Ocean Spray to Launch #BetterTogether Holiday Initiative with Jesse Tyler Ferguson

Holiday cheer was hard to come by in 2020, when surging Covid-19 cases left Americans celebrating alone and too depressed to buy gifts. With the widespread vaccine rollout allowing friends and families to safely gather again, Ocean Spray is celebrating the opportunity for more traditional holiday celebrations with a #BetterTogether campaign. As we come out…

Megan Thee Stallion is Now a Popeyes Franchise Owner in an Extensive Development Deal

Megan Thee Stallion has quite a few branded endorsements under her fashionable belt, but her latest deal has to be the most entrepreneurial of them all. On Thursday, legacy fast food chain Popeye’s announced a new development deal with the Grammy-winning artist. At first glance, the partnership looks familiar with its special menu item and…

Why Bravery Is Necessary for Brand Partnerships

When the popular Adult Swim series Rick and Morty joined forces with Wendy’s in June to unveil a themed pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles, along with two new drink mixes–Mello Yello Berry Jerryboree and Mello Yello Portal Time Lemon Lime–it was a risk. The animated sci-fi show had teamed up with other companies in the…

Martha Stewart Turned a Viral Song About Martha Stewart Into an Ad for Martha Stewart

The line between satire and homage can be incredibly thin. When a brand leans into accepting the silly side of its image, it can create some surprisingly metatextual results. Created through Martha Stewart Kitchen’s (MSK) AOR Mediacast Solutions, the new Martha Stewart campaign has tapped rapper Yung Gravy, known for bringing an irreverent sense of…

Wagamama Unleashes Godzilla’s Vegan Cousin on a City to Promote Its Plant-Based Menu

Consumer demand for plant-based foods is growing, thanks to motivators such as public health, climate change and animal welfare. The trend explains why Wagamama–headquartered in the U.K. and with locations around the world–has just become the first British restaurant chain to make 50% of its menu plant-based. To promote the change, the brand has launched…

Krispy Kreme Celebrates Halloween With a Spooky Transformation and Sweet New Treats

Krispy Kreme has officially undergone its annual Halloween transformation. The global donut purveyor, which will be referred to as “Krispy Skreme” through the rest of October, is reanimating last year’s autumnal sharing-oriented sale and introducing some new donut designs. When October 2020 rolled around, Krispy Kreme decided on a fresh pandemic-ready approach with its “reverse…

How 2021 Became the Breakout Year for Sober October

Sober October, a month when some drinkers give up alcohol for a pre-holidays reset, has been living for years in the shadow of its better-known teetotaler cousin, Dry January. But that’s changing in 2021 as interest in the movement grows in the U.S., with demand for nonalcoholic beverages up 60% year-over-year through July, per Pattern…

Why Virgin Mobile’s Newest Product Is a Breakfast Cereal

It’s not always easy to eliminate outside stressors in life, but reducing time spent managing your cell phone service and minimizing potential hazards such as hidden fees and complicated contracts might be a good start. Starting your day with good vibes could be another. To that end, Virgin Mobile has released its own unique and…

KFC Wants You to Find Copycat Chicken Recipe YouTube Videos

Attempts to recreate KFC’s original chicken recipe by its founder Colonel Sanders are many, with YouTube featuring numerous recreations claiming to have copied it. Now the fast-food brand wants to reward the effort and time invested in doing so. According to KFC, over half a million videos (516,000) exist claiming to share the cooking method…

How British Food Advertising Restrictions Could Lead to Business Success

Food brands in the U.K. are being forced to rapidly change how they market their products, due to a new set of legal restrictions on advertising anything which contains high fat, salt and sugar content (HFSS). These rules have caused major anxiety across marketeers, producers and media owners as the changes to the marketing playbook…

As Starbucks Turns 50, It Celebrates the Power of Coffee to Connect in New Ad

Not long ago, in the depths of the pandemic, Starbucks faced an uncertain future due to plummeting sales and a growing concern over whether coffee drinkers would ever return to some semblance of their pre-Covid-19 routines. Now, with revenue rebounding well above its 2019 results, the coffee chain has discovered it is more relevant than…

Banza’s Vibrant Orange and the Persuasive Power of Brand Color

People familiar with Banza, a young company that makes pasta out of chickpeas, know it comes in a vibrant orange box. The specific color–172 C within the Pantone Matching System–is part of the brand’s identity. the brand is called banza, it comes in an orange box. Enjoy ???????????????????? — cat (@sospicygurll) September 21, 2021 It’s…

Burger King Begins Campaign to Counter Cyberbullying Against 11-Year-Olds

The world of social media can be an odd and disturbing place, and an unexplained rise in cyberbullying of French children born in 2010 has prompted Burger King to act. The meme, which has surfaced on TikTok and Twitter, has appeared as the children within the age range begin to attend secondary school. It has…

Häagen-Dazs’ Social Competition to Support Gen Z’s Side Hustles

Ice cream brand H?agen-Dazs has begun a social media-based competition in Germany to encourage people to turn their side-hustles into careers. The brand is targeting Gen Z consumers with the latest element of its #Don’tHoldBack brand platform, being run by creative agency Space, which aims to help performers, artists and business owners reach their potential….

Dave’s Killer Bread Brings Its Rock God Mascot to Life For First TV Campaign

If there’s one thing grocery shoppers probably don’t expect in the deadly dull bread aisle, it’s a Spinal Tap-like encounter with an organic brand. But cult favorite Dave’s Killer Bread brings its guitar-wielding logo to life for the first time in a new campaign that serenades consumers with a power chord solo and aims to…

C4 Energy Enters a Candy-Coated Partnership With Starburst For a New Drink

There is no better time to partner with candy brands than Halloween season. One energy drink is getting into the spirit by linking up with a legacy candy company for a new beverage that tastes incredibly familiar. C4 Energy, a subsidiary of Nutrabolt, has teamed with the Mars Wrigley company for a Starburst-inspired energy drink….

MOD Pizza Serves Up Inclusive Hiring Practices in First National Campaign

If the popularity of build-your-own restaurants signifies anything, it’s that, for a lot of consumers, the best meals are the ones you design yourself. Offering options is a necessity for today’s restaurants, but expanding that inclusivity to a brand’s hiring practices and company culture is a key element that can go overlooked. In its first…

Super Coffee Calls Out Starbucks and Dunkin’ Over Sugar in Ad

Bottled coffee brand Super Coffee is looking to revolutionize the caffeinated beverage industry with a call to cut sugar from coffee recipes. On National Coffee Day, the challenger brand figured why not be bold? Super Coffee took out ads in The Boston Globe and The Seattle Times today, asking Dunkin’ Donuts, Keurig, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and…

Oscar Mayer’s ‘Street Meat’ Collection Joins the Booming World of Branded Apparel

The summer of swag is bleeding over into the fall, with A&W recently launching a line of pricey, bespoke items to celebrate “cheddar weather” and Arby’s announcing a new set of cozy sweatsuits for cooler temperatures. And now it’s Oscar Mayer’s turn, with the introduction of its first apparel line, a “Street Meat Capsule Collection”…

Yelp Guest Manager Brings Everything Restaurant Staff May Need to 1 Place

Yelp created a single space for its front-of-house products and features for restaurants such as Kiosk, online brand building, reservations, table management, takeout and Waitlist with Wednesday’s debut of Yelp Guest Manager. Yelp for Restaurants vice president of product Anthony Cross said in a blog post Wednesday, “This year, we’ve seen diners return to restaurants…