The US Senate has passed legislation that will see TikTok’s parent company ByteDance forced to either sell off the social media platform to an American-owned company, or face a bill in the States. Per SMH, the bill passed 79-18, and will now go to President Joe Biden, who has already indicated he will sign it as soon as it lands on his desk. ByteDance now has just nine months to sell TikTok to an American company, with a three-month extension in play should a deal be pending. This forced sale acts to prevent the possibility of the Chinese government strongarming ByteDance into giving up sensit ..read more

Three Australian films have been chosen to have their world premieres at the 77th Festival de Cannes in France. The announcement: Three Australian titles have been selected for the 77th Festival de Cannes in France, which runs from 14 – 25 May 2024. Making their respective world premieres are Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Surfer and Withered Blossoms. Screen Australia’s CEO Deirdre Brennan said, “We are thrilled by the selection of such a diverse range of films for Cannes 2024. From the highly-anticipated feature Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga by George Miller — one of Australia’s most successful fi ..read more

Google has delayed the end of third-party cookies in its Chrome browser for the third time, pushing the timeline back to beyond 2025. Google gave the update on “the plan for third-party cookie deprecation on Chrome” ahead of its first-quarter financials, due on Friday. “We recognise that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem,” a company spokesperson wrote. “It’s also critical that the CMA has sufficient time to review all evidence including results ..read more

More than 45 Melbourne-based marketing and strategy professionals gathered for ‘Neighbourhood Strat Chats’ – an initiative aimed at building and strengthening relationships between strategists. The announcement: Over 45 of Melbourne’s strategy and marketing community, gathered this morning for the first ever ‘Neighbourhood Strat Chats’ event in South Yarra. Neighbourhood Strat Chats, a free and open community of individuals with a strategy background, is an initiative from Neighbourhood Strategy’s founder and CSO Jacqueline Witts. “Strategy can sometimes be a bit of a lonely pursuit, and I w ..read more

Intuit Inc., the fintech platform behind Mailchimp, has launched its debut Australian brand campaign for the aforementioned email marketing platform, playing on the familiar to raise awareness. Developed by in-house creative agency, Wink Creative, and communications agency, MG OMD, the ‘To: Australia From: Mailchimp” campaign leverages the familiar elements of email (in this case, a recipeient and navigation bar) to capture the seasoned eyes of Australian marketers. Each visual element supports copy that is related to the specific location of the placement. The campaign plays across “66 stati ..read more

Marketing and comms agency Bastion has appointed former Dentsu Creative APAC CEO, Cheuk Chiang, as its new CEO for Australia and New Zealand. In his new role, Chiang will be responsible for driving business expansion and have operational and P&L responsibilities across Bastion’s ANZ business. (L-R): Jack Watts and Cheuk Chiang He joins after 18 months at Dentsu Creative as APAC CEO, where he was among the pre-Christmas redundancies last year. “We’ve been in business almost 15 years and it’s a thrill to bring in someone of Cheuk’s calibre to lead our business across ANZ. It’s a testament ..read more

Tomorrow is Anzac Day, and even from our offices here in North Sydney, we can hear hundreds of ill-advised corporate ‘tributes’ being prepared across the nation. If you’re beginning to second guess just how respectful your corporately-endorsed Anzac Day content is, here’s some cautionary tales we’ve dug up from Anzac Days past to help tip you over the line. EXAMPLE #1: IN WHICH ZOO WEEKLY PAYS SOLEMN, SEXY TRIBUTE TO THE DIGGERS This is Erin Pash. She is an Australian model who was interviewed in a special ten-page commemorative Anzac Day edition of Zoo Weekly that came out in 2015, because he ..read more

Global independent digital agency DEPT has an admirable story of growth. Founded in 2015 in the Netherlands, the agency today boasts over 1,000 clients across 30 offices in 20 countries on five continents. Impressive, right? The last three years alone have seen 230% growth, with 2022 reaching over €500 million (AUD$825 million) in revenue. While the agency is only nine years old, Dimi Albers, Amsterdam-based global CEO, has been around for nearly 18 years. Albers Joining Dutch agency TamTam in 2006 in accounts and strategy, Albers set out to make it the biggest digital agency in the Netherla ..read more

Full-service agency Ardent has been selected to helm The Fred Hollows Foundation’s new PR campaign. The announcement: The Fred Hollows Foundation has appointed independent full-service agency, Ardent to lead its upcoming public relations campaign, concluding a competitive pitch process. The exciting partnership will see Ardent support The Foundation across earned media relations, ambassador procurement, influencer engagement, and social media amplification for their two major community fundraising events in 2024. With an enduring 30-year legacy as one of Australia’s most iconic charities, Th ..read more

oOh!media has launched ‘3D Anamorphic Out of Home’ in Perth’s Yagan Square. Scitech and POLY contributed to the campaign. The announcement: 3D Anamorphic Out of Home has made its debut in Perth, with oOh!media launching it at its iconic Yagan Square site and creative and innovation hub POLY partnering with Scitech for the inaugural campaign. Yagan Square becomes the latest full motion 3D Anamorphic site from oOh!, joining The Bourke in Melbourne – a six-storey high 3DA screen and the largest outdoor animated site in Australia, and The Macquarie Centre located on Sydney’s affluent North Shore ..read more