Dispatch from an advertising future #76

https://www.adweek.com/digital/facebook-to-lease-all-730000-square-feet-of-office-space-in-the-farley-building/ I’m old enough to remember long lunches and longer nights of client ‘entertainment’. I remember Christmas parties and summer picnics on my island. Our business has changed. Since we moved from headsets to glasses, we’ve had a home on our network. We’ve delivered work and we’ve entertained clients thanks to our head of Account …

Dispatch from an advertising future #75

https://newatlas.com/robotics/origami-inspired-microbots-change-shape-heat/ They were everywhere. Almost invisible until they unfolded. Children tried to catch them like falling leaves, Some tried to swat them like midges as they settled on a watch or glasses and laid their message. The Adblockerz had seen off the first robots through vandalism. They’d hacked the holobots’ projectors until they too were …

Dispatch from an advertising future #63

https://www.engadget.com/ai-recreates-painting-techniques-of-famous-artists-022923128.html The package wasn’t bad. Lump sum, pension, even options. Bearing in mind the numbers he’d seen ‘let go’ with less ceremony and security, he wasn’t grumbling. He’d been thinking about that novel anyway. The Zoom farewell party was set, the courier had been round for the Aeron. All he had to do was spend …

Dispatch from an advertising future #58

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/22/21266251/nvidia-ai-gamegan-recreate-pac-man-virutal-environment Some of my colleagues get the cool gig: Cannes, watching hours of case studies, reading entries. They don’t have a glass of rosé, but they do get to hang with the creatives and then pitch their ideas. Even my colleagues in the studio get to show off. They watch and listen to the teams …

Dispatch from an advertising future #52

https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/theageofthedigitalpitchishereandadagenciessaytheyreready/43448 Don shared his screen and began: “Technology is a glittering lure…” The other windows fell silent apart from the occasional toddler’s cry in the background. Across the city, laptop screens lit the faces of the men and women in corner ‘offices’ claimed from spouses and home schooling children. Slide wipes and sounds echoed the …

Dispatch from an advertising future #49

https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2020/03/13/mental-wellbeing-within-agencies-flexibility-and-stability It popped up in the lower right corner. Two googly eyes on an animated clip. “Hello there!” Cheery chirruped, “just checking in.” It raised an animated eyebrow and nodded at the time. “Now you’ve finished with the client, let’s Cheerypause (™),” it said. She sighed. Since home had become office, the laptop had become …