Meet the Super Bowl Matchmaker for Brands and Artists

Daniel Sena’s favorite Super Bowl was XLVIII. In 2014, Sena worked on a whopping four Big Game spots. He was neither at an agency nor a brand. Rather, Sena was at Interscope Records, pairing its artists (Afrojack, Zedd, Skylar Grey and OneRepublic) with Anheuser-Busch brands (Budweiser, Bud Light and Bud Light Platinum) to create memorable…

5 Trends That Will Propel Brands Forward in 2018 and Beyond

Looking back on it now, it’s clear that 2017 was a momentous year for marketing. Artificial intelligence moved from hype to driving unprecedented personalization. Companies began breaking down silos, recognizing that delivering a connected consumer experience requires teams working together. The past year was also paramount for data management, with companies tapping insights to better…

Take a Tour of the Sponsors of U.S. Bank Stadium, Home of This Year’s Super Bowl

5 Tips for Retail Brands Trying to Get More Personal With Their Customers

Every retail brand is trying to get more personal with its customers, but very few are doing it right. Here are five ways to win at the personalization game. 1. Collect good data Retailers need to collect both user-level data–like site traffic, shopping cart abandonment and basic analytics–as well as customer-specific data, such as shopping…

Q&A: Meliá Hotels’ Marketing VP on Transforming the Brand, Along With Its Digital Strategy

Like many hotel chains, the Spanish global brand Meli? Hotels International is rapidly evolving not just its digital marketing, but also how it interacts with customers once they’ve booked. Manuel Riego Corujedo, vp of global digital sales and marketing at Meli? Hotels, talked about how the company is building its digital channels while transforming the…

How Minneapolis Brands Are Making a Lasting Impact on Their Home Turf

The Super Bowl offers tremendous opportunities for brands to connect to consumers in host cities–and the cold of Minneapolis will give fans a little more motivation to head indoors and visit the 10-day Super Bowl Live festival, which is free for all and will be littered with eight to 10 blocks of hometown brands. Minneapolis-based…

Infographic: Why Beer Brands Should Start Marketing to More Than Just Young Men

Beer spots tend to follow a similar (arguably outdated) formula: a bunch of young dudes partying it up while watching the Big Game and plenty of ice-cold brew to go around. But marketers might be missing out on some key demos. Origin’s survey of 2,000 beer drinkers analyzed preferences and habits across gender and generational…

Inside the First Super Bowl Ad From NBCU’s In-House Agency, Starring Iggy Azalea

When Monster Products founder and CEO Noel Lee prepared to shoot his company’s first Super Bowl ad–in fact, its first ad, period–two weeks ago, “I thought it was just going to be two guys and a camcorder,” recalls Lee, whose company makes headphones, speakers and cables. Instead, NBCU’s in-house Content Innovation Agency (CIA) employed a…

Inside M&M’s Absurd Gambit to Turn Danny DeVito Into a Super Bowl-Sized Spokescandy

It’s a late day in November and Danny DeVito is waist deep in a chocolate pool–well, he’s not exactly wading in molten chocolate, but a liquid mixture of sorts. This brown soup is meant to resemble a chocolate pool and it will, after some retouching in postproduction. Mars and BBDO are in the midst of…

NBC Sports Is About to Make $1.4 Billion in 22 Days Thanks to the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics

For the athletes involved, the two major sports events occurring over the next few weeks–Super Bowl LII and the 2018 Winter Olympics–represent the culmination of years of training, laser-focus and pushing oneself to the limit, all in pursuit of breaking records and coming out on top. The same goes for the NBC Sports ad sales…

Personalization Is a Priority for Retailers, but Can Online Vendors Deliver?

Call it the Nordstrom versus Amazon problem. Stores like Nordstrom excel at “white-glove service.” Its staff may recognize your face and even greet you by name as they direct you throughout the store. However, they probably don’t know what you bought last month or what’s still sitting in your online shopping cart. Sites like Amazon,…

How Squarespace Created a Killer Super Bowl Spot That Scored an Emmy

John Malkovich is on an important phone call and he’s extremely angry. He wants to launch his fashion career with a website, JohnMalkovich.com, but someone else owns the domain. That’s how Squarespace’s hilarious Super Bowl LI spot, “Calling JohnMalkovich.com,” plays out–Malkovich, placing a friendly-turned-fuming phone call to someone who controls something he desperately needs. The…

Editor’s Letter: The Real Big Game for Marketers Is Engaging With Consumers Individually

Enveloping this month’s Digital Transformation Playbook, which is focused on the burgeoning trend of personalization as an important marketing avenue, is Adweek’s annual Super Bowl issue. It’s an interesting pairing and underscores a shift in the brand-marketing ecosystem–from the power of many, to the power of one. The Super Bowl remains one of a handful…

Infographic: How Much Privacy People Will Give Up for Personalized Experiences

Consumers around the world get frustrated when brands fail to deliver relevant, tailored experiences, something they are increasingly demanding. They’re also concerned about giving companies too much personal information, which paradoxically is what brands need in order to deliver such experiences in the first place. Meanwhile, poor personalization resulting from a lack of trust costs…

Q&A: With the Press Under Fire, Lester Holt Combats ‘Low Blows From High Places’

As news anchor for NBC Nightly News and Dateline NBC, Lester Holt is a man on the move. Last week, he reported from inside North Korea (later criticized for the government orchestrated coverage). The coming weeks will find Holt in New York and then Washington, D.C., for the State of the Union address before traveling…

Why the Weight-Loss Industry Is Starting to Use More Male Celebs as Spokespeople

Diets: They’re not just for gals anymore! And by the way, it’s not a diet. It’s a lifestyle. There are major changes afoot in the weight-loss industry, with many marketers focusing on health and wellness, rather than calories, scales, inches and tape measures. And two powerful brands, Atkins and Weight Watchers, have recently taken the…

Meet the Woman Behind Some of the Most Recognizable Brand Typefaces

While art and writing go hand in hand, they’re typically thought of separately in the advertising industry. Agencies have copywriters, and they have designers; those roles rarely cross. But that’s not the case in Nadine Chahine’s world. The U.K. type director at Monotype beautifully combines words and designs to deliver some of the most identifiable…

How WWE Raw Turned the Brand Into a Global Entertainment Company

For Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena, becoming a cultural icon began on WWE Monday Night Raw. It’s the longest-running weekly episodic program in TV history, and will celebrate its 25th anniversary live from New York on Jan. 22. Raw consistently ranks as the top cable entertainment show on Monday nights, and is one…

This Agency Puts Storytelling First to Connect Brands and Consumers in a Mobile World

When Day One opened its doors in March 2014, its main mission was to “stop the world in its tracks with stories that connect,” according to agency CEO Josh Rosenberg. That’s happening more and more on mobile for a lot of brands, including some of Day One’s clients: American Express, Chipotle, Nike and Victoria’s Secret….

How Sweet’N Low Taught Americans to Say No to Sugar

Louis Armstrong had two great loves in life–music, of course, and eating. The legendary trumpet player “ate just like a dog,” he once said. Armstrong adored soul food and Chinese food, scarfing down so much of both that he’d also swallow antacids and laxatives in an attempt to keep his weight in check. In 1968,…