Influencer marketing. It's the strategy du jour these days. Everyone's doing it, but not everyone is succeeding.

WPP has launched Gain Theory. It's a new "marketing foresight consultancy," which aims to help brands deal with the explosion of data, predicted to be 44 times greater in 2020 than it was in 2009. Heading up the new entity is former WPP Maxus CIO Jason Harrison. Of the endeavor, Harrison says: “There’s so much more information available about business performance, consumers, what’s happening with marketing campaigns. The expectation is that marketers would be able to digest all that and be able to know what to do next and do that very quickly. That is incredibly …

Don't you wish your simple wardrobe could bring you instant viral fame? If you're Saatchi & Saatchi Art Director Matilda Kahl, you know exactly what this feels like. If you haven't already heard, Matilda wears the same outfit to work every day. And she's been doing so for years. Why, you ask? In an interview  with Ad Age, she explains: "The main motivation was that I understood how much time and energy I'd save if I could just take out the clothing aspect of my working days. We have so many great creative challenges at Saatchi …

Every advertising type over in Sweden is jonesing. For what, you ask? For Stockholm Art Week, of course.

Awesome. Some real news! Two ad execs, art director Pierre Chan and art director George Lin, currently working at Cossette, are writing a book called Pfffffft: Illustrated Fart Literature for the Inner Child. And the pair have launched a Kickstarter to help fund the book's printing costs and online listing fees.  The very Beavis and Butthead-ish book aims to share all those awkward work-related fart moments such as holding in a giant fart during an important meeting or being trapped in the elevator when some stranger lets one rip.  So far, Pierre and George …

Portal A Co-Founder and Executive Producer Nate Houghteling argues that mainstream ad agencies simply don't have what it takes to create what brands need in today's digital world.

In the "just for fun" category, Andreas Killander, creative director at Swedish agency SweetPop, created Zlatan, a very Google-looking search site inspired by Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Ibrahimovic is known for his craziness on and off the pitch, and so Killander decided to have a bit of fun designing a search site that served up Ibrahimovic-centic results. Explaining the site, Killander says: "Our search engine is linked to Google but all the searches are Zlatanified. All the results have some link to Zlatan... if you type in Ferrari, you'll get stuff about Zlatan's …

On or about April 21, Google will flip a switch and unleash "mobilgeddon" upon the world.

So Sprite has switched agencies. Again. That's right. It's a thing. Every 18 months it seems. Just this week, the brand selected Wieden+Kennedy to handle its advertising. In the recent past, Sprint spent 18 months with Leo Burnett before handing the account to Translation, which has had the account for about 18 months. Now, it's Wieden+Kennedy's turn. Who will be next? Not that it really matters. If the brand changes hands every 18 months, quite a few agencies will have their chance if they wait just a bit.

Toronto-based Fuse Marketing has announced Marc Pelland as creative technologist and the promotion of Brie Taylor to director of client services.  Pelland, who comes to Fuse from Infusion, has amassed years of experience as a creative technologist including positions at Critical Mass, Union and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. His work on brands such as Microsoft, Samsung and BAE has garnered him a Cannes Lion, One Show Pencil and a Clio for his work at CP+B. Of joining Fuse, Pelland said: “My focus is on building unique interactive experiences using any available tools. My mandate …