From Morning Filter (Mar. 24, 2014), Marketing‘s daily morning newsletter
Selfies and tracking and normcore, oh my!
Now that machines can recognize our facial expressions and track our locations, people are giving more thought to what it means to be under surveillance. This essay explores how some people are avoiding the recognition and how “we’re witnessing a turn to obfuscation as a mode of individualism.” Cue normcore.
[Read more via Hazlitt]
Tumblr headed to Viacom upfront
During this year’s upfronts, Viacom will be using Tumblr to share content from MTV, Comedy Central and other networks as part of an exclusive deal with the social network. The two companies will similarly work together to offer Viacom’s TV advertisers a chance to extend their broadcast campaigns to Tumblr, according to Tumblr’s head of business development. Like Facebook and Twitter, Tumblr is now looking to pair together TV buys with social ones and the Viacom deal represents the site’s first major foray into the space.
[Read more via MediaPost]
Starbucks readies global campaign in support of tea brand
As Starbucks looks to expand alcohol sales to “thousands of select stores”, the Seattle-based chain is also preparing a global marketing campaign in support of its Teavana brand. Starbucks says it will “reinvent” the tea market and hinted at future promotions that includes a partnership with Oprah Winfrey and the launch of the “Oprah Chai” tea. The beverage will be sold at Starbucks and Teavana stores in the US and Canada.
[Read more via MarketingWeek]
BlackBerry selling off its Canadian retail space
Struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry is selling off more than 3 million square feet of space and vacant lands in Canada in its ongoing effort to improve operational efficiencies. Over the last year BlackBerry has eliminated more than 4,600 jobs.
[Read more via Toronto Star]
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