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. Brands Find Virtual Ways to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo at…
Star Wars Day–or, as fans say, “May the Fourth be with you”–seems to be passing quietly this year. While there were a few big announcements, including the early release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Disney+ today, fewer brands seem to be jumping on the intergalactic bandwagon than in previous years. Disney unveiled…
The number of media buyers pressing pause on ad spend increased from 24% to 37% between mid-March and mid-April as lockdown measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic devastate economies, according to IAB research. As a result, some are calling the health of the independent ad-tech ecosystem into question with even Google–by far the largest player…
It’s safe to assume homemade dessert has become a commodity. In recent weeks, sales of nearly all baking products are through the roof. Flour (up 203% year over year); baking chocolate and cocoa (156%); baking powder and baking soda (136%); and mixes like brownies, cookies and bars (164%) are up more than refrigerated cookie and…
With major sports leagues shut down for the foreseeable future, an up-and-coming futuristic sport is looking to help fill the void with a particularly social distancing-friendly type of competition. The Drone Racing League has seen a 200% uptick in viewership in the past year–a trend that has accelerated since the start of the coronavirus pandemic…
Parachute, the direct-to-consumer bedding and home brand, is bringing its in-store experience online. In particular, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has prompted the brand to ramp up a one-on-one virtual styling service, where consumers can work with an “in-house expert consultant” to receive recommendations and home styling advice over video chat–free of charge. Ariel Kaye, Parachute’s…
Beauty brand Tula Skincare is on track to have the best sales month in its history, even in the midst of the pandemic. Year-over-year sales for April are up five fold, and nearly two times what they were in March, according to CEO Savannah Sachs. That growth, fed by consumers’ focus on health and the…
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. 7 Creative Ways Agencies Are Supporting Local Businesses Several ad…
To promote the return of its Red, White and Berry Seltzer and debut a new sugarless version, Smirnoff had a big, over-the-top, star-studded, patriotic, party-themed summer campaign planned. Unfortunately, after the spots were filmed in February, all parties were canceled until further notice due to the coronavirus epidemic. Rather than throw out the work they’d…
It’s been a big week for Baby Nut: The legume, a reborn, younger version of Planters’ classic mascot, Mr. Peanut, returned to social media after a two-month hiatus. And he’s come back with a new campaign all about teaching Baby Nut about the world around him. Upon his return to social media, Baby Nut issued…
Aflac has chosen Atlanta-based Dagger as its agency of record. Dagger takes over from Publicis Seattle, which has served as the supplemental insurance company’s creative agency of record since 2016. According to Dagger, which brought on chief creative officer Al Patton last year, it was named Aflac’s agency of record late last year after serving…
Many companies allow a new CEO to take a few weeks to ease into the job. William Flynn hasn’t had that luxury. The veteran transportation executive, who’d most recently run charter operation Atlas Air Worldwide, was tapped to be Amtrak’s new chief on March 2–just as it was becoming clear that the coronavirus was going…
In 2010, Apple introduced its mobile ad platform, iAd, as part of then CEO Steve Jobs’ vision to beautify mobile display ads, but that shuttered in 2016. It was considered a rare blemish in recent history. Since then, the company has been building an in-app ad platform geared toward performance ads instead of the big…
For a while, meal kits were hot. They promised gourmet meals even amateur chefs could make, with preportioned ingredients sent directly to your door. A dash of maximum convenience with a pinch of minimal effort resulted in a theoretically perfect dish for modern living. Then enthusiasm waned. Subscriptions were expensive, and menus got repetitive. Rather…
Casper, the DTC mattress brand that pioneered the bed-in-a-box phenomenon, made several staffing changes on Thursday, including the appointment of a new chief marketing officer. Lisa Pillette, a retail veteran who has worked with brands like Lacoste, HSN and Ralph Lauren, is taking on the CMO role, which has been vacant since Jeff Brooks left…
According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, we Americans eat somewhere around 20 billion hot dogs a year, which works out to 70 dogs for each of us. That’s good news for Oscar Mayer, which makes the best-selling wieners in the United States. Or, at least, it would normally be good news. Summer…
After more than a five-month search, G/O Media has found an editorial director, promoting Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Deadspin’s editor in chief, Jim Rich, to the role. The news comes after G/O Media laid off 14 people earlier this month in what executives called a “small restructuring.” G/O Media has been without an editorial leader…
A new campaign is taking on pressing social issues affecting the tech industry in a social-media-friendly format. The Institute of Coding, a U.K.-based educational outreach org, released a three-part series of documentary-style shorts on IGTV this week, spanning bias in artificial intelligence, gaming accessibility and sustainable fashion. Produced in partnership with Accenture Interactive-owned agency Karmarama,…
IPG CEO Michael Roth struck a somewhat optimistic tone during the holding company’s first quarter earnings call, despite acknowledging that the next quarter will be “very difficult” due to the business impact of Covid-19. The company’s organic net revenue grew 0.3% during the first quarter of 2020, compared with 6.4% growth during the same period…
Bryan Wiener and Sarah Hofstetter have joined Profitero, an ecommerce analytics platform, as CEO and president, respectively. While ecommerce has been on a steady rise for years–Amazon was founded more than 15 years ago, after all–the coronavirus pandemic has put its growth rate into overdrive. Consumers were already going online for more and more of…
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