The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Microsoft is hiving off yet more of its advertising sales business to AppNexus. The ad tech company is now taking over Microsoft display ad sales across 58 global markets, up from 39 previously.
2. Publicis Groupe has announced a major re-organization. The French advertising agency holding group will be split into four divisions: Publicis Communications, Publicis Media, Publicis Sapient, and Publicis Healthcare.
3. YouTube wants to compete with Netflix and Amazon for streaming shows. The company's executives are reportedly meeting with Hollywood studios and other production companies to negotiate licenses for new content.
4. HSBC's layoffs have extended to its marketing department. Among those leaving is HSBC's global head of marketing for commercial banking, global banking, and markets Amanda Rendle, who had been with the company for 15 years.
5. People are saying a German supermarket has released the most heartbreaking Christmas ad ever. The spot, for Edeka, shows an elderly man who fakes his own death in order to get his family to spend time together.
6. Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky has blamed the company's ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day for the billboard campaign that outraged San Francisco residents. Chesky said the campaign, which suggested the public should be thankful for its $12 million hotel taxes contribution, was "ill-advised" and "made us look like jerks."
7. The list of potential buyers for Yahoo is already being drawn up. Candidates include Verizon, News Corp, Comcast, and Disney - although the list is highly speculative at this point.
8. Teens still don't think Facebook is cool, but they use it more than any other site. That's according ot a new study from research firm Forrester.
9. American Eagle's lingerie brand is thriving. Aerie, which defied norms last year by refusing to airbrush ads, saw sales soar 21% in its most recent quarter.
10. Coca-Cola has pulled an ad in Mexico that people claimed was insulting to indigenous people, AP reports. The "Open Your Heart" holiday campaign depicted a truck full of "fashion model-looking white people driving into the remote hills of Oaxaca hauling Coke and a Christmas tree as a service project."