Acclaim of Thrones

Great creative to celebrate Pride, the reinvention of the sausage roll, how to avoid Blockbuster's fate, and will we merge with artificial intelligence in 2045?

The biggest news of the week goes to geniuses in America, who have invented a sauage baked in pastry. Sound familiar? Of course it does - its a sausage roll. Across the pond, these 'new inventions' are called 'puff dogs'.

With Pride taking place this week, have a look at Absolut's cracking ad celebrating our differences:

What is The Singularity? Ray Kurzweil says it's the point when humans merge with artificial intelligence. He says this will happen around 2045.

There are two types of people who watch TV. Those who watch Game of Thrones and can scarsely breathe in anticipation of the new series. And those who haven’t seen it ever and just don't care.

Either way, the theme has achieved ‘iconic’ status. This and more on the character themes too:

How to avoid Blockbuster’s fate, by Blockbuster’s final CMO. Perhaps the biggest takeaway is to diversify early. Blockbuster was left with 600 stores and that was the only viable business left. Then that disappeared too.

What is ‘thought leadership’ anyway?

Despite referral to the Competition And Markets Authority, Rupert Murdoch’s decade-long obsession with taking complete control of Sky looks very likely to go ahead.

How could the world’s biggest company (that’s Apple in case you were wondering) make such a terrible show as Planet Of The Apps? Is there a crisis of culture or of content going on inside Apple?:

As Facebook nears two billion users it changes its mission statement, 'To bring the world closer together'. Many have wondered whether Facebook is actually an obstacle to its own mission statement.

As an unintended consequence of an increasinly combatitive news agenda, more people are paying for news apps in the US. Some are calling this the ‘Trump Bump’. Read the whole report here.

The story of Donna Summer and Georgio Moroder’s I Feel Love and the whole song too. And here she is performing the short version live:

Uber and black cabs – the fight for survival on London’s streets.

How to find good ideas, by Ok Go, known for their spectacular and often highly complex videos:

What is Blockchain? Goldman Sachs explains.

And what's the best ad this year? Could be this one for E.ON/Gorillaz by Engine:

Amazon – will it be the first $1 trillion business? It has even developed shows for Echo products with screens.

Is the 30-second TV spot dead? Facebook seems to think six seconds may be more likely. Gilette’s three minute ad shows it depends on the quality of the ad:

More ideas on fixing ‘broken’ digital marketing. The Basic Attention Token is one idea (with a crunched precis here).

John Lewis’ highly successful ads, by Adam & Eve/DDB, particularly those for Christmas, would not have happened if measured by ad pre-testing models according to their global chief James Murphy.

And the new VW ad, by Adam & Eve DDB:

McKinsey surprises with some good research in creativity. Read the whole report here and watch the Cannes presentation.

The new ugly world of the beautiful world of fashion.

More from Game of Thrones, as Hodor works in KFC, reliving THAT extraordinary scene from the last series (will make absolutely no sense if you have not seen it) by BBH: