10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today
2. This is the story of Rocket Fuel - the brand pilloried for allegedly serving ads to bots, and its fightback with some artificial intelligence of its own. Rocket Fuel was reported to be the victim of chronic ad fraud last year (allegations it denies), but now the company has built a free tool called Traffic Scanner for the entire industry to use which it hopes will help educate people about the issue.
3. American Eagle stopped airbrushing lingerie models and now sales are soaring. Since January, ads for the company's Aerie line have featured models without airbrushing - sales of the line were up 9% last quarter.
4. Here's what Richard Branson needs to do to bounce back from the Virgin Galactic crash. A crisis management expert has told us Branson handled the initial response to the crash well but that Virgin also needs to be more upfront about what is known and what isn't and keep communicating.
5. Advertisers can now target you based on the comments you leave on websites. Comment hosting device Disqus, which works with sites like Rolling Stone and The Atlantic, is rolling out advertising in the UK and US.
6. Microsoft Advertising has promoted two senior executives shortly after announcing huge lay-offs in its ad sales team. In a letter from Microsoft Advertising sent to agency CEOs, seen by Business Insider, says recent changes have been made so the division is "best able to align to the needs of our customer, our company and the industry."
7. This is why CVS till receipts are so long. Its CMO suggests the retailer's loyalty program is to blame, but it may just be that CVS is enjoying all the free advertising it is getting on social media from customers posting pictures of their about the incredibly long receipts.
8. Adweek explores whether Target should put "Alex from Target," the member of staff who has shot to stardom on social media for his Justin Bieber-esque looks, in one of its ad campaigns. Marketing experts say the move could be "brilliant"...or turn dark.
9. HP is under fire for featuring an "illegal" pet iguana in one of its ads, AdNews reports. Australian animal charity, the Invasive Species Council, says the tech firm should be given the "dunce's hat" and should be forced to make an apology as the import and keeping of green iguanas is illegal in the country.
10. Emirates is ending its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup, amid the negative publicity surrounding alleged corruption at football's governing body, Business Insider Australia reports. Emirates said in a statement "This decision was made following an evaluation of FIFA's contract proposal which did not meet Emirates' expectations."