Posts made in June, 2017

on Jun 28, 2017

By Tony Connelly Google is spending heavily on lobbying governments and communications staff as part of its strategy to protect its image from allegations of tax avoidance and failure to curb extremist content online. According to the EU Transparency Register Google spent €4.25m on lobbying Brussels last year and currently has 14 people directly involved in lobbying the EU, nine of whom have clearance to enter the European parliament. While having lobbyist is not uncommon for big companies, Google’s level of spend far outstrips other brands. By comparison Tesco, one of the UK’s biggest retailers, has one staff member in Brussels and spent Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 28, 2017

By Laurie Fullerton The iconic chef and cooking show host Julia Childs will never be replaced by technology, but in a true “first,” Meredith Corporation announced today that it has integrated its Allrecipes cooking content from Amazon Alexa to be among the first cooking skills product for Amazon Echo Show devices. With this new launch, Allrecipes will enable users to not only speak commands to select from among multiple recipe images, but voice activation will also play, pause and navigate videos shown on the Amazon Echo Show’s seven-inch touchscreen. “With this skill, Allrecipes turns the cooking show of the past into an Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 28, 2017

By Katie Deighton Mother has today (28 June) announced an investment in virtual and augmented reality startup Dream Reality Interactive (DRI), signaling a recognition of the growing role of the technologies in communications. DRI was founded by Dave Ranyard, who in his previous job as head of Sony London Studio worked on PlayStation’s foray into the world of VR. Based in London’s King’s Cross, his team are currently working on projects such as Hold the World, Factory 42’s new production for Sky that features Sir David Attenborough in VR hologram form. DRI has also secured funding from Phil Harrison, the former Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 28, 2017

By Ayesha Salim Data is growing exponentially and marketers are looking for technology solutions to unify their data in one place. A Data Management Platform (DMP) is a piece of software that collects data from multiple sources and makes it useful for brands, publishers, and agencies. But with so many DMP offerings in the marketplace, and with 43% of marketers are struggling to transform data into real-time action, which one should marketers choose? Earlier this month, The Drum in association with marketing technology company Mapp Digital, gathered thought leaders in the industry at a breakfast session to discuss some of these Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Jun 28, 2017

By Andrew Eborn If a week is a long time in politics it does not take the digital dexterity of our favourite figure fudger Diane Abbott to work out a year is even longer. So one year on since the nation voted to Leave, what of the Brexit negotiations which started last Monday, 19 June? Visual gag of the week was undoubtedly Her Majesty delivering her Brexit Queen’s Speech wearing her EU hat. I have had the honour of meeting various members of the royal family on several occasions. I’m delighted that their sense of humour, warmth and compassion is finally being acknowledged Read full story › Source: The Drum...