The 10 things in advertising you need to know today
1. Snapchat just launched a new website to explain exactly why advertisers should spend hundreds of dollars per day on it. Snapchat is reportedly generating hundreds of thousands per day from its video sponsorships.
2. Instagram just completely revamped its search and discover features. Since day one, Snapchat has wanted users to be able to check out pictures of events as they're happening, and more easily browse by location or hashtag.
3. This update is going to transform the way you travel. With Instagram's new location search, you can finally search for photos taken at specific locations, which could make it your go-to app for finding travel destinations.
4. Advertisers don't care about millennials anymore. Big advertising firms like WPP are now focusing their attention on under-18s, or "centennials."
5. Vice and Unilever believe that soon people will only buy products from companies that "do good" for society and the planet. Millennials working at Vice demanded that the company's new office was sustainable, carbon neutral, had zero emissions, and had a green roof, and Vice chief creative officer Eddy Moretti believes this is a sign of things to come.
6. Facebook has been looking at an alternative to the like button that reads your facial expressions and sends your friends an appropriate cartoon face. The function would convert your facial expression from a selfie.
7. Vice and Unilever have partnered to launch a new women's focused content channel called Broadly. It will launch in August and will also be distributed on YouTube, Snapchat, and regular television.
8. AOL believes the rise of ad blocking could actually become an "opportunity" for tech firms. But the company's chief marketing officer Allie Kline predicts companies that don't have a strong premium content offer or ad tech offer could start dropping out over the next 18 months.
9. Wal-Mart is testing a revolutionary new barcode technology that could get rid of long lines at checkout registers. Invisible watermarking lets scanners read barcodes from anywhere on a product's packaging, so you don't have to waste time searching for a barcode.
10. Founder of Rancher Labs Sheng Liang, who sold his last startup Cloud.com for $200 million to Citrix, thinks Amazon and Google are "weak." He believes the big cloud vendors are already behind the curve because they come from a previous generation of such firms.