ADVERTISING CREATIVITY FEATURE FILM NEWS OOH NEWS Creativity in advertising is Disney, the world’s Theme-park group Merlin dead. Ad agencies and biggest entertainment Entertainments is slowly their clients couldn’t group, wants to swallow conquering China, soon to disagree more. We listen to up rival 21st Century Fox be the attractions sector’s their reasons Page 9 for $66bn In full edition biggest market In full edition MediaTainment (Abridged) Finance Issue 30 For decision-makers and strategists who value creativity and www.mediatainmentfinance.com appreciate the value creativity brings to business

21ST CENTURY ADVERTISING CREATIVITY A concoction of advance tech, science and, even, modern-day witchcraft MTF talks to avant-garde ad production firm UNIT9 Pages 4-8

TELEVISION NEWS SPORTS NEWS PRINT MEDIA NEWS From online book store to a $1bn Few people outside of The end of an era as TV adaptation of Tolkien, Amazon Canada know how to Time Inc is sold to rival keeps amazing us as it makes one play lacrosse, but it is Meredith Corp. in $2.8bn of the biggest investments in getting big foreign deal In full edition screen entertainment In full edition investors In full edition Editor’s Note Contents

NEWS or this issue, we fell in love with advertising and cared enough to ask, 3 Film p 9 Books/Print p what ails the sector? Viewers keep 4 Television p 10 Ads & Marketing p finding ways to avoid TV commercials, ad-blockingF has become an online pastime, 5 Music p 11 Fashion/Luxury p programmatic advertising sounds soulless, 6 Out-Of-Home p 12 Architecture/Design p while illegal content and hate crime have made the already tight-budgeted advertisers wary of 7 Sports p 13 Photography/Art p contemporary digital marketing. 8 Games p 14 Copyright p But, check out our Creative Commentaries report on Next-Gen Advertising Creativity (page 7) for a glimpse of why tech-centric marketing does not spell the death knell of the ad creatives. NEWS FEATURE And to top that up, we interview Yifei Chai at TELEVISION THE Q&A SESSIONS ground-breaking media-production company UNIT9. It is one of those ventures that actually make the creative ads we see on TV, online, on Tolkien on UNIT9 mobile and, soon, on any platform powered by emerging tech. Amazon We think you’ll be fascinated by why the words “Frankenstein” and “witchcraft” pop up in our conversation with him. In the news section, big money continues to exchange hands: Meredith Corp. spends US$2.8bn on Time Inc.; Amazon is pouring In full edition US$1bn into a TV adaptation of Lord of the Rings; Disney is chasing Rupert Murdoch’s Fox h 4 h for $66bn. The creative sector still rocks.

Juliana Koranteng FEATURE FEATURE editor-in-chief email CREATIVE INTERVIEW [email protected] COMMENTARIES @mediatainmentMT Next-Gen Tom Kelshaw ads @ Wavemaker

NAVIGATION Click on the p symbol to go directly to that page.

Click on the S symbol to return to this page. h h SUBSCRIPTION 9 14 To subscribe to the most enriching and enlightening aide to your media and entertainment business strategies, contact REGULARS [email protected] 16 MTF Diary p 17 About MTF p

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P2 U

V technology + innovation x human

ingenuity = creativity2

U

V

count on techmutiny for the

latest stories on technology

impacting the creative

industries… and more

U

V

techmutiny.net

V feature UNIT9 Feature

Creative Q&A Session: UNIT9

Amid the hype surrounding tech innovation, ad agencies rely on media-production companies to use Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence and other new tech in inventive ways to send brands’ messages to digital natives. Innovation Architect Yifei Chai, at maverick production company UNIT9, explores the use of tech, the groundbreaking influence of robotics and even the possible application of witchcraft in brand communications.

It is so tempting to think of Yifei Chai Disney Company, Google and Stella as the 21st-century embodiment of Artois to Nissan, Adidas and charity the fabled Frankenstein (as in Mary organisation RSPCA. Shelley’s overreaching fictional However, let us start with one of scientist, not the monster). his preoccupations, The Pretender, a The Innovation Architect at mind-blowing project that triggered -headquartered international the earlier Frankenstein analogy. media-production agency UNIT9 is Still a work in progress, this is how a charming and disarming individual he describes it: “It is a digital device who also happens to be a creative that allows one person to enter and director and product designer there. control another living person’s body, Additionally, Chai is behind and that includes a dead body with some of the most striking creative healthy muscles and body fluids.” Yifei Chai , Innovation Architect, campaigns at the award-winning He explains: “I could wake up and creative director and product firm, which boasts a roster of become someone else for a day.” designer at UNIT9 clients that range from The Walt He was inspired to enter this

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P4 feature UNIT9 unknown territory, at least to the creative industries, during his studies. His training includes a product design degree from London’s celebrated arts college Central Saint Martins, and a double Master’s Degree in Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) at the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London only a few years ago.

IDE puts a spell on you “At college, I wanted to explore the threshold between engineering and design. I wanted to create a digital experience that evokes emotion, so I chose witchcraft for my graduation project.” He says he is intrigued by the notion of witchcraft because it is provocative and, in fiction and Hollywood movies, entertaining. Yet, it remains an ancient belief that is still not classified as a religion. “I want to use technology and science to engage in something that The Snow Drawings (above), could be read as far as two miles is truly abstract and mythical,” Chai UNIT9's work for the 2017 Alpine Ski away. Championships featuring fans' tweets Instead of sculpting the messages says. “The Pretender recreates the sculpted with robot-powered snow concept of possessing somebody blowers with spades and shovels (which else’s body the way witchcraft claims would have taken forever and hence to. If I could use real technology to been impractical), UNIT9 used create a sensation that is only seen He talks about the “emotional customised robot-operated Honda in movies, would I make people alchemy” that mixes technology with snow blowers that featured the tech feel safer, now that technology is emotional intelligence to help brands inside self-driving cars. achieving the same thing? Think of connect with today’s tech-savvy The snow blowers had pre- the way that Stone Age humans used consumers. installed GPS coordinates controlled to be afraid of fire, but now we are Examples of UNIT9-created by satellites to write out the not scared of it.” campaigns:- messages. And that remarkable feat The Pretender project is a long- was completed in a couple of days. term undertaking that Chai says has The Snow Drawings campaign Even then, other challenges received some government funding. was commissioned by the ad agency cropped up. “We were at the mercy Heimat for Switzerland-based of nature, especially if it snowed Tech marketing magic telecoms group Swisscom, which because you needed the sun to In the meantime, he applies his wanted to enable fans to send special cast shadows for people to see the resourceful lateral thinking to messages to the athletes participating drawings.” spearhead awe-inspiring marketing in the 2017 Alpine Ski Championships Other UNIT9 innovative campaigns that centre on innovation, in St Moritz. campaigns include Water Made Active engineering and product design. With its own bespoke letterings for the energy-boosting water G His type of storytelling creates and typeface, UNIT9 literally carved Active, which belongs to US brand experiences that utilise the emerging out the tweets, drawings and owner Gatorade (part of PepsiCo), consumer technologies, including portraits sent by 3,500 fans via a and ad agency TBWA\Chiat\Day. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual dedicated app into a colossal snow- The video starred what is believed Reality (VR), Augmented Reality covered piece of land that was at to be the first-ever animated (AR), animation and a variety of least 500 metres in diameter or about running, jumping and kickboxing video special effects. 16 football pitches. The inscriptions human figure made from nothing but

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P5 feature UNIT9

Water Made Active: UNIT9 extreme cyclist’s total commitment ad-agency clients up to date with creates life for beverage brand to his craft. It was part of Lexus’ what can and cannot be done with Gatorade with a kickboxer made sponsorship of cycling events. AR, VR, AI and any other emerging from nothing but water droplets consumer-tech. Unique experiences That is why Chai feels his degrees These examples show how marketers in IDE prepared him for a career in are moving on from selling goods advertising that he had not originally drops of water. It required motion- and services with the traditional planned. capture animation and at least half a 30-second TV commercial featuring “The course was designed to give tonne of water. an Oscar awards-standard narrative students a foot in the disciplines of Via live streaming on , and cinematography. They want engineering and design. You want UNIT9’s work on Dia de los Muertos campaigns that also offer unique engineers who can dream and (Day of the Dead) for Mexican experiences. designers who know what they are brewery Grupo Modelo and ad “We handle the production side talking about. They understand what agency Ogilvy NY invited the rest of of the work we do with brands and the other does in their job. It means the world to take part in the popular advertising agencies,” Chai explains. the things asked of tech engineers annual Mexican-themed festival that “Our job is to make sure the end are much more realistic. And this is takes place in . product stays true to the original helping me in my current job.” For London-based ad agency concept, and the creative element of Hope&Glory, Chai and his team the job is to develop the ideas. But, In conversation with MTF, came up with Sound So Loud You almost everything we do today is UNIT9’s Chai talks about humans’ Can See It, which amounted to a something we could not have done 10 relationships with technology and multi-coloured visual representation years ago.” why that needs to be part of ongoing of sound to illustrate the power of He admits many major advertising debates. He believes VR and AR are Sony’s speakers (image on page 8). agencies set up during the 1960s’ Mad not fully developed yet but predicts The UNIT9 squad also introduced Men era, when New York’s Madison we will eventually treat AI products VR to luxury auto brand Lexus Avenue ruled the international ad- as intelligent beings. and its ad agency Team One for creativity waves, are still learning the Lexus: Elevate campaign. This about new tech. MTF: So will robots rule our future? used cinematic VR to depict an And part of the job of production Chai: By 2027, everyone will have a companies like UNIT9 is to bring their virtual personal assistant, which can

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P6 feature UNIT9

For brewery company Grupo Modelo, UNIT9 produced the more destructive than what anything Dia de los Muertos campaign else can do to us. But we’ve become that invited the whole world to so accustomed to acknowledging and celebrate in real time the Los “I want to use forgiving other people’s mistakes, Angeles-based Mexican-inspired festival via Facebook technology and it is prohibiting the advance in AI. We’re afraid it will do something we do our personal shopping for us. It science to engage can’t control. That is very wrong. We will automatically just do it for you in something that should treat AI like raising a child by when there is a shortage of goods at allowing that child to learn from its home. That could end up being scary is truly abstract mistakes. as it means you will be living with a digital entity 24/7 in your life. That is and mythical” MTF: Can any of the emerging technology why it is important to start thinking be used to create art? of tech in a human way, because in Chai: What do you define as art? the future, it will influence our lives. mechanism that should be allowed to I’m a little embarrassed to say I make mistakes. We humans should don’t understand contemporary MTF: In your opinion, has digital tech give AI the tools to do so. We don’t art. So, already, there is a wide enhanced the way humans produce know much about that yet, but it divide between what is art when creative works or is that still to come? should certainly be explored. seen from people’s different points Chai: There are AI systems generating of view. After all, AI has developed things now, but that depends on how MTF: You say AI is an independent more complex works compared to freely you allow the AI to think for thinking entity that should be allowed what I have seen in galleries. Google itself. Most of the time, we treat it like to learn from its mistakes. Shouldn’t we Art is worth examining for that an algorithm and we make it do what focus on humans learning from their reason. When we see things in real we want it to do. Yet, that is not its own mistakes first? life, the colour element is essential. full potential. The AI is like the brain Chai: Human beings are sceptical For Google Art, we’re using the and the algorithm is a set of tools that of things that are not human, even mechanical layer of technology. help us to achieve something with though the vast majority of evil is The 2016 Cannes Lions festival’s it. AI is an independent thinking committed by humans. We’re way Grand Prix winner was The Next

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P7 feature UNIT9

Rembrandt, which used AI to draw is. But you feel the dread and your cameras on his head, so it is filmed in the style of the original Rembrandt brain responds to that fear. That is from his point of view. But it is not to create another artwork. Because true immersion. All the emerging real life because the stitching required Rembrandt is already well- technologies are still primitive. And during the editing can distort what established, a work in his style is while humans have five senses (sight, the camera actually sees. already considered art. There are hearing, taste, smell and touch), others who might argue otherwise. VR focuses on only three: vision, sound and haptic feedback (touch). UNIT9's visual MTF: Creators of VR content are The haptic feedback is incredibly presentation of constantly talking about how immersive primitive. You can still see the pixels sound for Sony it is. Is that really true? in the visuals in all the headsets, and speakers Chai: I don’t like the word that is also the same with VR sound. “immersion” in this context. True What they are offering are only digital immersion is how human beings experiences. But what VR can do understand the world around them. well is re-enact presence. In Lexus Imagine being alone, you hear Elevate, a UNIT9 VR campaign about something and don’t know what it a devoted cyclist, we installed the VR

To celebrate auto-maker Lexus's sponsorship of extreme cycling events, UNIT9 rode into VR territory

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P8 news feature

MediaTainmentFinance Creative Commentaries

Spotlight on Next-Gen Advertising Creativity

Diesel's Go With The Flaw campaign

ADVERTISING CREATIVES ARE STILL WORKING

Vital signs of life still exist in advertising creativity, despite the predominant adoption of tech-packed campaigns in the 21st century. While a significant portion of the US$546bn spent by marketers in 2017 went to the now fashionable automated digital ads, they say creativity makes a difference between bombarding consumers with brands’ messages and winning their hearts. Pages 9-15

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P9 Interactive Advertisement - click image for more info

23 - 24 MAY 2018  SINGAPORE

ENHANCING INVESTMENTS, GROWTH AND BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE ESPORTS SCENE IN ASIA

As the esports industry continues to grow rapidly at a global scale, all eyes now are fixed on asia as the next big market. The only esports b2b-focused event in asia, the esports asia summit will draw senrio delegates from asia including game publishers and developers, government agencies, league organisers, esports teams, media broadcasting companies, endemic and non endemic brands, private equity firms and venture capitalists, and stadium owners and operators together over two days to to learn, network and engage in strategic business meetings and opportunities for the esports scene in asia.

T: +65 6722 9388  E: [email protected]  W: https://esportsasiasummit.iqpc.sg feature

Next-Gen Ad Creativity

Advertising - What's that?

ans of creativity who feared that expertise that organises Cannes Lions, has listened and the 2018 was dying in advertising must have smirked festival is scheduled to have creativity at its core. at the mayhem that marked the 2017 edition of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creatives cannot ignore tech Creativity, the world’s biggest annual ad- But the powerful influence of innovative tech on all things industryF shindig. advertising, including the media strategies, is not going to After more than 60 years of gathering the great and the go away. In some ways, tech via mobile devices and social good in the South of France seaside resort to exchange the media has democratised who has access to the powerful latest and hottest ideas in creativity, the festival was losing tool of advertising. But with that progress, which became its focus, critics said. entrenched in the industry during the past decade, came In fact, one of its biggest fans, Sir Martin Sorrell, the previously unforeseen challenges. British CEO of the world’s largest ad-agency group WPP, Detractors fear that programmatic advertising, the publicly stated that the festival needed to rediscover its automated buying, selling and placement of ads on original purpose. digital platforms, appears to be losing the human touch. He and other senior agency executives had been Consequently, marketers have seen their ads placed next forced to comment after Arthur Sadoun, the new CEO of to inappropriate and undesirable content, including the French agency goliath Groupe Publicis, announced pornography, fake news, hate speech, and illegally used his company would not be participating in several copyrighted videos. international trade events, including Cannes Lions, in Moreover, it is almost impossible to be selective about 2018. where to place digital ads on legally relevant websites, Sadoun felt the time spent on yachts wining and dining thanks to the millions of standalone digital publishers out could be better used readjusting the compass directing there. Publicis’s future, including developing its new Artificial- They have also been joined by the millions of websites Intelligence tool, Marcel. distributing the digital versions of legacy-media Ascential, the London Stock Exchange-listed company operations, from newspapers to TV networks.

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P11 feature Creative Commentaries: Next-Gen Ad Creativity

Digital ads duopoly Social media behemoths, Google and Facebook, are together being called a duopoly as they tighten their hold on the digital-ads market. In the US alone, the world’s biggest single advertising market, they snapped up more than 60% of 2017’s digital-ad spend. Advertisers have the option to use Oath, the digital- media operation created by US telecoms group Verizon Communications after it merged AOL and Yahoo, and messaging pioneer Snapchat. Twitter and Amazon’s websites likewise provide alternatives. But the lure of the duopoly, Facebook and Google’s YouTube, is hard to resist considering they reach an estimated 2 billion registered users and more than 1 billion subscribers respectively. In other parts of the world, it is the digital platforms belonging to the Chinese troika, Alibaba Group Holding, Baidu and Tencent Holdings, that have the clout to give advertisers extensive reach in the Asia-Pacific region. As these issues dominate the headlines, there appears to Krista Massey (pictured, above), Senior Vice President of be little room for the important role played by creativity. Marketing Activation and Engagement at US financial- Yet, it continues to thrive in the global marketing space. services group SunTrust Bank It just does not shout as loud, nor is it heard the way it “Creativity is just as dominant as it ever was. I’ve been used to. For, between the Mad Men heyday of the 1960s in banking for 11 years. But I am not a banker; I am and the start of Internet 3.0 era in the mid-2000s, it is a marketer. The banking industry is so open, we’re social media, search engines and text messaging that are competing with people we’ve never competed with making the right noises. before. To make a difference, you have to give a message that counts. You have to be willing to take some risks.” What do CMOs want? Still, brands' chief marketing officers (CMOs) argue that Kelly Engstrom, Head of Marketing Communications at tech wizardry is of no use if it isn’t mixed with the magic UK telecoms operator EE only available in clever concepts. “The more fragmented media is, the more important it is The recent 2017 edition of the Eurobest European to use creativity to reach customers. Our audiences are Advertising Festival in London featured powerful creating more media content than ever before. For me, CMOs, who made it clear that creativity was essential to that means creativity is the hook that makes people want communicating with consumers today. to listen to you more. The world has changed. You need With advertisers expected to spend a colossal US$572bn to get some relevancy because both the brands and their by the end of 2018, a 4.7% increase from the previous consumers have an understanding of what the challenges year, their priority is the effectiveness of the campaigns, are.” media and tech they invest in.

Here are some comments made by high-profile CMOs participating in Eurobest when asked: Is creativity the dominant force it used to be?

Meghan Farren, CMO at fast-food network KFC UK & Ireland “With the sheer number of decisions we’re making a day, our brain is actively trying to ignore the information being thrown at it. Creativity is needed to get attention. The worst position is when agencies bring an idea they think you want for the brand, rather than what you need for the brand. Agencies should bring the best relevant ideas, even Diesel's CMO Dario Gargiulo if they think it will freak me out.”

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P12 feature Creative Commentaries: Next-Gen Ad Creativity

Dario Gargiulo (pictured on page 12), CMO at avant-garde of miles away from home, to make his or her presence felt Italian fashion group Diesel while reading bedtime stories to the kids. “There are very few decision-making levels at Diesel The child, wearing a Google Cardboard headset, and because creativity comes first. Our challenge as marketers the absent parent wearing Samsung Gear goggles can go is to identify what is right for the brand. We need the on magical adventures together in a virtual world. tone of voice to be there, to link the message to the “It is important for brands using emerging technology value of what we believe in, and to inspire people. Apart to see how their customers will experience the tech,” from Apple, Nike and Diesel, not many brands have the Bertocchi advises. potential to be credible among consumers.” “It also has to start with how the government and regulators will react. If it is a driverless car, the brand owner has to start with how roads will be designed, and Creativity still rules how the consumer will react to all those changes.” Creativity is not dead, say ad agencies adopting new tech as today’s marketing tool, in the same way forerunners The tech times are a-changing like James Walter Thompson, Leo Burnett and David The billions being invested in the ever-changing consumer Ogilvy used pencils to sketch their advertising visions in technology has forced marketers’ hands. It is no longer a days gone by. question of if, but when it will begin to navigate consumer “The word technology gets misused and mistaken for behaviour completely. something that is new in some form. But there are layers to technology,” says Matt Bertocchi (pictured, below), Head of User Experience/Partner at BBH London. “There are working systems that are massive technological shifts, but the consumer is not aware of this. And agencies need to adapt to help brands evolve.”

Dave Meeker (pictured, above), Global Director, Emerging Technology at international full-service digital- marketing agency Isobar, believes that understanding how humans use technology will inspire the creativity needed to produce brands’ relevant messages. “For the last two decades, technology has made a slow, yet persistent, move from its place as the enabler of internal operations towards its current position where it is From Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) to central to the brand-to-consumer conversation,” he says. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and voice-activation, emerging “Consumers have become more reliant on technology as it consumer technology is still in its infancy. But it is being has become more integrated into their day-to-day living. adopted and tested by an adult generation, whose children And it’s the ability to leverage technology that has allowed will take it for granted or prefer more advanced models. brands to keep pace with the evolving preferences, Bedtime VR Stories (pictured on page 11) is a patterns and general behaviour of today’s connected seminal new-tech campaign created by UNIT9 (see this consumer.” issue’s Creative Q&A) with BBH for Korean telecoms Those advances have only just started, he argues. conglomerate Samsung in 2016. The VR tech applied “Our computers and screens are going away, but our enables a parent, who happens to be physically thousands ability to leverage technology in the brand-consumer

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P13 feature Creative Commentaries: Next-Gen Ad Creativity relationship is accelerating. Add the potential for VR and, more applicably, AR to this and we see a future where the technology has not only become a critical component for storytelling, but the medium for those stories to be told.” His colleague Francis Lam, Isobar China’s Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, adds: “A recurrent neural network could be used to generate brand manifestos after learning from a designed body of work. New technology is definitely becoming integral to storytelling and advertising. Only, with creative and innovative use of technology, we are able to create better experiences and values for customers and clients.”

Teaching the client In addition to bringing tech to contemporary marketing creativity, these next-generation ad-agency executives take on the role of educating their clients about the state- of-the-art developments impacting consumer habits. “We help clients experiment and implement at scale,” states New York-based Tom Kelshaw (pictured, below), Managing Partner, Platform Innovation at Wavemaker, the media agency network created after the 2017 merger of Maxus and MEC, two WPP subsidiaries.

Although it originated as a “media agency”, which have traditionally searched for the ideal medium (from TV to newspapers) for launching ad campaigns, Wavemaker is a modern-day operation described as having 2,900-plus digital experts, 400-plus data wizards and more than 200 platform-and-tech specialists globally. This involves working closely with tech start-ups offering the innovative tools that will allow agencies to inject life into ambitious yet audacious creative campaigns. “You bring in third parties and the experts,” Kelshaw explains. “The first time you do anything in VR, it is experimental, then you hand it over to the agencies with the capability and expertise.” Sometimes, the tech know-how belongs to the client, such as the Makeup Genius app that helps users download and try on cosmetics virtually before making a purchase. It Wavemaker campaigns: (top to bottom) belongs to Wavemaker client L’Oréal, the French beauty- L'Oréal's Makeup Genius, Clarins and and-cosmetics colossus. Campbells Soup

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P14 feature Creative Commentaries: Next-Gen Ad Creativity

Wavemaker also collaborates with Nugit, a Singapore- The musical element based start-up that melds AI, natural-language processing The days when TV and radio advertising were animated by and visual design to convert data into reports that help infectious jingles have long gone, replaced by ad agencies marketers with their strategies. licensing hit musical recordings for their commercials. Or, “That is how most agencies pick up AI. It buys us time in some cases, the commercial turned an unknown song to do more important things. And because hiring people to into a hit. analyse the data costs money, AI can be cheaper too.” Now, AI is influencing the sync process of creating and Kelshaw cites the Worth the Wrinkle campaign adding soundtracks. created in 2016 by Maxus (before the MEC merger) for UK-based Jukedeck is among the growing number of Clarins, another giant cosmetics brand. In addition to music-tech start-ups applying algorithms and data to inviting older Millennial women to wear their wrinkles compose bespoke tunes. And marketers are among the as triumphant badges of honour, the online promotion company’s growing number of clients, including soft- featured a Facebook app. It was able to go through a user’s drinks giant The Coca-Cola Company. timeline and pick out photos from the past that were then Last year, Jukedeck powered a digital campaign created animated into a personalised Worth the Wrinkle videos. by ad agency Grey Barcelona for Spanish financial services “We were able to find photographs of periods in your group Banco Sabadell, where viewers could listen to a life that were worth the wrinkles they created, such as personalised soundtrack based on their social-media data. one of you wearing a graduation hat or carrying a new- “We always use neural networks to compose our scores, born baby. We literally used tech to create the creative, using an automatic production system we’ve built that a beautiful video that celebrated the triumphs and creates, we think, professional-sounding music,” says achievements of our consumers,” Kelshaw says. Jukedeck Founder/CEO Ed Newton-Rex. Kelshaw also recalls the new-tech creative campaign “We aim to complement human creativity, and our goal for the Campbell Soup brand in the US, which applied the is to fuel creativity using the musical AI we’re building. IBM Chef Watson algorithm. This combined the predictive We’re looking to do this in several ways. Watch this capabilities of The Weather Company, the weather- space.” forecast system that belongs to computer conglomerate IBM, as well as the company’s AI system, which is called IBM Watson. Whenever a Campbell banner ad appeared on the “The first time you do anything in Weather Company’s website, the viewer was able to ask VR, it is experimental, then you the embedded voice-recognition system for cooking tips based on ingredients suggested and the weather forecast. hand it over to the agencies with IBM Chef Watson responded by delivering the recipes in real time. the capability and expertise” “Campbell is extending this in 2018. This is an example of working with AI to understand the product and the Tom Kelshaw, Wavemaker consumer behaviour,” Kelshaw notes. Guidelines on tech-inspired creativity Creatives get techno Meanwhile, BBH’s Matt Bertocchi offers some tips for Increasingly, ad agencies are adopting a host of nifty tech marketers to be considering now. applications that include the Facebook chatbots, Amazon’s They should at least be aware of the various Alexa, a variation of algorithms and robotics to send brand technologies their brands might need tomorrow. messages that get noticed in an overcrowded business. Currently, that includes AI in driverless cars or the “You need something to differentiate yourself and that Amazon-created Alexa’s voice-activated speakers. They is where adventurous marketing comes in,” Kelshaw says. should make a head start to avoid being caught unawares People skills are still indispensable. “Of course, part when they go mass market. of the craft is to produce something wholly new. AI can Brand owners must also establish what opinions they introduce random seeds between ideas, but it will always have about any technology and how it might or might not need a human partner,” he observes. fit into their heritage. “Still, we’re not far away from a time when AI could “We’re not going to design a self-driving car; that is direct, conceive and edit a Super Bowl ad, and it would not not our expertise,” Bertocchi points out. “But we need to be obvious to people. You can tweak AI to introduce some think of the role that brand is going to play in that world. originality, and it does the work for free. It can learn what And in the case of voice activation, for example, we need the client will or will not approve. Whether the client to know the brand’s unique personality, and that must would want that is another matter for debate.” come across in the tone.”

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P15 MTF Diary

London: ILMC London: TechPitch 4.5 Fashion, Luxe Cannes: MIDEM 6-9 March 2018 & Retail 5-8 June 2018 S Royal Garden Hotel 24 April 2018 S Palais des Festivals Organised by: International Live S Irwin Mitchell Offices Organised by: Reed MIDEM Music Conference Organised by: 2Pears About: The place to be if you work in About: The biggest international About: Tech start-ups developing international recording, publishing gathering of the decision-makers in original concepts in the fashion and and other sectors related to the the live music and concert related sectors demonstrate their music business sectors visions to potential investors j http://www.midem.com j http://ilmc.com j http://www.4pt5.co.uk/fashion. html Cannes: Cannes Lions International Austin, Texas: SXSW (South By Festival of Creativity Southwest) Stuttgart: FMX 2018 18-25 June 2018 9-18 March 2018 24-27 April 2018 S Palais des Festivals S Various venues S Haus der Wirtschaft Organised by: Ascential Events Organised by: SXSW, LLC Organised by: The Animationsinstitut About: The most significant About: Annual celebration of all About: Europe’s biggest conference international gathering for things innovative in film, interactive on animation, video special effects ad agencies, brands and tech media and music and immersive media innovators j https://www.sxsw.com j https://fmx.de/home/ j https://www.canneslions.com

Cannes: MIPTV Vilnius: Games Industry Law Summit Cleveland, Ohio: An American City: 9-12 April 2018 3-4 May 2018 Eleven Cultural Exercises S Palais des Festivals S Kempinski Cathedral Square Hotel 14 July-30 September 2018 Organised by: Reed MIDEM Organised by: Frankfurt Kurnit Klein S Various venues About: Where producers, TV + Selz Organised by: FRONT International networks and digital media About: The annual summit that aims About: The works of 55 local, national companies gather to strike deals in to grow the connections between the and international artists take over TV and on-screen entertainment fast-evolving video gaming sector the city for the Cleveland Triennial for j http://www.miptv.com and the related legal sectors Contemporary Art j https://gameslawsummit.org j http://frontart.org London: Games Finance Market 10-12 April 2018 Miami Beach: SPORTELSummit Edinburgh: The Edinburgh Festival S Various venues 15-16 May 2018 Fringe Organised by: Games London S W South Beach 3-27 August 2018 About: Part of the London Games Organised by: Monaco Mediax S Various venues Festival backed by the Mayor of About: An inaugural networking Organised by: Edinburgh Festival London and Film London to promote event for the top international sports Fringe Society the UK to games investors marketing and media executives About: Arguably the world’s biggest j http://games.london/games- j https://www.sportelsummit.com arts festival featuring all genres of finance-market/ culture and entertainment London: Photo London j https://www.edfringe.com London: The London Book Fair 17-20 May 2018 10-12 April 2018 S Somerset House Miami Beach: Esports BAR S Olympia Organised by: Candlestar 24-26 September 2018 Organised by: Reed Exhibitions About: The global art fair dedicated S TBD About: Arguably the world’s biggest to eye-catching contemporary and Organised by: Reed MIDEM book publishing trade fair vintage photography About: The leading networking and next to Frankfurt, and home to major j https://photolondon.org business event for companies in the literary rights negotiations international esports ecosystem j www.londonbookfair.co.uk j https://www.the-esports-bar. com/en/miami.html

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P16 news About MediaTainment Finance

PUBLISHER MTF’S Mission: About MTF: JayKay Media Inc MediaTainment Finance’s mission MediaTainment Finance (MTF) will be is to learn who is investing in the published eight times in the subscription EDITOR-IN-CHIEF creativity and craft that drive year by JayKay Media Inc Ltd. Juliana Koranteng the international media and (www.jaykaymediainc.com). entertainment business, how JayKay Media Inc Ltd is a registered company EDITORIAL TEAM much, where, and why. From Mark Worden film to the fashion business, from All Copyright Reserved. Benedict King television shows to theme park Reproduction in whole or part, attractions, from musical recordings without written permission, is RESEARCH MANAGER to marketing campaigns, from strictly prohibited. All prices quoted Kirsty Birkett-Stubbs concerts to computer games, and in articles are correct at the time of from printed books to photography, going to press, but subject to change. CONTACT DETAILS creative work and content form Currency is based on the exchange Editorial, Advertising, and the heart that beats inside the body value the day before publication General Enquiries: of these sectors. MediaTainment date. Reprints can be used for [email protected] Finance aims to report on deals that marketing purposes. Contact indicate where the money is being editorial for permission. DESIGN spent or cut, and analyse the impact The Lucky Lot (MTF) of such deals on commercial and Team A (TechMutiny) popular culture worldwide.

LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, FOLLOW, CONNECT, ENJOY facebook MediaTainmentFinance twitter @MediatainmentMT

Interactive Advertising: click image

MediaTainment Finance 30 S P17