The marketing of fast food to children has been a hot topic in our increasingly health-conscious society as of late, with everyone from politicians to organizations like the Center for Science in the Public Interest weighing in on the touchy subject. It is in this environment that Taco Bell has made the decision to stop carrying kids’ meals, and is touting itself as the first national fast food chain to make this pioneering change.

While advocacy groups may be pleased with Taco Bell’s decision, it seems the chain is making this move less for moral reasons, and more for simple financial and branding ones.

The main incentive for dropping kids’ meals is that they don’t really jive with the chain’s core customers — the younger portion of the millennial demographic (i.e. bored high-schoolers and drunk college kids). In fact, kids’ meals represent a mere 0.5% of its sales, according to the company (compared to McDonald’s, where Happy Meals account for about 10% of U.S. sales).

“As we continue our journey of being a better, more relevant Taco Bell, kid’s meals and toys simply no longer make sense for us to put resources behind,” said Greg Creed, CEO of Taco Bell, in a statement. “What does make sense is concentrating on expanding choices that meet and exceed the diverse needs of consumers of all ages, without losing focus on what makes us great today.” Read more

Hooray everyone! We have a new prince! Release the publicists!

With #RoyalBaby trending for most of the day on Twitter (along with some reference to Buckingham Palace, the Royal family, or David Cameron), it’s only fitting that marketers raced to social media to try and tap into the excitement with some sort of play on the big news.

Out in front as they were for the Super Bowl was Oreo with a cookies-and-milk joke. Cute. OK, we’ll take that because that’s what they do. Also, and making perfect sense, Pampers had a sweet clip about how every baby is special to their mom and dad. Check it out after the jump.

Then there’s the desperate madness that happened. Hostess did something weird with a man cradling a Twinkie in a blanket that fell as flat as their big re-launch day. MAC smeared some lip gloss. Lululemon… I don’t know. And Starbucks (UK) slapped some crowns on coffee cups. Really, I can’t. Buzzfeed has a round up if you need more. But really, you don’t.

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Recent research suggests that 80% of reach from marketing campaigns now comes from amplification through advocacy. This means that whether or not satisfied customers are inspired to take that extra step and share their positive feelings about a brand can truly make or break a marketing effort.

In other words, brands that don’t generate substantial advocacy may end up paying more to market less efficiently than those that successfully make advocacy a priority.

This is at the heart of a new study conducted by Social@Ogilvy, which analyzed 7 million brand social mentions across 4 countries (Brazil, China, UK, US) and 22 brands to analyze the key drivers of advocacy. Partnering with Social@Ogilvy for the study were CIC, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and Visible Technologies.

What the study found is that despite the enormous potential value, “brands are failing at driving satisfied customers to share in social media,” said Irfan Kamal, global head of Data+Analytics and Products at Social@Ogilvy. “Our study suggests that the vast majority of satisfied customers are not publicly advocating for brands on social platforms. Brands have not provided the technology, incentives or content that both inspire and enable customers to speak out positively. To help close the gap, brands must help facilitate advocacy volume, reward passion and amplify reach.” Read more

Agency JWT Singapore/Manila recently teamed up with Unilever shampoo brand Cream Silk Hair for an undeniably creative (and undeniably creepy) promotion.

In order to prove how well Cream Silk products strengthen hair, the pair organized a string quartet concert in a Manila mall. All of the bows used in the concert — usually made with horse hair because of its durability — were instead strung with human hair that had been washed and conditioned with Cream Silk products.

The ad below shows South East Asian bow-maker Paul Goh crafting the bows out of human hair as an instrumental version of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” plays in the background. The spot culminates with a clip of the 40-song, 240-minute concert, all of which took place with zero hair breakage (pretty impressive). The video closes with the compelling line, “Not only can strong hair be seen, it can be heard.” Read more

What’s in a name?

J. K. Rowling has written a crime novel called The Cuckoo’s Calling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, and by doing so has proven two things: Rowling’s writing earns rave reviews no matter what name under which it’s published (because a rose by any other name would smell as sweet), and that her real, Harry Potter-associated name is a veritable gold mine of a brand.

The novel, which was published in April, is set in London and features a one-legged private detective named Cormoran Strike, who is hired to investigate the death of a supermodel called Lula Landry. The book was welcomed with rave reviews, including a piece in Publishers Weekly, which stated that “in a rare feat… Galbraith combines a complex and compelling sleuth and an equally well-formed and unlikely assistant with a baffling crime in his stellar debut.”

Before the news about the author’s real identity broke last week, The Cuckoo’s Calling had reportedly sold around 1,500 copies. Since Rowling was unmasked, however, the book’s Amazon sales have risen more than 150,000%. Let me just spell that our for you for the sake of reiteration: one hundred and fifty thousand percent! Read more

Ubisoft, makers of the historical action-adventure video game franchise Assassin’s Creed, have created a decidedly artistic and original campaign, titled “Defy History“, to promote the next installment of its popular series — Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag.

Playing off the game’s historical setting and furthering the concept of video games as art, the promo urges fans to “become part of a masterpiece” by digitally placing their own faces in a painting crafted by artists from L’Ecole Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris.

The website associated with the campaign states that users can “get a chance to have your face in an epic painting crafted by one of Europe’s finest cultural institutions.” The painting, which can be seen on the site, features a battle scene from the “Age of Piracy,” the time period during which the game is set. Using a webcam, fans can put their own faces on characters from the painting, and the most popular faces will be immortalized on the canvas. The final work of art, complete with fans’ faces, will be displayed in Le Musee de la Marine this November, just after the October release of the game. Read more

The redevelopment of New York’s Hudson Yards area got a major boost with Time Warner’s recent announcement of plans to relocate its headquarters there. Another company, Skylight Group, already ‘got in on the ground floor’, since it manages two notable outdoor event venues on the far west side: Skylight West (since 2008; photo below) and the High Line (In partnership with Friends of the High Line since 2012, photo at left). (both photos courtesy of Skylight Group) The firm also operates four indoor event venues.

“Event spaces become the visual backdrop for brands in terms of their look and feel”, noted Jennifer Blumin, Skylight Group’s president, during a recent in-person interview with PRNewser. “Now events are getting a larger piece of the marketing pie, due to social media, celebrities and their followers. Tech companies in particular host lots of events, and they like having raw space to customize. In turn, event organizers now are also more invested in technology due to state-of-the-art production needs and options such as livestreaming,” she added.

At Skylight West, located at Tenth Avenue and 36th street, only part of the event space is at street level. The rest of the venue, a converted parking garage, is on the penthouse studio and rooftop floors. As most New Yorkers and visitors know, the High Line park is situated on a former elevated freight railroad line between 10th and 11th Avenues. The section from Gansevoort Street to west 30th street is open to the public, while the last stretch from west 30th to 34th streets is still a work in progress.

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When a company’s primary audience is under the age of 12, will the public expect that company to promote only products and behaviors deemed “healthy” by third-party standards or trust it to develop its own?

To put it another way: does Cookie Monster really need to eat vegetables?

Senators and advocacy groups pushing to limit snack food ads on kids’ programs celebrated last year when The Walt Disney Company, partnering with Michelle Obama‘s “Let’s Move” anti-obesity campaign, promised to stop running spots for foods that don’t meet suggested federal nutrition standards by 2015. Disney’s chairman said the decision was “about smart business.”

Despite pressure to follow suit, Nickelodeon has chosen to continue using its own internal benchmarks—which earned praise from the same senators and advocacy groups—when deciding which food ads to run.

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We can all agree on one thing: today’s Supreme Court decision invalidating the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act was, is, and will continue to be a big deal. It’s not that the justices’ conclusions were a big surprise as most observers did not expect them to uphold existing gay marriage bans on the state or federal level. But it still inspired strong emotions for many Americans.

Of course, politicians of all stripes were quick to offer their takes on the issue.

RT if you agree: http://t.co/ISp1tO2Eqe pic.twitter.com/pKanRtHJK1

— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) June 26, 2013

My thoughts on the SCOTUS ruling that determined that same sex marriage is okay: “Jesus wept.”

— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) June 26, 2013

In other words, the debate will go on. Now for the question of the day: how can brands turn this major cultural and political event into a great PR opportunity?

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Celebrity and fashion have a few things in common. One of those things: You can be super hot on Monday, and D list on Tuesday. One day, you’re sipping Champagne in Cannes. The next, you’re in a gutter crying in your malt liquor.

At one point, Jon Gosselin was actually on a yacht in Cannes. And what do you wear when you’re hanging out on a fancy boat in a fancy place? An Ed Hardy t-shirt, of course. According to the man behind those ugly shirts, that’s exactly what led to the downfall of his momentarily successful clothing company. Read more