From a sceptical Oslo resident’s humorous take on his city to groundbreaking AI innovations in marketing and unexpected hiccups in the electric vehicle sector, our latest roundup covers a range of industry updates. Discover our insights and explore the latest news shaping the digital landscape.
In a brilliant use of dry wit, Oslo’s latest tourism ad features a disgruntled local named Halfdan complaining about the city’s many ‘red flags’, telling viewers: “I wouldn’t come here to be honest…”.
At no point in the ad does Halfdan say anything good about the city, instead comparing it to the likes of Paris or New York – cities that in his words feel ‘hard to get, as a city should’. Swimming in the middle of the city, no need to make restaurant reservations, and world-famous art without a queue are just some of the reasons Hafdan is jaded by his hometown, but are undoubtedly the reason that viewers of the ad might be inspired to take their next city-break in Oslo (no reservations at the top restaurants? We’re in!)
Apparently, Oslo is so small you can walk from one side of the city to the other in just 30 minutes, one of the facts that leads Hafdan to ask: ‘Is it even a city!?’.
Check out the full ad here.
Toys ‘R’ Us is gearing up for a significant relaunch, and as part of their promo they’ve utilised OpenAI’s text-to-video tool, Sora, making them the first to use the tool to create a brand film.
Sora, which is currently only available to alpha testers, can generate videos based entirely on text prompts. In collaboration with Native Foreign, Toys ‘R’ Us used the tool to create a film that imagines how Charles Lazurus, the founder of Toys ‘R’ Us, created the brand and its iconic mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe.
By using Sora, the film was able to go from concept to final production in just a few weeks, significantly reducing the typical time needed to complete such a brief. The film was completed just in time to premiere at the Cannes Lions awards festival, demonstrating how marketers can save time and money using Gen AI tools.
Tesla has once again been forced to recall thousands of its Cybertrucks, this time due to issues with the windshield wipers and trunk bed rims. While this might sound like pretty minor issues (although your windscreen wiper falling off is pretty annoying), both issues reportedly hugely increase crash risks.
It’s the fourth time the Cybertruck has had to be recalled since launching last year, with over 2 million vehicles being recalled in February because the font size on the instrument panel was too small (yes, you read that right). Further recalls were made when a few thousand trucks suffered with faulty accelerator pedals, the issue being that the pedal could simply dislodge when force was applied – not ideal when you’re in the fast lane on Motorway.
As Tesla’s first entry into the pickup truck segment of the EV market, it could be going better. In addition to looking like something out of Robot Wars, the constant issues are worrying, and as more consumers look to move to electric vehicles over the coming years, Tesla needs to do some serious work if they want to be seen as the go-to EV supplier.
In a bid to elevate the olympic games even further, many broadcasters are implementing tech to give their coverage that bit of extra pizzazz. For NBC, this means providing daily, personalised recaps for viewers via the Peacock app, delivered by legendary sportscaster Al Michaels (well, an AI version of him).
To make the most of this functionality, users simply provide the app with their name and highlight preferences, and they’ll then be greeted with daily updates specific to their interests. To protect against any ‘AI-made weirdness’ (ahem, Google), a team of NBC editors will allegedly review all content, including audio and clips, for quality assurance before recaps are made available to users.
In addition to personalised updates, users can also personalise their live Olympics viewing experience with Peacock Discovery Multiview, allowing multiple events to be shown on the same screen, along with onscreen information about the athletes, such as if they’re a first-time competitor.
To see more examples of how tech is being used at this year’s olympics, head here.
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