White noise tops the charts, wearables get emotional, and girl power marketing grown up stays strong. It’s the news you don’t want to miss this week!
1. What’s Number One?!
We wrote this week that Taylor Swift could teach brands a thing or three about marketing, but we could not have predicted this: Thanks to an iTunes glitch, eight seconds of white noise was released as the third track on her new album 1989. But that didn’t stop her devoted fans from clicking download: the accidental track skyrocket to number one on the Canadian charts! Now that’s a devoted fandom. The gaff inspired faux-reviews and had T. Swift and her album making headlines across the web, yet again.
2. Breaking Toy “R” Us
The great Breaking Bad action figure scandal of 2014 is over. After a petition asking that Toys “R” Us remove the meth-toting figures of Walter and Jesse from shelves went viral, the chain acquiesced and announced the toys would immediately be taken out of stores online and off. Actor Aaron Paul responded to the controversy on Twitter, saying “Wait, so @ToysRUs pulled all of the Breaking Bad figures from their shelves and still sells Barbie? Hmmmm…I wonder what is more damaging?” Meanwhile, a new parent-backlash is brewing: an H&M Frozen shirt that looks like Elsa could be flashing “the V sign” is angering moms and dads who want it, you guessed it, pulled from stores.
3. Wearables Get Emotional
Body-metric tracking is being used to track emotions, and that emotional information is used to create tailor-made experiences and more. Our coverage of the coming emotional economy looked at some of the apps and startups using feelings as fuel for innovation, but don’t miss the other wearables getting emotional: Google Glass has an app that actually reads the emotions of the people you are looking at. Though it might seem unnecessary, the tool could help users with conditions such as autism that make it difficult for them to understand others. Meanwhile, a device that may be able to alter our moods could be on the way.
4. Swipe Right To Pay
The Tinder Effect has many new mobile startups borrowing from the successful dating app’s simple swipe to select design, but Tinder isn’t benefitting from it. So don’t miss some of the ways that the app is planning to make a profit. Though its current offerings will remain free, Tinder’s CEO hinted that premium features will be added soon and that the app would potentially be borrowing from its own users’ innovative non-dating hacks of the platform.
5. Chevrolet Gets
Girl Powered
Our round up of the three things to watch this week included an extreme example of the Girl Powered Marketing Grown Up trend that has some viewers offended. But don’t miss another recent example that hit the mark: Chevrolet is getting major kudos for their recent “Throw Like a Girl” ad featuring 13-year-old Little League star Mo’ne Davis. The 60-second spot is actually a snippet of a longer documentary written and directed by Spike Lee, and features Davis showing what throwing like a girl really looks like.
