The Hostess Snacks Instagram account dedicated to weird memes is actually good

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Even Twinkies are wearing AirPods these days.  

And that’s because whoever is behind the Hostess Snacks’ Instagram page is a meme genius. A very kooky, imaginative genius. Or maybe geniuses? OK, it must be a panel of geniuses, eating Twinkies while Photoshopping AirPods onto Twinkies. Right?

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Dr. Bronner’s is the only good brand on Twitter

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Whether it’s Lil Debbie shilling out relationship advice or Sunny D igniting a conversation about depression, contemporary brand Twitter can be a depressing and dark place. 

Nothing feels more cynical than when a brand appropriates the standardized millennial voice — ironic, detached, dejected — and uses it to hock their emulsified meat products and drinkable corn syrups. There’s no commitment to justice here, there’s just marketing. So I’d love to call for a mass ban of corporations from Twitter, with one exception: Dr. Bronner’s, one of the country’s most popular organic, fair trade soap producers. Read more…

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‘Amazon Live’ is the retailer’s latest effort to take on QVC with live-streamed video

Amazon is taking on QVC with the launch of Amazon Live, which features live-streamed video shows from Amazon talent as well as those from brands that broadcast their own live streams through a new app, Amazon Live Creator. On the live shows, hosts talk about and demonstrate products available for sale on Amazon, much like they do on QVC. […]

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Heinz made Ketchup Caviar so Valentine’s Day dates can dine like fancy trash

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Nothing says romance like small round capsules filled with tomato goo. That’s the new Heinz motto, probably.

Why? Well, for starters the condiment company is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a fancy new product called Ketchup Caviar, which is, essentially, exactly what it sounds like.

Think regular caviar, then remove the delicacy of fish eggs, replace it with balls filled with ketchup, and you have Ketchup Caviar. You OK? Alright, good.

America’s favorite ketchup presents America’s favorite caviar. Reply with #HeinzKetchupCaviar and #Sweeps for the chance to get your hands on one of 150 jars this Valen-HEINZ day. No purchase necessary. Rules linked in biopic.twitter.com/aa8NNebVk1

— Heinz Ketchup (@HeinzKetchup_US) January 24, 2019 Read more…

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Spotify will now let brands sponsor its Discover Weekly playlist

Spotify has begun testing a new type of ad in Discover Weekly, its personalized playlist of music that’s the streaming service’s flagship feature. The company says that, for the first time, it will allow a brand to “sponsor” this playlist as opposed to just running ads. It believes many advertisers will be interested in this […]

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Bonobos and Nike get their own branded shops on Walmart’s Jet.com

Last year, Walmart acquired menswear site Bonobos for $310 million in cash. Now the retailer is adding the brand to a Walmart-owned website. A few days ago, Walmart opened an online shop for Bonobos on its Jet.com website, newly focused on serving urban shoppers, along with a dedicated shop for Nike apparel, footwear and accessories. […]

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13 of the absolute best and worst brand trolls in recent history

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It’s Troll Week on Mashable. Join us as we explore the good, the bad, and the ugly of internet trolling.


Anyone who’s used the internet knows that brands have a complex relationship with trolling.

From restaurant chains and airlines to dictionary social media accounts and more, brands can only resist the urge to troll for so long. When they finally give in, the trolling attempt might end up a surprising success — or a face palm-worthy failure.

A troll has the power to increase respect for the brand and build a positive, lighthearted reputation. But when brand trolls cross the line from online pranking to harassment, or simply miss the humor mark to an embarrassing degree, the backlash can be fierce. Trolls can make or break a brand.  Read more…

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Twitter hires former Refinery29 COO Sarah Personette as Head of Client Solutions

Twitter announced this morning it has hired Sarah Personette, previously COO at Refinery29, as its new head of global Twitter Client Solutions. Personette will start in mid-October. She will be based in New York, where she’ll report to Head of Customers Matt Derella, also previously head of Twitter Client Solutions. The company says this will […]

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Apple’s Business Chat signs up five more brands, more tech platforms

Apple Business Chat, Apple’s new platform for allowing companies and brands to communicate with customers over iMessage, is expanding. In addition to Dish becoming the first TV provider to support Business Chat, Apple says it has also added four other brands, Aramak, Four Seasons, Harry & David, and American Express, in addition to five new […]

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We need to talk about the Keebler cookie Twitter account

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Ernie Keebler — the most well-known cookie-making elf of the famous Keebler Elves — is taking over my Twitter timeline with weirdly sexual tweets written in Spanish and he needs to chill.

If you’re a fan of Kellogg’s snacks, you probably recognize Ernest J. Keebler as the cute little elf lurking on boxes of buttery Club crackers, chocolatey E.L. Fudge cookies, and more kid-friendly goodies. If not, there’s a good chance he just resembles a less destructive, cartoon version of Jeff Sessions. But either way, I think we can all agree the grey-haired, modestly dressed elf looks pretty innocent, right? Read more…

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Facebook is testing augmented reality ads in the News Feed

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You’ll soon be able to try on sunglasses and buy them without ever leaving your Facebook app.

The social media company announced Tuesday that it’s beginning to test augmented reality advertisements in the News Feed. 

For the uninitiated, augmented reality (AR) is a technology that overlays digital images onto real world objects. For example, when people play Pokemon Go on their smartphone, the technology that visually superimposes Pokemon on their street corner is considered AR.

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