Table of contents for April 6, 2020 in Adweek

EARN THE RIGHT TO SPEAK In an inspired stay-at-home campaign, Burger King France and agency Buzzman published a guide to making some of its most iconic sandwiches, including the Whopper, in your own kitchen. According to Burger King global CMO Fernando Machado, while the campaign was a fun way to keep the brand top of mind, it worked because the fast-food chain had earned its time in the spotlight after stepping up to offer free kids meals, helping families who might otherwise go hungry while schools are closed. YOU HAVE MORE TOOLS THAN YOU REALIZE Coronavirus has shut down video production and photo shoots, so agencies are getting creative with the resources they’ve got such as stock footage, animation, archives and, the hero of creatives everywhere, user-generated content. “It’s back…

On Facebook, a fixed banner leads users to a landing page full of updates from Johns Hopkins University and the CDC. “Learn how you can stay healthy and prevent the spread of novel coronavirus,” Facebook prompts users when they search for coronavirus-related keywords. The researchers’ preliminary, non-peer reviewed results found that only 13.3% of 313 participants who saw the Facebook banner reported that they clicked on it. By contrast, 79.5% said they’ve seen misinformation about COVID-19 and 33.9% reported having believed false information themselves.…

Of course, if your entire business exists only on a platform and without a physical gym, there’s a market opportunity. Beachbody, a fitness company created in 1998 and known for its P90X and Insanity workouts, has seen a spike in subscribers. Since most gyms nationwide closed in early March, Beachbody has seen its new daily subscribers leap from 2,000 to more than 13,000. Although, as of publication, it’s still too soon to see how many will last longer than the 14-day free trial. “We’ve been very careful not to exploit the situation,” said Carl Daikeler, Beachbody’s CEO. “We’re going to stay in our lane and focus on how we can serve people.”…

How did you get to where you are today? In college, I was an ad junkie. Read every Adweek magazine cover to cover. I would read up on all the people and all the latest campaigns from agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi, Goodby, FCB, Wieden, Kirshenbaum Bond, WongDoody, Ogilvy, Cliff Freeman. When I got into the scene, websites were becoming popular for brands and the online advertising space started to explode. My mom was an artist and my dad was an engineer, so seeing creativity intersect with technology was so fascinating to me. And this was just the beginning of it all (pre-Y2K), back when flash banners and animated GIFs were a thing of genius. I knew this was the space I wanted to play. Any noteworthy aha moments along…

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) is a busy man these days. In the last week or so, he’s thrown his weight behind numerous initiatives to help his home state, including SBA loans, food distribution and the procurement of a COVID-19 testing machine. But another of Portman’s maneuverings affects people across the entire nation. That’s because Ohio happens to be home to GOJO Industries, makers of Purell. Dispensers for the hand sanitizer depend on a pumping mechanism that, thanks to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, are now in short supply. Portman is working to lift those tariffs. “We need all the hand sanitizer we can produce,” the senator said. That’s an understatement. The World Health Organization declared coronavirus to be a public health emergency on Jan. 30 and, by Feb. 22,…

Advertising’s biggest event of the year, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, will not go forward with its 2020 edition. The event, which traditionally takes place in June, had hoped to go on by rescheduling to late October. Now, the next edition of the festival won’t be held until June 21-25, 2021. Though many events have been postponed or canceled out of fear of spreading the COVID-19 contagion, Cannes Lions organizers said their decision was also influenced by how the coronavirus has disrupted the advertising and marketing world. “Cannes Lions at its core has always been about creativity and the Lions. We realize that the creative community has other challenges to face, and simply isn’t in a position to put forward the work that will set the benchmark,” said…

COVID-19 has forced brands to postpone or cancel in-person events for the foreseeable future, so marketers are adapting their experiential strategy to connect with people in self-isolation. “Pivoting” is the buzzword experts have pushed the past few weeks, and brands are beginning to show what that means with stunts and digital experiences that don’t require consumers to leave home. In fact, they encourage staying home. Deb Gabor, CEO of brand strategy consultancy Sol Marketing, said brands can be successful right now if they focus on connecting with established fans in interesting ways rather than trying to acquire new customers through selling products. Sensitivity to what their fans might be going through—and the state of the world in general—should also be top of mind, she said. “Brands absolutely must show regard…

Rigel Cable is a director of data analytics at digital commerce agency Astound Commerce—but you might know him better by his influencer persona, Rigel Gemini. Though Cable makes sure to keep his influencer advocacy and day job separate from each other, he still tries to bring “visibility and presence” to both ends of his life as a queer person from a mixed background. Through Astound, Cable said he’s able to bring insights to gender and behavior that clients might otherwise not consider. “I am proud to be openly LGBTQ+ in the workplace,” he said. “I know that for some clients, I may be their first out LGBTQ+ business partner, and that’s a great opportunity.” Before Astound, Cable worked with Goodby Silverstein & Partners while still in college. “Many of my…

On March 22, White House adviser Peter Navarro faced the press and announced that the country has entered “the greatest mobilization in the industrial base since World War II.” He was referring to the battery of manufacturing firms that have suspended their usual operations to produce badly needed supplies to battle COVID-19. To name a few: Cosmetics giant L’Oréal is mixing up hand sanitizer, GM is making ventilators, and Honeywell has retooled its propulsion-engine plant to make N95 face masks. As Navarro’s comment inferred, the country’s had practice with this routine. In 1942, FDR used the Second War Powers Act to compel consumer-goods manufacturers to make war materiel, which saw companies like Buick assembling aircraft engines, as shown in the photo here. The difference this time is that President Trump…