Posts made in April, 2016

on Apr 27, 2016

By John Glenday American media conglomerate Comcast is rumoured to be readying a $3bn takeover of animation specialists DreamWorks, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal. Such a move would enable Comcast to go head-to-head with Disney by licensing hit movie franchises such as Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and Monsters vs. Aliens for commercial purposes and use in theme parks. Any move to purchase wouldn’t come as a complete surprise with DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg having previously been on record as saying he had been searching for a buyer for several years. Even if the purchase proceeds the DreamWorks brands will remain as a separate Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 27, 2016

By John Glenday Volvo is ramping up its focus on driverless cars by conducting the first tests of its prototype systems in Sweden ahead of a London roll-out in 2017. Drive Me London will be carried out in collaboration with Thatcham Research using customised Volvo vehicles fitted with an array of cameras and sensors and will represent a significant advance on previous trials. As such, real families will be asked to test the cars on public roads with collected data used to refine the autonomous vehicles operation in real-world environments. By 2018 Volvo intends to have as many as 100 fully autonomous vehicles navigating Britain’s roads Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 27, 2016

By Ben Kay With 100 days to go to until the Olympics, Rugby World Cup winner turned ad agency partner Ben Kay tells us why sports sponsors must get closer to athletes or risk wasting their investment. With the Rio Olympics now 100 days away, get ready for an avalanche of sport-themed campaigns from the games’ sponsors. There will be shots of athletes looking moody. There will be attempts at humour. There will pumped-up exhilaration. There will even be guerilla marketing from renegade non-sponsors like Paddy Power. But, sadly, there probably won’t be much deep insight. And that’s a crying shame. Because without thorough Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 27, 2016

By Jennifer Faull Topshop has launched an innovation hub in partnership with L Marks, the same backer of fellow high street giant John Lewis’ JLab tech incubator, which it hopes will bring reasonably priced wearable technology to consumers. The innovation programme – dubbed Top Pitch – will discover and develop start-up businesses which can deliver against the ‘accessibly priced tech-enabled fashion product’ brief. “Topshop has long supported emerging talent in creative industries and this project serves to further this aim,” said Sheena Sauvaire, global marketing and communications director at Topshop. “As a brand we champion new platforms of innovation and we see wearable technology Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 27, 2016

By Natalie Mortimer Media company Endemol Shine Beyond UK and Benefit Cosmetics have launched a new female lifestyle channel on YouTube fronted by presenters and social influencers including Fearne Cotton, Emily Hartridge, Sali Hughes and Madeleine Shaw. Targetting women aged 25 and over Pretty Upfront aims to be the go-to destination for style conscious women and will feature three new pieces of content per week with a variety of fashion, beauty, culture and lifestyle strands. The deal was conceived and negotiated by KR Mediacom, with Benefit as brand partner, which will feature across all of Pretty Upfront’s programming in the UK. Marketing director for Read full story › Source: The Drum...