Unilever has pledged to stamp out female stereotypes in its ads, after finding that more progressive campaigns play better with their target audience. Speaking at Cannes Lions 2016, chief marketing officer Keith Weed unveiled internal Unilever research analysing 1,000 ads from different countries, and found that 50% contained stereotypical portrayals of women.

The YouTube Brand Partner Program Certification will help agencies with features including the different tools and publishing frameworks available. It will be available in 22 languages. It will also help agencies understand the type of strategies they need to develop for video content.

Having posted its second consecutive quarter of sales growth today yesterday, Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis revealed that although he is satisfied with the progress of the supermarket giant's TV advertising, there are still plenty of areas of the marketing mix "where we could do better."

Shares in software firm Twilio have soared almost 88% on their first day of trading in New York. The IPO is the first this year by a so-called technology "unicorn." Twilio's platform enables developers to incorporate phone calls and text messages into their apps. Shares were priced at $15 but closed at $28.19, valuing the company at more than $2bn.

More than 50,000 people have signed a petition calling for Daily Mail editor in chief Paul Dacre to be sacked over the newspaper's coverage of migration and the EU referendum. The petition calls Dacre the "Nigel Farage of newspapers," saying he "has spun a steady stream of misinformation and fear, adding to a climate where rage and xenophobia flourish."

Confectionary giant Mondelez will use Facebook Messenger bots to talk directly to consumers, becoming one of the biggest brands to put money behind the nascent technology. Mondelez, which owns brands such as Cadbury, Oreo and Toblerone, has also announced it will up its overall media spend on Facebook this year, although it wouldn't say by how much.

Vice will launch TV and digital services in more than 50 countries, as the youth-focused media company continues to expand aggressively. It has struck a range of deals with international media partners to bring TV, mobile and digital services to regions including the Middle East, Africa, India and southeast Asia. Vice will also extend its services in existing markets.

Discovery has approached Channel 4 and ITV as it considers moving its estimated GBP150m-a-year UK ad sales business from Sky Media. The move by the U.S.-owned broadcaster behind the Animal Planet and TLC channels comes as Discovery and Sky are negotiating separately over carriage fees.

Industry research suggests that more than 90% of consumers use loyalty cards at least once a month, but that almost a third don't have their card with them when they reach the till. So it's no surprise that brands have turned their attention to making loyalty schemes not just personalised but friction-free. The move to app-based loyalty schemes is a relatively new development.

Barclays has upgraded its Android app to allow UK customers to make contactless payments in stores via their handsets. The bank has opted to provide the facility rather than support Google's Android Pay service. Both allow payments of up to GBP100 via compatible terminals. But Barclays says its app also allows customers to carry on spending if they lose one of their physical cards.