Adpulp
Advertising News and Know-How
The Trump Administration wants to make a deal with the advertising industry. The deal goes like this: Support our friends who own far-right media outlets, and we'll let you go about your business. Given how elite universities, the legal profession, and the free press have been treated recently, it's not surprising that Omnicom's proposed $13.5 billion acquisition of The Interpublic Group of Companies has raised …
Continue Reading about Trump’s FTC Wants to Protect Far-Right Media Outlets →
Meta is an advertising-fueled juggernaut. Its fourth quarter income was $48.39 billion, up 21% from the prior year. The company is minting money, and recently, Mark Zuckerberg said his company plans to further disrupt the advertising business with AI-assisted automation. According to two articles in The Guardian, Facebook's new AI-powered tools will autogenerate an entire ad campaign, including images, video, and …
Continue Reading about No Humans Needed: Machines Will Make and Distribute the Ads →
The election came and went, but the campaigning never ends. Welcome to the new not normal, where the Trump administration invests millions of dollars in advertising to persuade people who have already voted. Maybe you've seen the commercial from the Department of Homeland Security featuring its newly appointed leader, Kristi Noem (the former Governor of South Dakota). The anti-immigrant spot has been running …
Continue Reading about The Trump Team and His Backers Believe in the Power of Advertising →
Associated Press reporters have been barred from the White House and Air Force One because the venerable media business refuses to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. On the other side of the Constitutional issue is The Washington Post, which is doing whatever it can to please the nation's Supreme Ruler. (Are you surprised? The newspaper is owned by billionaire tech bro, Jeff Bezos. And if we've …
Continue Reading about Democracy Did Not Die In Darkness, But A Formerly Important Newspaper Did →
Google, Apple, Microsoft, et al, would rather kiss the Supreme Ruler's ring than provide accurate information to its customers. According to The Guardian, Google’s online and mobile calendars no longer include references to Black History Month, Women’s History Month and LGBTQ+ holidays, among other events. Google is also rolling back its previous commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in its …
Continue Reading about America’s Top Technology Firms No Longer A Reliable Source of Truth →
Mergers and acquisitions—it's one way to grow a company beholden to its shareholders. Ad industry holding companies know all about it, given that they regularly acquire and then "hold" what were once independent and innovate agencies. Earlier this month in what could become the merger of all mergers, Omnicom announced its intentions to acquire Interpublic Group in a deal worth $31 billion. In their official press …
Continue Reading about Holding Companies Seek Even Greater Profits In New M&A Deal →
In Texas, the Attorney General's office has a nasty habit of using the courts to interfere with citizens groups, churches, and others working for the common good. Now, Florida is taking the litigious path. The state's Surgeon General's office wants to bring criminal charges against any broadcasters airing an advertisement it doesn't like. Right now, the far-right administration in Tallahassee doesn't like ads …
Continue Reading about Federal Judge in Florida “Keeps It Simple for the State of Florida” →
Advertising is a parasite that depends on the blood of its host—news and entertainment content—for its survival. When the body or in this case the media industry is sick, the parasite too will suffer. This is the conclusion, although not the language, of Mike Follett, managing director of eye-tracking company Lumen Research (and a former agency-side account planner). He spoke to Nathan Heller of The New …
Continue Reading about When Content Degrades and Distracts, Advertising Suffers Too →
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