Adweekの June 6, 2022 の目次

On May 22, 2010, a date now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day, a Florida man made the first-ever bitcoin-based purchase for—you guessed it—pizza. He reportedly exchanged 10,000 bitcoins for two large Papa John’s pizzas. Had he instead held on to his stash, it would have been worth roughly $650 million in October 2021 when a single bitcoin hit a high of $65,000. (Today, given the dramatically fluctuating value of cryptocurrency, it’s worth about half that much.) Since that fated day 12 years ago, we’ve seen everything from movie theaters, convenience stores and fast-food chains to luxury fashion brands and an NBA team start accepting digital currencies like bitcoin, ethereum, dogecoin and shiba inu. While Amazon, Walmart and Target confirmed they do not currently accept cryptocurrency, experts say we’re about five…

While Apple is discontinuing the iPod, the game-changing MP3 player that launched in 2001, one memorable aspect of the device endures: its advertising. The “Silhouettes” campaign from TBWA\Media Arts Lab launched in 2003 as a visually minimalist way of promoting the original iPod and its white, wired earbuds. Immediately iconic for its colorful, music-driven vibe, the ads also featured memorable tracks by the artists of the day, including U2 and Coldplay. Now, the star product is AirPods in an ad featuring Harry Styles and his song “Music for a Sushi Restaurant” from his newest album, Harry’s House. The ad was directed by music video veterans Gal Muggia and Vania Heymann.…

Exploring nature might seem like an affordable, accessible activity, but a notable lack of diversity in the outdoor and recreation industry suggests otherwise. Until recently, packaging and ads tended to feature fit white people who also happened to be the main consumers at many outdoor retailers. Historically, people of color have faced discrimination and segregation when trying to access the outdoors, and a history of violence against native groups permeates most public lands in the country. Many outdoor spaces have also been largely inaccessible to people with disabilities. The outdoor industry has often been criticized for its lack of diversity internally, as well as appropriative or insensitive marketing that disregards the industry’s tumultuous history. “Many outdoor brands introduced DEI-focused advocacy in marketing campaigns, but many have been slow to make systemic…

Historically, client requests for diversity and inclusion have been a retrofit, tacked on right before the campaign goes live to avoid potential consumer backlash. But over the last two years, we’ve started to see a shift in the marketplace—and the workplace. Traditionally, marketing goals have been hyper-focused on business results and commercial success. Today, the most effective strategies are informed by a relentless desire to understand people at an individual level through empathy and embracing diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in all its forms. However smart your business plan is, if you’re not empathetic and culturally relevant, you are bound to miss the mark. And the mark is always moving. As a result, clients and agencies must reorient their business goals and team operations to meet the intersectional needs of today’s…

Electric rental scooters crash-landed in Austin, Texas, in 2018. Almost immediately, Twitter was alight with locals’ displeasure at the way they sprawled across sidewalks. Some threw the two-wheeled menaces into the river, and a local brewery even created a beer for scooter haters: the No Scooters IPA. Four years later, the mood has shifted. City regulators in Austin and more than 400 other cities worldwide have established rules for how and where dockless e-scooter rental companies can operate. People have come to appreciate the role scooters play in cutting down on noisy, polluting car traffic in denser urban areas. Much of that change in public sentiment is thanks to more sustainability-focused messaging from e-scooter and e-bike operators as well as retailers (known collectively as micromobility companies). While brands like Bird…

Every June, the world gets a little more colorful. But if turning your brand’s logo into a rainbow flag is your Pride Month strategy, head back to the drawing board. Younger people in particular are over the rainbow, according to social listening insights from AI-powered data platform Influential. Across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, blogs and forums, just 14% of Gen Z looked favorably on rainbow flag campaigns, with support highest among baby boomers (42%). And while corporate contributions to LGBTQ+ groups were much more appreciated—with millennials approving the most (73%)—the LGBTQ+ community and their allies are also looking at who is taking action on the issues they care about most. In 2021, trans rights and same-sex marriage topped the social conversation. This year, the conversation has shifted to supporting…

WORK THROUGH AND WITH PEOPLE To the extent that you understand you need to work through and with people, even if they don’t work for you or you don’t work for them, think about how you’re going to inspire others to share what they know. As you get more senior, you realize your role is less about what you can accomplish yourself—it’s actually about what you can galvanize the organization to accomplish and help it go beyond where the team even thinks they can go themselves as a group. MAKE THEM HAPPY YOU’RE THERE Every boss I’ve ever had has given me good advice. One boss at Estée Lauder said, “You want to make them happy that you’re coming, not happy that you’re leaving.” I love that. How many times…