The Rubicon Project, a digital advertising platform for buyers and sellers, has revealed its plans to sell its shares publicly. The LA-based company follows a number of ad tech firms that have tested public markets within the past year, including Criteo, RocketFuel, Tremor Video, YuMe among others.
TGI Fridays will try to lure Twitter users with chicken wings during Valentine's Day week into becoming part of its following, which currently totals 63,100 on the social media platform. In an effort running Feb. 10 through Feb. 14, consumers can win a $15 gift card toward a plate of wings by following @tgifridays and tweeting #thankswingman.
Fights between broadcasters and pay TV over carriage deals always makes for good copy, and a new coalition in Washington is about to make sure there's a lot more for the press to chew on. TVFreedom.org launched today to defend broadcasters and "tell the truth" about the U.S. video marketplace.
Microsoft’s new CEO comes with a fresh deal with Foursquare, boosting the young mobile app company and creating stronger ties between the companies. The two had been growing close, and there were talks last year of Microsoft even buying Foursquare, according to sources. That was before New York-based Foursquare and its CEO, Dennis Crowley, secured new venture capital late last year. In December, it raised $35 million, bringing its total funding to more than $100 million since 2009.
The crush of Super Bowl promos Fox aired in support of The Following didn’t appear to give it much of a boost, as Monday night’s installment delivered the lowest ratings in the slumping sophomore thriller’s history.
In marketing, sometimes the greatest obstacle to greatness can be attempting to re-create greatness. Advertising seems to know only how to cheapen art, making it incredibly rare to find an homage that doesn't feel like a commercialized cardboard cutout of the original. So it was ambitious enough for The Sunday Times and agency Grey London to attempt this ad devoted to iconic moments in art, music and film. But then they doubled down by choosing to create one seamless take that brings each of these masterworks to life.
Time Inc. CEO Joe Ripp is continuing his winnowing of the publishing company ahead of its spinoff from Time Warner, announcing layoffs while eliminating the longtime brand operating clusters that contained the company’s diverse titles. Instead of having News/Business/Sports, Style & Entertainment and Lifestyle groups, a legacy of the former CEO Ann Moore years, the company’s titles—including 25 U.S.
The Food and Drug Administration is hoping a little fear can go a long way in warning teens of the cost of smoking. In the agency's first national public education campaign ads dramatize the health consequences of smoking mixed with a little bit of vanity to convince teens not to smoke. Created by Draftfcb, in one set of ads, an African-American male teen and a white female teen are told by a clerk in a convenience store that the money they've just laid down for a pack of smokes isn't enough. The male then takes a pair of pliers and rips out his teeth.
Yahoo announced a new ad partnership today with Mocean Mobile. Both companies are looking to rev up their mobile ad businesses through the new Mocean Mobile Marketplace. “Mocean Mobile will work with Yahoo to help advertisers and publishers efficiently buy and sell premium mobile inventory,” the companies said in a press release today.
Cartoon Network is losing the 8 p.m. hour to Adult Swim, the edgy sister network that shares its space on the dial. Adult Swim has been one of Turner's most significant success stories in recent years, with consistently high ratings among its hard-to-reach target demo, while Cartoon has struggled against competitors Nickelodeon and Disney. For 2013, Adult Swim finished the year in first place among adults 18-34 in total day and came in only second to TBS in primetime, despite not actually airing during the 8 p.m. hour.
