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Fact or Fiction: The SEO Edition [Quiz]
Just when you thought you were up-to-date on the latest SEO best practices, an algorithm change or a new expert post has you questioning yourself. Sound familiar?
It’s true, the world of SEO is spinning faster than ever, and for every new strategy, an old one becomes obsolete. As inbound marketers, it’s our job to stay informed of these changes, while continuously questioning the status quo.
Today, successful inbound marketers turn their attention to a long overdue focus on high-quality content. Marketers and SEO agencies worldwide have halted their obsession with link building and keywords and re-prioritized for this specifically.
Finalists: Top 10 Social Media Blogs 2017
We received hundreds of nominations for our eighth-annual Top 10 Social Media Blogs contest! Below is the list of 20 finalists, including some well-known favorites and new blogs for our judges to consider. The Judges Our judges include Heidi Cohen (chief content officer of Actionable Marketing Guide), Marcus Sheridan (founder of The Sales Lion), and Sonia Simone (founding partner and chief […]
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– Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
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10 of the Best Ads from January: Slo-Mo Dogs, Falling Pianos, and an Epic BBQ
If your New Year’s resolution is to take a more creative approach to advertising, then we’ve got some inspiration to get your 2017 started off right.
While many of us were still adjusting to a normal work schedule again after the holidays, these agencies were producing some of January’s most captivating, hilarious, and admirable work.
This month’s roundup includes standout spots from around the globe, including a particularly existential clothing commercial from the Middle East, and an anti-smoking PSA from the Netherlands that takes on big tobacco with a unique spin. We’ve also included the viral, student-produced spec ad that AdWeek called the “most moving work we’ve seen so far in 2017.”
Check out our recap of January’s best ads below, and get inspired to tackle your own big projects in 2017.
10 of the Best Ads from January
1) Meat & Livestock Australia
What brings people together better than … lamb meat? That’s the premise of this extended spot for Meat & Livestock Australia, which assembles an ambitiously diverse cast of lamb-lovers for one epic beach side barbecue.
Produced by Sydney-based agency The Monkeys, the entertaining ad features Indigenous athletes Cathy Freeman and Greg Inglis, transgender comedian Jordan Raskopoulos, and several boatfuls of colonizers from Europe and Asia — all of whom are super into grilled lamb, apparently.
The inclusive tone seems like an attempt to make up for the company’s ill-received Australia Day ad, which was one of Australia’s most complained about ads of 2016 for its perceived lack of sensitivity to Indigenous people and vegetarians.
2) Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg (Spec Ad for Adidas)
Get the tissues ready for this one. Students at Germany’s Film Academy of Baden-Württemberg created this poignant and visually stunning spec ad for Adidas, and it went viral on YouTube seemingly overnight. The short film follows an elderly protagonist as he attempts to escape his convalescent home for the simple pleasures of an outdoor run.
Writer/director Eugen Merher, who created the piece as his second-year project at the Film Academy, told AdWeek the inspiration came from a late relative: “An old man with a very young spirit who used to walk two kilometers every day and bring his wife flowers.”
3) Centrepoint
This ad’s answer to existential dread? Looking great.
Impact BBDO Dubai created this ad for Middle Eastern clothing retailer Centerpoint, and it somehow manages to make life’s potentially fatal uncertainties seem oddly quirky. You can’t control a fiery piano falling towards you, but you can control what you wear while it happens.
4) No7
If anyone knows a thing or two about defying expectations for their age, it’s ballerina Alessandra Ferri, who appears in No7’s latest campaign for an anti-aging serum. The now 53 year-old Italian dancer was the youngest prima ballerina at London’s Royal Ballet when she was 19, and continues to dance professionally today.
In the ad, which was produced by Mother London, Ferri is shown dancing alongside a ghostly vision of her 19 year-old self. It’s a truly mesmerizing concept that’s especially unique for a skincare ad.
5) Expedia
Promoting a message of global fellowship, this ad for Expedia follows a woman through a lifetime of purposeful travel. From the time she looks over her neighbor’s fence as a child to see the world beyond her own backyard, she’s compelled to immerse herself in new cultures and experiences.
Clocking in at just one minute, the 180LA-produced spot packs in a surprising amount of narrative. “We believe that the more each of us travel and peek over our neighbor’s fence, we learn that we have more in common than we have different,” said Vic Walla, senior director of brand marketing at Expedia, to Adweek.
6) Duracell
Wieden+Kennedy developed a new delightfully offbeat campaign for Duracell, focusing on some of the little (potentially unexpected) ways consumers can trust the brand’s batteries on a daily basis.
“We’re taking a lighthearted look at the real issue of trust,” said Ramon Velutini, Duracell’s vp of marketing. “Because while you do need trustworthy power when you’re climbing K2 — the world’s second-highest mountain — you also need it for your game controller and your kids’ toys.”
7) Stivoro
What if employees at a tobacco company party were completely honest about their industry?
Stivoro, the Netherlands’ Foundation for Smoking and Health, teamed up with Wefilm to shed some light on the dangers of smoking (and the hypocrisy of the tobacco industry) in this darkly comic new PSA.
8) Planet Fitness
Being judged sucks. Being judged by a CPR dummy you’re attempting to give mouth-to-mouth? Well, that really sucks.
In their ongoing campaign to position their gyms as no-judgment zones, Planet Fitness worked with agency Hill Holliday to develop this wonderfully hammy ad for the New Years’ resolution crowd.
9) New York Lottery
It’s a common icebreaker question: What would you do if you won the lottery?
If you’re like the guy in this ad for the New York Lottery, your answer involves dogs. A lot of dogs.
To promote their Cash4Life game, the state-run lottery teamed up with McCann New York to highlight one of the nonmaterial benefits of winning: having more free time to volunteer. It’s a simple spot with an uplifting message — featuring some hilarious slow-motion closeups of running dogs.
10) Angel Soft
I never thought I’d be tearing up at a toilet paper ad, but this one for Angel Soft from Deutsch is surprisingly heartwarming.
The ad chronicles a single dad raising a daughter on his own, and it does a great job capturing some the little, commonly overlooked moments of growing up — all framed in the context of toilet paper, of course.
Would you pay for a web TV streaming service from Apple? If so, how much? [Poll]
Apple has long been rumored to be developing a web TV streaming service. Recent reports, however, have claimed that the company has abandoned the idea due to difficulties negotiating with networks.
With AT&T having recently launched DirecTV Now and Hulu’s upcoming streaming service, the idea of a streaming service from Apple is something that doesn’t seem too wild.
With the streaming industry the way that it is, would you pay for it? If so, how much?
Filed under: Apple
Logic Pros (101): Getting started with Logic Pro X – The interface
If you’re new to audio recording and editing on your Mac, or upgrading from GarageBand or another audio recording suite to Apple’s Logic Pro X, Logic Pros 101 has you covered.
In this first installment, we give you an introduction to the app with a tour of its user interface. In the future, we’ll breakdown basic recording and editing features, using virtual instruments and effects, and much much more:
Filed under: Apple
Apple reportedly removing apps from Iranian developers & startups from the iOS App Store
Apple has allegedly started removing apps originating in Iran from the App Store. According to Techrasa, Apple removed the app of Digikala, the biggest Iranian e-commerce service, a few days ago. Apple has yet to comment on the procedure but it seems to stem from international trade laws (via TechCrunch).
Filed under: Apple
In memo to employees, Tim Cook says Trump’s immigration order is ‘not a policy we support’
Joining a variety of tech leaders in doing so, Tim Cook today told Apple employees in a memo that the company does not support the executive orders signed by President Donald Trump to limit immigration from foreign countries to the United States. In the memo, obtained by The Verge, Cook explains that the order simply is “not a policy we support.”
Filed under: Apple
Adobe announces plans to shutter Contribute, Director, and Shockwave starting next month
Adobe today announced that, in an effort to continue to push people towards Creative Cloud, it is discontinuing Adobe Director and Contribute, as well as Shockwave on Mac. The move, which shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise to most, officially marks the end of Macromedia software, the company Adobe acquired in 2005 and subsequently dissolved.
Filed under: Apple
This week’s top stories: iOS 10.3 beta & Find My AirPods, Getting started w/ HomeKit, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 w/ Night Shift & more
In this week’s top stories: iOS 10.3 beta arrives with a new Find My AirPods feature, Ben walks through Getting started with HomeKit in his first Smart Home Diary, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 beta brings Apple’s Night Shift feature to Macs, and much more.
Filed under: Apple
Apple inexplicably removes iCloud Activation Lock status page, which helped people avoid buying stolen iPhones
Apple has inexplicably removed the iCloud Activation Lock status page, which used to exist at http://ift.tt/1v92Osj, but that URL now leads to a 404 error instead. The utility let anyone type in the IMEI or serial number of an iOS device to find out if Activation Lock had been turned off, handy to verify the authenticity of a seller when buying a used iPhone online.
References to the web page have been removed from Apple’s support documentation, indicating this is not a temporary issue and the page has been intentionally pulled from service …
Filed under: Apple
Hands on with jimmyCASE, a top-notch iPhone case with great materials
For the last few weeks I’ve been using jimmyCASE for iPhone 7 Plus and iPhone 6/6s. This iPhone case has a unique mix of materials including mahogany, silicone, and high performance elastic that work well together both aesthetically and functionally. Keep reading after the break to learn more and why jimmyCASE is worth picking up.
Filed under: Apple
Become Tech Savvy: How to approach and manage passwords
First time checking out this series? You’ll get the most value by starting at the beginning and here is the series overview. The previous article in this series is How to set up automatic backups in macOS and iOS.
Note for regular readers, the already tech savvy, and IT professionals: this is designed as a resource you can give to those you are helping or for those looking to become tech savvy on their own.
Priority #2: Password Management
Background, Expectations, & Best Practices |
A big benefit of our hyper connected world is that we have access to almost any service or system almost anywhere in the world. Because we can access accounts and information without being physically present, unique identification is required for internet accounts. With the large amount of unique accounts most people have, it quickly becomes clear why password management is one of the biggest frustrations people face with technology; there is a lot of information, it changes, and is often simliar but different from account to account.
Like having a solid backup strategy (which we covered last week), implementing a good password management plan allows you to save time, stay more secure, and worry less. This will allow you to focus your time on what’s important and also position yourself to continue buidling your tech skills. In this article we’ll address how to approach password management, the what, why, and good software options.
Filed under: Apple
Facebook Stories Start to Roll Out: This Week in Social Media
Welcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up to date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention. What’s New This Week Facebook Releases Facebook Stories in Ireland: Facebook rolled out Facebook Stories in Ireland for the iOS and Android […]
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Tim Cook in Washington: Meetings w/ Sen. Hatch & Dept of Veterans Affairs, dinner w/ Jared Kushner & Ivanka Trump
Tim Cook has held a pair of notable meetings in Washington D.C. this week according to reports. First, BuzzFeed News reports that Cook met with Senator Orrin Hatch on Capitol Hill, while Politico reports that he also went to dinner with Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Apple VP of environment, policy, and social initiatives Lisa Jackson was also in attendance at the dinner.
Filed under: Apple
9to5Rewards: Grovemade’s solid wood and leather iPhone cases and dock [Giveaway]
9toRewards is officially out of beta, which means you’ll see a new giveaway as part of the program here every Friday on the main site (and our Twitter, Facebook, etc). Our sister site, 9to5Google (and soon 9to5Toys and Electrek.co) is also now running weekly giveaways.
This week’s giveaway is from Portland-based Grovemade, makers of high-quality wood and leather accessories for your Apple products. They are giving out their wood and leather iPhone cases and walnut iPhone dock.
Filed under: Apple
Hands-on: Incase ICON and new ICON Lite backpacks fit 15-inch MacBooks, all iPads, and much more
Incase is launching a new laptop backpack this week called ICON Lite ($99, pictured right) that packs MacBooks up to 15-inches, any iPad, and more for under $100. ICON Lite joins Incase’s existing lineup of ICON backpacks that also includes ICON ($199, pictured left) and ICON Slim ($149) to create three sizes at three price points. Check out our hands-on with Incase ICON and the new ICON Lite below:
Filed under: Apple
Friday 5: GarageBand’s new update, the creator of Flappy Bird publishes a new game, and three other apps to check out this weekend [Video]
In search of a few apps to keep you occupied this weekend? Then you’ll want to check out the latest edition of Friday 5. Inside you’ll find a major GarageBand update, a new game from the creator of Flappy Bird, an awesome iOS imaging app that’s currently on sale, and more. Watch our brief hands-on video for additional details. more…
Filed under: Apple
Review: Fabriq is a $50 AirPlay speaker with a small form-factor [Video]
We first featured the Fabriq Wireless Speaker last fall as one of our New Toys of the Day. What particularly struck us about this product was its wide range of connectivity. We aren’t just talking Bluetooth here. It is also has AirPlay, multi-room connectivity, and support for Amazon’s popular Alexa Service. And at $50, it has big-time value.
The question is, can its compact design hang with the big boys like JBL and UE?
Filed under: Apple