Quibi is paying bloggers to write about its shows to drum up some needed buzz

Hi! Welcome to the Advertising Insider daily for July 28. I'm Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at ljohnson@businessinsider.com

Today: Quibi's partnerships with publishers to build buzz, Omnicom's diversity numbers, and Facebook's upcoming earnings.

Quibi is paying a network of digital media sites to write about its original shows, borrowing a tactic from Netflix, Hulu, and other streamers

• Ashley Rodriguez reports that Quibi is working with bloggers like Static Media to create content about its shows. Static Media's posts about Quibi are labeled as paid for by Quibi.
• The shortform video app launched to disappointing downloads in April and categorized the partnerships with bloggers as market research. Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon also pay publishers like PopSugar and The Atlantic to write about shows with the goal of building buzz around programming.
• Quibi has also beefed up its social media strategy in recent weeks and added a screenshotting feature that can be used to create memes about content.

Read the full story here.

Ad giant Omnicom releases diversity numbers showing 5.5% of US staff is Black — read the internal memo outlining CEO's 8-step action plan

• Patrick Coffee reports that Omnicom CEO John Wren released diversity numbers for the holding company showing that 5.5% of its employees are Black, 10.3% is Hispanic, and 11.1% is Asian.
• The numbers are similar to Omnicom rivals IPG, Dentsu, Publicis, and Havas.
• Wren outlined a number of steps that Omnicom is taking to diversify its staff including expanding its diversity and inclusion team and working with a larger group of related nonprofits.

Read the full story here.

Facebook's earnings report could highlight how quickly the pandemic accelerated the advantage for big tech

• Facebook's second-quarter earnings on Wednesday will give the first full look at the coronavirus' impact on the company, reports Rob Price.
• Big tech companies like Facebook have seen a boom in usage to stay connected during the pandemic.
• Analysts at financial services firm Cowen estimated that Facebook's revenue grew 7.7% year-over-year in the second-quarter partly from the growth of Instagram Stories ads, despite the pandemic. While it will not be reflected in earnings, Facebook also dealt with a mass boycott from large advertisers during July.

Read the full story here.

• Red Bull has shaken up its US leadership and global marketing operation. Here's how the energy drink company has responded to turmoil over Black Lives Matter and calls to increase diversity. (Business Insider)
• Read the memo that Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent to employees telling them to expect to work from home for another year (Business Insider)
• How a beverage brand with less than 100 TikTok followers orchestrated a viral campaign to generate a surge in sales, traffic, and followers (Business Insider)
• Ad spending to drop 9.1 percent globally in 2020, 7.0 percent in U.S.: Forecast (The Hollywood Reporter)
• 600 & Rising merger broadens nonprofit's reach into the PR industry (Ad Age)
• Did Hearst's culture kill Hearst's biggest magazine story? (New York Times)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! You can reach me in the meantime at ljohnson@businessinsider.com and subscribe to this daily email here.

— Lauren