In this week’s Digital Digest, we shine a light on Heineken’s trackside experiential F1 event, Dove’s campaign to highlight the damage caused by heavily editing selfies and the sight loss charity Guide Dogs’ latest ad campaign.
We then focus on big tech as Which? investigates ad scams, Facebook and Apple’s fallout over access to personal data and TikTok’s transparency centre.
CAMPAIGNS OF THE WEEK
Heineken Creates F1 Trackside Experiential Event For Fans To Enjoy At Home
Heineken, the global partner of Formula One, has launched a competition for fans to win their very own Pit Wall Bar from home for the 2021 season. This unique experience is designed to imitate the Red Bull Racing Honda pit wall. The lucky fans will win the next best thing to being trackside, as The Pit Wall Bar comes complete with multiple screens to watch every angle of the action or race telemetry, Heineken® 0.0 on tap, racing team headphones and much, much more.
In a post covid environment, with most major sporting events still waiting to return to capacity, Heineken might have just struck gold.
Guide Dogs Celebrates 90th Anniversary with Animated Ad Campaign
The sight loss charity Guide Dogs turns to puppy power to mark its 90th anniversary. By utilising the animated charm of a cute labrador puppy to celebrate the work of its 14k strong volunteer army.
Using an animation style similar to Pixar, the advert features fictional puppy Flash who goes through the trials and tribulations of a year of training.
Created by Studio Kimchi, the main character is named after one of the first guide dog puppies raised in the UK in 1931. This campaign represents one of the largest advertising efforts ever undertaken by the sight loss charity.
Dove takes aim at digital distortion
Dove has launched a new campaign that highlights the damage caused by heavily-edited selfies on social media.
At the core of Dove’s campaign is a film titled ‘Reverse Selfie’ – a sequel to its 2006 campaign ad ‘Evolution’, which shone a light on the impossible beauty ideals of the advertising industry and media.
This campaign is a 2021 update, looking at the impact that editing apps have on the self esteem of young people, after Dove revealed that 85% of girls are using retouching apps and/or image ‘filters’ by the age of 13.
As we saw when an unedited image of Khloe Kardashian went viral, it is common practice for celebs to heavily edit their photos, setting unrealistic expectations for younger people who in turn edit their photos to hide their true and natural selves.
BIG TECH
Which? Finds Big Tech Failing To Combat Scam Ads
Facebook and Google are failing to remove online scam adverts despite being reported by fraud victims, according to a new study by Which?
The group conducted a survey among 2,000 UK adults, in which participants were asked questions about their experiences with fake adverts. When the reporting is both clear and straightforward, as in the case of Facebook, users said they often don’t report because they don’t expect any action to be taken.
That applies to almost a third of Facebook users who had been scammed on the platform. A Google representative said that their teams constantly review accounts, ads and sites to ensure compliance with Google policies.
Facebook V Apple: The Ad Tracking Row Heats Up
A new feature has been introduced to iPhones and iPads which is causing a huge rift between Apple and Facebook. The feature allows device users to say no to having their data collected by apps.
Facebook has been put in a spin by this, because user data – and the advertising it can generate – is what makes the company so profitable. This update could deal a severe blow to its business model.
Facebook is not alone – advertisers across the board are now likely to lose access to large swaths of user data to which they previously had access.
TikTok to open ‘transparency and accountability centre’
TikTok is to open a ‘European Transparency and Accountability Centre’ in Ireland. Following a trend among big tech giants, the video platform will open its doors a little more to regulators, politicians and consumer concern groups. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the Centre will initially operate virtually. TikTok plans to establish the centre in Ireland and aims to have it fully operational by 2022.
SEEN ELSEWHERE
Unilever, PepsiCo, Shell and TUI join forces to improve black representation in UK marketing, after finding 42% of marketing professionals haven’t made any decisions to increase black representation in the past year.
Football’s boycott of social media – which now includes, but is not limited to, the Football Association, Premier League, EFL, PGMOL, Kick It Out, Women in Football, BT Sport and talkSPORT – continues to grow, with organisations suspending all use of their social media accounts from 3pm on Friday April 30 until 11.59pm on Monday May 3.
A landmark case alleging Google illegally tracked millions of iPhone users is now set for the Supreme Court. Two days of arguments will be heard, although a judgement is not expected for weeks.
WORTH A READ
‘Breaking Point: How Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook Became Foes’ by Mike Isaac and Jack Nicas for The New York Times.
‘Five Steps For Lawyers To Improve Their Digital Marketing’ by Seth Price for Forbes.
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