Ad of the Day: TD Ameritrade places visual ad in blockchain with ASCII art – The Drum

By Kyle O’Brien      April 26, 2018

TD Ameritrade blockchain ad

In a definite first, TD Ameritrade and Havas have placed an ad in the blockchain as a celebration of innovation and creativity.

The ad is made up of 68 lines of code and made up of a string of the 80 computer characters that come together to create ASCII art. It can only be viewed visually on a landing page, as it consists of 60 cryptocurrency transactions. When it all comes together, the code forms an image of a flag being held by a hand and featuring the TD Ameritrade logo.

More at: Ad of the Day: TD Ameritrade places visual ad in blockchain with ASCII art – The Drum

Bitcoin ads were kicked off Facebook for being ‘misleading’. Now they’re on Twitter – ABC News

By Ariel Bogle      March 2, 2018

Earlier this year, Facebook banned bitcoin ads, but they are alive and well on Twitter.

Despite Facebook’s prohibition, some Australian Twitter users have seen a steady flow of ads for initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptocurrency exchanges.

The burgeoning world of digital currencies has acquired an unfortunate reputation since Satoshi Nakamoto’s bitcoin emerged in 2009.

Facebook said it was shutting down ads that were, “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices”, including ICOs and cryptocurrency.

More at: Bitcoin ads were kicked off Facebook for being ‘misleading’. Now they’re on Twitter – ABC News

AT&T And Bayer Bet On Blockchain To Tame Digital Advertising – AdExchanger

By James Hercher      February 22, 2018

Major brands like AT&T and Bayer are on a crusade to bring transparency back to the digital media supply chain – and are hoping the blockchain-based solutions they’re testing can be an answer.“Who specifically are those tech providers [in the supply chain] and how much of a fee are they assessing to my working media dollars?” said Mark Wright, VP of media services and sponsorships at AT&T. “It’s pretty murky and thus you need technology to help you get under the hood right now.”

Pharma giant Bayer has been scrutinizing its digital media supply chain since the ANA’s blockbuster 2016 media transparency report warned advertisers of waste and fraud in the ecosystem.

Both brands are working with blockchain tech platform Amino Payments. Bayer started working with Amino last year, said Jeffrey Rasp, director of digital strategy for Bayer’s US consumer health group, and just began media-buying and reporting tests of blockchain-based campaigns that will run through 2018.

More at: AT&T And Bayer Bet On Blockchain To Tame Digital Advertising – AdExchanger

Blockchain innovators battle fake news with tokens and content scoring – International Business Times

By Ian Allison     November 29, 2017

Global media agency Mindshare partners with Singpore’s high speed blockchain Zilliqa to test media applications

Global media agency Mindshare has partnered with Singpore’s high speed blockchain Zilliqa to address the problem of fake news.

Mindshare is global media agency with over 7,000 employees and $31bn in annual billings; Zilliqa offers a high speed blockchain platform developed by researchers at the National University of Singapore.

The partnership will involve testing whether Zilliqa’s blockchain protocol can be used to address pervasive industry challenges including contextual advertising in relation to fake news; develop strategic initiatives around data privacy and develop an industry-wide tokenisation program which can be used for publisher and content scoring.

More at: Blockchain innovators battle fake news with tokens and content scoring – International Business Times

Stream, YouNow: Can Cryptocurrencies Challenge Ad-Dominated Video-Content Market? – Forbes Investing #VentureCash

By Jonathan Ponciano, Contributor    October 30, 2017

The growing accessibility of video production combined with social media’s era-defining influence has birthed an industry of entrepreneurial video-content creation that’s overwhelmingly governed by a few key platform players. And now, cryptocurrency ventures are taking aim at decentralizing the largely ad-dominated market.

San Francisco-based Stream announced Thursday it’s received $5 million to back its namesake token in an advisor round of funding led by blockchain investment firm Pantera Capital. By facilitating direct transactions between content creators and consumers with a zero-fee structure, the Ethereum-based token wants to challenge the advertising-dependent business models present in the majority of digital content-sharing platforms.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

More at: Stream, YouNow: Can Cryptocurrencies Challenge Ad-Dominated Video-Content Market? – Forbes Investing #VentureCash

American Express Eyes Blockchain for Customer Rewards System – CoinDesk

By Nikhilesh De    October 23, 2017

The travel and merchant arm of American Express may be weighing the use of blockchain within a personalized customer rewards system, public filings show.

A new patent application published last week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office details a concept for offering customer-specific types of rewards (including points, a virtual currency or specific items tied to a product). The filing indicates the financial giant would make these offers by compiling personalized data about the customer, such as their historic spending patterns.

The application cites the tech as one resource for storing and updating information among a number of possible approaches, detailing:

“The blockchain structure may include a distributed database that maintains a growing list of data records. The blockchain may provide enhanced security because each block may hold individual transactions and the results of any blockchain executables. Each block may contain a timestamp and a link to a previous block.”

More at: American Express Eyes Blockchain for Customer Rewards System – CoinDesk

Blockchain Is a Game-Changer for Online Advertising – Investopedia

By Joe Liebkind    October 10, 2017

In the massive world of online advertising, blockchain will be a force to reckon with. Unlike with some blockchain products such as cryptocurrency, advertising can employ blockchain in a plethora of unique ways. The applications of this technology in advertising will help ad creatives target audiences better, share data, make users safer and more private, and democratize who controls the data that the industry relies on.

A New Direction for Advertising

One of the most notable features of blockchain as a finance application is anonymity. While this is a product of blockchain’s origins in bitcoin, for advertising, anonymity is sometimes counter-productive. Blockchain solutions for advertising will instead make use of the robust accountability that the technology provides, wiping the slate clean for all participants.

More at: Blockchain Is a Game-Changer for Online Advertising – Investopedia