Vinyl Records Sales

According to a recent report by the RIAA and an article from Business Insider, Vinyl records make more money for the music industry than YouTube, Vevo and Spotify combined. Ad-based music services are currently at an all time high this year of $163 million. However, vinyl sales sit at a cool $222 million. 

A Vinyl record player.

This statistic blows my mind. I do completely understand the fascination of a bigger, physical piece of memorabilia and maybe even exclusive content that comes with a vinyl and personally would actually lean more towards a Vinyl Record than a digital dowload myself. However in this day in age I would assume that the majority of the general public would tend to prefer the modern conveniences of click and play.

Ad based music services unable to keep up with Vinyls.

CD sales were also apparently down from last year by almost a third. Are Vinyls, which not too long ago were considered a thing of the past, becoming a thing for the future? According to Business Insider 'No other format is growing at such a rapid rate'.

Dismaland- Banksy's best work yet?

Banksy has recently created a temporary art show also referred to as a 'bemusement' park called Dismaland in Weston-super-mare, Somerset. Initial reactions to the theme park appeared to be of shock and disbelief, however it is proving to be one of Banksy's greatest creations yet; which is saying something.

An area of the art show 'Dismaland'.

The apocalyptic-esque theme park really is something to behold and although it is clearly an anti-capitalist statement towards real theme parks like Disneyland, the irony is that the whole thing has been remarkably successful and is estimated to have generated £20m for the local area.

A band performing at Dismaland.

Many bands performed through the month long pop-up style event and there was also comedy shows. John Turner of 'Visit Somerset' referred to the event as a  "global phenomenon of major importance for the region".

This really is a one of it's kind type of event and judging by it's success, it is likely something that the enigma himself 'Banksy' will try again. Let's hope so!

The Google Rebrand

It's not often such a huge company decide to rebrand their iconic logo or font; however minuscule the change may be. Recently, Google have scrapped their 3-D font/logo and replaced it for a more simplistic Sans-sheriff font with solid and bright colours.

Googles rebrand

Although the change may seem pretty insignificant, the more simplistic and minimalist style could be in reference to their parent company Alphabet. It is also progressing with the trend of the world at the moment. People in general appear to prefer a more minimalist style as opposed to over complicated.

Some people have gone as far as to correct their updated logo.

a correction of Google's new logo.

All in all for such a subtle change their has certainly been a lot of discussion about it, just showing the enormity of Google as a brand.

A new era for Television?

As we all know the world is changing rapidly thanks to the role of technology. Television as we know it, in particular is changing. More and more people are converting to a new way of watching their favourite TV shows and Movies with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, being so affordable and available on so many different platforms. This of course is resulting in a decrease of everyday television viewers.

The co-founder and CEO of popular television streaming service 'Netflix' Reed Hastings has even predicted that within the next 10-15 years, all television will be online. Although this may seem like an incredibly bold statement, if you consider how much the internet as a whole has grown in that amount of time, it does not seem so farfetched.

Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO.

One of the reasons for the incredible success of companies like Netflix is the ability to binge-watch your favourite shows. Giving the consumer the power to 'click and watch' at will, is a much more appealing feature than scheduled times. No one wants to wait a week to watch their favourite shows!

The Volkswagen Scandal

One of the biggest news stories in the past couple of days has been the Volkswagen emissions scandal. They have admitted and apologised about 'rigging' emissions tests to make the brand appear more 'environmentally friendly'. This has not only caused a huge 20 percent plunge in shares, but also is set to cost the company $37500 per car, resulting in a total cost of close to 18 billion dollars.

One of the cornerstones of advertisement is about communicating a truth which is one of the reasons why this could be so detrimental for the brand. To sell products based on a lie is incredibly careless and always likely to backfire. A german newspaper referred to the incident as the "most expensive act of stupidity in the history of the car industry".

In terms of advertising, Volkswagen are usually dominant within the industry thanks to their advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) creating the revolutionary advertisements of the 1950's and 1960's and some brilliant modern day classics like this one:

A clever Precision Parking advertisement by Volkswagen and DDB.

Being such a giant in both the car and the advertising field, Volkswagen are likely to bounce back from this revelation but it will not be easy. They will have to rebuild the trust with their customers and trust in advertising is crucial.