IPG Rebrands Cadreon; Quibi In Legal Crosshairs Over Ad Formats

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Cadreon No More

IPG Mediabrands rebranded Cadreon to Matterkind. The unit will focus on addressable media by leveraging Acxiom data and Kinesso technology to target across channels. Matterkind claims to offer “an expanded and enhanced suite of addressable activation solutions and advisory services” that deliver up to 30% ROI improvements, Variety reports. But it’s not clear how differentiated Matterkind’s services will be from what Cadreon was previously doing in programmatic beyond focusing on “strategic efficiencies and effectiveness, rather than media ‘savings’ and proxy metrics.” What’s notable is IPG sunsetting the Cadreon brand, which is tightly associated with the trading desk heyday at holding companies.

Quibi Vs. The Vulture Fund

Hedge fund Elliot Management is financing a lawsuit against Quibi, the new mobile entertainment subscription service, for allegedly violating patents and stealing trade secrets from an Israeli video ad tech company called Eko. The case centers on Quibi’s “Turnstyle” ad format, which serves different ads depending on whether the viewer is holding their phone horizontally or vertically, The Wall Street Journal reports. Elliott Management will receive an undisclosed but “substantial” stake in Eko in return for funding its suit. Eko says Quibi swiped its tech after hiring Snap executives who had been briefed on the ad unit, and based on an alleged conversation between Eko’s CEO and Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of Quibi. Unfortunately for Quibi, this is going to last longer than 10 minutes.

A Turn Of Events

The New York Times had 40 events planned for this year. Obviously those are all canceled or still up in the air, but that doesn’t mean the Times has dropped its events strategy. If anything, the news company is throwing everything it can at the virtual wall and hoping something sticks. The Times has had 30 digital events since early March, and it may end up hosting on average an event per day, according to Jessica Flood, managing director of the events group. The group is forgoing ticket revenue because it needs to generate meaningful numbers, but there are sponsors and the Times could start charging, if its digital events gain traction and the team demonstrates people are willing to pay, Digiday reports.

But Wait, There’s More!