Friday 6 November 2015

John Lewis. Another piece of beauty for Christmas.







Ah look, what can you say. John Lewis just do it better year after year. Or should I say their Agency - Adam&Eve DDB. But also the Client has to be having a role here because you just couldn't get this brilliance year after year otherwise.

With an Oasis track too.

Can't think we've seen anything better in a long, long time. 
It's just outstanding. 
To Absent friends. 

What we're listening to. Nils Lofgren 'Night after Night'.


Nils Lofgren must be tired everytime he's mentioned as being part of 'The E Street Band' (replacing Steve Van Zandt in 84). He still is with Springsteen, but he's had a superb solo career. 

He's done a huge lot with Springsteen (Born in the USA, Tunnel of Love to name a few) and indeed with Mr. Young's Crazy Horse (playing piano/guitar on After the Goldrush, Tonights the Night) but should have more recognition in his own right.

Born in Chicago (his Dad was Swedish, hence the name) and in 1977 he released this double live Album. 

"I came to dance" is probably his best known track but 'Keith don't go', a tribute to Keith Richards, is so well regarded and both are here. Add to that, 'Back it up', 'Moon Tears', 'Going Back' and 'Code of the Road', you have an excellent rock album. 

Hard to get the Album but if you can find it, it's really worth it. As he is. And if he see him playing live, just go!

His 'Acoustic live' from 1997 gives a real insight into a virtuoso guitarist and notably there, you'll find a terrific version of 'Keith don't go'. 

Don't believe us, have a listen (especially from 3 minutes on...)

Thursday 5 November 2015

Facebook. Stunning numbers on Video. 1.5m small Businesses, posted a video in September. 8 Billion monthly video views!



Facebook does it again. It beat all earnings expectations in Q3.

Revenue 4.5 Billion usd, up +41% (staggering).
78% Revenue comes from Mobile.
1.55 Billion monthly active users.
Active Daily average, users up +17% (1 billion).

But look at online Video numbers...

8 BILLION Video views a day (that's up from 4 Billion in April). See? It's all about Video! 

500 million users watch video every single day.

1.5 million small Businesses, posted a Video in September.

So their stock is at an all-time high with +25% on mid August prices.
Stunning yet again. 

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Candy Crush sells. For a sweet 5.9 Billion Dollars.




Candy Crush game maker, King Digital Entertainment is selling to Activision Blizzard for, wait for it, 5.9 Billion usd.

Activision makes Call of Duty (that's the excellent Call of Duty) and the deal pushes them to the top of interactive games.

Now they'll have half a billion monthly active users in 126 countries and Candy Crush is big on mobile (60% users are female) representing about a third of King's total revenue. It started on Facebook.

Needing approvals, it should go through early 2016 but just shows you how valuable online gaming has become.

Monday 2 November 2015

The Sun brings down its Paywall.




'The Sun' UK newspaper has scrapped its paywall. Instead it's offering all of their website content for free following the appointment recently of Rebekah Brooks.

It's the biggest selling UK tabloid and has had a paywall since mid-2013 with over 30 million monthly unique visitors. 

So clearly the view here is that subs aren't as lucrative as Digital Advertising opportunities. 

By maximising viewers in taking down the paywall, they'll maximise digital advertising as Mail online have done. It's estimated that already it has brought in another 800,000+ viewers a day.

Lessons here....