Daily Mail US CEO: Snapchat's Evan Spiegel is like a young Sir Martin Sorrell | ||
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If ever there was a sign that Snapchat's advertising business has grown into a real consideration for Madison Avenue, its CEO Evan Spiegel speaking at the biggest advertising event of the year — the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — is probably a good indicator. Speaking with Adweek ahead of Cannes, which kicks off this weekend, 25-year-old Spiegel admitted speaking in front of 6,000 of adland's top executives will be "nerve-wracking" — not least because "I've never built an ad business before," he added. Adweek's profile of Spiegel also takes into account the views of Snapchat and Spiegel from some of those who will be watching his presentation at advertising's annual gathering in the south of France. Snapchat partner Daily Mail North America CEO Jon Steinberg compared Spiegel's leadership style to the chief executive of the world's largest advertising agency network, WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell. Steinberg says: "He doesn't believe in bureaucracy and hierarchy," and "he's interested in ideas and doing big things and standing by your word ... I love the guy, and I don't say that about everybody." But, unlike 70-year-old Sorrell, The Daily Mail executive adds: "Evan runs the company like a startup. He wanders into my office unannounced and asks for feedback on Discover and the ad products ... we also go to him and his team with questions about media, community, and the novel formats they're rolling out."
In terms of other impressive numbers, Spiegel will also boast that Snapchat gets around 35 million users aged between 13 and 34-years-old opening up the app each day in the US, a number it says approaches the TV audience for the same group. Adweek compares ABC's recent broadcast of the American Music Awards, which got 3 million viewers, versus a Snapchat Live Story about the event which got 11.5 million views. But one thing Spiegel won't be talking about is targeted advertising, which he finds creepy, particularly retargeting — when an item you once looked at on a website starts following you around the internet via ads. Spiegel tells Adweek: "We're going to stay away from building really extensive profiles on people because that's just bad and doesn't feel very good." Instead, Snapchat focuses on more broadcast-esque ads like sponsorships within its Snapchat Discover section that houses content from media partners such as Vice and Cosmopolitan, and video ads from brands within its Live Stories section. The latter costs $20 for every 1,000 views, a price that has come down a long way from the $750,000 packages the photo-sharing app was originally touting to advertisers. SEE ALSO: Snapchat is getting serious about advertising Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It's dangerously easy to record Snapchats without the other person knowing  | ||
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Snapchat's pitch to advertisers at Cannes will focus on its "3V" approach — "vertical, video, and views," in other words. So-called because of the app's vertical/portrait video style, and the 2 billion views it attracts every day — half that of Facebook's daily video view count, but achieving that with only an estimated (Snapchat didn't reveal global user figures in the article) 200 million users, to Facebooks' 1.4 billion. The 10 things in advertising you need to know today | ||
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Good morning! Here's everything you need to know in the world of advertising today. 1. Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegel's leadership style has been compared to that of Sir Martin Sorrell. The comparison came from Daily Mail US boss Jon Steinberg. 2. An investment bank made an epic presentation on the future of digital media. LUMA Partners' huge slide deck looks at tech, marketing, convergent TV, and open platforms versus closed ones. 3. Facebook is bringing back the silent newsreel. Publishers have found they can better capture Facebook users' attention by allowing them to consume autoplay video with the sound off. 4. Jack Dorsey is the only person that can be Twitter's next CEO. The interim CEO won't deny that he wants the job permanently, it would be a tough job for an outsider, and the favorite "insider" being tipped for the role is revenue chief Adam Bain, but he's a business guy, not a product guy. 5. People are seriously talking about whether Apple's new ad blocking technology for iPhone will destroy the web. It looks like the company is planning to let iPhone and iPad users who update to iOS 9 to block ads on the Safari web browser — and people within the advertising and publishing industries are concerned. 6. These 12 fast food items look nothing like their ads. We've compared the marketing with reality for brands including KFC, Starbucks, and McDonald's. 7. Former ad exec and entrepreneur Cindy Gallop has told a story about how she was sexually harassed at the Cannes Lions advertising festival. She says it's one of the reasons why she thinks half of all managers should be women. 8. There's a surprising reason why all your food-related apps are red. The color is said to increase appetite. 9. A former Apple employee has described what it was like to work on the design team under Steve Jobs. He met with the team every other Monday, which meant they were under pressure to work every other weekend in order to impress Jobs. 10. Here are seven strategies Coca-Cola has used to become one of the world's most recognizable brands. Coca-Cola VP of innovation and entrepreneurship David Butler and Fast Company senior editor Linda Tischler have explored the strategies in a new book: "Design to Grow: How Coca-Cola Learned to Combine Scale and Agility (and How You Can Too.)" Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: The guy who took a picture every day while walking through China is now a huge star on Weibo  | ||
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Green-minded Paris Air Show takes off | ||
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Le Bourget (France) (AFP) - The world's leading air show opened Monday near the French capital with a special focus on green issues alongside the traditional sales war between Airbus and Boeing. President Francois Hollande is set to inaugurate the week-long Paris Air Show, which is expected to draw 315,000 visitors and 2,260 exhibitors from 47 countries. Among the aircraft making their debut will be new versions of the prototype all-electric plane from European company Airbus, the E-Fan, and its cleaner, quieter civilian helicopter, the H160. They reflect the increasing focus on green innovations that are set to be a theme at this year's show ahead of the global climate conference being hosted in the same venue later this year and with the air industry committed to being carbon-neutral by 2020. Rising fuel prices are a big motivator. Boeing's promise that its next mid-range carrier, the 737 MAX, will offer 20-percent fuel savings means it has already garnered more than 2,700 orders, even though it will not be unveiled until next year. The Airbus A320neo, with a 15 percent cut in fuel consumption, has already racked up a record 3,800 pre-orders before the first one has even left the production line. Top industry officials, government ministers and environmental experts will meet on Thursday to discuss air travel's impact on the climate, and there will be a week-long exhibition on the subject called "The Sky of Tomorrow".
- Sales war -
Paris is the oldest and biggest air show in the world, having first taken place in 1909. But several big manufacturers are notable by the absence this year, including Sweden's Saab and the UK-based BAE Systems, joining the US Northrup Grumman group which has not been at Le Bourget since 2011. There are fewer planes on display this year, too, down from 150 to 100 compared with the last show in 2013. But the sales war between big hitters Airbus and Boeing is set to be just as fierce. Airbus pipped its US rival at the last Paris Air Show two years ago, landing sales worth a total of $39.3 billion compared to Boeing's $38 billion. That year's show saw the aeronautic industry land a total of $115 billion of orders. The market for civilian aircraft is booming. Airbus said Friday it expects 32,600 planes to be sold industry-wide over the next 20 years. "I don't know if it will be the record year, but it will be a good show," said Airbus boss Fabrice Bregier, looking forward to "several hundred" orders for his company. Boeing's Randy Tinseth said the Seattle-based company had "a lot of things in the pipeline on the mid and long-haul planes." The industry needs between 300 and 400 sales next week to keep its production lines ticking over through 2020, said Ben Moores, a senior analyst at IHS Aerospace, Defence and Security. The aviation sector broke records last year with 2,888 orders, according to consultancy Deloitte Global, but the the military sector is struggling with the US shedding 168,000 defence jobs since 2010. Paris is a particularly important venue for smaller companies that have fewer chances to show off their wares. Canada is desperate for sales for its C Series regional plane, which gets its world premier at the show, while Pakistan is hungry for its first-ever order for its JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft. The show at the Paris-Le Bourget airport north of Paris opens its doors to the public from Friday, when they will get the chance to see some 40 aircraft in flying displays each day, including fighter jets such as the JF-17, France's Rafale and Ukraine's Antonov 178. Airbus has also confirmed it will display its A400M military transport plane for the first time since a fatal crash in Spain last month caused by a massive engine failure.
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Curry too hot for LeBron as MVP shotmaker sizzles in NBA Finals | ||
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Oakland (United States) (AFP) - Stephen Curry finally displayed the shotmaking skills that made him this season's NBA Most Valuable Player and as a result the Golden State Warriors are on the brink of ending a 40-year title drought. Curry produced his finest performance of his first NBA Finals on Sunday, scoring 37 points to power the Warriors over the Cleveland Cavaliers 104-91 as Golden State seized a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven championship series. The Warriors can claim their first crown since 1975 by winning game six Tuesday in Cleveland. "He made some terrific shots," said Cavaliers coach Dave Blatt. "There are a few that he made, more than a few, that were extremely difficult shots, high-level shots by a high-level player. Sometimes you've got to take your hat off to the other guy. He made some tremendous shots. That's respect." Curry connected on 13-of-23 shots from the floor, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range, and added seven rebounds and four assists. He scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, 12 of those in a decisive 19-5 late-game spurt that saw him sink two jaw-dropping 3-pointers. "Tip your hat to a guy who makes shots like that and he's the guy that can do it," Cavaliers star LeBron James said. "He's the best shooter in our league." Asked what more his team could have done to stop Curry, Blatt replied: "That's a really a good question. Not a lot you can do, honestly." Curry, adding to the NBA record for most 3-pointers in a playoff run with every basket from beyond the arc, had struggled earlier in the series, shut down at times by hustling Australian guard Matthew Dellavedova, notably in game two when Curry was only 5-of-23 from the court and 2-of-15 on 3-pointers. Curry had averaged 23.5 points a game but only shown flashes of the hot hand that helped Golden State to an NBA-best 67-15 record until Sunday, when he became the first player in NBA Finals history to make seven 3-pointers in multiple games of an NBA Finals, matching his game three output. "He's one of the best shooters in our league," Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson said. "I guess he exploded."
- 'This is Steph's night' -
Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he expected great things from Curry when he saw Cleveland remove Russian big man Timofey Mozgov for J.R. Smith to match a smaller, faster Golden State lineup. "From the very beginning when they went small, I thought: 'This is Steph's night. This is going to be a big one for him because he has all that room,'" Kerr said. "I just think sooner or later Steph's going to get going. He had a tough first couple of games. He got going at the end of game three and that's all it takes. Steph makes a couple shots. He feels like he's got it rolling and he has been great ever since. It's not really an adjustment. It's just the law of averages are that Steph's going to make some shots." One 3-pointer came over two defenders after behind-the-back and crossover dribbles and brought a huge roar from the crowd, a possible defining moment. "It was a fun moment, but it only means something after we win the championship because signature moments only come for players who are holding the trophy," Curry said. And to that end, Curry has been willing to set up other teammates when he has been tightly defended, notably forward Andre Iguodala. "Steph is a great player. His mind is getting better and better, and he has even more room to improve," Iguodala said. "He has just been an MVP for us." Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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Daily Mail US CEO: Snapchat's Evan Spiegel is like a young Sir Martin Sorrell | ||
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If ever there was a sign that Snapchat's advertising business has grown into a real consideration for Madison Avenue, its CEO Evan Spiegel speaking at the biggest advertising event of the year — the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — is probably a good indicator. Speaking with Adweek ahead of Cannes, which kicks off this weekend, 25-year-old Spiegel admitted speaking in front of 6,000 of adland's top executives will be "nerve-wracking" — not least because "I've never built an ad business before," he added. Adweek's profile of Spiegel also takes into account the views of Snapchat and Spiegel from some of those who will be watching his presentation at advertising's annual gathering in the south of France. Snapchat partner Daily Mail North America CEO Jon Steinberg compared Spiegel's leadership style to the chief executive of the world's largest advertising agency network, WPP's Sir Martin Sorrell. Steinberg says: "He doesn't believe in bureaucracy and hierarchy," and "he's interested in ideas and doing big things and standing by your word ... I love the guy, and I don't say that about everybody." But, unlike 70-year-old Sorrell, The Daily Mail executive adds: "Evan runs the company like a startup. He wanders into my office unannounced and asks for feedback on Discover and the ad products ... we also go to him and his team with questions about media, community, and the novel formats they're rolling out."
In terms of other impressive numbers, Spiegel will also boast that Snapchat gets around 35 million users aged between 13 and 34-years-old opening up the app each day in the US, a number it says approaches the TV audience for the same group. Adweek compares ABC's recent broadcast of the American Music Awards, which got 3 million viewers, versus a Snapchat Live Story about the event which got 11.5 million views. But one thing Spiegel won't be talking about is targeted advertising, which he finds creepy, particularly retargeting — when an item you once looked at on a website starts following you around the internet via ads. Spiegel tells Adweek: "We're going to stay away from building really extensive profiles on people because that's just bad and doesn't feel very good." Instead, Snapchat focuses on more broadcast-esque ads like sponsorships within its Snapchat Discover section that houses content from media partners such as Vice and Cosmopolitan, and video ads from brands within its Live Stories section. The latter costs $20 for every 1,000 views, a price that has come down a long way from the $750,000 packages the photo-sharing app was originally touting to advertisers. SEE ALSO: Snapchat is getting serious about advertising Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: It's dangerously easy to record Snapchats without the other person knowing  | ||
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Athens stocks plunge more than six percent after talks collapse | ||
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Athens (AFP) - The Athens stock market plunged more than six percent early Monday after last-ditch debt talks collapsed at the weekend, raising fears of a Greek default and exit from the euro. The Athens Stock Exchange was down 6.57 percent at 0755 GMT after the talks in Brussels between Greece and its international creditors failed, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisted in an oped piece Monday that Athens would "wait patiently" until the other side became "more realistic". Join the conversation about this story »  | ||
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S.African judge to hear Sudan president arrest case | ||
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Johannesburg (AFP) - A South African judge was due to hear arguments Monday over an application to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir at a summit of African leaders in Johannesburg. The African Union gathering has been overshadowed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) calling for Bashir to be arrested by South Africa over alleged war crimes and genocide during the Darfur conflict. On Sunday, Judge Hans Fabricius ordered authorities to stop Bashir from leaving the country and said the court would reconvene at 11.30 am (0930 GMT) on Monday. At the summit, Bashir attended a group photograph along with South African host President Jacob Zuma and Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who is the chair of the 54-member group. Bashir was seen at the conference venue on Sunday evening, but his whereabouts on Monday was not confirmed. "We met at 3:00 am this morning preparing our (court) papers," Mthunzi Mhaga, the department of justice spokesman, told ENCA news. "We will meticulously argue for the application to be dismissed." The Southern African Litigation Centre, a legal rights group, had launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court to force the authorities to arrest Bashir. South Africa is a signatory of the ICC, which has often been criticised for only targeting Africa leaders. The European Union issued a statement saying it "expects South Africa... (to act) in executing the arrest warrant against any ICC indictee present in the country." The United States, which is not a signatory of the ICC, said it "strongly support(ed) international efforts to hold accountable those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes." "We call on the Government of South Africa to support the international community's efforts to provide justice for the victims of these heinous crimes."
- 'Assurances given' -
Sudanese officials at the summit brushed off the legal hearing. "We are not abiding with any... decision of any court," Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour told AFP. "We are here as guests of the government of South Africa. Assurances have been made by that government. We will leave on time as scheduled." Monday is the closing day of the summit. The ICC called on South Africa "to spare no effort in ensuring the execution of the arrest warrants" against Bashir, 71, who seized power in Sudan in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989. The ICC indictments relate to the western Sudanese region of Darfur, which erupted into conflict in 2003 when black insurgents launched a campaign against Bashir's Arab-dominated government, complaining of marginalisation. Khartoum unleashed a bloody counter-insurgency using the armed forces and allied militia. The United Nations says 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and another 2.5 million forced to flee their homes. Khartoum, however, disputes the figures, estimating the death toll at no more than 10,000. "As a member of the International Criminal Court, (South Africa) has committed to cooperate with that court," said Elise Keppler of Human Rights Watch.
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Athens stocks are getting crushed after Greece's bailout talks fell apart | ||
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Greece's talks with its creditor institutions collapsed last night after less than 45 minutes, with time running out to avoid a messy default, and no signs of progress on the major disagreements between Athens and its bailout providers. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said Monday morning that his government "will wait patiently until the institutions become more realistic." Investors seem to be less patient. The Athens Stock Exchange opened down 6.29% Monday. Take a look:
Thursday saw a relief rally when it seemed like progress was being made on an agreement — but most of that surge was wiped away on Friday, and Athens stocks are now at lows last seen in April. It's been an incredibly volatile few months since Syriza won power in a spectacular January election, but there's been no particular trend other than extreme volatility. Here's how it looks since the beginning of 2015:
Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This 1998 supercar could auction for $15 million  | ||
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Fans are freaking out over the ‘Game of Thrones’ cliffhanger finale | ||
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"Game of Thrones" just ended season five on a huge cliffhanger. The hits just kept coming as character after character suffered a major blow, death, or was left to a fate uncertain. However, the biggest surprise of the night came at the episode's very end when Jon Snow (Kit Harington) was caught off guard by his own men of the Night's Watch. Snow was stabbed multiple times and left to bleed out on the snowy ground, and just like that, the episode faded to black. The last we see of Snow on the series is very similar to how we last see him in the books. Most fans believe Snow is dead; however, if you've read the books, fans believe it's not as clear cut as that. With Snow seemingly left for dead, fans on social media lost it. | ||
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Warning: There are major spoilers ahead if you have not seen the "Game of Thrones" finale.
