Project Murphy's verdict on Theresa May as a goth

What if Theresa May was a goth? Are we in a crisis of trust? Is the 1980s revival unstoppable? Has Facebook beaten adblockers? Will you dial into conference calls using a drone in the future? These questions and more answered below.

First, a quick look at the present from the prism of the past. Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy author Douglas Adams wrote this piece for The Times in 1999. He said:

1. everything that’s already in the world when you’re born is just normal;
2. anything that gets invented between then and before you turn thirty is incredibly exciting and creative and with any luck you can make a career out of it;
3. anything that gets invented after you’re thirty is against the natural order of things and the beginning of the end of civilisation as we know it until it’s been around for about ten years when it gradually turns out to be alright really.

He would have loved Microsoft's latest venture into Artificial Intelligence, Project Murphy attempts to answer questions posed like this: "What if Theresa May was a goth" and it finds the answer almost immediately (Murphy's answer is below), using AI and it's all very good fun. You can read more about it here.

Meanwhile, Campaign has produced a film (in American, confusingly) designed to tackle one of the DMA's chief concerns - trust. Their take is more about trust between brands and agencies rather than brands and customers. We already have our own recipe for developing trust, which comes down to putting the consumer first. Aren't the principles the same though?

In the film people like Martin Sorrell and Keith Weed talk about the 'crisis' of trust, largely laid at the door of media agencies who were found to take kickbacks for the media they place. Hear what they have to say below:

In one of the more unusual stories this week, the BBC looked at the brand preferences of Brexiters and Remainers. Apparently Brexiters like various foods, like HP Sauce and Richmond Sausages, while Remainers like services, like the BBC, London Underground and Twitter.

According to the research, brands favoured by Brexiters are more likely to be seen as, "traditional, straightforward, simple, down-to-earth, good value and friendly", while brands favoured by Remainers were, "progressive, up-to-date, visionary, innovative, socially responsible, intelligent."

Another ongoing concern is the worry about climate change. Soaring temperatures in the Middle East have sparked worries about whether global warming has not just arrived but is in full swing.

Josh Constine on TechCrunch suggests that in the battle of new social between Snapchat and Instagram, Instagram is winning, not by offering a better service than Snapchat, but pilfering its appeal.

Google has published a new patent according to which seems to suggest that the future of conference calling may feature your face buzzing around an office attached to a drone.

Facebook has a plan to defeat adblocking by simply sidestepping adblockers completely. This steamroller approach to adblocking may be good for business, but does it serve consumer interests? Facebook say they are giving consumers more control over the ads they see.

Real world show and one of Amazon's biggest competitors (and Asda owner) Wal-Mart has bought one of Amazon's direct competitors Jet.com for £2.3 billion to accelerate its online presence and attempt to match Amazon's unqualified success.

The rise in programmatic techniques continues apace. New research from The Drum and The Trade Desk shows an appetite for increases in programmatic video spend next year.

What about creativity? According to Wieden + Kennedy London ECD Iain Tait, moving up the ladder to running creative teams means not just taking none of the credit and all of the blame, but also demotion from genuis to idiot.

Media commentator and former Daily Mirror editor Roy Greenslade looked at how the British government used propaganda in wartime, and what implications it has for today.

You may remember last week's ode to the 1980s, well this trend is turning into a torrent, with the ad of the week this ridiculous retelling of Simple Minds' classic Don't You (Forget About Me), retold by cats by Adam&EveDDB for what we think is a cat treat (can humans eat it too? We're not certain) - the video was transferred to VHS to give that classic 1980s grainy feel.