Indice dei contenuti per July 12, 2021 in Adweek

When the Summer Olympics kicks off in less than two weeks, there will be one big thing missing from the competition: fans. Organizers said all in-person spectators are banned from attending the games just days after Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a fourth state of emergency in the host country. The move marks another production curveball for NBCUniversal, which is banking on big viewership for the games that were already delayed a year. There’s a lot riding on the broadcaster getting it right. NBCUniversal has netted $1.2 billion in ad revenue from more than 120 advertisers and is also hoping to leverage the games to supercharge consumer interest in fledgling streamer Peacock.…

As AKQA gradually brings its workforce back to its worldwide offices over the next few months, many of the agency’s locations will operate much differently than when they were last open more than a year ago. Like other businesses with physical offices, AKQA is crafting a hybrid model of remote and in-person work, and tools such as videoconferencing platforms, virtual whiteboards and collaborative design software will be vital for coordinating projects. Video collaboration tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx have become the connective tissue of the global economy during the pandemic. But despite discussions of Zoom fatigue and a lingering association with quarantine life, analysts and companies don’t expect the prominence of these platforms to diminish much as employees return to offices more tolerant of hybrid and remote…

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED My path here hasn’t been straightforward. I think there’s a lot to learn from that. Not only for myself and thinking about where my career can go from here, but hopefully as some words of advice for other folks who are thinking about how they’re plotting out their career. Sometimes things happen that you wouldn’t have expected. There are times when you get a lucky break—or unlucky one—and you must regroup a little bit, but that’s OK. At the end of the day, your career isn’t just a straight line. It’s a series of bouncing from things. LEAN INTO PUZZLE SOLVING I continue to learn every day in this current job that I’m in. I do think that’s part of what I love about marketing. I love…

“Particularly with Pattern, [Black hair care pioneer] Madam C.J. Walker’s story has been incredibly inspiring to me, particularly knowing [how long] it took me to get Pattern off the ground and thinking of what she was able to do in the face of so much racism and sexism just blows my mind and … the way she took what she made and uplifted others and continued to pave a better space for Black people, I find incredibly inspiring. In my acting career, Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett will forever be the two that kind of marked my sensibility, a combination of style and roll-in-the-mud funny and not being afraid of what you look like and glamour all mixed into one. The two of them were absolute trailblazers in terms of…

On July 24, 1969, President Richard Nixon stepped off Marine One onto the deck of the USS Hornet, which had steamed to the central Pacific to pick up the Apollo 11 astronauts. Lunar travel being new, NASA physicians were concerned that Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin might have brought home “lunar pathogens,” so they forced the men into quarantine. (Sound familiar?) Yet for the millions of Americans watching on TV, there was something oddly familiar about the tear drop-shaped aluminum container the astronauts were sitting in. Indeed, some viewers even had one in their driveways. The Mobile Quarantine Facility, as it was known, was a modified Airstream trailer. Today, 52 years later, it’s strangely fitting that Americans are again taking to the open road in Airstreams as they…

This year will go down in history as one in which women took the greatest leaps forward while also suffering the biggest setbacks. In the U.S., we watched the first woman rise to the vice presidency and 2 million women leave the workforce. Globally, women lost $800 billion in income due to Covid-19, and many of those who held onto their paycheck juggled high-pressure jobs with remote schooling and caregiving. In short: It’s not an easy time to blaze new trails, and yet we need them more than ever. Today, Adweek honors 35 women who are building a better future for everyone—against all odds and often because of them. These are founders who couldn’t find products they needed and made them. Media executives who had no role models who resembled…

One day around 1900, a St. Louis washerwoman named Sarah Breedlove—bent over a tub and up to her elbows in suds—had a troubling thought. “What are you going to do,” the voice in her head said, “when you grow old and your back gets stiff?” What, indeed. Breedlove could hardly hope to better her lot—her parents had been enslaved and she had just three months of formal education—but then a job at the St. Louis World’s Fair for the Poro beauty company taught her about formulating hair treatments for Black women. After marrying Charles Joseph Walker, Breedlove—now Madam C.J. Walker—went into business, selling her “Wonderful Hair Grower” door to door and eventually training a sales force of 25,000 women to do the same. At the time of her death in…

‘[Follow your passions] if you can, and do the one that makes you the most uncomfortable if you can’t.’ How did you get to where you are today? My career in reality television, advertising, design, branding and marketing (in that order) started, thanks to lots of credit card debt and the realization that being a working artist was a great ambition but would probably require a side job. So I decided I might as well find [a career] I could be decent at. It eventually led me to DoorDash. What’s the most innovative thing you’re currently working on? My team has spent time in some of the less obvious corners of blockchain. What new or up-and-coming innovations are you most excited about? How will it change the future of marketing?…

In 2022, actor and entrepreneur Tracee Ellis Ross will get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The accolade comes 40 years after her mother, music legend Diana Ross, received the same honor, and it’s not something Ross ever envisioned for herself. Then again, neither was being a CEO, and yet, she’s accomplished both. Ross’ first major television role came in 2000 on The sitcom Girlfriends, and it was during the show’s eight-year run that she realized she wasn’t alone in having a complicated relationship with her hair, and that there was a huge gap in the market for curly, coily and tight-textured hair. Like many entrepreneurs, she was met with repeated rejections after writing up a beauty brand pitch in 2008. “‘Black girl magic’ did not exist [then],”…

Amy Armstrong Global CEO, Initiative Armstrong stepped into a global role two months ago following a successful run as U.S. CEO for IPG agency Initiative, where she transformed the company’s U.S. operations and oversaw substantial revenue growth. During 2020, Armstrong saw to it that there were no layoffs and focused on keeping morale high by encouraging mental wellness programs and giving employees the opportunity to grow within the agency. Armstrong says she is energized by the pitching process and solving clients’ challenges, and the agency’s latest win, T-Mobile, is keeping that energy high. “The work really motivates me to drive me forward to drive more success,” she says. Armstrong, who views culture, media and creativity as inextricably linked, says talking with clients about how they can best address all three…