Enjoy what’s left of your morning with AdForum’s daily round-up of the latest news, trends, and notable work in the advertising industry.
Google Reveals First New Logo in 16 Years
So far the public appears to be ambivalent about Google’s move to a mercurial sans serif typeface that is friendly with our digital handheld devices. But the folks over at Fast Company asked some leading industry personalities what they thought of Google’s new logo and how it represents the brand’s identity, from innovation to intelligence.
Wired Breaks Down the Functionality and Meaning of Google's New Logo
“Google has become so much more than than a white webpage with a text box. We interact with Search, Maps, Android, Gmail, and a dozen other Google products, in countless ways for countless purposes. More than ever, Google is ever-present in our lives. It can be scary, especially when you remember the company knows more about us than we know about ourselves.” More at Wired.
Take That McWhopper: McDonald’s To Serve Breakfast All Day Long
It was a brilliant advertising idea, but now we may finally know why McDonald’s had no interest in partnering with Burger King to create the hybrid monstrosity burger the McWhopper in the name of world peace. It was focusing on breakfast.
“McDonald’s Corp. is embarking on its biggest operational change in years with plans to offer breakfast items all day at its more than 14,300 U.S. restaurants. The move to all-day breakfast, which McDonald’s has been testing since March and will start Oct. 6, was approved in a vote by franchisees last week and affirmed Tuesday by a franchisee leadership council, the company said. The expansion marks the latest initiative under Chief Executive Steve Easterbrook, who took over on March 1 vowing to revamp the burger giant’s stale image and end a sales slump in the U.S. that began nearly three years ago.” Read more at The Wall Street Journal.
Jilted Burger Kings Finds Love in New Plan to Create “Peace Burger”
"Our idea would be that we all come together to create a burger that combines a key ingredient from each of our signature sandwiches," BK wrote in anopen letter to Denny's, Wayback Burgers, Krystal and Giraffas. "All we need from you guys is a simple 'yes' plus your cooperation and a donation to Peace One Day." More at USA Today.
Hotels Battle Online Booking Sites with Outreach and Incentives
“For years, travelers have been drawn to online sites like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz and Priceline to find and reserve hotel rooms, flights and rental cars. Hotels welcomed the system — or at least learned to live with it — even though the business came at the cost of substantial commissions. But now they are fighting back. With the online giants consolidating and potentially tightening their hold on travel bookings, major hotel chains are offering a host of benefits to lure travelers to book with them directly: digital check-in, free meals, Wi-Fi and even the ability to choose a specific room.” Read the full story at The New York Times.
The Dark Underbelly of Advertising on Wikidpedia Exposed
“One need not be a techie to understand how to use a sock puppet. Direction No. 1: Open sock. Direction No. 2: Insert hand. And that’s it — you have control. But on Wikipedia, sock puppets have a very different — and very negative — connotation. So-called “sock-puppet accounts” are those used by people paid to edit subjects’ Wikipedia pages to present them in a more favorable light — a strict no-no among those behind the online encyclopedia run by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation and seen as a global community resource. Now, Wikimedia has targeted sock puppets in an Internet sting of sorts, deleting 381 English Wikipedia user accounts for what it called “black hat editing”: ‘the practice of accepting or charging money to promote external interests on Wikipedia without revealing their affiliation, in violation of Wikimedia’s Terms of Use.’” More at The Washington Post.
Advertising on Vine Still Has a Long Way to Go
“Brands’ lack of Vine virality can easily be traced to the main reason many teens flock to Vine in the first place - comedy. A quick glance at ReelSEO’s list of the 10 most popular Vine stars reveals an important connection - all 10 are comedy channels. As Taylor Loren of Hootsuite noted, “Vine is centered around users competing to be as funny as possible in only 6 seconds.” And this is where brands and marketers are missing the mark. Marketing sites frequently run pieces touting the “Best Brands on Vine” or “Best Branded Vines,” and while many of these six-second clips are indeed clever in their own right, the vast majority of them are missing that crucial ingredient that is the core of the platform’s appeal - comedy.” Read the full story at SocialMediaToday.
Tokyo Dumps Olympics Logo after Plagiarism Scandal
Yikes. “The organizers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics scrapped its logo design (on the left) after allegations that Kenjiro Sano, a Tokyo-based designer, plagiarized the emblem of a Belgian playhouse (on the right.) Olivier Debie, the designer behind the logo for the Théâtre de Liège, first accused Mr. Sano of stealing the design in July and has sought legal action. (The photo above is a shot from the Facebook page of Mr. Debie's studio.) Mr. Sano says his work is original.” Visit AdAge for the full story.
Job of the Day: Associate Director, Business Intelligence, Mindshare in New York City
The Business Intelligence Developer is responsible for architecting and developing Business Intelligence solutions according to user requirements, best practice and industry standard. The responsibilities include ETL and Data Warehouse / Data Mart modeling, Cube Development, report development, visualization, KPI and dashboard. For more details visit the Mindshare website.
Agency of the Week:
The Escape Pod: In 2007, advertising industry veterans Norm Bilow and Vinny Warren founded The Escape Pod, a full-service agency, to help clients navigate the unprecedented upheaval in the media and technology landscape.Our guiding principle is "bringing fresh ideas that move business" which has helped clients like Toys"R"Us, Can-Am Spyder, and Mondelez benefit from our unique storytelling abilities. We like to build ideas off previously unrecognized or ignored consumer insights about a brand. Creating advertising that is strategically sound, creatively exceptional, and makes optimal use of any media.
Because it is Wednesday, and we are still two days from the weekend – which means you need to shave – check out this ad below from the Dollar Shave Club.
(Bloody Mary photo courtesy of Anthony. Thank you! It looks delicious!)
