in the world, we’re united by a common excitement for digital that’s absolute and contagious.
Because today is Friday, check out this hilarious Bonds ad by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne.
