The idea started with Duke the dog. The golden retriever is the pet of Jay Bush, brand ambassador for Bush’s Best, the well-known brand of baked beans. Duke is also the star of the brand’s TV spots, which usually feature the canine “talking” to his human about the Bush family’s secret recipe, which includes bacon…
It’s been a season of disquiet for Target and Bud Light. The retailer and beer brand have seen sales decline in recent months due to boycotts over their respective LGBTQ+ merchandise and marketing efforts. Each company’s reaction to the backlash–Target stopped selling certain products; Bud Light didn’t voice support for its transgender brand partner Dylan…
For those paying attention at this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, Marc Pritchard was telegraphing the future of creativity in advertising and marketing. “Growing markets is the highest order ambition because it attracts more people into the market to serve them with more of the best-performing products,” said Pritchard, offering his periscope’s view…
When wildfire smoke turned New York skies orange this summer, Lane Cooper* holed up in their Brooklyn apartment with multiple air filters on high blast, working remotely for PR firm Edelman. Their asthma means air quality indexes above 200 are extremely dangerous. Then, a resource manager asked them to work on the Shell account. They…
For London Fashion Week in September, Burberry gathered the glitterati to peruse its Autumn/Winter 2023 collection in an unlikely setting: an old-fashioned greasy spoon with checkered curtains on the windows and over-easy eggs on the plates. The tie-up with Norman’s Caf?, situated in the U.K. capital’s Archway area, was a testament to the vision of…
New business is drying up for agencies ill-equipped to find clients in a squeezed market. This is according to RSW/USA, the 18-year-old business development firm that works with ad agencies, marketing services firms and PR firms. Since 2010, the firm has surveyed agencies to diagnose new business trends. This year, it fielded the survey over…
As post-pandemic excursions continue, travelers are looking beyond beaches and mountains and adding cultural experiences to their itineraries. According to Viator’s 2023 Travel Trends, there was a 228% increase in cultural tourism compared to 2021. And that doesn’t always mean flying off to Paris, Rome or London. Travelers are increasingly getting their share of next-level…
Grace Heskey, a student at Miami Ad School who is based in the Dominican Republic, said advertising in her country is defined by surface-level product pushes–made by the same brands that persistently win over jurors for their cinematic storytelling in other markets. In her country, she observed, marketing is often generic, and contributing to the…
Lemon. The Uncola. The Man in the Hathaway Shirt. You Deserve a Break Today. Just Do It. Got Milk? Those are just some of the big ideas that have inspired consumers over the last 80 years. Without them, modern advertisers wouldn’t have a compass for their own journeys. In a 1972 article called How to…
As the role of artificial intelligence grows, it’s probably no surprise that Americans’ wariness about the technology is growing just as quickly–if not faster. Consider the results of a handful of studies and surveys released this summer alone. CNBC’s All-America Economic Survey reported that 69% of Americans suffer from “AI anxiety.” Two workers out of…
As a new academic year gets underway on college campuses nationwide, Tinder and rapper Saweetie are playing Cupid. The dating app has enlisted the Gen Z artist, who references Tinder in her track “Tap In,” to get students swiping during a prime flirting moment: freshman orientation. Tinder sees the highest influx of 18-year-old members during…
The introduction of Coca-Cola’s “Real Magic” marketing platform two years ago has helped the brand celebrate the unexpected moments that elevate everyday life. And like so many other brands, the beverage giant has more recently turned to generative AI to bolster “Real Magic” through innovative design and unique experiences, all while harnessing the holy grail…
After years of CPMs rising while linear ratings declined, TV advertising was due for a course correction. That’s what happened during the 2023-2024 upfront season. This year’s upfront was already expected to be a buyer’s market, with advertisers holding back dollars due to an uncertain economy and the ongoing erosion of linear TV. However, the…
Keeping up with shifting shopping habits pushed many legacy advertisers into making big changes fast. Unilever, the 90-year-old advertising behemoth that manages more than 400 brands, changed its organizational structure in 2022 to better mesh brand and performance marketing and come up with a full-funnel approach. Most consumers are at least familiar with its haircare…
In a world now dominated by social media and streaming platforms, advertisers must aim to entertain more than ever to engage with audiences or else they will be ignored, say the majority of marketers in a new industry study. And yet over half say that the creative being produced is not entertaining enough to capture…
In the last 18 months, the New York-headquartered company behind household names like Pepsi, Gatorade and Frito-Lay has increased its global first-party data records by 50% by accruing people’s email addresses in exchange for reward programs, letting it serve people more relevant messages, ultimately driving revenue. It wouldn’t share more specific numbers on its success….
When Mad Men character Peggy Olson steps into Don Draper’s office to contest her inadequate recognition as a copywriter at their agency, he asserts that receiving credit for ideas isn’t essential in advertising–unless you’re the creative director accepting a Clio award that he represents. Limited by her boss’ defensiveness, Olson softens to a more modest,…
The Splat is back. Launching in 1979 as a channel just for kids, Nickelodeon debuted its iconic Splat logo as the first on-air branding for the network in 1989. And though the company got away from the sigil over the years in favor of its well-known logo mark, the Splat has now returned in Nickelodeon’s…
Increasingly, more buyers are coming to terms with the fact that the open auction is no place for premium video. Earlier this summer, YouTube faced a backlash from some buyers after research outfit Adalytics found that ads often aired not on YouTube videos themselves, but on the Google Video Partner network. Some buyers redirected their…
In May this year, WPP partnered with chipmaker Nvidia to create ads using generative artificial intelligence. Now, numbers are emerging on how environmentally beneficial AI is for campaign creation. The agency’s transition to AI-powered content production could save up to 93% of its carbon footprint compared to that of traditional production, according to the agency….
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