How to be nicer

The new media crunch, a generic 'millennial' ad, how smartphone addiction changes you, Jarvis Cocker sings Justified and Ancient, cinema's black hole, and one secret to how to be nicer

Facebook can reach more British 'millennials' that there are people of that demographic living in the UK. But did you know they can do the same in Sweden, reaching 330,000 more young Swedes that actually exist?

Remember Wikileaks? They have been hacked.

Marketers may be in a bind. If people spend more and more time on their mobiles, then this should be where the advertising goes. Shouldn't it? But research suggests that the longer spend on mobile, the worse it is for your mental health. A new app, Space, offers those addicted to their black mirrors a reprieve, which will of course include marketers.

The secret of how to be nicer - play board games.

ou may remember the KLF, who were for a time the biggest selling singles band in the world before they quit the business, deleted their catalogue (meaning you can't hear them on the radio or buy their records) and burnt a million pounds because... well nobody's really sure why. They have a new book, 2023, launched amidst much tomfoolery in Liverpool last week. Read an extract from the book here and watch Jarvis Cocker lead a rendition of the KLF's international hit 'Justified and Ancient' during the recent shennanigans in Liverpool:

Is the Artificial (or 'augmented') Intelligence conversation too much dominated by the likes of Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg?

WPP cuts its forecast, with a multitude of factors at play, significantly one is that brands cut out the middleman, and deal with Google and Facebook directly. Ironically, Google is WPP’s 9^th largest client since its acquisition of Essence.

Another factor is transparency, and brands are blighted by this wider phenomenon, with more than 600 brands identified by French startup Storyzy found to be the subject of 'fake news'.

How things change – the office for an SEO agency is now available to rent. Read this masterclass in schadenfreude.

This Is a Generic Millenial Ad, made entirely from stock images. Doesn't it look frighteningly similar to real ads produced by real agencies for real brands to target young people? produced by Calgary-based Dissolve and And/Or:

Cinema. The Big Screen is of course the way to really experience a film. Would Dunkirk or Hurt Locker be as intense on a TV (answer: no). Yet cinemagoing is at a post-war low, with fewer people going to see films in the US last weekend that either the weekend following JFK's assassination or the weekend following 9/11.

The studios are reviewing the distribution lag that means films debut in the cinema, then arrive by DVD and finally on TV. Why not everything on-demand?

Are you tempted by the latest from Guillermo del Toro The Shape of Water, which has won rave reviews at the Venice film festival, perhaps?

Data – oil at Silicon Valley, and the rush is only just beginning. And while so many of the internet services are 'free', that doesn't mean that don't come at a cost.

With Google hit by a vast £2.2 billion fine earlier this year for breaching EU anti-trust laws, it has now submitted documents explaining how it will end preferential behaviour for its own comparison services.

When myth met reality - Hilary Mantel on the death of Princess Diana, 20 years on.

Ben Macintryre chats to thriller and spy writer John le Carré - essential reading for gossippy smalltalk.

If you do write, try to avoid these six types of writer, according to Jeff VanderMeer.

Do you need to direct people 'back to the top'? Read on for the latest design guidelines.

According to Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman, we need to find a new planet to live on because we have ruined this one. But what sort of planet?

Watch his comments, opening the World Federation of Advertising:

You may reember last week we covered the new Pantone's Prince-inspired Purple. Breakfast cereal Cheerios, produced by Nestlé in the UK but owned by General Mills in the US, has lost its bid to trademark its distinctive yellow packaging.

Pitch deck for the launch of Uber (then known as UberCab) in August 2008 - a terrifically simple idea that focused on ‘premium’. But Uber has yet to make a profit and drivers complain that well paid work is no longer possible. But the company clearly smashed its ‘best case scenario’ of becoming the market leader and $1bn turnover – Uber bookings hit $8.7 billion with revenue of $1.75 billion in the second quarter although the company lost $645 million. It’s currently valued at $68.5 billion, making it the most expensive privately valued business in the world.

However, Uber's current success relies on huge cash reserves from investors, who have ploughed $10 billion into the business. Consistent losses have now narrowed this to $6.6 billion.

Is our obsession with digital advertising just that – an obsession, asks Dave Trott.

Finally, following the surprise success of Love Island, ITV have taken the next logical stap, and produced a reality show set in ancient Rome (sort of), featuring attractive young people looking bewildered. Part TOWIE, part Game of Thrones, part IACGMOOH, part Love Island, part Gladiators. How can it possibly fail?