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We round up only the most interesting happenings; cultural trends, ad wins and fails and media stuff like radio ratings. It’s a collection curated by our most curious minds and shared in one email, so you don’t have to go through your other 20.

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Things that caught our attention this week

1 December 2023
Things that caught our attention this week...​
"These accounts are often vulnerable, and once an account is compromised, it can be used for anything from identity theft to a vector for unwanted or even malicious content, like spam".
News hit this week that Google will start deleting accounts that it deems inactive. Time to login to your Gmail, Google Photo, and Google Drives. Just use a search engine to find out how.

We Are Social says 2024 is the year of Attention Layering

Chief Strategy Officer at We Are Social, Mobbie Nazir says that creators and brands are toying with longer-form content to capture a generation whose viewership style has been built around distraction. He says 2024 will be the year of Attention Layering, a shift from content that is designed to hyper-stimulate to content that gains attention through immersive entertainment. The rise in popularity of the long-form video essay is one indication of a desire for in-depth content. For brands, attention layering means that rather than demanding to be seen and heard, marketers should experiment with new ways to get and maintain attention. Recently the NFL partnered with Toy Story, where through the use of tracking technology the game comes to life in animation from Andy’s Room, while the toys watch on. Called, Toy Story Funday the campaign aimed to turn kids under 14 into NFL fans while leveraging nostalgia for adults.

Contagious article here

Authentic is Merriam-Webster's word of the year

Merriam-Webster is America’s most trusted dictionary and this year it has awarded its word of the year to AUTHENTIC. Merriam-Webster said it has seen a substantial increase in online searches for the word over the past year that stories and conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media have driven. Another reason for the increase in searches is because the word has a number of meanings including “not false or imitation” and “true to one’s own personality, spirit or character”. The publisher added that the popularity of the word has increased as “the line between real and fake became increasingly blurred”. Locally, The Macquarie Dictionary gave the word of the year gong to cozzie livs, a slang term for the cost of living, with the editor of Macquarie saying there’s a gravity to the choice because when something is very serious Aussies shorten it up “to discuss things in a more light-hearted manner”.

BBC article here

media watch

The interesting bits from across the media landscape in the L7D...

A good week for free-to-air folks

The free-to-air networks are high-fiving following Communications Minister, Michelle Rowlands’s decision to make it compulsory for smart TVs to show local free-to-air apps, like ABC iView, 7Plus, 10Play, 9Now and SBS on Demand before the streaming services. The networks are also rubbing their hands together over the decision for them to have first dibs on broadcast rights for major sporting event broadcasts such as the Olympics, AFL and NRL. Some are saying the deal is unfair for subscription services Foxtel, Kayo, and Stan who are currently bigger investors in Australian content and sport.

Mumbrella article here

TikTok's word of mouth boost

TikTok has gained the biggest boost in word-of-mouth exposure in Australia in October according to YouGov and their Brand Index. The data tracks consumer perceptions towards brands on a daily basis and shows that the proportion of people who are talking about TikTok saw an uplift of 5.6 percent points over the four week survey. Woolworths also recorded a spike in October, with WOM exposure going from 34.2 at the start of the month to 39.7 by the end (possibly to do with cozzie livs?). Meta’s Facebook also recorded a spike in WOM over the month clib, climbing from 31.3 to 36.8.

WARC article here

advertiser watch

A spotlight on advertisers doing interesting creative things...

  • Rockshore, the Irish beer gets Ronan Keating to promote pubs on Boxing Day.
  • Not sure what we like more, the idea or the ad for Emulait; a new baby bottle designed to look like mum.
  • A stalking duck terrifies a smoker for this ad for Keep Britain Tidy.
  • One for the misophones…Doritos created an app that spares your friends from the sound of you crunching.