Table of contents for September 21, 2020 in Adweek

Founded in 1892 with a line of incandescent lamps, General Electric no longer looks much like the company that Thomas Edison created. But it’s still powering fundamental parts of life not just in the United States, but all around the world. To better convey its modern mission, after two decades of “Imagination at work,” GE unveiled a new tagline—“Building a world that works.” “We, today, are a company made up of four very large industrial businesses: aviation, renewable energy, gas power and healthcare,” said GE CMO Linda Boff. “So this idea of ‘building a world that works’ is so resonant.”…

SHOWS FROM OTHER OUTLETS AND COUNTRIES CBS will feature programs from ViacomCBS siblings CBS All Access (Star Trek: Discovery) and Pop TV (One Day at a Time), while The CW is airing DC Universe’s Swamp Thing and CBS All Access’ Tell Me a Story. A pair of original series previously only available to Spectrum cable subscribers will also be making their broadcast debuts: L.A.’s Finest (on Fox) and Manhunt: Deadly Games (on CBS). Networks are also stocking up on imports from other countries, like The CW’s Italian thriller Devils and NBC’s Canadian medical drama Transplant. DOUBLING DOWN ON UNSCRIPTED Networks will lean even more on unscripted series like The Masked Singer, The Voice, Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelorette. ABC, meanwhile, is showcasing six game shows this fall, including…

Find the right markets Friedman placed RH in unexpected but strategic locations. “They expanded out nationally, into places where you have a conglomeration of wealth, an affluent enclave,” says Pedraza. Don’t follow the herd “We are not chasing any sales,” Friedman says of his Covid-era strategy in the company’s most recent earnings call. “I don’t want to be famous for, ‘They did really great during that pandemic.’” Don’t be limited by your category There isn’t a luxury player on the level of a Chanel in the home space yet, but that hasn’t stopped Friedman from pursuing that goal. “It’s less about the category that you perform in,” notes McShane, “and more about the different relationships, types of products and services that you can bring to people going forward.” Know your…

Though the Covid-19 pandemic has hurt businesses across the advertising industry, a recent Deloitte survey shows that CIOs and CMOs are still in a strong position. Confidence among CEOs, on the other hand, has dropped from 55% to 35%. “We are seeing a striking paradox in this unprecedented environment: As many companies undergo rapid changes in digital to adapt to changing customer needs, they are simultaneously working from a defensive, operational mindset,” said Jennifer Veenstra, managing director at Deloitte Consulting and leader of Deloitte’s CMO Program. The role of the CMO is considered to be one of the most important during this crisis, with a defensive focus on efficiency rather than growth. This has led to an increase in more business partnerships (36%) as well as a change in priorities…

The pandemic has greatly accelerated the digital shift in everything from television viewing to grocery shopping. This has only magnified the need for accurate digital measurement. Advertisers are looking for the right metrics to gauge campaign results, and companies are stepping up with new offerings. Translation Enterprises is combining its cultural intelligence with Nielsen’s planning and activation solutions to measure cultural impact. As Translation founder Steve Stoute put it, segmentation has failed the industry: “You want to get at audiences with a high likelihood of being engaged with your product and being engaged with your storytelling.” Nielsen is also rolling out a new tool called Nielsen Compass, which matches audience levels across various media with sales data to gauge an ad campaign’s return on investment across multiple product categories in…

Apple is Silicon Valley’s self-appointed champion of online privacy, a stance that sets it apart from its peers in the Big Tech realms, many of which rely on substantive advertising revenues. Noble as the stance may be—not to mention its value to the iPhone-maker’s brand equity—it requires measures that draw the rancor of the media industry. Away from its glitzy device launches this fall, Apple also will roll out a series of updates, including iOS 14 (on Sept. 16) and MacOS Big Sur, that will certainly challenge the industry. Most notably, publishers will feel the heat as Apple continues to pull up the drawbridge, shutting off user data valuable to companies reliant on platforms such as its mobile operating system iOS and web browser Safari. Three years ago at its…

Sweet potato fry chews for dogs, freeze-dried minnows for cats and compostable waste bags are among the products in a new line of sustainable goods for pets from DTC brand Public Goods. A generation ago, these premium pet products might have been laughed off as excessive, but they are de rigueur as attitudes toward pets have changed. Consumers are more likely to refer to themselves as pet parents instead of owners, for example, and they’re spending a lot more money on sustainable, natural products to ensure the health and well-being of their animals. Brands like Public Goods are at the ready to meet the elevated needs of these pet parents with specialized products, subscription services and content. And according to the American Pet Products Association (APPA), Americans shelled out nearly…

BRING EXISTING STORIES TO LIFE Marketing is really about authentically surfacing and shining a light on what already is. I think sometimes it gets a bad rap because a lot of people think about the stories that you’re creating, but really it’s about the stories that you’re bringing to life that already exist. As we think about bringing the stadium to our fans, we wanted to do it in a way that is authentically us. We’re a very purpose-driven organization. Our North Star is all about inspiring Angelenos to shine bright. PLAY THE LONG-TERM GAME We had years of planning around a whole new brand campaign. Then, Covid-19 hit. And sometimes you have to say, “It’s OK that it isn’t the way we imagined, but in this world, it’s what’s…

RH CALLS ITS CATALOG A “sourcebook,” and the name is fitting: The smaller ones contain more than 300 pages, while larger RH sourcebooks can top 700. Is it a retailer’s mailing or an aspirational coffee-table book? The blurring of lines is intentional. Friedman sees the publication as an important “physical manifestation” of the brand intended to “grow the assortment beyond the four walls of the store,” he says. At the very least, the book makes a bold statement that has earned it enthusiastic fans: House Beautiful once gushed that “thumbing through each season’s issue is an experience unto itself, akin to somehow stumbling upon Gwyneth Paltrow’s diary or, say, being asked to housesit for Kim Kardashian West.” It’s also got its share of detractors. In 2014, when RH sent out…

In the race for relevancy, most every brand finds ways to convince us that it not only sees the future, it’s also ready with products to help us live in it. Automotive brands have used this strategy for a century now. But the most famous futuristic marketing play ever belongs to General Motors, which built an exhibit called Futurama at the 1939 World’s Fair. After taking plush seats in a “carry-go-round,” fairgoers peered at a model of what a modern city of 1960 might look like. It was a beautiful place of “abundant sunshine,” “recreational and civic centers” and (of course) superhighways. It wasn’t especially surprising that an automaker predicted a future filled with cars—or that, for better or worse, that’s actually the future we got. But if the exhibit…

IN early June, much of the country was beginning to emerge from its pandemic-induced hibernation—cars creeping back on the road, restaurants moving tables outside and, of course, stores opening their doors. But while most retailers were shifting their focus to how they could reconfigure their existing stores to the new realities of the Covid-19 era, RH—previously known as Restoration Hardware—took a different approach. In an annual letter that Gary Friedman, RH’s CEO, wrote to shareholders, he laid out the brand’s plans not just for the next year, but for the company’s next chapter: opening new stores (or galleries, as RH calls them), expanding into the travel sphere (with RH-branded guest houses and a yacht) and entering the residential real estate market with RH Residences. It was a bold blueprint at…

In 1939, Edsel Ford, son of auto pioneer Henry Ford, vacationed at his estate in Hobe Sound, Fla. Ford took the trip every year, but this time he brought along a one-of-a-kind convertible that Ford’s chief stylist E.T. “Bob” Gregorie had made for him. Having seen the stylish sedans running around Europe, Ford had told the draftsman he wanted a car like the ones “on the Continent … long, low and rakish.” Ford was surprised when friends, awestruck by his one-off car, began leaving him blank checks in hopes he’d make them one, too. As soon as Ford could gear up a production line, Ford’s friends (and anyone else with the means) could get their hands on the special new sedan: the Lincoln Continental. And the nameplate has been synonymous…