A New Monopoly Game Celebrates Women, but What About the One Behind the Original?

There’s a new version of Monopoly coming, one that celebrates women by paying female players more than men.

The game, Ms. Monopoly, is the first to feature a new character — an advocate for investing in female entrepreneurs — on its cover, according to a news release this week from Hasbro, the entertainment giant that owns the game.

Chinese consumers angered by Muji

2019 SABRE Awards Asia-Pacific Winners

NFL Launches ‘Game Day All-Access’ Series Exclusively on YouTube

The NFL has tapped YouTube as the exclusive distributor for its latest media project: a docu-series highlighting pivotal game-day moments of players and coaches both on and off the field.

Produced by NFL Films, the “NFL Game Day All-Access” original series will combine game footage, behind-the-scenes clips and wired sound to tell the game-day stories from players and coaches’ perspectives from the 2019 season. The 22-episode weekly show launches Wednesday (Sept. 11), streaming for free exclusively on the NFL’s YouTube channel.

‘You’re It’ Becomes a Rallying Cry for Kids to Push Their Limits in Nike’s New Anthem

In the traditional game of tag, being “it” usually isn’t a positive, since it turns you into a sort of infection vector looking to get rid of the burden as fast as possible. But perhaps there’s another way to picture being “it”: as an empowered seeker around whom all action is centered.

Nike’s new spot “You’re It”—the first for Nike Kids from agency Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam—brings the brand’s high-adrenaline and visually fluid approach to a younger demographic.

Shortlist for inaugural Purpose Awards revealed

PRWeek has revealed the finalists in the running for the inaugural Purpose Awards. 

The shortlist reflects the best in purpose marketing, which will be on full display on October 16 at Marshall’s Landing in Chicago during the first night of the PRDecoded conference. The awards recognize activations that use creative ideas to promote positive causes and to acknowledge the organizations and individuals behind them. 

PRCA National Awards 2019 Shortlist

THE UK'S MOST PRESTIGIOUS PR AWARDS!

• Promote the industry – We’re a not-for-profit, so all the profits from our awards are invested back into our industry to help teams and individuals maximise the value they deliver to clients and organisations
• Encourage your team – Shine the limelight on your team’s fantastic work and reward every member of your team that contributed
• Make your mark – Display and celebrate your success over the last year and be recognised by the world’s largest PR association
• Expand your network – Win new business and open opportunities for new clientele by rubbing shoulders with award-winning businesses
• Gain global recognition – Be globally recognised by the PR industry, with our judging process consisting of industry-leaders from across the world.

Spotify Adds Snapchat Music Sharing Feature

Spotify users will soon be able to recommend tracks and podcasts directly to their friends and followers on Snapchat, thanks to a new sharing option announced Monday. The new feature allows users to either add albums, tracks or podcasts to a story, or share them directly with their friends.

Users who see a shared song in a story, or receive a listening recommendation from their Snapchat friends, will get to see the full album art. To listen, they simply have to swipe up and tap on the context card, which will automatically open the Spotify app — provided it is installed on their phones, of course.

WENDY’S PLANS NATIONWIDE BREAKFAST LAUNCH FOR 2020

Wendy’s Co. is gearing up to win a much bigger bite of the U.S. breakfast business with an expansion plan that might boost business in the long run but will eat into near-term profitability.

The burger chain said Monday that it plans to bring breakfast items across its U.S. restaurants in 2020. Wendy’s has about 5,800 U.S. locations but currently serves breakfast only in more than 300 of them. Items on Wendy’s breakfast menu include a Breakfast Baconator, a take on one of the company’s well-known hamburgers, with the addition of an egg; a Frosty-ccino drink that looks like a coffee syrup-enhanced take on its signature Frosty frozen dessert, and a honey butter chicken biscuit.

Video: Krispy Kreme wants your disappointing pumpkin spice products

Wondering how and why you ended up with pumpkin spice beard oil?

Well, now you can trade it in, along with any other regrettable pumpkin spice product purchases, at Krispy Kreme in exchange for a Pumpkin Spice Original Filled Doughnut.

Burger King makes a play for confused voters with the Democratic Burger

Burger King is seeking to win over a majority of French fast food fans with the launch of its Democratic Burger, a €2 burger of the week chosen by a public vote from a range of eight best sellers.

Created by Buzzman to reflect the political turmoil in Europe, the populist campaign will see staples such as the Big King, Chicken Tendercrisp and Big Fish, go head-to-head in a play for public affections with the winner decided by voting via the Burger King app.

Now Facebook says it may remove Like counts

Popeyes uses free chicken sandwiches to lure new global CMO

MIAMI: Here’s one way to get your hands on the highly coveted Popeyes chicken sandwich.

The fast-food chain is seeking a global CMO. Fernando Machado, the current global CMO for Popeyes and Burger King, posted about the job on LinkedIn with an image that included the text, "Y'all...we are looking for a global CMO for Popeyes! (You get free chicken sandwiches.)"

Nano influencers overtake micro and macro in NZ

Independent influencer marketing agency The Social Club has released a white paper on influencer trends in New Zealand including industry averages, growth and best practices. The agency gathered data from more than 3,000 of its campaigns and ran surveys with agencies, brands and influencers in the market. Here are a few key findings.

Nano influencers lead the way

Nano influencers (1k-5k followers) make up the majority of influencers at 43 per cent, followed by micro influencers (5k-15k followers) at 30 per cent. This indicates that the industry is growing and more creators are investing in their personal brands. Overall, this has led to the influencer community doubling between 2018 and 2019.

Instagram targets Snapchat’s jugular with Threads messaging app

Facebook-owned Instagram has escalated its arms race with rival Snapchat with the launch of a new messaging app designed to facilitate unrestricted sharing between close friends.

Threads will enable members to share attributes such as their status, location, speed and even battery life as well as text, photos and video

How brands can stay meaningful in China’s agnostic ecommerce arena

DORITOS DROPS ITS LOGO AND NAME IN LATEST CAMPAIGN

In recent years, advertisers have shifted their tactics to address consumers’ growing skepticism about marketing, trying to become more “authentic” or outright blatant about the fact that they are shilling the goods. Doritos is the latest brand to acknowledge audience distaste for overt advertising with its latest strategy—it’s dropping its logo from its new campaign.

The new "Another Level" effort debuting tonight during the MTV Video Music Awards includes a new spot entitled “Anti-Ad,” in which the brand admits that it’s running a “paid message,” but doesn’t let on to who is behind it. Rather, a voiceover announces that it’s promoting a “chip so iconic, we don’t need to name it.”  The spot features only blurred-out images of the brand’s packaging, plain red and blue bags and then scene after scene of Doritos’ triangular silhouettes. 

Get Personal When Networking To Build Relationships That Pay Off

According to the National Association of Realtors, almost 80% of consumers say they would work with their agent again, yet only around 12% actually do so. There's clearly a better way to handle relationship building.

Regardless of your industry, "How much money are you leaving on the table that you could have had if only you had stayed in touch?" asks Zvi Band, author of "Success is in Your Sphere: Leverage The Power Of Relationships To Achieve Your Business Goals."

Brands must remain silent about Hong Kong: PR chief

In the current volatile situation in mainland China and Hong Kong, brands have had to calculate their messaging and responses carefully, lest they get caught in a web of crisis comms. We’ve learnt in the last week that things could implode in a matter of minutes, and backlash can make or break a brand faster that one can say ‘tear gas’.

David Wolf, managing director, Allison Advisory at Allison+Partners, tells PRWeek Asia that this is simply the price to pay for doing business in China.

Dick’s Sporting Goods reports strong earnings amid experiment in reducing gun sales

Dick’s Sporting Goods appears to be on the upswing.

After a slog of dampened sales, Dick’s announced Thursday that same store sales jumped 3.2 percent in the second quarter — marking its strongest showing since 2016. The outdoors retailer’s stock was up more than 7 percent as Dick’s raised its full year guidance.

Alibaba Postpones Hong Kong Listing as Protests Roil Markets

LONDON — Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, has postponed plans to list its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to two people briefed on the matter, as protests continue to rock the Asian financial capital.

The protests and the instability they created in Hong Kong’s stock market led to the postponement of the offering, which had been expected to take place later this month, according to these people. The offering had been expected to raise $10 billion to $15 billion, one person said.

Hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers to launch a protest caravan across California

If you’re like me, chances are good you just distractedly clicked on this article while scrolling through your feed in, or while waiting for, a Lyft. Maybe, like me, you need that app to get to back-to-back meetings in different locations today, as you’re well on your way to at least a 60-hour workweek between the various things you do. Maybe you’re exhausted. Maybe the ride you just took, zoning out on your phone in an Uber on Quiet Mode, was actually a lifesaver.

And as you settle into each new driver’s backseat, en route to each new destination in your crazy busy life, maybe, like me, you find yourself somewhat unwittingly implicated in one of the most contentious ethical struggles of this generation – a struggle with profound implications for the future of work.

Doing Business in China

MoviePass Confirms Security Lapse May Have Exposed Customer Credit Card Data

MoviePass, the struggling movie ticket subscription service, confirmed that a security issue may have exposed customers’ records online, including credit card info.

In a statement, MoviePass said Wednesday that the security lapse was recently discovered and its system was immediately secured. News of the data breach was first reported Tuesday by TechCrunch, which alleged that tens of thousands customer records were left exposed on the internet, including MoviePass card numbers and personal credit card data, because a critical server was not protected with a password.

Instagram got us hooked on likes. What happens when they're gone?

New York (CNN Business)Did you like my Instagram photo? Is now a good time to post? Should I delete my picture that only got 20 likes?

Brands must remain silent about Hong Kong: PR chief

Twitter and Facebook cut off China from using propaganda to influence Hong Kong protests

Twitter is no longer allowing state-controlled media outlets to advertise on its platform.

Those outlets have 30 days to offboard from Twitter's ad products, and in the meantime no new campaigns will be allowed. State media outlets can still use their Twitter accounts to organically reach audiences, just not use its advertising products.

2019 Regional PR Consultancies of the Year (Midsize)

The 2019 Asia-Pacific PR Consultancies of the Year are the result of an exhaustive research process involving more than 125 submissions and meetings with the best PR firms across the region. 

Consultancy of the Year winners are announced and honoured at the 2019 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards, which take place on 12 September in Singapore. Analysis of all Finalists and Winners can be accessed via the navigation menu to the right or below:

Luxury brands must now show they are ‘good Chinese citizens’ after T-shirt territory anger, expert says

Western luxury labels will need to demonstrate that they are good Chinese citizens in the face of territorial sensitivities, according to an expert on branding in the region.

Fashion brands including Givenchy, Coach and Versace apologized last week when some Chinese social media stars canceled their endorsement deals after text on some of their T-shirts suggested that places such as Hong Kong are separate countries from mainland China.

How the CIA’s social media lead deals with trolls

LANGLEY, VA: When PRWeek posted a story in June about why the CIA only follows 11 Instagram accounts, a torrent of critical social media comments and emails followed, including one saying that by writing such a "puff piece," the magazine is "complicit in their immoral and reprehensible actions." Another suggested that PRWeek’s editors are "probably in the CIA themselves." 

That remains to be determined. 

SABRE Awards Asia-Pacific 2019 finalists

Industry News In Brief (August 12, 2019)

PRWeek UK Awards 2019: 'early bird' ticket deadline approaches

The annual awards night - one of the highlights of the UK PR calendar - takes place on Tuesday 15 October at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House in Park Lane. Click here for more details on pricing and to book tickets.

See the full list of categories and shortlisted entries below:

3 Lessons From an Editor of the Largest U.S. Publications (B2C CMY Finalist)

Neil Wertheimer tells it like it is. Driven by a passion to create positive change for people through the journalism he oversees, he makes sure the content his team at AARP creates inspires, educates, and empowers the organization’s enormous, diverse, and savvy audience of over 38 million members.

Neil considers it his mission to use the power of words to benefit the world around him. That’s evident throughout his body of work as deputy editor of AARP The Magazine and the AARP Bulletin, which together deliver a one-two punch against stereotypes about aging. His work overseeing the day-to-day development of those two publications – the two largest-circulation magazines in the United States – earned him a place on our short list of finalists for B2C Content Marketer of the Year.

Five lessons from five years of growth

By: Serina Tan

If someone had asked me five years ago, “Will you still be with Allison+Partners in 2019?,” I probably would have responded, “Unlikely.”

Let me explain. Before Allison+Partners, my longest tenure at any job was a mere two and a half years. So, five years seemed like an eternity. Not to mention, I started the Singapore office from the ground up. I started with literally nothing – no signage, no office, no chairs and desks, no other colleagues. It was difficult and almost impossible to imagine how things might look in a year, let alone five.

Squad, the ‘anti-bro startup,’ is creating a safe space for teenage girls online;

When we go online to communicate, hang out or play, we’re typically logging on to platforms conceived of and built by men.

Mark Zuckerberg famously created Facebook in his Harvard dorm room. Evan Spiegel and his frat brother Bobby Murphy devised a plan for the ephemeral messaging app Snapchat while the pair were still students at Stanford. Working out of a co-working space, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger built Instagram and yes, they also went to Stanford.

Overwhelmed by Pressure to Perform, Kids ‘Retire’ From Sports in ESPN’s New PSA

One of the cautionary tales about parents pushing their children to reach the highest levels of sports is Todd Marinovich. The former USC and Oakland Raiders player was groomed by his father from birth to become a professional footballer, only to fall from grace in some of the most destructive ways possible, including extensive drug use.

While Marinovich is an extreme example, kids today face increasing pressure to perform on the field at a younger age. Whether it’s in attempts to position themselves for scholarships or being the avatars of competitive parents, children, according to an Aspen Institute study, are being set up to fail, resulting in more children ages 6 to 12 dropping out of organized youth sports.

Facebook’s Like button poses GDPR risks to host websites

Facebook’s Like button could be more hassle than its worth for European organisations navigating the minefield of GDPR legislation, following a landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice that website owners can be held liable for data collection relating to the use of the widget.

The omnipresent blue-hand is a familiar sight upon even the most cursory of glances around the internet, leaving the door open to web managers being collared by national privacy regulators as being complicit with the well-publicised failings of Facebook itself.

AGENCY BRIEF: A WONDROUS LAUNCH INTO SPACE AND A NEW BREAKFAST BREW

This Campaign Uses FaceApp to Age Pictures of Those Whose Deaths Sparked Outrage and Protest

As the internet was becoming obsessed in recent weeks with FaceApp’s new photo-aging feature, three McCann New York creatives realized that the platform can be used to make a visual statement about the impact of police actions and gun violence. Senior designer Emely Perez came up with the initial idea to honor victims like Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, Eric Garner and others by using FaceApp to show what each might look like at older ages.

After connecting with McCann New York vp and creative director Gabrielle Shirdan and freelance creative director Dabo Ché, the trio landed on #ItsGettingOld, a project that lives on Instagram. Each image altered by FaceApp includes a brief summary of a news article explaining how each person was killed.

Allison+Partners Launches Headstand to Take on Conflicts and Provide Deeper Levels of Agency-Client Collaboration

PRWeek UK Awards 2019: shortlist revealed

News of Firms: Allison+Partners Does Headstand; Worldcom Adds MC Comunicaciones of Quito to Club; Public Relations Boutiques International Names Amanda Foley of Kiterocket President

Allison+Partners launches conflict shop Headstand

SAN BRUNO, CA: Allison+Partners has launched an integrated communications consultancy known as Headstand.

Zach Colvin, who is leading the firm as president, called Headstand a spinoff from Allison. Its services include creative campaign development and execution, brand identity and messaging development, content development, influencer relations, media relations, social engagement and digital programs.

Krispy Kreme is redesigning its stores for the first time in a decade and making its menu even more sugary

New York (CNN Business)Sugar might be falling out of favor, but it's the centerpiece of a makeover of Krispy Kreme that includes a new menu and its first store redesign in a decade.

The Stream Podcast Episode 5: Why Pride is More Than a Month

No, you don’t need to double-check your calendar. It’s July, and we are doing a podcast about Pride. The reason – while outward displays of support for Pride from brands big and small have exploded, many companies still literally and figuratively put their rainbow flags away when public sentiment shifts to other causes come July. 

FaceApp responds to privacy concerns

FaceApp,  the AI-powered selfie-editing app that’s been having another viral moment of late, has now responded to a privacy controversy that we covered earlier here.

We’ve pasted the company’s full statement at the bottom of this post.

PAPA JOHN'S MADE A MINI PIZZA FOR BEES

Honey bee populations have been declining dramatically worldwide, and in the U.K., two species have already gone extinct locally. To draw attention to the plight of the pollinators, Papa John’s U.K. has made what it calls the world’s first pizza for bees.

So, do bees even like pizza?

Netflix removes depiction of suicide in ’13 Reasons Why’ season one finale

Netflix  has modified an episode of the controversial series ’13 Reasons Why’ two years after its original airing, citing sensitivity to the ‘ongoing debate’ that’s been occurring regarding the show’s depiction and characterization of teen suicide. In a statement provided to The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming explained why it removed a scene that depicted the suicide of main character Hannah (played by Katherine Langford) which lasted nearly three minutes, opting instead to have this take place entirely off-camera in the updated edit.

TikTok relies on positivity, AI to create a ‘happier place’ for users;

If you take away anything from this story, let it be this: TikTok is not a music app geared toward teens.

The app’s head of global marketing, Stefan Heinrich Henriquez, says his biggest comms challenge is making sure people understand that.