Condiment-filled decorations, gender diversity, and data for sale – it’s all here in this week’s Round-Up.
And a Merry Chipotle Southwest to you
Source - Subway
Deck the halls with...Chipotle Southwest sauce? It may sound strange, but that’s the message Subway are spreading in their gimmick-heavy Holiday campaign. To promote their new festive menu (Christmas Cracker Sub anyone?) the fast food chain has done their research and combined two audience favourites into one. The result? Condiment-filled baubles, of course. In a press release, UK Director, Colin Hughes said, “Fans on social rave about our sauces, and especially our signature, Chipotle Southwest. So we are working on ways to give them what we know they want – the chance to get their hands on the Subway range of condiments."
Subway fan or not, many will agree that the concept of condiment-filled baubles skirts the borders of both unhinged and unhygienic, so thankfully it is just that, a concept. Though the festive menu will be served up in your local restaurant, the baubles will not.
Return of the creatives
Source – Creative Equals
Creative Equals, a UK organisation set up to establish increased gender diversity in the creative workspace, is moving the industry forward once more by running a two-week programme focused on getting more creative females back into the workplace. The launch of the course, titled ‘Returners’, will coincide with next year’s International Women’s Week in March 2019.
The boot camp-style programmes will be held in London and Manchester and will include women in a variety of creative disciplines from copywriting, art direction, and production to strategy, data analysis, and design. These intensive courses will bring women, who have been out of the workplace, up to date with the latest industry developments, helping them return once more.
As an agency with a strong strategy lead creative department, we at Epsilon fully understand the intricacies of gender diversity within the workplace. Rather than shy away from the subject, we champion our colleagues to tackle the industry head on through expression and thought leadership – check out our Senior Design Lead, Vanessa Fay’s, take on the situation and how young women can put their best foot forward and succeed in a creative discipline.
Telecom takes on the ad business
Source - Three
Mobile network, Three, is taking a leap into the ad world and no, we are not referring to their latest TVC featuring bouncing castles and stagnant office space. No, Three Network is getting into the ad business by selling their anonymised customer data to media companies for more refined targeting. At present, Three has data on approximately 10 million customers across the U.K. and Ireland and are gearing up to sell it to the highest bidder. The data sold will be anonymous but will segment audience members on their age, gender, and location.
While this may sound a little shady, Three is totally above board in terms of GDPR compliance, having given customers an opt-in/out option on what happens to their information. However, with a 94 percent opt-in rate being reported over the last five months, it looks like we are less precious with our data than we once were.
The return of the flip phone
Source - Samsung
Longing for the days of simplicity? Samsung are taking you back there with their unveiling of the Infinity Flex Display. While this new gadget may be reminiscent of flip phones from time gone by, (who among us didn’t flip to flap our tongues?) Samsung sees the Flex as a step into the future. Described by representatives for the brand as "the foundation of the smartphone of tomorrow," unfolded, the phone is similar size to a tablet, with all of the capabilities to boot. Then, when closed, the Infinity Flex Display resembles the average smartphone. Although, having teased out the concept for over five years, we suspect there won’t be anything average about the phone.
Robot Recruiters
Source - Mya Systems
The latest in AI innovation comes in the form of L’Oréal’s robotic recruitment drive. The French personal care company has deployed Mya Systems, a conversational chatbot to sift through the constant flux of CVs that land in their inbox and, so far, it’s been something of a success. Reports are in and, of the first 10,000 recruiting conversations that Mya engaged with, a whopping 92% of the candidates were engaged in an efficient way and feedback from applicants has reflected this positively, with comments that the process was carefree and felt personal.
Still, HR managers need not worry over their employment status, according to Executive Vice-President of Human Relations at L’Oréal, Jean-Claude Le Grand, “This [sic] new very performing technology reinforces HR people’s counsellor role and enables them to really focus on the qualitative and human dimension of the recruitment process.”
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