Back to backlash

A Google backlash, a George Osborne backlash and an Uber backlash. Plus the most interesting video game ever made and many more positive things this week.

The Financial Times reports on what advertising and marketing has known for a while, that Google and Facebook, the 'duopoly', are extremely powerful.

Both have opened up to MRC (Media Ratings Council) audits, Facebook in February and Google’s YouTube a week or so later to add to their accreditations for DoubleClick and AdWords.

Curiously, neither of the duopoly are mentioned by name in the MRC’s criteria document

Huffington Post founder and Uber board member stands by Uber's CEO Travis Kalanick. Such a defence implies there may be some weakness to his position.

One of the most famous ‘Unicorn’ businesses, those worth at least $1bn, the company is most likely investing in autonomous vehicles to bring its core service into profitability.

New thinking suggests that businesses should aspire to be ‘Zebras’ rather than ‘Unicorns’, and attempt to solve real world problems.

However, the cars Uber trials are not very autonomous.

Drivers need to take over control every 0.8 miles, which is worse than a year ago when the figure was every 0.9 miles.

Watch this intriguing film for the new video game ‘Everything’ which features narration by philosopher Alan Watts, who popularised easern philosophy for western audiences.

The game or ‘consciousness simulator’ has won almost every game award going and will most likely prove to be a big deal, developed by artist/animator David O’Reilly:

Google

Brands galore have pulled their video and other ads from Google and YouTube because those ads have been found to run close to extremist content.

Bigger, Havas UK has pulled all its Google and YouTube spend over lack of transparency while WPP came close to doing the same.

Dominic Mills says the search giant has rapidly run out of friends – nobody will speak up for them.

Google's European head Matt Brittin apologises for dodgy content. Next Google's CBO (that's chief business officer) Philipp Schindler apologises and introduces new ‘industry safeguards’.

Finally, Channel 4 sticks the boot in by stating that their VOD ads are 20% cheaper than YouTube's pre-rolls.

But this won’t continue.

Media agencies use Google as one canvas, and every placement means commission (and sometimes rebates too), so there is no incentive to leave Google alone and this dispute will most likely pass rather quickly.

More, Google's end-to-end service is matched only by Facebook. The others who play in the adtech space have to compete here. With almost perfect timing, AppNexus, an adtech firm, predicts a renaissance in Adtech.

Retailer John Lewis has launched a new denim brand, AND/OR with a look and feel rather different to what we usually expect from the brand:

Is a Liberty/Vodafone merger on the cards as a way to introduce a new multi-play (phone, internet, landline, TV, on-demand in a single package) to compete with BT and Sky?

Meanwhile, Fox's long-running bid to take over all of Sky (it currently has a 39% stake) has been referred to the competition watchdog by the Minister Karen Bradley, and Ofcom will be asked to determine whether is a ‘fit and proper’ owner for Sky.

100-year-old life hacks that work just as well today as they did then.

Once he invented the Rubik’s Cube, it took the inventor a month to solve it.

Coming next month, the newest film to obsess over, Mindhorn:

You may have seen that former Chancellor George Osbourne will become the new editor of the Evening Standard. He now has three jobs, including MP for Tatton (190 miles from London). He apparently aspired to be a journalist, but failed to secure a place on a trainee scheme at The Times, and spent some weeks freelancing on The Telegraph's Peterborough diary column (now renamed London Spy).

But what to editors think?

• Former Independent editor Amol Rajan says editing is simply a full time job and it won't last, particularly as the Standard has dwindling resources
• Spectator editor Fraser Nelson agrees, saying it's more than a full-time job and ruinous of a normal life
• Former Guardian editor Peter Preston says Osbourne won't be editor at all, just some sort of figurehead or permanent guest editor
• Former Mirror editor Roy Greenslade worries about the plurality of political voices if the Standard swings Tory in a Labour city
• Former Standard and Washington Post Europe editor Veronica Wadley suggests Osbourne could edit in the manner of Bill Deedes, the former MP and friend of Dennis Thatcher who nominally edited the Telegraph, while it was actually edited by the managing editor Peter Eastwood
• Finally, Osbourne's immediate predecessor Sarah Sands now feels less self-conscious about her foray into radio at the BBC

Whatever happens, he has taken the time to write to his constituents to slag off his fellow journalist-Tory MP Boris Johnson, who he accuses of mixing the two disciplines.

It's just around the corner, but Asda has Mother's Day covered:

If you are in the difficult position of having to give someone CPR, then remember to have Missy Elliot on your phone to time it properly.

What does Brexit mean for the UK’s creative industries? At 96% remain, it’s the sector most-shattered by the Brexit vote, and could have a most damaging impact on the UK economy as this sector has grown and exported consistently since the financial crisis.

Brazilian beer brand Skol decided to revamp its rather regressive image by turning to women to give it some much needed relevance and credibility, by F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi:

Trump’s immune to satire. But his aides aren’t.

Finally, David Lynch's debut film Eraserhead is 40. Disturbing, surreal, perplexing and compelling, it influences filmmakers from Stanley Kubrick to Ridley Scott. This is the super-creepy trailer: