Wrapup: 8 things you need to know this week

1. Beauty contest turns ugly for Panasonic Malaysia

Things turned ugly for Panasonic Malaysia this week when the company appeared to ignore public votes for a beauty contest. Panasonic Malaysia Beauty left out the most voted-for contestant in a ‘shortlist’ of 216 for a beauty pageant and the decision sparked a barrage of outrage from consumers.

2. Bringing the science back to communications

In a week that the office conversation centered around the baffling science in the movie Interstellar, Ogilvy PR’s global chairman and CEO spoke to us about his hopes of bringing science back into communications.

 

3. Mind-boggling shopathon in China

Whilst Interstellar proved baffling for the Campaign team, we were briefly distracted by the mind-boggling stats coming out of China’s 11.11 shopping festival. In the first half of the day for the annual shopathon, consumers spent a whopping US$5.7 billion over Alibaba Group’s e-commerce platforms.

4. Facebook growth slows down in Asia

Facebook user growth in Asia has slowed as the social network moves to clean up fake accounts created for the purpose of liking pages.

5. Israel attempts to attract Japanese tourists

The Embassy of Israel in Japan launched an unorthodox campaign in an attempt to attract Japanese tourism to the country and dispel concerns around security. Seven anime-style, short films charting the experiences of Japanese visitors to the Middle Eastern country are currently being rolled out.

6. Google versus Spotify

Google has decided to take on music streaming site Spotify with the launch of YouTube’s Music Key. The paid-for subscription service lets users stream ad-free music and videos as well as download content to view offline.

7. Taylor Swift is out. Campaign Asia-Pacific is in.

Talking of Spotify, Taylor Swift might have left the streaming service, but Campaign Asia-Pacific joined this week. According to Spotify we’re the first trade publication in APAC to have a branded account. We’re currently compiling the ultimate list of music from TV ads and we want your help. So send us a Tweet with your suggestions @CampaignAsia #MusicFromTheAds

8. Brand fan

What do brands need to understand about fans and fandom? Tottenham Hotspur FC fan Dave McCaughan, managing director of McCann Worldgroup Hong Kong, has some thoughts….