Author: admin
March ad-ness has begun, but CBS Sports and TNT Sports aren’t showing their full playbooks yet.Today, during a press conference on the upcoming 2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, CBS Sports and TNT Sports executives discussed the tournament’s ad sales, saying demand was high and that live sports continue to make an impression on viewers. However, though David Berson, president and CEO, CBS Sports, said there’s “tremendous demand,” he added that they were “not going to give too much specificity.”“Sports are more and more valuable every single day. Big events like March Madness continue to cut through,” Berson said. “They help drive revenue for…
Google, Tesla, and data center developer Verrus are among a group of companies arguing that the electrical grid is being underutilized and they want everyone — especially politicians — to know about it. The three companies along with HVAC giant Carrier, virtual power plant company Renew Home, distributed energy resource developer Sparkfund, and smart electrical panel startup Span founded a new group called Utilize to get that message across. The group, which launched Tuesday, is advocating to change the way the grid is build and used. The group points out, correctly, that the grid is designed for brief bursts of…
The Department of Defense is putting more pressure on employees to volunteer to support the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown.In a February 19 memo sent to civilians across the DOD, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth wrote that he expects “every supervisor to encourage their civilian employees to volunteer. Leadership must continue to promote this detail program and educate their civilian employees on its importance.” The memo, which was titled “Department of War Guidance to Encourage Support to the Department of Homeland Security Southern Border and Internal Immigration Enforcement Missions,” was sent to thousands of civilian DOD employees. The memo…
There’s an old story about a New York City adman who wrote a catchy slogan for the Muscatine Steam Laundry: “We keep you clean in Muscatine.” The boss liked it so much he gave his copywriter a raise.But the money didn’t matter; the young employee quit soon afterward. His name? F. Scott Fitzgerald.Okay, so that was in 1919, and Fitzgerald was destined for greatness anyway. And yet this story is still relevant. The Great Gatsby author left his agency gig because he felt creatively stifled and didn’t see a future. It’s malaise that endures a century later, according to a…
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it’s expanding access to its healthcare AI assistant to its website and app. The assistant, called Health AI, was previously only available on the app for One Medical, the healthcare company Amazon acquired for $3.9 billion in 2023. Health AI can answer questions, explain health records, manage prescription renewals, book appointments, and more. Users don’t need to be Prime subscribers or One Medical members to use the assistant, Amazon says. Amazon says that while Health AI can answer general health questions without having access to an individual’s medical information, it’s designed to serve as a…
As winter disappears in the rearview mirror, it’s time to get outside again. After hibernating for most of this dismal winter, I can’t wait to get into the great outdoors. But I’m taking my creature comforts with me, so I need portable power to keep them ticking on road trips and camping adventures.The Anker Solix C1000 is my pick of the best portable power stations for camping, because it has the capacity to keep your phones and tablets charged up, maybe run a small fridge or cooler for a weekend, and boasts a handy light bar for a soft glow…
On February 3, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted a video on Instagram where he held up the chain’s new Big Arch burger, marveled at its size, took a careful bite, and called it a “product”—a word that any CEO would use. His post sat largely unnoticed for three weeks.Until a comedian in Ireland found it.On Feb. 25, Garron Noone stitched a reaction on TikTok, and racked up millions of views almost overnight. By February 28, Cat Sullivan’s parody had earned 17 million views on its own. Last week, Burger King’s U.S. president posted himself taking a huge, sauce-smeared bite of a…
Kevin Mandia, who founded the cybersecurity startup Mandiant in 2004 and sold it to Google for $5.4 billion in 2022, has launched a new AI-native cybersecurity startup with what the company claims is a record-breaking funding round. The new outfit, called Armadin, has raised $189.9 million in combined seed and Series A funding led by Accel, with participation from GV, Kleiner Perkins, Menlo Ventures, 8VC, Ballistic Ventures, and the CIA’s venture arm, In-Q-Tel. The company claims the combined total is a record for a security startup at that early a stage, though it isn’t disclosing its valuation. While other security…
The US Department of Homeland Security removed multiple career Customs and Border Protection officials from their roles this year after they objected to orders to mislabel records about surveillance technologies and block their release under the Freedom of Information Act, WIRED has learned.Since January, DHS leaders have reassigned two of the top officials responsible for ensuring that CBP technologies comply with federal privacy law, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. These sources were granted anonymity because they fear government retribution.The reassignments followed December orders from the DHS Privacy Office to treat routine compliance forms as legally privileged,…
Susan Credle, the ad industry luminary who added a literary twist to McDonald’s Happy Meals and led the highly visible makeover of the M&M’s mascots, will receive Cannes Lions’ prestigious Lion of St. Mark award. The honor recognizes a lifetime of creative achievement—a suitable match for Credle, whose career is now in its fourth decade.In a statement, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity chief executive (CEO) Simon Cook called Credle “a trailblazer and a creative force,” lauding her skill for “building cultures where creativity thrives” and “producing iconic work while shaping the values, standards and conditions for success.”She joins advertising…
Just a couple of years ago, AI agents were mostly chatbots that could use basic tools. People were curious, but given concerns around reliability and security, as well as cost, the tech remained in the realm of early adopters. How things have changed. Coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, and Cursor initially saw the most traction, spurring adoption among programmers around the world, but today we have people using AI agents to do everything from debugging at scale and building marketing campaigns, to managing calendars and scheduling meetings. OpenClaw‘s blockbuster debut earlier this year only sped things up, opening up…
When disinformation expert Tal Hagin asked Grok to verify a post on X about Iranian missiles that had supposedly struck Tel Aviv, Elon Musk’s AI-powered chatbot failed miserably.Grok repeatedly misidentified the location and date for the video, which was originally shared on X by an Iranian state-owned media outlet on Sunday. Then, the chatbot tried to prove its point by sharing an AI-generated image.“Now Grok is replying with AI slop of destruction,” Hagin wrote in response. “Cooked I tell you.”The interaction neatly sums up just how unhinged from reality X has become since the US and Israel began their attack…
This week on Adspeak by ADWEEK, host Will Lee sits down with Jeff Greenspoon, CEO of the Americas at Kantar, on the sidelines of Brandweek, about why brand tension fuels growth. From meaningfulness versus differentiation to short-term performance versus long-term investment, Jeff shares Kantar’s framework for predicting brand success. Through examples like Nespresso and Barbie, he explains how CMOs protect their north star while experimenting boldly, and why sustained brand investment drives stronger ROI, resilience, and lasting enterprise value.What you’ll learn: The “Meaningful and Different” framework How to protect your brand’s north star while experimenting Why cutting brand spend during budget…
On Friday night, my boyfriend and I sat on the couch for a refreshing evening of doing nothing together. We tuned into a baseball game, he picked up my guitar, and I eagerly booted up “Pokémon Pokopia,” the thirty-year-old franchise’s new cozy, life simulator game, which is unlike anything we’ve seen from Pokémon before. I narrated my experience as I played, explaining the process of constructing habitats to increase the comfort levels of my Pokémon friends, a primary objective of the game. “Onix is stuck in a cave, but I can’t break through the walls, so Squirtle suggested throwing a…
An events company whose associates helped stage the January 6, 2021 rally has signed contracts worth over $26 million with the United States government, according to documents reviewed by WIRED. Since President Donald Trump’s return to the White House, Event Strategies, a Virginia-based firm with deep ties to Trumpworld, has negotiated a contract with the General Services Administration that could be worth up to $100 million over the next 15 years.It’s a remarkable rise for the 26-year-old firm, which until the recent windfall had received what appeared to be around $50,000 dollars in government contracts over the past decade. It…
The legacy news brand Time has nearly completed that most modern of digital media pivots: After years of gradual transformation, it has now become an events company.This year, revenue from its events business—including the attendant digital footprint of those events—is on pace to represent more than 50% of its total revenue. That’s up from 28% in 2023, according to chief strategy officer Dan Macsai. Within the advertising business specifically, events make up nearly 80% of its revenue.The shift has been rapid: Time hosted 11 events in 2022 and will host more than 40 this year. Advertising revenue overall grew 23%…