Nue Agency Founder Jesse Kirshbaum Says Brands Should Pay Attention to Music Culture

With Nue Agency and its accompanying weekly newsletter Beats + Bytes, music marketer and talent agent Jesse Kirshbaum explores the intersection of music, technology, and brand marketing. Kirshbaum released the agency’s first Beats + Bytes 2024 Trend Recap on Tuesday Dec. 17, comprising the newsletter’s archives and top cultural trends at the center of those…

Men’s Grooming Brand Duke Cannon Names Quality Meats Agency of Record

Men’s grooming brand Duke Cannon has selected Quality Meats as its creative agency of record (AOR), it exclusively told ADWEEK. The agency will collaborate with the brand’s internal team to develop campaigns that will “provide a fresh new take on men’s grooming,” according to a statement. Duke Cannon declined to disclose the size of its…

MLB CMO Karin Timpone to Exit Next Year

Major League Baseball’s chief marketing officer Karin Timpione is leaving her role at the end of this year, both she and MLB confirmed to ADWEEK. She has yet to announce her next move. Timpone made the initial announcement on her LinkedIn page. “Thanks [to] my league and club colleagues for many seasons of excitement –…

BetMGM Appoints Ex-Rocket Mortgage Executive Casey Hurbis as CMO

BetMGM announced today that it has appointed Casey Hurbis as its chief marketing officer. Hurbis is the sports betting brand’s first CMO since 2020. He will report to chief revenue officer Matt Prevost, who served as CMO prior to becoming the company’s CRO. The new CMO brings over 30 years of consumer marketing experience to…

5 Brands That Went Big on AI Marketing in 2024, And What They Learned

Brands went bonkers for AI this past year, as they increasingly adopted the growing number of tools available to facilitate mundane tasks throughout the creative process and create new kinds of work. While consumers still feel conflicted about brands use of the technology, some marketing departments have found savings by leaning on generative AI in…

OpenAI Gears Up for a Blockbuster 2025: Big Moves, Big Risks, and Potentially Big Rewards

With a valuation of $157 billion and a string of strategic moves, OpenAI is setting the stage for what could be a transformative 2025. The company is pushing to dominate the AI landscape by recruiting top advertising talent from Google and Meta, launching a search-integrated ChatGPT, and exploring ad-driven revenue as it refines its for-profit…

The Knot Worldwide Names Former Etsy CMO Raina Moskowitz as CEO

Today (Dec. 5), wedding planning brand The Knot Worldwide announced the appointment of Raina Moskowitz as chief executive officer (CEO). She will succeed former CEO and founder Tim Chi, effective Jan. 21, 2025. Moskowitz is the latest chief marketing officer (CMO) to move into a CEO position. She joins from Etsy, where she served as…

Spotify is the Latest Brand Facing AI Backlash Over Wrapped Campaign

Spotify is the latest brand to face criticism for using generative AI in its highly anticipated end-of-year campaign, Wrapped, released yesterday (Dec. 4). Disgruntled users took to TikTok, X, and Reddit to air their grievances with the campaign’s AI-powered features, calling the music streamer “lazy” and saying the work “flopped” for its lackluster design and…

OpenAI Finds Its First CMO In Ex-Coinbase Marketing Chief Kate Rouch

OpenAI has found its first chief marketing officer (CMO) in former Coinbase CMO Kate Rouch. At OpenAI, she will oversee marketing AI chatbot ChatGPT to consumer and enterprise audiences, reported Ad Age. More broadly, she will focus on communicating the company’s mission to “develop AI as powerful as human cognition, known as artificial general intelligence…

Former Intuit CMO Lara Balazs Jumps to Adobe

Adobe has appointed former Intuit CMO Lara Balazs as chief marketing officer (CMO) and evp of global marketing, filling a post that has been vacant since February 2023. Balazs spent six years at Intuit, most recently as CMO and evp, general manager of the strategic partner group, where she helped reimagine the brand’s marketing approach…

Joey King (Literally) Puts On Her Game Face for e.l.f as It Continues to Blend Beauty and Sport

E.l.f. Cosmetics is expanding its sports marketing presence with its football-themed “Eyes. Lips. Face. Fandom.” campaign. Created in partnership with 72andSunny Amsterdam, the beauty brand recruited The Kissing Booth actor, Joey King, and Emily in Paris star, Lucien Laviscount, for a spot promoting its Power Grip primer. The pair play a couple meeting the latter’s…

Musk Rebranded Trump? That’s Not What Happened

Kyle Chayka is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He wrote a piece after the election about Elon Musk’s impact on the Trump brand. Here’s a small excerpt to chew on. It’s hard to overstate the success that a Trump-Musk axis has already had in rebranding Trump’s image.… In the company of Musk—redolent of […]

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5 Gravity-Defying Wicked Marketing Collabs

How much is Wicked’s marketing budget? That was the million-dollar question on social media last week when an unverified photo of Paris’s Arc de Triomphe seemingly lit up in green and pink to mark the movie’s release appeared on X. Though the marketing spend for Universal Pictures’ flick hasn’t been disclosed publicly, its extensive range…

Norwegian Footballer Erling Haaland Goes Beyond the Ordinary in Beats by Dre ad

Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland is no ordinary athlete. Beats by Dre enlisted the star footballer for a new spot called “Ordinary is for everyone else,” highlighting Haaland’s knack for unique training methods and his affinity for nature. Created by Uncommon Creative Studio, the ad sees the footballer using various Beats by Dre devices, like…

McDonald’s Christmas Light Show is an Ode to Spontaneous Drive-Thru Dinners

When you’re hungry on the road, the warm yellow glow of McDonald’s arches can feel like a beacon of hope to your rumbling stomach. That’s the feeling McDonald’s is trying to capture in the festive installment of its long-running “Fancy a McDonald’s” U.K. campaign, which taps into the moments in life that simply call for…

Exclusive: How a New Funko Rival Is Chasing Collectibles Success

It’s showtime for Thrilljoy. One month after ex-Funko CEO Brian Mariotti unveiled his new collectibles venture at New York Comic Con, the upstart company has secured its first exclusive retail partnership–and locked down a contract with that wily Ghost with the Most. ADWEEK has your first look at Thrilljoy’s new Beetlejuice Pix! collectible, available only…

Verizon Quietly Cuts Adfellows Program, Severing Key Path for Diverse Ad Talent

Verizon is ending its annual adfellows program, ADWEEK has learned. Founded in 2017 by the telco’s former CMO Diego Scotti, adfellows’ nine-month fellowship provided career growth opportunities for diverse candidates. Adfellows will now be integrated across Verizon’s early talent programs, according to Christina Schelling, svp and chief talent and diversity officer. These include collegiate internships,…

Mattel Apologizes For Scandalous Misprint on Wicked Dolls Packaging

Toy maker Mattel went into crisis response mode over the weekend, as shoppers discovered that the packaging for its dolls tied to upcoming Universal Pictures release Wicked included the URL for age-gated pornography site Wicked.com, rather than the film’s official website (WickedMovie.com). X (formerly Twitter) was flooded with images of the packaging error this past…

Financial Brand Empower Names Goodby Silverstein & Partners as Agency of Record

Retirement and wealth management brand Empower has picked Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GS&P) as its new creative agency of record. GS&P will lead the brand’s strategic and creative marketing efforts “as it seeks to help more Americans access the financial advice, wealth management, and retirement services they need to help secure their financial future,” according…

Levi’s, MTV, Coca-Cola, and McDonald’s Among First Brand Hall of Fame Inductees

From Oct. 23-25, marketing leaders from top brands and agencies convened in Banff, Canada for The Gathering 2024. Founded in 2013 by Cult Collective, the three-day summit features speaking sessions, workshops, and special events, like night gatherings and intimate, off-the-record chats, to promote career-building and community among marketers. A highlight of the summit is the…