Introducing Valenstein & Fatt

We present a new agency, born in direct mail, but for the past 100 years or so has been known as Grey, and the latest from the marketing and advertising industry this week.

The day before Theresa May signed a letter signalling the start of the Article 50 process, agency Grey London pre-empted by rebranding as Valenstein & Fatt, in recognition of its founders.

Valenstein & Fatt will exist for 100 days as a stand against racism and xenophobia.

Founded 100 years ago in New York by two Jewish entrepreneurs, the agency began in a climate of rampant antisemitism and racism.

The founders chose 'Grey' as it was the colour of the wallpaper in their office.

Valenstein and Fatt ran a highly successful business, initially in direct mail, later branching out into full service. Watch the video:

Trump plans to stop the planned merger between AT&T and Time Warner which is worth $85.4 billion. Could he just be furious with CNN, one of his most insightful bugbears, which is owned by Time Warner?

With so much on Uber last week, the taxi app suspends its autonomous driving programme following a nasty crash in Arizona.

Zenith Optimedia's futurologist Tom Goodwin sets out his media media trends in this insightful slideshow, presented at the Guardian Media Summit.

Facebook plans to launch its Facebook Audience Network (FAN) for mobile.

Question: is retail in the US about to implode? The stores are too big and too boring, apparently.

Meanwhile, Deloitte presents the new age of retail in report form. But if you are too busy to read the whole thing, you can just watch the video:

If you wonder where AI might take you, have a look at Riot, an immersive AI experience designed to get your emotions pumping.

First priority of comedy is to make you laugh https://aeon.co/ideas/the-only-line-comedy-shouldnt-cross-is-the-no-laughter-line

Watch ex-Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker perform Tearjerker with piano maestro Chilly Gonzales, filmed by Garth Jennings:

Facebook’s overall numbers for audience exceed the actual population census estimate by 10%-15% according to some nifty digging by Dominic Mills.

How to sell crickets, the insects not the game, for food and in two ways to demonstrate some behavioural science.

Dave Trott’s thoughts on strategy: it's sacrifice.

Unusually for a luxury brand, Gucci’s recent marketing has been a series of social memes. This is interesting because this is usually the preserve of more mundane, less luxury brands. Reactions have been mixed.

The Guardian has sured programmatic vendor Rubicon Project, allegedly over receiving as little as 30p for every £1 spent on display, the rest taken by adtech intermediaries. The average is somewhere around the 40% mark - low but not as low as what the Guardian currently receives. Rubicon Project say they will defend robustly.

Staying with The Guardian, this is the story of a viral image, created the day after the Westminster attack, made with a fake tube whiteboard generator, before promptly going everywhere.

The new McCoy's ad, Win Gold by WCRS:

While Europe prepares for the GDPR, which will tighten data protection rules for business, in the US the law seems to be moving in the opposite direction, with Congress overturning new rules that would have meant Internet Service Providers would have to get consumers' permission before selling their data.

Buzzfeed, the brand best known as the publisher making a profit from the social revolution, probably because it doesn't use display ads, plans to go public in 2018.

Finally, some new music, 'Horizons' by Aldous Harding: