With a microphone in hand (instead of a ball), Drake manages to sell out basketball arenas all over the world. Despite the selling power he and his peers in the music industry have, brands haven’t paid as much attention–or advertising dollars–to musicians, particularly in comparison with the money invested into professional sports. It may seem…
Gone but not forgotten, Barton F. Graf may have held its own funeral but its legacy lives on–and so do its computers. Mojo Supermarket, an independent New York agency launched last October by Droga5 vet Mo Said, acquired Barton F. Graf’s computers as an homage to the agency with a desire to continue making the…
Nine months after breaking up with Mailchimp, Shopify is moving on and saying hello to a new love: Shopify Email. The ecommerce platform giant, which just reached 1 million merchants, is rolling out Shopify Email, its own email service provider (ESP) to select merchants; it will be more widely available next year. It’s yet another…
A public perception crisis around electronic cigarettes seems to have materialized overnight, triggering a variety of responses from the industry. News of vaping-related hospitalizations began circulating in August while teen use continued to trend upward. Juul Labs’ share of the e-cigarette market fell to 64% as of Oct. 5, compared to over 72% of dollar…
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.–Mike Benson, the Amazon Studios’ erstwhile head of marketing whose creative drive and dynamic leadership helped create some of the most colorful experiential marketing of the past year, has been named Adweek’s Grand Brand Genius for 2019. Benson accepted the honor Monday night at Brandweek, the magazine’s annual colloquium that draws the marketing…
PALM SPRINGS, Calif.–Target CMO Rick Gomez described the company’s new loyalty program, Target Circle, as the product of learning from previous missteps. The retailer rolled out Target Circle earlier this year, and the company claims it’s now of the country’s fastest-growing loyalty programs, with 25 million sign-ups in the first four weeks. But this wasn’t…
In Banana Republic’s holiday campaign, not a single word is spoken. Instead, the clothing brand attempts to relay the magic of the season through a series of whimsical dance vignettes. The spot is the centerpiece of the Gap Inc.-owned brand’s holiday push and will run on Hulu, YouTube, Vevo and other video platforms, as well…
It’s a new era at Facebook: On Nov. 4, the tech giant unveiled its first-ever corporate logo, a wordmark meant to represent the company as a whole, including all of its subsidiaries–among them Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus–as well as, of course, the social media platform. Facebook CMO Antonio Lucio said the idea of creating…
After four years as McDonald’s CEO and president, Steve Easterbrook is out, the company announced on Sunday. Easterbrook was ousted for allegedly demonstrating “poor judgement” and engaging in a consensual relationship with an employee–violating company policy in the process, according to The Wall Street Journal. Easterbrook acknowledged the relationship in an email to his employees…
Every second, Americans use 1,500 plastic bottles. And despite the prevalence of recycling, 80% of those bottles end up in a landfill or in the ocean. What’s worse: Plastic isn’t biodegradable–those bottles will take up to 1,000 years to break down. Though still a ubiquitous sight at grocery stores and restaurants, few materials have suffered…
Getting dozens of celebrities to meet in the same room at the same time isn’t easy. It typically takes an event with the promise of the industry’s most prestigious trophies–the Oscars or the Emmys. Or a really good cause. In 2008, an hour-long telethon dedicated to raising funds for cancer research hosted by Stand Up…
Mass communication is Chrissy Teigen’s lifeblood, with Twitter being her favorite platform (and sometimes weapon) of choice. But the road to social media superstardom has had its potholes, like her July leak of the full premiere episode instead of a brief clip of NBC’s competition show Bring the Funny. In her patented self-deprecating style, she…
Visit Palm Springs and you’ll find stars of all kinds–be they luminous points in the dark night sky or classic haunts and hotels that radiate glimmers of Ol’ Blue Eyes and his Rat Pack crew. This week, California’s desert oasis will shine even brighter, as 700 marketing stars gather for our second annual Brandweek summit,…
Kasseem “Swizz Beatz” Dean is sitting in his favorite spot in the house, the left corner of a soft gray sofa, flanked by a bronze Nick Cave sculpture covered in buttons. Behind him is a black-and-white photo triptych conjuring the past, present and future. In another room, his wife, the singer Alicia Keys, trades “I…
The surf report is becoming a temporary, pseudo-flight tracker in a new campaign for Alaska Airlines. In a data-driven bid to encourage more spontaneous and passion-fueled travel to Hawaii, the airline has partnered with the forecasting site Surfline to let the ocean dictate its fares for last-minute seats. The “Swell Deals” campaign, which runs from…
When Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced–in a series of tweets, naturally–that the platform would no longer accept political ad dollars in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential race, the responses were mixed. Advocates and some Democratic candidates lauded Twitter’s decision that, as Dorsey put it, the reach of political messages should be “earned” rather than…
Barneys New York’s bankruptcy woes have come to an end–and likely, so has the store’s storied history as a standalone retailer. On Oct. 31, a New York State bankruptcy court approved the sale of Barneys New York to Authentic Brands, parent company of brands like Frederick’s of Hollywood and Nine West, and financial services company…
Halloween costumes may not yet be packed away, and jack-0-lanterns are still scattered around stoops across the country, but it’s Nov. 1–and that means retailers are ushering in the holiday season. And with the start of the holiday season (or at the very least, the holiday preseason, for those who won’t acknowledge it until after…
In a lot of ways, brands are just like us–especially when it comes to screwing up. But while we might be able to delete our tone-deaf tweets or cringeworthy emails without much backlash, the stakes are infinitely higher for brands trying to do damage control online. The crisis-monitoring tech company Crisp put out a report…
The Hello Nest Doorbell and Google Nest are allowing users to outfit their homes with the spooky spirit to replace their current doorbell rings. Equipped with four appropriately haunting sounds, trick-or-treaters and unsuspecting guests alike can be greeted by a ravenous monster, a haunting ghost, a creeping vampire, or ghastly witch. No matter what sound…
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