Table of contents for October 11, 2021 in Adweek

The New York Times’ Instagram account now has nearly 14 million followers, but 10 years ago it was little more than a glint in the eye of Simone S. Oliver, then a journalist at The Times’ Style section. Along with a cadre of other reporters, Oliver helped submit the 90-page innovation report that urged The Times to embrace the nascent photo-sharing platform. At the time, she had no way of knowing how big a role Instagram would play in her life. Oliver is part of a generation of journalists whose professional arc coincided with, and was in many ways shaped by, the digital transformation. But rather than build her career in reaction to the shifting technological landscape, Oliver used the entropy of the last decade as a ladder, combining her…

It might be football season, but America’s real pastime between now and the holiday season is shopping—and consumers aren’t letting Covid get in the way this time. In a survey of consumers across the U.S., contextual advertising platform Channel Factory found that the need to bring holiday cheer to their families and friends is outweighing concerns about the persistent delta variant, with 64% of consumers saying Covid-19 won’t impact their shopping plans. Some even started as early as August—perhaps after hearing about looming supply chain issues. “Brands who want to be in front of consumers early should ensure they have their campaigns ready to go,” said Lauren Douglass, svp of global marketing at Channel Factory. However, many people’s ecommerce habit, stoked by the pandemic, will extend to gift buying, with…

Every aspect of marketing is in a daily race to keep up with technology and social currents, but none more so than media strategy. | Whether it’s adapting to the potential of emerging apps or pivoting a multimillion-dollar ad buy when faced with a world-altering pandemic, media agencies and brand-side planners are on the front lines of innovation, with the stakes always high—and highly measurable. | This year, Adweek’s annual Media Plan of the Year awards honor 24 campaigns spanning the globe and a wide array of industries. Here’s a look at the bold ideas, well-crafted executions and insight-driven strategies that took top honors for 2021. 2021 JURY MANY THANKS TO OUR ESTEEMED PANEL OF JURORS WHO TOOK TIME OUT OF THEIR BUSY SCHEDULES TO JUDGE THIS YEAR’S MEDIA PLAN…

Look up the meaning of the word “lush,” and you’ll find definitions dealing with abundant vegetation, libidinous bed partners and a person who drinks too much. Which is reasonable enough. But say “lush” to millions of everyday consumers, and they’ll think of only one thing: the store that sells all that great-smelling soap. (More on these aromas a bit later.) Ask co-founder Mark Constantine about the Lush name, and he will admit he had nothing to do with it. Constantine, after all, is a formulator, not a marketer. As an herbal trichologist with an innate talent for whipping up all-natural balms and emollients, Constantine first made a name for himself in the 1980s concocting goos for The Body Shop, which ended up buying a bunch of his creations for a…

How did you get to where you are today? I didn’t shy away from roles or companies that had reputations of being hard jobs. I enjoyed coming in and building a foundation from scratch—getting the right infrastructure and team in place, putting together marketing investment cases and working to get the first external company statement out to the world. What’s the most innovative thing you recently worked on? Going into this postseason, the NBA launched the “That’s Game” brand campaign. It involved customization across all channels, from digital content to interactive social and an influencer house to OOH pulling in live feeds of social conversation. It really drove engagement with not only NBA fans but widened the aperture and allowed us to reach more general sports fans as well. ‘Measurement ……

It’ll probably come as news to FaceTime’s 125 million regular users that video-enriched phone calls are actually an old idea. In 1964, Bell Telephone introduced Picturephone, a “logical extension of today’s telephone service” that let callers watch their conferees on a tiny black-and-white video screen. Bell sunk a reported $500 million into the technology and then promoted it at the 1964 World’s Fair (where, above, singer Yvonne King is trying it out). The company expected a million subscribers by 1980 but, instead, found about 70 takers in the first six months. Why did Picturephone flicker out? Some technologies are simply too far ahead of their time, but cost didn’t help either. Picturephone’s service and equipment ran $160 a month—about $1,417 today.…

Advertising and marketing are the most direct links consumers have to many industries, and marketers are the ones crafting the messages they hear. The stories we write can transform consumer landscapes, shape industries, grow or shrink brands and support or hinder livelihoods. In perhaps no industry is this truer than food and agriculture. Articles, studies and public policies show just how impactful food advertising is on society’s changing tastes and preferences. Our ability to sway public opinion not only alters what America eats, but it can also foster skepticism about common agricultural concepts. When we advertise food brands, we’re not just selling products—we’re painting a picture that is often the only image consumers ever see of our food system. If we don’t get it right, we run the risk of…

UNDERSTAND (AND BELIEVE IN) THE PRODUCT If you don’t fully believe in the product that you’re selling, your customers can tell. In order to walk out the door with firm conviction that you are selling the most performance at the best price, you have to deeply understand what that product is. Understand why it was developed the way that it was, work with product and engineering to understand what can and can’t be tweaked. It’s a habit of salespeople to come in and say, “Well, the product’s broken,” but that’s not good enough. You have to be able to articulate what specifically is not working for your customer. PRIORITIZE ROI OVER CHASING THE NEXT BEST THING At the end of the day, marketers want to sell things. This is not…