Companies show off a lot of weird stuff at CES--connected dog collars, smart litter boxes and even shoes that can detect when you fall and send an alert to friends' or family members' phones. But this week's creepiest and oddest booth is for a company called Psychasec. Psychasec bills itself vaguely as technology that morphs...
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The Most Disturbing Booth at CES Is Actually an Ad for Netflix’s New Sci-Fi Show
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Facebook Users Want to Know More While Keeping Their Eyes on the Road
Facebook users are interested in being able to access more information while driving, without having to turn their eyes away from the road. Automotive head up display was one of Facebook IQ's Topics to Watch for December, along with associated topics automatic transmission, BMW, BMW 5 Series, backup camera, blind spot monitor, Bluetooth, headlamp, parking...
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Cindy Crawford Is Recreating Her Iconic Pepsi Spot for the Super Bowl, 26 Years Later
Cindy Crawford will drink a Pepsi for the Super Bowl again. The supermodel has recreated her iconic 1992 Super Bowl ad with a new 30-second spot for the Big Game on Feb. 4 in Minneapolis. The new version, which will also star her son, Presley Gerber, kicks off yearlong a campaign about "Pepsi Generations" that...
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Google Created a Giant Voice-Activated Gumball Machine to Promote Its Digital Assistant
Digital assistants are learning to activate a lot of things. They're used to activating phones, lights, speakers, televisions and cars. Now, Google is taking a more playful route to promote its own Google Assistant this week in Las Vegas. At the Consumer Electronics Show, Google has supersized the way people interact with its artificial intelligence...
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NBC Has ‘Less Than 10’ Super Bowl Ad Slots Available With Just 3 Weeks to Go
With just three and a half weeks to go before Super Bowl LII, NBC has nearly sold out of its inventory for the game. The network has "less than 10" in-game slots available, Dan Lovinger, evp ad sales, NBC Sports Group, told reporters today. The company is averaging "more than $5 million for a 30-second...
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A Condemned Man Gets a Whopper for His Last Meal in Burger King’s New Ad
We sure are seeing some unusual themes in advertising in 2018. Ikea made the ad you pee on, and now Burger King is rolling out a spot set on death row. The commercial, by agency Buzzman, is from France, a country that abolished the death penalty many decades ago. (So, perhaps they can laugh about...
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Behind the 32-Year-Old National Lacrosse League’s Surprisingly Nimble Digital Strategy
Nick Sakiewicz has a lot on his plate. As the commissioner of the National Lacrosse League, he's constantly trying to figure out how to take the three-decades-old niche sport and grow it in an era where it can be nimble in arenas that previous leagues, at their outsets, didn't have available. Sakiewicz said that because...
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Walmart Is Closing Over 60 Sam’s Club Stores in an Effort to Amp Up Its Ecommerce Strategy
We're only 11 days into 2018 but Walmart is making it clear that this year, it's waging a bigger war with Amazon. In a press release, Walmart stated that it 63 Sam's Club stores around the country will close. Twelve of those stores will instead become "ecommerce fulfillment centers," with the first one in Memphis,...
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HBO’s New Drama About Power-Hungry Siblings Distances Itself From Rupert Murdoch
With the final season of Game of Thrones on hold until 2019, HBO is looking to its other dramas to keep audiences entertained in the interim. Westworld will return for its sophomore season this spring, and then pass the baton to new drama Succession, which will premiere in June. Succession revolves around four children battling...
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VIDEO: 3 CES Takeways From Mastercard CMO Raja Rajamannar
After marathon sojourns through CES 2018 this week, Raja Rajamannar, CMO of Mastercard, came away with three observations that will guide the brand's marketing efforts in 2018 and beyond: simplicity, accelerating AI and improved cross-border communications. "Simplification is taking two routes: putting everything together in one device or making it have a single function," said...
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How Technology Is Creating New Sonic Identities For Brands
The importance of audio as a brand marketing tool will accelerate quickly as it is increasingly twinned with AI applications to enhance consumer journeys. That was the CES 2018 take away for Pandora's newly minted CMO Aim?e Lapic, who is seeing more lifestyle brands becoming integrated into consumer electronics devices than ever before. "This trend...
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How CES Highlights the Speed of Change for Brands
Joshua Spanier, senior marketing director of global media for Google came away from CES with a very clear view of just how fast technology development is outpacing consumers' ability to make sense of it, never mind adopt it. Spanier pointed to the huge curved screens from LG and their inevitable convergence with AI and IOT...
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Move to America? Maybe if Trump Leaves, Say Norway’s Top Creatives
President Trump this week sparked a great deal of consternation by reportedly dismissing Haiti and some African nations as "shithole countries" while desiring more immigrants from, specifically, Norway. Trump likely picked Norway because of his positive meeting this week with conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg, and given the electoral success of the country's right leaning...
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ESPN Is Taking Its ‘First Real Stab’ at a Morning TV Show
ESPN is shaking up its morning schedule beginning April 2, as the sports network launches a three-hour morning show called Get Up in an effort to attract audiences during one of the only times of day when TV viewing is still a regular part of their schedule. The series, which will feature Michelle Beadle, Mike...
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Majority of Consumers Want Brands to Take a Stand on Social and Political Issues, According to New Study
Most consumers want brands to weigh in on social and political issues, according to a new survey by social media management and analytics company Sprout Social entitled "Championing Change in the Age of Social Media." The Sprout Social study contradicted a study from the 4A's last May. "Consumers are not looking to brands to take...
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Usain Bolt on His Partnership With Philips, Burgeoning DJ Career and Love of Snapchat
In a race to find the future of tech, even the fastest man in the world might have trouble navigating a crowded convention hall. Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt visited the Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas, where he was able to explore a few areas of interest to him unrelated to running:...
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Facebook Harmonized With Global Music Rights, HFA/Rumblefish, Kobalt Music Publishing
Music continued to fill the air in Menlo Park, Calif., as Facebook announced three new partnerships with music publishers, coming on the heels of its deal with Sony/ATV earlier this week and its pact with Universal Music Group, inked in December. Facebook head of music business development and partnerships Tamara Hrivnak--who joined the social network...
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VIDEO: 5 Internet of Things Devices That Grabbed OMD’s Attention at CES
Looking for a cuddly robot? Or maybe you're interested in a pair of shoes that can detect when you've fallen and call for help? Good news--CES has a startup for you. Eureka Park, the area of the conference that focuses on startups, is full of Internet of Things devices and future-forward ideas. There's Buddy, the...
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On Facebook’s Nuclear Bomb
On Thursday night, Mark Zuckerberg dropped the digital equivalent of a nuclear bomb on the media industry. In a post, Facebook's CEO said that its 2 billion users will "see less public content like posts from businesses, brands and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard." The...
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VIDEO: HQ Trivia Host Scott ‘Quiz Daddy’ Rogowsky Talks About His First CES
Instead of taking off this week from his usual duties as host of the popular app-based trivia game HQ Trivia, Scott Rogowsky went live from Las Vegas, where he spent time on the showroom floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center during the annual Consumer Electronics Show. The gig, part of a partnership with Super...
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