Digital Stats of the Week, Follow the Money Edition

Next week, millions of people will travel far and wide to gather with friends and family. At my house, we’ll stuff our faces with turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, followed by loosening our belts a bit as we settle in to watch some football. We’ll also dance around political issues and societal problems and…

Indie Agency Omelet Cooks Up a Fresh Brand Identity That Finally Plays on Some Breakfast Puns

Omelet, the quirky Los Angeles indie agency that can bring an audience to tears with an ad for a 158-year-old insurance company, has introduced a bolder, more playful brand identity that better defines the shop and its work. The redesign–which consists of a warmer color palette of red, bright yellow, aqua blue, teal green and…

Tony Hawk Partners With Industry Vets to Launch Hybrid Brand Consultancy and Creative Agency

Tony Hawk is the latest celebrity to enter the advertising world, with the launch of hybrid brand consultancy and creative agency D/CAL. Other founding partners include mcgarrybowen and Carhartt vet Adam Wilson, Leo Burnett, Arc and Trisect vet Ryan Maconochie and Jared Prindle, formerly of Tony Hawk, Inc. and 900 Films. The agency launches with…

Viral Video Star Zach King Explains What It Takes to Create Content With Staying Power

Zach King is past the days of shooting confetti out of his bum for the sake of digital stardom. Or is he? The viral video maven, speaking at Adweek’s Elevate: Influencers conference Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, said it’s important not to go for the low-hanging fruit, like a quick stunt, if you hope to…

Mark Zuckerberg Denies Knowing About Facebook’s Work With Oppo Research Group

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg today announced the company is taking steps to improve the health of the social media platform, including establishing an independent body to review the removal of content from the site and updating the platform’s algorithm to discourage highly polarizing content. In a lengthy call with reporters, Zuckerberg aggressively pushed back on…

This Cannabis Delivery Company Wants to Educate the Public on CBD

Cannabidiol–more popularly known as CBD–is becoming even more mainstream. Consumers are turning to CBD to cope with anxiety and other medical issues, with Statista estimating that 2020 sales will reach $1.15 billion. But with any burgeoning industry, there are snake oil salesmen; figuring out who they are can be tough. The popularity of CBD–and the…

Calls for a Facebook Crackdown Increase After Damning NYT Report

In the wake of a New York Times report detailing Facebook’s public and private actions in the face of crises related to Russian disinformation, Cambridge Analytica and government scrutiny, some lawmakers are again indicating they plan to take action against the social media giant and its tactics. The damning report, which detailed the ways in…

How the New Venture Challenge Is Helping Cement Chicago’s Reputation as the Next Great Startup Hub

At first glance, Tovala’s Chicago headquarters looks like an ordinary apartment. But upon opening the front door to the office space, located in the city’s River West neighborhood, visitors are greeted with an open space filled with boxes, home goods and employees buzzing like worker bees. Some cooked in the test kitchen. Others sat at…

Time’s Up Advertising Forges Ahead With the Challenging Task of Changing an Entire Industry

January marks the one-year anniversary of an email chain that included 14 prominent female ad industry leaders who came together because they were–and still are–fed up with sexual harassment in the workplace. Those emails quickly turned into phone calls, which became meetings and led to a movement now known as Time’s Up Advertising. Today, nearly…

On the Adweek Podcast: How 11/11 Became Shopping’s Biggest Day

What would you guess is the world’s biggest shopping day? Black Friday? Maybe Cyber Monday? What about Prime Day? No to all of the above. The biggest shopping day of the year is actually Nov. 11, otherwise known as Singles Day. On this week’s episode of the Adweek podcast, Yeah, That’s Probably an Ad, ecommerce…

Victoria’s Secret CEO Jan Singer Is Leaving the Company

Jan Singer, the CEO of Victoria’s Secret Lingerie, is leaving her post, according to Bloomberg. Singer was with Victoria’s Secret for a little over two years, joining the company in September 2016. As CEO, she oversaw not only lingerie–a $4 billion business, according to the company–but also the brand’s activewear line, Victoria Sport. Singer was…

The Most Bendable Yogis Are a Mesmerizing Way to Sell This Wellness Tea

Globally, tea consumption is on a steady rise, and one of the main drivers of its growth lies in millennial and Gen Z consumers. According to Howard Telford, head of soft drinks research at Euromonitor “Younger U.S. consumers tend to prioritize all-natural and plant-based ingredients.” 2016 data showed that approximately four out of five Americans…

How the Flyers Created Gritty, the Internet’s Most Beloved Mascot

During a trip to the NHL All-Star game in 2017, the son of Flyers chief operating officer Shawn Tilger intently watched the antics of the mascot hockey game and afterward asked his father why the team didn’t have a mascot (the Flyers were one of three teams not represented). When the Eagles won the Super…

A Nurse Drove His Tundra Through the California Wildfires to Save Victims. So Toyota Is Replacing It

Toyota is replacing the Toyota Tundra truck of a nurse who destroyed his own trying to get his colleagues and patients to safety in the midst of the California wildfires. Last week, Allyn Pierce–a nurse who manages the intensive care unit at Adventist Health Feather River Hospital in Paradise, Calif., a town destroyed by the…

Essie Became the Go-To Nail Polish Because of Queen Elizabeth

Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Avon Discriminated Against Pregnant Women

A New York law firm has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of two former Avon employees alleging the beauty company practiced “systematic discrimination” against women “based on pregnancy, maternity and the rights of nursing mothers to pump breast milk at work.” The suit, which was filed today in the United States District Court for…

Heat Asks 3% Conference Goers to Check Their Privileges at the Door

At the seventh annual 3 Percent Conference, which is being held Thursday through Friday in Chicago this year, Deloitte-owned Heat wants guests to be “as aware of your privileges as the coat on your back,” senior brand strategist Catherine Dailey told Adweek. The San Francisco-based shop is operating a coat check–positioned directly next to where…

Guilt Is the Most Effective Medicine in This Relatable New York Clinic Ad

Playing the role of armchair doctor sounds harmless until a few clicks about a sore throat leads you to believe you’re on death’s door. CityMD, the largest urgent care provider in the NY Metro area, launched “You Need Some CityMD” in response to research that found 90% of millennials try to self-diagnose their illnesses rather…

VMLY&R Unveils Global Creative Leadership Team Led by Debbi Vandeven

VMLY&R, formed in September through the merger of WPP’s VML and Y&R, unveiled its global creative leadership team today. Debbi Vandeven, the former global VML chief creative officer, will maintain her role at VMLY&R and report to global CEO Jon Cook. Vandeven, a 2016 Adweek Creative 100 and founding member of Time’s Up Advertising, will…

Burger King’s Fernando Machado Is Adweek’s 2018 Grand Brand Genius

Fernando Machado, the CMO who put Burger King’s marketing in the center of hot-button social issues including LGBT rights and net neutrality, has been named Adweek’s Grand Brand Genius for 2018. The announcement came this evening at the magazine’s annual Brand Genius awards gala at Cipriani, 25 Broadway, in New York’s Financial District. The Grand…