The Mad Men era of advertising is long behind us, but some of its lessons are timeless: not least those imparted by David Ogilvy, the founder of Ogilvy & Mather, who was once described by Time magazine as "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry". That was in 1962, but even today, 17 years after his death, Ogilvy remains one of advertising's most revered minds, universally acknowledged as the father of modern advertising and credited with pioneering a unique style of ad that didn't insult the intelligence of the individual. But what could today's advertising leaders, or indeed those just starting out on their advertising careers, learn from Ogilvy? The Drum decided to find out, teaming with IBM's Watson to analyse Ogilvy's myriad writings and talks to draw out insights and advice. A man of many words, Ogilvy became the authority on advertising in his day, penning a number of books on the subject and representing the industry in numerous TV and newspaper interviews.

The soft buzz of a drone flying overhead is becoming a more common sound across the world. An increasing number of amateur flying enthusiasts are starting to experiment and have fun with drones as the technology becomes cheaper. New regulations could have a big impact on the drone industry's future, as Dave Lee reports from San Francisco.

At the star-studded premiere of the Hollywood blockbuster "Warcraft" last Monday, Ben Schulz walked the red carpet as a relative unknown. That is, until he opened his mouth. He heard that Jamie Lee Curtis was in attendance, dressed as an orc shaman straight out of the film. While Curtis isn't in the movie, she's reportedly a big fan of "World of Warcraft," the hugely popular online game that's part of the video game series that inspired the film. To prove it, she and her son were making their way down the red carpet in green face paint, shouting the most celebrated battle cry in the game: "Leeroy Jenkins!" Schulz, his long blond hair in a ponytail and his bushy beard nicely combed, made his way over to Curtis.

A fellow writer recently told me that when he began his career, he was always hunting for a scoop, a story no one else had. Now, with a couple decades experience, he does the opposite. "I look for a story that's already been done 10 times," he said, "with the aim of making the 11th the one everyone would rather read." Lurking behind that notion is an important fact about popular art: It relies on the familiar. Successful pop artists aren't necessarily the most daring or sophisticated, but the best have the skill to take what they've heard and make it fresh.

This is not a controversial statement. A quick trip through recent cinematic history reveals a universally dismal track record. This is a genre whose high point is the Resident Evil series, whose touchstones include Mortal Kombat, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and Prince of Persia. This summer's Angry Birds and World of Warcraft may have produced legitimate commercial successes, but that's only thanks to the Chinese market. In the US they both tanked, commercially and critically.

Hollywood studios have struggled to contend with the increasingly fleeting attention spans of online consumers. But now Sony Pictures Entertainment thinks it may have found a way to better hold people's interest with online video – by letting them affect the outcome. Sony Pictures Entertainment is making a multimillion-dollar strategic investment in New York-based Interlude, a digital firm that helps production companies and advertisers make interactive videos to better target online audiences. As in video games, Interlude's videos allow viewers to control aspects of what they see on screen with the click of a button, bringing the choose-your-own adventure concept to traditional entertainment. In a promotional video for MTV's "Scream" series, for example, viewers choose what to do in a short home-invasion thriller by clicking on icons that appear in the corner of the screen.

Ryan Jones is a well-known SEO and Manager of Search Strategy & Analytics at SapientNitro. Ryan Jones is a veteran of SEJ Summit Chicago, having spoken there last year. This year, I'm so excited for Ryan's presentation on machine learning and how it affects search, which is a topic I'm sure most of you want to learn more about. Check out Ryan's insight below and feel free to ask questions in the comment section! I hate to spoil the presentation here, but the short answer is: if you've been doing SEO properly RankBrain doesn't change anything.

Analysts are saying that Apple's upcoming updates to its Siri voice assistant should help the company address criticisms that it can't compete on artificial intelligence. Apple is now opening Siri to apps made by other companies, and like Google and Microsoft, it's bringing the digital assistant to desktop and laptop computers. It's also making Siri smarter by using what Apple calls differential privacy. Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy explains it as Apple using non-personal information in aggregate to teach Siri new tricks, then having all the personalization take place on the individual device. It's in contrast to Google's approach of doing everything over the internet -- that is, in the "cloud."

Giving up control and selling the sales team represent some of the biggest challenges to implementing machine learning into email marketing. Or so say Jennifer Muse, Senior Director, Email Product Marketing, Lifescript Jon Weiss, Director, Email Marketing Operations, Sirius XM Radio Inc.to moderator Chris Marriott, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, CertainSource at last week's Email Insider Summit. For the complete video of this and other sessions from MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, go to the event agenda.

Giving up control and selling the sales team represent some of the biggest challenges to implementing machine learning into email marketing. Or so say Jennifer Muse, Senior Director, Email Product Marketing, Lifescript Jon Weiss, Director, Email Marketing Operations, Sirius XM Radio Inc.to moderator Chris Marriott, Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, CertainSource at last week's Email Insider Summit. For the complete video of this and other sessions from MediaPost's Email Insider Summit, go to the event agenda.