Each week, we share the top five articles that caught our attention. Here are your must-reads, published here and abroad, for the week of November 14th 2016.
Living off brands
In an agency, we commit to being loyal to our clients. But how much do we really use the products for which we create so many websites, radio spots and printed ads? Is it possible to live off these brands, exclusively? The Roundhouse agency met this challenge by sending their copywriter, Lee Kimball, into the wilderness, armed with nothing but client products.
→ Watch it on YouTube Pocket
Tinder: more frustrating than fun
Dating apps are starting to lose their shine, with some users finding that they just don’t work as promised. Although apps like Tinder, Grindr and OKCupid can be practical tools in the search for a soulmate or even just a one-night stand, the amount of swiping requiring to secure one good date is leaving lonely-hearts frustrated and exhausted.
→ Read it on The Atlantic Pocket
Sex sells… sort of
The sex gadget industry is lagging behind other technological sectors when it comes to innovation and development. Sex tech has enormous unexploited potential, but investors (mostly white men) are still prudish when it comes to writing the cheque. Consultant and ex-advertising exec Cindy Gallop has been trying to coax investors into supporting sex tech since 2005. How can we make sex toys more sexy than they already are?
→ Read it on Fast Company Pocket
Snapchat, a black hole for brands?
It’s admittedly hard to invest in a platform that, despite its crazy popularity, can provide no metrics to support advertising campaigns. While some advertisers are blindly throwing themselves into the fray to promote a product or event with the app’s Stories or Geofilter functions, most advertisers are still questioning how this approach will actually stir up sales. Which should bend first? The brand or the platform?
→ Read it on Digiday Pocket
The challenge of technological obsolescence
The volume of digital data being generated by businesses is constantly rising. Traditional tools and equipment like CDs, DVDs and hard drives don’t have a long shelf life and capacities are very limited. There is a pressing need to develop new, more sustainable storage options. What will trickle down to future generations? How can we preserve our digital heritage? And what legal and technical obstacles need to be managed along the way?
→ Read it on Arte (in French) Pocket
The microbrewery must die
#Sponsored
Beer drinkers have a wide variety of tastes and as a result, microbreweries are flourishing. In Quebec, there are five times more than there were in 2002, despite the fact that global beer consumption is dropping. But how is it that no microbrewery has been able to reach the level of the three biggest players? Why are the little guys finding it hard to go big?
→ Read it on our blog Pocket
Managing your SME like you’re going to sell it one day
#Sponsored
In June 2016, the French communications brand Havas announced its acquisition of TP1, a digital communications agency in Montreal. The process took more than a year, with RBC playing the pivotal role of facilitator. President of Havas Montréal, Jan-Nicolas Vanderveken, explains why this transaction was so successful in an interview with Les Affaires.
→ Read it on Les Affaires (in French) Pocket
In your earbuds: How Did the Media — How Did We — Get This Wrong?
In the early hours of November 9, the election of Donald Trump as the new U.S. President created a shockwave across the world–mostly because media predictions had consistently pointed to a Democratic win. Michael Barbaro, Nicholas Confessore, Maggie Haberman and Jim Rutenberg, journalists at The New York Times, discuss how the media got it so, so wrong.
→ Listen to it on The New York Times
This week’s favourite thing
Is there anything more magnificent than fat pink letters fading into a hot blue, spilling diagonally across a PowerPoint slide? If you’re nostalgic for the WordArt era, this website can take you back to the glorious 90s, when a paperclip was king.
