by Mark Walsh on Jun 17, 2:54 PM
With Apple announcing its own music streaming service last week, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Starbucks promoting iTunes Radio when it launches this fall. After all, Apple has a longstanding relationship with the coffee chain around selling music in stores via iTunes. But for now, there’s another new music service being promoted on Starbucks Digital Network: Google’s
All Access. Google is sponsoring the
login page for the Starbucks’ Wi-Fi-based, in-store network, offerings customers a 30-day free trial of All Access and extending the promotional discount of $2 a month off the $9.99 subscription price for …
by Mark Walsh on Jun 17, 12:22 PM
Continuing to broaden its content offerings, Fandango over the weekend launched a new series called “Summer of Action” previewing new blockbuster releases during the peak movie-going season. Hosting the five-episode program that runs until September is the “beauty and brawn” pairing of TV host Tiffany Smith and ex-mixed martial arts star and actor Chuck Liddell. Each episode will feature movie trailers, photo galleries, behind-the-scenes footage and fan interviews, along with the ability to buy tickets. Launch sponsor for the Summer of Action site is Gillette, with a home page takeover promoting its Fusion ProGlide Slivertouch razor as part …
by P.J. Bednarski on Jun 17, 9:56 AM
Netflix and DreamWorks Animation this morning announced a multi-year deal in which the studio agreed to premiere new original series spotlighting characters from movies like “Shrek,” “Madagascar,” “Kung Fu Panda” and others, on Netflix, beginning in 2014. The 300 hours of programming will use characters from those and other DreamWorks franchises and upcoming feature films as well as the Classic Media library, which DreamWorks acquired in 2012 and includes many other popular animated characters. Netflix and DreamWorks earlier announced their first ever Netflix original kids series, “Turbo F.A.S.T.” based on Dream Works’ “Turbo” which opens July 17. The series starts …
by Steve McClellan on Jun 13, 7:59 PM
Sad news out of Interpublic's Deutsch Inc. today-agency founder David Deutsch passed away. He was 84. Deutsch founded David Deutsch Associates in 1969 as a boutique agency with Oneida as its signature account. The agency became known for its sophisticated creative for prestige brands including Crouch & Fitzgerald and Letts of London diaries. David's son Donny joined the agency in 1983 and the firm was renamed Deutsch Inc. in 1989. A year later Donny Deutsch was named president and CEO. David Deutsch retired in 1993. IPG acquired the company in 2000.
by Mark Walsh on Jun 13, 5:06 PM
Moviegoers are watching trailers on PCs and mobile devices more than ever, according to the latest
Nielsen NRG survey. More than half (53%) of moviegoers said they watched previews on the desktop Web last year, up from 47% in 2010. Mobile viewing on previews increased to 15% from 6% in 2010, while tablets have jumped from to 8% from nothing in that period. Yahoo Movies is the top site for catching trailer, with people watching 11.6 million videos in April, followed by IMDb (8.4 million), MSN Movies (3.1 million), Fandango (2.8 million) and Flixster (1.1 …
by Mark Walsh on Jun 13, 4:31 PM
As part of its
ad consolidation effort, Facebook is scrapping sponsore results, the search ad unit it rolled out last year. The format allows advertisers to target search ads to users looking for a particular app, brand page or place on Facebook, with ads labeled as "Sponsored." Facebook told the blog
Inside Facebook it's eliminating sponsored results in July because the ad type has been essentially supplanted by higher-peforming app install ads and page post link ads.The company also introduced sponsored results prior to the launch of Graph Search--its revamped search engine--earlier this year, leading …
by Steve McClellan on Jun 13, 12:55 PM
WPP's MediaCom is hosting a session next Monday at the Cannes advertising festival designed to help attendees "free their inner Elvis," according to the agency. The session, titled, "Free Elvis," will feature creative consultant and author Chris Barez-Brown and MediaCom global chief strategy officer Matthew Mee. Barez-Brown will present his "Upping Your Elvis" approach to creative leadership, which he says is designed to "unlock the power of creativity, possibility and innovation in everyone." Here's the Elvis connection per Barez-Brown: "When Bono was working to eradicate global poverty, he'd turn up at big organizations and ask, 'so who's the Elvis around …
by Laurie Sullivan on Jun 12, 3:27 PM
SEO tech firm Conductor appointed Jim Caci to CFO, leading the company's finance, accounting, human resource and administration departments. Caci will focus on hiring people, partnerships and product innovations. He comes to Conductor from AvePoint, where he served as CFO. Conductor has raised more than $32 million in funding from investors Investor Growth Capital, FirstMark Capital and Matrix Partners.
by Laurie Sullivan on Jun 12, 3:04 PM
SEO tech firm Conductor appointed Jim Caci to CFO, leading the company's finance, accounting, human resource and administration departments. Caci will focus on hiring people, partnerships and product innovations. He comes to Conductor from AvePoint, where he served as CFO. Conductor has raised more than $32 million in funding from investors Investor Growth Capital, FirstMark Capital and Matrix Partners.
by Karl Greenberg on Jun 10, 12:25 PM
Motor is putting the 2014 Mustang into DreamWorks Studios "Need for Speed" due out next year. The film is based on EA's game "Need for Speed." The timing is good as the car is celebrating its 50th this year.