Career News 24/7: The 10 Things In Advertising You Need To Know Today

December 03, 2014

Good morning, here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today.

1. Where models are looking in ads can make a huge difference in engaging consumers. Heatmaps overlaying ads, generated using eye-tracking technology, reveal that when a model's eyes look at the product, a viewer's eyes are drawn to the product and headline too, an important factor in generating sales.

2. Victoria's Secret has called on Taylor Swift to drive sales. The singer performs two songs in this year's Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which airs Dec. 9 on CBS.

3. The UK's biggest newspaper publisher, News UK, has numbers out for both The Times and The Sun, which it says prove its digital paywall strategy is working. The Times' digital subscriber number was up 8% year-on-year to 152,000 and the company that operates the newspaper has swung back into profit for the first time since 2001.

4. This crazy Japanese ad featuring a double-barreled "Shrimp Cannon" is predictably addictive. The add is for cellphone carrier NTT Docomo Inc. and has been watched on YouTube more than 8 million times.

5. Teen retailers are grappling with not being cool any more. Abercrombie, Aeropostale, and American Eagle will all announce earnings this week, and analysts expect lackluster results.

6. WPP has signed a $1.25 billion contract with IBM, the companies announced in a press release. WPP says the 7-year services contract will enable the world's biggest advertising company to develop new digital services, expand the use of big data and analytics, and foster greater collaboration within a global cloud infrastructure.

7. Billionaire investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban doesn't think streaming services like Netflix will replace cable TV any time soon. He told the audience at Business Insider's Ignition conference that most Netflix hits are only popular because they appeared on TV first and that viewers still demand a "front-end presentation" (not always just what they want when they want it.)

8. A top Apple analyst has described iAd as a "mobile ad zombie." Speaking at Business Insider's Ignition, Piper Jaffray's senior research analyst Gene Munster said "Apple has really missed the boat," AdAge reports.

9. Pharrell and Cara Delevingne star in a holiday campaign for Chanel, Adweek reports. The fantasy-themed ad, created by Karl Lagerfeld, tells the story of the history of the brand.

10. Google is redoubling efforts to attract more brand advertising that largely flows through TV, The Wall Street Journal's CMO Today reports. Neal Mohan, Google's vice president of display and video advertising, says the company is providing new ways to measure how ads perform, with tools like "brand lift studies."