Just briefly:
Stranded: The 178 year-old British travel firm Thomas Cook has collapsed, it confirmed early Monday morning, leaving around 150,000 customers “stranded” on vacations around the world. The Guardian is reporting with live updates.
Animation of the Day: In a video specially made for Ad Age with FCB, agency legend and Advertising Hall of Famer Carol H. Williams recalls a formative 1970 experience that helped shape her career. Early in her career, Williams wrote a commercial called “Uncle Henry” for Hungry Jack Biscuits, featuring a character based on her own beloved uncle. The script would be rejected, and she would feel "devastated," until a chance encounter changed her life. Take a look here.
Roll with it: TiVo has confirmed that it plans to place pre-roll video advertisements before DVR recordings for all customers, reports The Verge. However, customers will still be able to skip the ads as soon as they start up.
The face of hunger: Feeding America used AI to morph the faces of 1,000 people who visit food banks across the U.S. into one, in a hard-hitting new PSA supported by the Ad Council, reports Ad Age’s Jessica Wohl.
Campaign of the Day: During last night’s Emmys, Fisher-Price threw out an appeal to the primetime audience’s nostalgia for its toys in a spot featuring actor John Goodman. As Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli writes, it sees Goodman dressed as the classic farmer from Fisher-Price’s Little People collection, walking through its farm landscape amid memorable toys like the Chatter Phone and a stuffed puppy. It’s the first work by Wieden & Kennedy for the Mattel-owned brand. “You lived here once,” Goodman says in the spot. “It was the happiest you’d ever been.” Seventies kids may well agree.
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