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For Your Amusement: World Gone GIF

“For Your Amusement” is a new feature for ETC that will collect random, interesting, cool, weird stuff from around the Web that is in one way or another related to the digital media world. Check it out for a healthy serving of procrastination-inducing fodder.

GIF Time: GIFs are kind of a big thing these days. Chalk it up to millennials’ nostalgia and ironic love of the ’90s. The digital media world got its own version of the popular What Should We Call Me Tumblr in the form of this: What Happens in Media Planning. If you haven’t see it yet, you should.

Shadow Games: QR codes got a lot of buzz initially, but as it turns out they are often impractical. Here is one execution of QR code marketing from Korea’s Emart (their version of Walmart) that is actually really clever and cool. It’s called “Sunny Sale,” and it uses a QR code that only becomes visible in the middle of the day when the sun casts shadows on special three-dimensional QR code displays. (via Adfreak)

So Last Year: Wow, looks like “The Sun” is even later on the boat when it comes to Web trends. The News Corp. pub just published an enlightening article on a crazy cat craze that is sweeping the Web. (via Gawker)

GIF Time Pt. 2: Looks like there is another one specifically for agency world: This Agency Life.

Branding Gone Wrong: Richard Branson is taking things too far with this move to be closer to his Virgin Atlantic fliers. Passengers will get to drink their beverages with Richard Branson’s head floating in their cups. That’s right, Branson had special ice-cube molds made to replicate his head so that he could be with the passengers “in spirit.” Gross. (via Buzzfeed)

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Kroger’s ad business sees most profit growth since 2021

Profit for the Kroger Precision Marketing advertising business grew 24% in the second quarter, according to Kroger’s latest financial earnings release.

Graphic of a dollar sign-shaped key unlocking a lock, symbolizing the key to unlocking successful performance marketing through the seven stages of development

Google rolls out pay-per-value AI licensing program to publishers

Google has been quietly scaling a pay-per-value AI licensing scheme for publishers. But critics say the program looks less like a meaningful payout and more like a legal fig leaf.

What we’ve learned from the creator snafus at this year’s US Open

Everyone’s hating on creators at the US Open, but they’re here to stay in the tennis world, just perhaps with some adjustments.