Allison+Partners ups Corporate Practice Leaders to Handle New Business

A Booming PR Job Market, but...

Spotify brings advanced measurement to podcast advertising with new tool

Hinge opens merch store stocked with Hingie garbs and 'delete day' goods

The dating app Hinge has opened a merch store for newly entwined hearts to mark the day they deleted the app with Hingie memorabilia.

The dating app first introduced its fluffy, accident-prone mascot back in August. Until that point, Hinge had been low key on the number of campaigns it launched.

TWITTER WILL LET USERS LIMIT OR BLOCK REPLIES TO TWEETS

Twitter is adding another safety control to help curb abuse and harassment on its social network: Users will soon be able to limit the group of people that can reply to their tweets.

When posting a message, users will also be able to choose who can reply: anyone, just their followers, only people mentioned in the tweet, or no one at all. The feature, announced Wednesday at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas, is an effort to limit harassment and other types of unhealthy interactions between users, a problem Twitter has been working to fix for years.

Communicators need ‘eyes in the back of their heads’ for 2020 election

Buckle up, communicators. If you liked 2016, then 2020 could be the rare sequel that does not disappoint, in no small part due to enhanced technology. Here are three reasons why communicators will need to have eyes in the back of their heads — and keep them open 24 hours a day — amid what’s bound to be next year’s unprecedentedly intense news cycle.

First, to find out why, let’s go to the video. Is it real or not? It may sound like science fiction, but talk to CCOs and more than a few will tell you they’re studying up on deep fakes. While most prognosticators are worried about the effect a deep fake — a convincing video showing a public figure making an inauthentic statement — could have on global or international politics, business leaders are worried, too. The first prominent deepfake could just as well show up in a fraudulent customer service message as it could on the dark web.

Samsung's BB-8-like personal assistant Ballie follows you around at home

Las Vegas (CNN Business)Samsung unveiled on Monday its vision for the futuristic home, where robots follow you around, anticipate your needs and serve as "companions."

USA Today tests bilingual content with new series

USA Today is looking to make deeper connections with Spanish speakers by launching a new series in English and Spanish. 

The project, called Hecho en USA, will tell stories about the lives of Spanish-speaking Americans. Right now, USA Today’s national enterprise editor Cristina Silva, said the project will aim to publish a baseline of two long form reported pieces each month, which will cover topics including Latinos being the only growing demographic of students going to college and this demographic representing only 1% of elected officials in the U.S. Content for the series will be published in English in print and in both Spanish and English online.

Burger King responds to pesky tourists flocking to ‘Joker’ stairs

NEW YORK: Burger King is giving Bronx residents a perfect solution for coping with the tourists plaguing a famous staircase in the New York borough: A free Whopper.

Since being featured in the film Joker, a popular supervillain origin story that has grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, the staircase has been choked with selfie-taking tourists.

"It's like being sold to at a funeral": Australian PM's video slammed by critics

Looking ahead: The agency of the future

The tremendous growth of Allison+Partners over the last 18 years was not by accident, it was by design. When my business partner Andy and I started our agency, we never set out to be the largest agency in the world. Just the best. Our vision was to become the agency of the future, one that is client and employee-driven and utilizes the latest technology to help our clients succeed. While that sounds good in theory, there were many investments made, open-door conversations and risk-taking we took early on to ensure we charted the course and continued to grow. Those investments have paid off, and this year we saw the greatest growth in our company’s history. 

So, what does the agency of the future look like and how do you build it?

Best Places to Work 2019

Having made the Best Places to Work list for a third year in a row, Allison+Partners’ commitment to retaining its people-focused culture as it grows stands out. The firm’s turnover rate is far lower than the industry average.

Judges clearly identified it as an "agency where you can learn, grow and be recognized." From extensive learning resources to constant access to leadership, the firm provides excellent advancement opportunities.

News media take losing streak into 2020

The journalism industry has much in common with the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals. Both had horrendous seasons in 2019 and have disintegrating fan bases. The Bengals, fortunately, get a No. 1 draft pick for their futility. The news media get no such reward for ineffectiveness. The journalism world just keeps digging a deeper credibility hole, seemingly unable to generate the professionalism that citizens demand and the nation surely needs.

Some corners of the journalism industry still strive to serve the mission of holding the powerful accountable and providing for the information needs of a democracy. The Washington Post’s extensive investigation of failings in Afghanistan is evidence of such work. Reporters in small-town America routinely cover city council meetings and school boards, all for little pay and prestige. Such work often goes unappreciated as it is overwhelmed by the higher-profile journalistic blunders made by big media in corporate towers on the East Coast.

Pika-Who? How Pokémon Go Confused the Canadian Military

Seemingly out of nowhere, civilians started driving onto Canadian military bases at odd hours and wandering onto government property in July 2016, distracted by their cellphone screens. Military officials did not know what to make of it.

Pokémon Go, the augmented-reality game, had soared to the top of the download charts. Within weeks, millions of people were chasing the digital animated creatures all over the world — and going places they should not go.

Miller wants you to have a moist (or ‘Dry-ish’) January

CHICAGO: Millions of us are taking a vow of dryness in January 2020.

However, nearly half of the Millennials giving up booze for the months are not 100% confident they’ll be able to do it. In fact, according to a survey from Miller, around seven in 10 believe there’s at least one thing that will make it difficult for them to abstain from drinking, including celebrating a special event, being in an environment where everyone is drinking, or experiencing a stressful situation.

exchange4media unveils list of India's Top Corporate Communication Professionals

exchange4media unveiled the “Top 100 Influential Game Changers” list in an extravagant ceremony at Hotel Shangri La, New Delhi, on Thursday.

The list features the names of Top 50 PR Professionals (male and female) and 50 Corporate Communication Professionals (male and female). It is a compilation of the most influential public relations and corporate communication professionals who have changed the dynamics of the industry through their work, vision, leadership skills and clout.

This Toy Store Invites Children to Play. But Will It Sell Anything?

“Daddy,” called 4-year-old Balarama Ewing. “I have to show you something!” Balarama dashed toward a canoe filled with stuffed animals and pulled out a glittery snake, which he used to whack his dad’s torso. Balarama’s twin, Krishna, followed suit with a plush shark.

The Ewings were exploring Camp in Downtown Brooklyn, a venture-backed “family experience store” — what would have recently been called a toy store — that blends play and product in hopes of reviving a tired retail toy scene. After high rents, low margins and intense competition brought down previous iterations of Toys “R” Us and F.A.O. Schwarz, it seems like a risky time to bet on toys. But Camp is trying something different.

Burger King dishes free Impossible Whoppers to delayed holiday flyers

Brita launches the ugliest sweater collection

What’s uglier than plastic waste? Nothing, which is why Brita has launched a line of The Ugliest Ugly Sweaters, made out of recycled plastic waste.

The five sweater designs seem festive at first glance, but they actually depict harrowing scenes of the destruction that plastics cause in the natural world. Five in-house designers from mcgarrybowen created sweater designs with different themes. From melting ice caps to marine life drowned in an ocean of plastic, these sweaters do a fine job of drawing attention to the impact that plastics have on the environment. 

Pandora develops voice ads that talk back: ‘We need to give consumers time to adopt’

Streaming platform Pandora has developed an ad format that consumers can talk back to. However, the company’s vice president of ad innovation strategy is cognizant that users need to be eased into such an interface before voice interaction gains real ubiquity.

The new ad format stems from Voice Mode, Pandora’s hands-free control tech that launched primarily for drivers. Marketers will now be able to buy ads that encourage users to answer back and create a basic dialogue with a piece of audio creative.

MACY'S CMO RESPONDS TO SNL SPOOF OF THE DEPARTMENT STORE'S AD

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—but not for kids who are forced into festive fashions at the behest of their stressed-out parents. Saturday Night Live captured the essence of that holiday magic in a sketch Saturday night that parodied a Macy’s commercial.

“The holidays are here, so head to Macy’s for unbeatable deals on a winter wardrobe for the whole family,” a woman’s cheerful voice urges shoppers. “Tis the season for wrestling your wiggly little monster into thick winter clothes.” The spot advertised 40 percent discounts on cozy corduroys “that’ll pinch his little nuts” and snow boots “that are so hard to put on, it’ll strain your marriage.” In one promotion for "hard, shiny shoes that hurt," a mother tells her whining daughter, "Welcome to being a woman, Kiley."

Hallmark CEO Apologizes, Company Will ‘Reinstate’ Zola’s Same-Sex Wedding Ads

One day after Hallmark Channel’s decision to pull several ads from wedding planning brand Zola featuring a same-sex couple kissing sparked outrage, Hallmark’s CEO has apologized for what he called the “wrong decision,” and the company said it would work with Zola to start airing the spots once again.

On Thursday, in response to pressure from conservative group One Million Moms, the network pulled several ads from Zola featuring a same-sex couple kissing at their wedding, which had been airing since last week. Zola responded by saying it would no longer advertise on the network for the foreseeable future.

Facebook’s Messenger adds Star Wars-themed features and AR effects

Star Wars has come to Facebook’s  Messenger  app. Facebook today announced a new set of Star Wars-themed features for Messenger users, including a chat theme, reactions, stickers and AR effects. The features were developed in partnership with Disney to help promote the upcoming film, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which premieres nationwide on December 20.

Both the stickers and the reactions allow users to express themselves using characters from both sides of The Force, says Facebook. For example, you can laugh like Finn, act surprised like Rey, cry like C-3PO, act angry like Kylo or give a BB-8 thumbs up or a Stormtrooper thumbs down.

PR chief picks 5 best APAC campaigns of the past decade

In 2009, Tourism Queensland promoted the Great Barrier Reef as a global tourism destination with a website encouraging people worldwide to apply for The Best Job In The World, to be a "Caretaker of the Islands" to "house-sit" the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for half a year, based on Hamilton Island. The submission website crashed two days following the launch of the campaign, from excessive visits and application video uploading.

"In 2009, social media (Facebook and Twitter) had only just began to take off in the APAC region. Targeted at the early adopters, it was a clever and creative campaign combining both traditional and social. The campaign resulted in user-generated content and conversations which ultimately went viral, drawing interest from all around the world. Follow ups from the campaign continued through to Ben’s appointment – he shared regular, authentic content about his experiences at Hamilton island, continuing to engage curious wanderlusters and adventurers globally."

'Rick and Morty' warps to Super Bowl with Pringles spot, product tie-in

Greta Thunberg Breaks Record as Time Person of the Year

As the Arctic continues to break heat records and rising temperatures threaten biodiversity across the globe, Gen Z views climate change as an imminent menace that will impact the entirety of their lives. According to a survey from Solar Simplified, 94% of Gen Z believes in climate change and 70% thinks we are in crisis.

One of these environmentally conscious Gen Zers, a Swedish girl with Asperger’s syndrome, went viral in September for scorning politicians who have not taken climate change seriously at the UN Climate Action Summit.

PRWeek Awards US Shortlist Revealed

Ryan Reynolds' Aviation Gin pokes fun at Peloton ad fail in new spot

Verbal abuse awareness campaign uses Alexa to combat domestic violence

Some forms of domestic abuse aren’t as obvious as the purely physical. Psychological violence is estimated to be the most common form of intimate partner violence in the United States and Europe, affecting 35-49% of men and women, according to non-profits No More and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV).

The research on verbal abuse is limited, in part because so many cases go unreported. That’s why No More and the NRCDV have launched ‘#NoMoreVerbalAbuse’, an effort to raise awareness about verbal abuse and provide resources for individuals in need.

Influencer marketing agencies prepare for the end of the Instagram like

Instagram’s impending removal of likes from public view — now in the testing stages — is forcing advertisers to reassess how they judge the popularity and reach of influencers.

If likes become less available, advertisers might need to rely more on building relationships with influencers to gain access to accurate data. Without a direct relationship with an influencer, advertisers have no way to know if the numbers shared by that person are real.

Skills shortages and cost concerns curbing data-driven endeavours

While many organisations are making strong progress in becoming more data-driven to improve customer engagement, most businesses still report significant barriers preventing them from getting the most out of data.

And research based on the input of 500 marketing directors in the UK and Germany conducted by marketing and communications agency Allison + Partners and entitled ‘Turning data into marketing gold’, found that many believe they will face greater obstacles in becoming more data-driven in the future. 

Data siloes ‘holding marketers back’

New research reveals 98% believe future improvements are held back by data silos, justifying the cost and in-house skills shortage.

Data-driven marketing is vital for today’s marketing teams. But a new report by global marketing communications agency Allison+Partners revealed that while marketers have made progress to becoming more data-driven, nearly all respondents cited numerous barriers preventing them from getting the most out of data.

KFC brings back its fried chicken-scented Firelogs

Instagram introduces birthday checks to create ‘age-appropriate’ experiences

Facebook-owned Instagram has enacted a major policy change to limit access to content restricted to older audiences, such as gambling, alcohol and birth control. From now, all new users must provide their date of birth when signing up.

The measure follows criticism on both sides of the Atlantic that Instagram and others are routinely exposing children to inappropriate content, raising the spectre of tough new child safety and privacy regulations.

Reddit Ends 2019 With 430 Million Monthly Active Users

Reddit has grown its user base by 30% year-over-year, according to new data released by the company Wednesday. The self-proclaimed front page of the internet now reaches 430 million monthly active users, who collectively have created 199 million posts and 1.7 billion comments.

The announcement comes some 20 months after Reddit announced that it had surpassed 330 million monthly active users. The service surpassed the 430 million mark in October, according to a release distributed Wednesday.

Why the sponsored post model is obsolete in China

Traditional advertising is being outperformed these days. This stems from the fact that traditional marketing strategies, including counting "likes," no longer resonate with most consumers, while younger consumers consider content marketing to be much more genuine, honest, and real.

According to the quantitative study Storytelling: The Current State of Branded Content, "consumers perceive branded content as being more consumer-centric because it is less about selling products and more about providing value to consumers."

Data goldmine: Brands are just scratching the surface

Chick-fil-A encourages giving the gift of time with multichannel campaign

Facebook Testing a Way to Let You Move Photos to Rival Sites

LONDON — Facebook is trying to make it easier for users to move photos from the social network to rival online services, reacting to European privacy laws and criticism from regulators that its size and control over data hinder competition.

On Monday, Facebook said it would begin testing a “data portability” tool in Ireland that would allow users there to move photos and videos from Facebook to Google Photos. Critics immediately said the initiative did not go far enough.

Marketers still have further to go on best use of data

Marketers have made considerable progress to become more data-driven, yet there remain numerous barriers preventing them from getting the most out of data, a new survey has revealed.

Allison+Partners, the global marketing communications agency, reached this conclusion after working with research firm Censuswide to poll 500 marketing directors in the UK and Germany in October.

MAJORITY OF MARKETERS CLAIM DATA CONFIDENCE BUT HURDLES REMAIN

In a survey of 500 marketing directors ( 250 in the UK, 250 in Germany) working for companies with a revenue of over $50m, 87% believe that their department’s use of data was either somewhat or far above average, compared to similar organisations, and 89% were confident in their own ability to extract insights from data.

Despite this, almost all respondents ( 98%) agreed there will be obstacles in improvements to how data is used moving forward, and the main barrier is data being siloed across organisations, cited by 45% of respondents.

Marketing bosses struggle to get most out of data - report

A new report by global marketing communications agency Allison+Partners has revealed that, despite the rise in data driven marketing, many are struggling to get the maximum out of their data. 

The survey, which included input from 500 marketing directors in the UK and Germany, showed that, despite the vital role of data in marketing, marketers are only scratching the surface on what data-driven approaches can do. 

What’s Preventing Marketers Turning Data Into Gold?

Data-driven marketing is vital for today’s marketing teams. But a new report by global marketing communications agency Allison+Partners revealed that while marketers have made progress to becoming more data-driven, nearly all respondents cited numerous barriers preventing them from getting the most out of data.

The survey, which included input from 500 marketing directors in the UK and Germany, showed that:

What’s Preventing Marketers Turning Data Into Gold?

Data-driven marketing is vital for today’s marketing teams. But a new report by global marketing communications agency Allison+Partners revealed that while marketers have made progress to becoming more data-driven, nearly all respondents cited numerous barriers preventing them from getting the most out of data.

The survey, which included input from 500 marketing directors in the UK and Germany, showed that:

40 under 40 2019: Asia-Pacific's top rising talent

How Driscoll’s capitalized on a millennial drinking trend

Driscoll’s released a new line of strawberries and raspberries with a decidedly millennial twist. Instead of the traditional red color and sweet flavor profile, the berries were light pink and had notes of floral and peach.

The taste was "silky and creamy, almost like a creamsicle," said Frances Dillard, Driscoll’s senior director of brand and product marketing.

Greyhound and Audible team up to banish bus boredom

Greyhound has partnered with Audible to help make the journey as relaxing as the destination when it comes to holidays by introducing an audio storytelling app to the coach operator’s onboard entertainment offer.

As a bonus, travellers who avail themselves of the narrated offer will benefit from free two months of Audible in addition to two free book downloads to ensure no-one misses out on reaching the end of the story.

Red Lobster knits ugly holiday sweaters for online pop-up shop

Exclusive analysis: How Facebook’s targeting can help parties win marginal seats

The social media platform has become a propaganda weapon of choice for campaigners across the political spectrum.

A PRWeek analysis of Facebook’s reach compared to official population data illustrates how quickly and cheaply the platform can be used to target political messaging to swing voters in vulnerable seats.

Ad-free engagement: Is organic virality a quest or a happy accident?

Enthusiastic fans sparked significant engagement — and product shortages — for White Claw and Popeyes this year, grabbing the interest of media outlets, marketers and business pundits by exemplifying a paradigm where consumers lead the way and brands reap the benefits of all the buzz without much investment.

But while the allure of a viral hit is as strong as ever 15 years after Facebook's launch, the formula remains elusive for how brands can manufacture organic success in the digital era and questions persist over whether that's something even worth pursuing.