Facebook’s data breach has major implications for how social networks use our data, but will this be the end of Facebook? Probably not. According to Global Web Index, 98% of internet users are social media users, Facebook is just too big to abandon. The real implication for brands is how consumer behavior will shift as a result.

In recent years we have seen a shift on consumer behavior on major platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Instead of using the platforms primarily to share content, consumer are leveraging them more to consume it.  To understand the consumer reaction to Facebook’s breach, we have to take a look at why, and how people use Facebook.

While some are abandoning the platform, there most likely won’t be a mass exodus. The primary reason people use Facebook is to stay in touch with loved ones, it’s also the platform with the broadest reach. The next reason, to stay-up-to-date on news and current events. The desire to stay in touch with loved ones, and stay current is not going to change, breech or not.

What will change? How people engage with the platform, and what information they are willing to share. We’ve already seen calls from consumers to check which apps have access to their Facebook data, and to cut those off. This will translate into consumers be less likely to mindlessly share data on the platform, for the sake of a fun quiz or an easy log-in. Consumers are becoming more wary of what they share, and where they share it. 

For brands, we can no longer assume we can just plug into Facebook get the consumer data we want for a campaign or activation. Consumers are already sharing less, that trend will continue. As marketers we must be more cognizant than ever, that the experiences we create must provide real value, if we want to leverage consumers data to get there. We have to police ourselves, and focus on the consumer benefit and behavior.

Today, a group of women advertising agency leaders announced the launch
of TIME’S UP™/ADVERTISING, the first official vertical under the TIME’S UP™ movement,
which was launched at the end of 2017 by women across the entertainment industry. The
ultimate goal is that stand alone TIME’S UP verticals such as TIME’S UP/Advertising help pave
the way for every industry to take a critical look at its organizational structure and systemic
imbalances to ensure safety and equality for everyone, everywhere.

TIME’S UP/ADVERTISING will drive new policies, practices, decisions, and tangible actions that
result in more balanced, diverse, and accountable leadership; address workplace discrimination,
harassment, and abuse; and create equitable and safe cultures within the advertising industry.

Actions outlined by signatories include:
● Committing to creating solutions that work, starting with examining the processes and
policies that have failed us.
● Identifying and mentoring people who represent diversity across the board and are ready
to become agency leaders.
● Adopting progressive agency training and education that brings this discussion and its
solutions out into the open with our agencies.

The group will host the first TIME’S UP/Advertising community meetings on Monday, May 14th
in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Women within advertising agencies are
invited and encouraged to bring their voices and recommendations to these meetings to ensure
a range of expertise and experiences is incorporated as the charter is built and developed.

More than 150 women CEOs, CCOs, CSOs, and other C-suite executives (or equivalent) in
leadership positions at advertising agencies across the United States launched TIME’S
UP/Advertising by publishing a letter entitled “Hey, Sisters,” which announced the initiative and
outlined the goals of this newly formed group. TIME’S UP/Advertising is encouraging any
company in the advertising industry—whether or not it is run by a woman—to join this effort by
committing to the items listed on the TIME’S UP/Advertising website (timesupadvertising.com).

TIME’S UP/Advertising will post goals and track progress on its site.

TIME’S UP/Advertising will also drive contributions and raise funds for the TIME’S UP Legal
Defense Fund, which provides subsidized legal services for individuals subjected to workplace
sexual harassment and abuse.

More information, including the he introductory letter of intent, a list of signatories, events and
news can be found at timesupadvertising.com.

March 1, 2018

The Martin Agency announced the remainder of its executive management team today on the heels of Kristen Cavallo being named Chief Executive Officer and Karen Costello’s promotion to Chief Creative Officer.

“Today we doubled the representation of female leaders on the executive committee to give men and women equal opportunity for success,” said Cavallo. “Gender discrimination isn’t an HR issue. It’s a culture issue. And the fastest way to change a culture is to level the playing field in leadership.” Making it her first priority as CEO she said, “I’m proud of this news. But we’re not done. Not by a long shot. We’re not diverse enough. We see it. We’re on it.”

50% of officers at The Martin Agency are female.

CCO Karen Costello added, “I love the ambition and multidisciplinary talent of these leaders. They share a collective vision to nurture a culture of collaboration, innovation and positive change. The feeling of momentum inside the agency is palpable.”

The agency will retain its executive committee structure with nine members including four new appointments and one newly created position.

Carmina Drummond will take on the newly created role of Chief Culture Officer. Formerly SVP/Managing Director of Agency Operations, she has always made it a priority to build the agency’s culture. In her new role, Drummond will be in charge of diversity and inclusion, learning and development initiatives, and employee satisfaction.

Along with Cavallo and Costello, Drummond joins a fourth female executive member, Chief Financial Officer Janet White.

Chris Mumford has been promoted from Managing Director to President. He will continue to serve as the account leader across all of the agency’s client relationships. His primary focus will be the coordination of IPG integrated service offerings for the clients who access multiple disciplines across the network, including accounts such as TIAA and GEICO. Mumford earned his MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Steve Humble has been elevated from Managing Director of Integrated Content Production and Development to Chief Operating Officer. He was recruited to Martin to spearhead the agency’s rise to a TV production heavyweight and played an integral role in the last five years in its digital conversion. He is the architect of the agency’s in-house in social content unit and its editorial and animation facility, Running With Scissors. Humble’s responsibilities will include building new capabilities along with amplifying the efficiency and growth of our Richmond headquarters.

Jerry Hoak has also been appointed to the executive committee as Executive Creative Director, Managing Director. He has been instrumental in shaping the creative direction of the company, in tandem with Karen Costello. Hoak will continue to work closely with Costello, implementing a progressive creative vision across the agency. He is also a graduate of Richmond’s own VCU Brandcenter, Class of 2005 

Chief Strategy Officer Michael Chapman and Chief Marketing Officer Chris Shumaker round out the slate of nine executive committee members.

Oreo hopes to see ‘Pokemon Go’ success in its own scavenger hunt AR game

FEBRUARY 16, 2018 by Ilyse Liffreing

More brands are developing their own augmented reality experiences, as the expense and technical ability needed to produce them have decreased and the desire for mobile entertainment has grown. Oreo is the latest, building its own mobile gaming app called “The Great Oreo Cookie Quest,” which engages users with a virtual scavenger hunt.

Oreo’s game gives users clues to find virtual Oreos in the world around them. Using object-recognition technology, the app can detect whether an object is correct and reveal hidden Oreos. For example, a daily clue like, “What puts hands on your wrist?” will prompt users to scan their watch, revealing an Oreo on their phone’s screen. Each virtual cookie is assigned a point value based on how difficult the clue is, and in a leaderboard, users can see how they compare to their friends on Facebook or Twitter, as well as users around the world. Users can scan real Oreos to enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to either Google’s headquarters in California or a trip to Africa.

“The Great Oreo Cookie Quest” involves Oreo’s partnership with Google, which began in August 2016. Prizes are randomly attached to virtual Oreos, and many are Google-related. For instance, users can win Google Play points or Pixel phones. In Europe and Latin America, the game connects even more with Google. There, the game will be promoted with an image of the Google Android robot.

The game is similar to that of “Pokemon Go,” which launched in 2016 and was one of the first popular AR games, where users search for virtual Pokemon in their surroundings. Users can even store their Oreos in their “Cookiedex,” like the Pokedex in “Pokemon Go.”

“We learned a lot from looking at cases like ‘Pokemon Go’ in terms of best practices for keeping players engaged, sharing with friends and building a groundswell movement about it,” said Justin Parnell, director of brand marketing at Oreo.

The Martin Agency created the game, which took six months to produce, with the help of partners Carat and Gravity Jack. It launched on iOS and Android at the end of January in the U.K. and will roll out across Europe, Russia, Latin America and perhaps the U.S. depending on its performance.

“We wanted to create a proprietary property that allowed us to do exactly what we wanted with regards to object recognition, in an environment that was 100 percent Oreo,” said Andrew Watson, vp and creative director at The Martin Agency. To promote the game, The Martin Agency is rolling out one spot for TV and four for social.

While it’s Oreo’s first social AR game, it’s not the first time the brand has used object-recognition technology. In February 2017, Oreo worked with Google on the Oreo Dunk Challenge app. Users scanned Oreos in the app and then, with the help of Google Earth, launched them into the stratosphere before dunking them into a glass of milk in different locations around the world.

“People are spending more time on mobile than any other device, and they are using it more and more for entertainment,” said Parnell.

Read full article here.

Marty? You're all "who the heck is Marty?!" 

We can tell you that Marty isn’t a who at all but rather a what.

THE MARTIN AGENCY'S AWESOME BETA-TRIAL-FOR-WORKING-HERE-PROGRAM. 
Marty is mutually beneficial for both of us. “A win/win?” you ask. “For how?!”

Well, for you it's great because it brings you into our office for eight weeks to work with us like a real full-time employee, working on real brands, real campaigns, getting real feedback and probably selling real ideas. And it's great for us because we want to want to hire you. And this very program has been the jump-off point for some of our most talented talent.

So, dive right in and apply today. They say the road to a career in advertising starts with a single visit to a website on the internet. Yep. That’s something they definitely say.

Everything you need to know can be found here.

Geico Ads Interrupt Other Geico Ads in the Brand’s Latest Fun Preroll Gag
Leaning in to the annoyance of the medium
By Tim Nudd

The Martin Agency has done plenty of experiments with Geico preroll ads—front-loading them with the marketing message so they’re unskippable; fast-forwarding through them to save you time; and crushing them down to a more manageable size.

In the fourth year of their preroll shenanigans, they’re trying something a little different. They’re leaning in to the interruptive nature of the medium—by interrupting the ads with other ads.

It’s called “Interrupt-a-palooza.” There are six ads total. Here are three of them.

The earlier “Unskippable,” “Fast Forward” and “Crushed” campaigns tried to give the viewer a better preroll experience. “Interrupt-a-palooza” does, too—but in a way that amplifies the normally most annoying aspect of the form. You still have to sit through the 15 seconds, but at least you get a bit of subversive, meta comedy along the way.

“In the previous three rounds of pre-roll work, we played with the concept of time. First by skipping to the end, then fast-forwarding through the middle, and last year, condensing our ads,” says creative director Neel Williams. “This year, we took a different approach, but still kept things very self-aware. Rather than apologize for the interruption, we thought it would be fun to lean into it.”

“Getting interrupted before watching an online video is not exactly a Ferris wheel ride,” adds associate creative director Mauricio Mazzariol. “So, these new Interrupt-a-palooza ads are supposed to bring some humor to the issue by embracing the disruptive nature of pre-roll and taking it to a whole new level.”

The work was directed by Terri Timely of Park Pictures, who also did the original “Unskippable” campaign.

Link to full article here.