Consumers Want Ads During Covid-19 to Be Hopeful and Supportive, Says PepsiCo’s CMO

If brands want to come out on the other side of the Covid-19 crisis with consumer loyalty intact, they need to lean into empathy, says Greg Lyons, the chief marketing officer of PepsiCo. “I do fundamentally believe that something good will come out of this shared experience,” Lyons said. “It will force us to have…

How the Pandemic Allowed Upstart Toilet Tissue Brand No. 2 to Take a Swipe at the Big Rolls

Most every upstart brand hopes for a big breakthrough, that golden moment when its product gets picked up by a magazine, featured in a TV segment or appears on some celebrity’s social media account. There are many ways that a formerly obscure brand can suddenly gain the spotlight and, with it, the chance to go…

The Road Ahead for Retail; Lizzo Covers The Beatles for Facebook: Wednesday’s First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Lizzo Covers The Beatles for Facebook’s Ad Launching Messenger Rooms…

As Electric Bikes Boom in Popularity, Specialized’s Ad Fuels the Trend With a Jab at Trump

One of the unintended consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown is the effect that it’s had on the environment. According to the journal Nature Climate Change, daily emissions declined by 17% from January to early April. It’s not a surprising development as people aren’t flying or driving as much, but it may also be a…

This Office Rental Startup Held a Hackathon to Brainstorm Ways to Return to Work Safely

As companies start considering how to safely transition employees back into the workplace, one startup is turning the brainstorming into a competition. Commercial real estate startup SquareFoot is in the midst of a hackathon of sorts where employees are divided into groups to generate ideas addressing various challenges of phasing employees into the office once…

Tribeca Film Festival Campaign Has People Casting Colorful, Moving Avatars in AR Videos

With the Tribeca Film Festival confined to digital spaces, event organizers have landed on an outside-the-box way to keep people engaged with the idea of filmmaking. The festival has rolled out a set of colorful augmented-reality avatars of creators that do things like break dance, exercise and applaud with lifelike movements modeled on real people….

Luxury Retailer Montblanc Is Blanketing Its Storefronts With Notes to Essential Workers

A walk down the street in New York right now can be downright depressing. Restaurants, boutiques and salons–many of which were brimming with life mere months ago–are now shuttered and dark inside. It’s a reality made all the more eerie when juxtaposed against the cheery spring weather. In an attempt to make the outdoors a…

The Economist Group Lays Off 90 Staffers and Shuts Down Print Edition of 1843

The Economist Group will fire 90 non-editorial employees and shut down the print edition of its lifestyle magazine 1843. The magazine will become digital-only, executives said Friday. “We have made the difficult decision to restructure and reduce roles in the parts of our business most affected by Covid-19,” Lauren Hackett, svp, global communications for The…

Vice Media to Lay Off 155 Staff in Latest Hit to the Media World

Vice Media CEO Nancy Dubuc announced today that the media company will lay off 155 employees, starting with 55 staffers in the U.S. today and 100 more international employees in the coming weeks. In a letter to staff, Dubuc reportedly noted the economic hardships for the media business, which have been even more pronounced amid…

Racist Brand Mascots Persist Today; Agency Business Predictions: Friday’s First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. These Brands Are Still Tapping Into Nostalgia for Slavery, Whether…

Headspace Launches First TV Ad, Offering a Year of Free Subscription for the Unemployed

As unemployment soars amid the coronavirus pandemic, meditation app Headspace is offering free, year-long subscriptions to those out of work. The offer comes in conjunction with the company’s first television campaign, created by agency Gut and Nexus Studio. The pass will unlock access to all of the meditation app’s hundreds of hours of content, including…

How This New App Turns Streaming Data Into Income for Black Consumers

In late April, Insecure creator Issa Rae tweeted an ad for something kind of surprising for a young Hollywood star: a new data-monetization app. Rae’s tweet got a lot of people asking questions about what data is, who owns it and why a company would want to collect it and pay consumers for it. Black…

1 in 4 Americans Want to Travel Immediately After Covid-19 Restrictions Lift

Since travel has come to a near total standstill during the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be a ton of pent-up consumer demand once travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders lift. That’s according to a survey by marketing agency Mower, which measured 1,000 Americans’ willingness to travel once Covid-19 restrictions are lifted (whenever that may be). It’ll…

Ford’s New Campaign Focuses on Its Role in Fighting the Pandemic

Although there’s present tension in America’s auto manufacturing industry, most companies have started to schedule workers to return to its factories. Ford is reopening in phases–it’s scheduled to open its doors on Monday–and has launched a campaign aimed for network television to remind everyone what its been doing since the outbreak of Covid-19. Created by…

The Latest Agency Mashup Is Dentsumcgarrybowen

Move over, VMLY&R, because there’s a new longwinded agency name in town: Dentsumcgarrybowen. The new creative entity, which is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, encompasses Mcgarrybowen’s various offices around the world and a number of agencies that operate under the Dentsu name outside of Japan. A spokesperson for Dentsu Aegis Network said these agencies are…

Hendrick’s Gin Is Paying Bartenders to Toast Each Other on Social Media

In the latest of dozens of initiatives to mitigate the disastrous impact of the coronavirus pandemic on service industry workers, Hendrick’s Gin created a support campaign that it hopes will move organically through the bartending community, creating a domino effect and criss-crossing the country. The “Pour it Forward” initiative asks bartenders to record themselves demonstrating…

Online Shopping, Grocery Sales Explode; AT&T’s Beloved Lily Returns: Wednesday’s First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Online Shopping Spikes, Grocery Sales Reach 50-Year High As Covid-19…

Popeyes and Burger King’s CEO Says Coronavirus May Permanently Alter the Restaurant Experience

When Americans return to restaurants, they’ll be facing a different sort of dine-in experience. That’s according to Jos? Cil, the CEO of Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which owns Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons. In an open letter published today that RBI shared with Adweek, Cil addressed the changes that RBI’s locations will incorporate upon…

The Hidden Power of Bobblehead Marketing: Bringing Dr. Fauci to a Desk Near You

March 14 was a tough day for Phil Sklar. Since 2014, his life’s work has been running the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Milwaukee, which houses some 6,500 culturally significant bobbleheads in addition to producing and selling its own. But by mid-March, Sklar, realizing that the social distancing mandated by the…

For 5 Decades, Jerry Stiller Was Advertising’s Beloved Curmudgeon

While Jerry Stiller is best known to modern audiences as Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza, the actor had a long career on stage and screen, and commercials were no exception. From the 1970s on, he was often found voicing or starring in ads, especially after his popular resurgence with the 1990s success of Seinfeld. Today, the actor’s…