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Despite being the largest advertising company in the world, Google hasn't made many unique or interesting ads for its own products. The company switched things up last month with a new 'Pixel vs. Pixel' campaign, a set of adorable videos pitting Pixel phones against a pug named Pixel. Now there are seven new fun videos in the series, comparing software features, price, and other factors.
Adobe tests inserting intrusive ads in Android's share sheet and ‘Open with’ popup
It’s likely testing the waters right now with a small user group
When you’re a developer with a massive portfolio of apps, you’re definitely going to want to encourage your users to try out as many as possible. About a year back we spotted Microsoft trying something along those lines by shadily sneaking app advertisements into Android’s share menu if the user had installed even one of its other apps. Following in Microsoft’s footsteps, Adobe has now started testing similar install suggestions for its own range of apps.
As spotted on Reddit late last night, Google has started running advertisements in Times Square showing off the orange "coral" Pixel 4. The ad invites us to "set a reminder for October 15," the date of Google's upcoming Made by Google event, also set in New York City, at which the phone is expected to be announced.
In case you were living under a rock this past week, it was hard to miss Samsung's big reveal for the Galaxy Note10. It was all over social media, news sites, televisions, and... notification trays. That's right, Samsung is once again spamming Galaxy phones with advertisements, this time for the Note10.
Ever since Microsoft's Windows Phone plans failed, the company has doubled down on bringing its services to Android and making them feel right at home there. In an effort to promote the usage of its apps over ones from competitors, Microsoft has decided to use the share sheet as a sneaky spot for advertising. People who have already installed the company's Your Phone Companion or other Microsoft apps get helpful install suggestions in share and open menus, depending on the type of file they want to send or load.
MIUI is one of the most powerful Android OEM skins, if you take the time to delve into it and put some prejudice aside. Sure, it has some shortcomings, like any other software, and it does some things in its own weird ways, but it has plenty of interesting features and additions. There's one aspect though that outright annoyed me when I tested the Poco F1: ads. Thankfully, Xiaomi is now recognizing they're a little too much and will be getting rid of some of them in future updates to MIUI.
Google took an unprecedented step in the smartphone industry and launched its new midrange phones Pixel 3a and 3a XL for half the price of its flagship while still retaining the same camera quality the regular Pixels are loved for. Of course, the company didn't miss the chance to rub that fact into its competitors' noses and launched an ad campaign comparing the fictional $999 "Phone X" with the $399 Pixel 3a, implying that it takes way better pictures in the dark.
Just this morning, we wrote about Google and the European Commission getting along, with Google proactively encouraging users to use other browsers and search engines than their own. Now, they're back at war. The Commission has fined Google €1.49 billion for breaching EU antitrust rules concerning AdSense.
For some, the Super Bowl is all about the event itself: watching two teams play the last football game of the season — or see who ends up playing the Patriots in their last game of the year, if you're a cynic. For many others, including myself, it's just an excuse to get together with your friends, eat a bunch of unhealthy foods, and watch some frequently amusing, high-budget ads. If you're in the latter camp, Amazon pushed out one of its Super Bowl commercials for you to check out early, and it's pretty funny.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y-1h_C8ad8[/EMBED_YT]I won't spoil all the jokes, but the premise of the minute and a half-long video is a pair of Amazon employees admiring the Alexa microwave — as one does — while they discuss all the other failed Alexa-powered hardware that preceded it. As you'd expect, each has some immediately obvious and funny flaw. Also, Harrison Ford gets upset with his dog.Sure, it's no Tide ad, but I laughed.Source: Amazon
In an age where smaller screen bezels are a selling point, a few companies have been caught modifying the appearance of their phones in adverts. One recent example was the Lenovo Z5, which had no bezels and no notch in the initial images, but the real phone had substantial bezels and a notch. The latest company do this is OnePlus, which seems to be trimming the 6T's bezels in advertisements.
Google is on a marketing blitz with the Pixel 3 and 3XL, mostly showcasing the phones' fantastic camera performance. We've seen Eminem's 'Venom' music video, a few cringy Jimmy Kimmel clips, and other media recorded with Google's new flagships. The company also partnered with Condé Nast to use the Pixel 3 across some of its magazines and sites — including a video where a chef crammed a lot of butter into a Thanksgiving turkey.
Google has made countless advertisements for Chromebooks, but none of them have directly pointed out flaws in traditional operating systems like Windows and macOS - until now. The company just released a new Chromebook commercial that calls out its competitors for being annoying, buggy, and slow.
Note9 details and leaks have been picking up steam in recent days, and the latest addition to the growing pile of evidence surrounding the new phone comes courtesy of renowned leaker Ice universe. Just earlier today he showed off what is claimed to be a print advertisement picturing "the new super powerful Note," stylus and all.
Samsung seems to be angling towards a different type of ad campaign: one that makes fun of competitors' devices. We first saw this (indirectly) with Samsung's 'Screen Reviews' commercial, but this latest 'Growing Up' takes the roasts to a whole other level. Several generations of the iPhone are highlighted here, and it's really very well done.
With most commercials in the US, companies compare their products to "the leading brand" or "competing product." But not so in the telecom industry. Carriers often go after their competitors with satirical ads and CEO rants, calling out each other on their claims and figures. Sprint is no stranger to this behavior, and has started a series of ads directly targeting Verizon.
Google has made some pretty great commercials in the past, like the first Pixel ad and the Google Gnome April Fool's joke. The company has created a series of ads for the Google Home, mostly to highlight the Home's temporary price drop, and one of them is... not good.
The primary selling point for YouTube Red is being able to watch videos without any ads (while still paying content creators). YouTube Red also has a few original series and movies starring major YT personalities. I guess not enough people are watching the original content, because now YouTube is pushing full-screen ads for them.
Samsung has a mixed track record when it comes to commercials - remember that awful ad for the original Galaxy Gear? Samsung's latest phone, the Galaxy S8, was officially revealed today. And the first commercial is pretty good.
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- 9to5Google received another statement from Google, saying that it was an attempt to integrate 'timely content' into Assistant and was definitely not an ad. Here is the full quote:
One of Google Assistant's more notable features is giving you a summary of your day when asked - including commute time, weather, news from user-selected sources, etc. For some users, the summary now includes a mention of Disney's Beauty and the Beast film - but Google says it's not an ad.
Samsung is nowhere near inexperienced in the marketing/advertising area, and neither is filmmaker and ex-vlogger Casey Neistat. For around a year now, the two have been working together to make the South Korean brand seem more appealing to younger folks, and this Oscars ad is a culmination of all that.