Most read: JCDecaux wins £500m TfL contract
After ten years of handling , it seems that Clear Channel is set to lose the business.
, "sources said TfL has selected JCDecaux as its preferred partner but that the decision is subject to a ten-day standstill period. That period is expected to conclude by 20 July, after which a formal appointment will be made."
No parties concerned would comment on the report.
Cannes: 7 seminars are on YouTube until 12 July
In case you were unable to attend Cannes, or were too busy in meetings, the festival has helpfully uploaded seven full-length seminars to YouTube.
There are talks and presentations from the likes of WPP, MediaCom, TBWA Worldwide, Razorfish Global & Contagious, Unilever and Heineken on offer. Dive into the playlist below:
Lookalikes: The Minions and Tic Tacs
The Minions have already caught our attention with . But VML Poland alerted us to a genius partnership they collaborated on: Minion-branded banana Tic Tacs.
Unbeknownst to us, making Minions out Tic Tacs became a thing, with and examples popping up on , , , you name it. Someone even made a stop-motion video. In French.
The product has been launched in 21 countries in tandem with the movie, including the US, Australia, Germany and Italy, supported by social media, a search campaign, a brand website and online games.
Brand placement: Axa enters the alternate reality of Ingress
Product placement may have had its day. Augmented reality game Ingress has released the results of a five-month relationship with Axa, which might be best described as brand placement within the game.
For one, Axa's retail locations became destinations in the game, which led to 600,000 real-world visits by players. Ingress also integrated an expression of the Axa brand into the game, the Axa Shield, an object designed to be coveted by players.
It's not the first partnership Ingress has embarked upon. There have been two in the US, three in Japan and even one in the UK with Shuh. Read our .
On social: #tubestrike
Londoners have taken to Twitter in droves to air their views on today's Tube strike.
And of course, brands have jumped in to be part of the conversation. (with a distinct anti-marketing flavour). Because we can't resist a pun, Walls' tweet is our favourite:
got you in a spin? Go on, London... treat yourself to an ice cream today. You deserve it.
— Wall's Ice Cream (@walls)
Although leads the pack with 1,400 retweets and 1,200 favourites.
Naturally, this is a big day for taxi brands (as well as companies with an interest in remote working), and to show how they're responding.
But analysis of tweets by Brandwatch suggests Uber – who haven't engaged with the strike on Twitter at all – may be the big winner from today, as long as they can ride the on the app.
Compiled by Jonathan Shannon
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