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Chris Martin of Coldplay sings "Adventure of a Lifetime" during the 2015 American Music Awards in Los Angeles
1. Snapchat is taking big steps to improve its advertising offering. Advertisers report that the photo-sharing app has opened up more targeting and measurement tools and that its sales teams are more proactive than they once were.
2. Subway has hired Coca-Cola's former chief marketing officer Joe Tripodi to lead its global marketing, Adweek reports. Tripodi replaces Tony Pace who stepped down in the summer to form his own marketing company.
3. Starboard Value, the activist investor that wants Yahoo to sell its core business presented to its board on Wednesday. Yahoo's nine-member board concludes three days of meetings to discuss the future of its business today.
4. Ad tech company Turn is laying off around 14% of its staff (57 of around 400 employees) in a cost-cutting drive designed to address its cash issues, AdExchanger reports. The DSP (demand-side platform) is is also moving the business away from a SaaS (software as a service) model to focus on traditional ad sales deals, according to the report.
5. GE's chief marketing officer Linda Boff told Business Insider she's done with advertising on primetime TV. She's only spending TV ad dollars on live events.
6. Google's new ads let you actually play a game before you download it. The new format, "Trial Run," is a form of mobile-app install ad.
7. These are the 15 retailers that dominated in 2015. From Nike to Aerie.
8. Coldplay will be the 2016 Super Bowl halftime act. The show is sponsored by Pepsi.
9. Cisco recently released a string of advertisements with a frightening hacking scenario. Security experts tell us the story is actually a fairly accurate portrayal of what could happen.
10. Digiday reveals the price of a Twitter Moments ad is $1 million. Brands that have bought Moments ads so far include Starbucks, REI, and Verizon.