Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Adweek

Alexis Ohanian is not a fan of pickleball. He has ample reason not to be, of course. The 41-year-old co-founder of Reddit and the venture firm Seven Seven Six is married to Serena Williams, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. In recent years, the two sports have increasingly found themselves at odds with one another, competing over everything from court space to sponsorship dollars. But his specific criticism is more revealing. “Can the atomic unit—can its fundamental highlights—go viral?” Ohanian said. “Until I see a pickleball highlight go viral, I don’t think it’s a real sport.” The remark is a throwaway jab, the kind of gentle ribbing familiar to any sports fan. But it is also laced with the logic of someone who has an intuitive understanding of…

IN MAY OF 2020, amid a racial justice reckoning following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, brands put out a torrent of press releases waxing poetic about their commitment to structural change. Just a month later, as Black Lives Matter protests were shutting down freeways and demanding the attention of American political leaders, fashion designer Aurora James had founded the Fifteen Percent Pledge. The nonprofit asked major retailers to commit 15% of their shelf space and spending power to Black-owned businesses, and got buy-in from many major brands. Four years later, many of the companies that set targets related to diversity, equity, and inclusion—Molson Coors, Lowe’s, and Ford among them—have reportedly dropped them, in some cases laying off the leaders hired to implement DEI practices internally. A right-wing…

THE 2024 PARIS SUMMER Olympics were a family affair for Michael Phelps. The record-setting Olympian swimmer-turned-commentator for NBC Sports landed in the French capital with his wife, Nicole Johnson, and their youngest son, Nico, as his off-camera support staff. And even though Nico’s three elder siblings remained behind in the U.S., they made sure to provide their dad with coaching assistance from across the pond. “My wife and kids always gave me insights into what they want me to talk about on-air,” Phelps told ADWEEK. “That’s why I was more prepared for commentating this time than I ever have been.” Paris marked Phelps’ second Olympics as a swimming commentator since he hung up his competitive goggles following the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. But his first experience at…

FOR ANDREW REA, also known as Babish, food and content creation have always been central to life. His mother, who prepared the family meals, got him into cooking, while his father, a photojournalist, inspired Rea’s interest in visual mediums, leading him to pursue film as a career. Rea graduated from Hofstra University in 2009, and one of his first jobs was in the advertising world, working for a visual effects post-production house that created TV commercials. While Rea wasn’t part of the creative process of making ads, he learned a lot about how brands and audiences work together. “It gave me a great foundation with which to create a new series that would both be hopefully entertaining and informative, but also be an exciting place for brands to advertise,” Rea…

“You determine your value, and you demand your value, and you don’t settle.” IN JULY 2020, Julie Uhrman joined the ownership group of the National Women’s Soccer League’s Angel City FC to show the value of investing in and promoting women’s sports. Almost exactly four years later, Angel City announced that it had sold a controlling stake in the team to USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism dean Willow Bay and Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger for $250 million—making it the most valuable women’s sports franchise in the world. “I did dub [the home opener during our inaugural season in April 2022] ‘the greatest show on earth,’ and that was our guiding principle for the experience we wanted to create for that game and every game,” Uhrman said.…

TURNING 60 IS a big reason to celebrate, especially for publishers in today’s current media landscape. And Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is the latest publisher to land on the legacy brand roster. Originally created by fashion editor Jule Campbell in 1964 to maintain the relevance of Sports Illustrated when sports were out of season, the SI Swimsuit issue was intended to highlight women on the cover and create opportunities for them to become household names. Today, under the direction of editor-in-chief MJ Day and general manager Hillary Drezner, the magazine still operates in the same vein and has managed to evolve not only to keep up with culture but also to shape it. “[The issue] spoke to a very specific male audience,” Day said. “Where it started and where we ended…

ISABELA ALBERO CAME to Los Angeles to “live the dream” of life in a big city on the beach. The managing director of global strategy at WPP-backed agency T&Pm, where she leads marketing for Electronic Arts’ portfolio of video games like The Sims and Madden NFL, likes to stay active. Amid the usual seaside sports like yoga, running clubs, and spin classes, she noticed the tennis players on a beach volleyball court. “I was like, ‘Oh, that looks really fun, let me see what it is,’” she recalled. The sport was beach tennis, played by a group of Brazilian expats. As Albero was born and raised in São Paulo, “we immediately, of course, became friends,” she said. “Tennis is very popular in Brazil,” explained Albero, who last swung a racket…

ENTERTAINER KEKE PALMER has many guises. One of her most memorable is a character she created for Instagram in 2020 called Chelsea Barbie Taylor. Described by Palmer as an “over-the-top valley girl who also happens to be Black,” Chelsea resonated with audiences in part because they “loved seeing a character exemplify the value that Black people are not a monolith.” Chelsea also opened doors for her creator. In 2020, Palmer landed a Facebook Watch series, Turnt Up With the Taylors, a satirical reality show about Chelsea and her family. She co-created, co-wrote, produced, and played all five parts, and though it was a low-budget show, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance. That experience laid the groundwork for Palmer’s career trajectory and philosophy. “I realized that we all…

“I’m wired a little bit differently—I like to roll up my sleeves with our partners and collaborate.” TODD KAPLAN SPENT the bulk of his career making Pepsi cool and reinventing the beverage giant for a new generation. Now, he’s hoping to do the same with Kraft Heinz. In July, Kaplan was named chief marketing officer of Kraft Heinz North America, the conglomerate that owns 50 brands including Heinz ketchup, Oscar Mayer, and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Running marketing for so many large consumer-facing brands, many of which are looking to innovate and stand out with new products, is a big mandate for Kaplan. But his decades of experience at PepsiCo should give him a leg up. Kaplan made his mark at Pepsi, most recently running all marketing for the flagship…

“We’ve set our sights on becoming a $10 billion company.” IN LESS THAN two years as chief customer officer at Bath & Body Works, Maurice Cooper has already begun to reshape the brand’s trajectory. Spearheading a nearly $7.5 billion business with over 2,300 locations across 50 markets globally, Cooper aims to bring a fresh approach that reflects his leadership philosophy of “imagine more.” This forward-thinking mindset is central to his leadership style, empowering his team to embrace creativity and take risks as the company sets its sights on new milestones. “We’ve set our sights on becoming a $10 billion company,” Cooper said, with ambitions to grow Bath & Body Works’ global presence. Cooper’s impact was quickly felt with the December launch of the “Come Back to Your Senses” campaign. Designed…

BELOVED PURPLE DINOSAUR Barney is returning to television this fall for the first time in 14 years, while the chronically underappreciated Ken is finally getting the love he deserves through new merchandise. In the meantime, Tom Hanks is set to bring the heroic astronaut Major Matt Mason to life, Vin Diesel will lend his muscular magnetism to a father-son drama based on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and the live-action version of Masters of the Universe is slated for a June 2026 release from Amazon MGM Studios. Those are only a handful of the projects currently in the offing from Mattel, highlighting the company’s shift from traditional toy maker to intellectual property cache, according to Lisa McKnight, chief brand officer and a prime mover of the strategy. “We definitely have…

ON MEMORIAL DAY of 1934, 28-year-old Tom Carvel loaded his trailer with ice cream and dreamed of dollar signs. His plan was to sell scoops to New York motorists headed up into the country. But then Carvel got a flat in front of a pottery shop in Hartsdale, and he watched as his inventory—which he’d borrowed $20 to buy—began to melt. With no other options at hand, he opened for business right on the side of the road. And that is where a startling realization dawned on him: Customers liked the softened ice cream more than the hard stuff. The result of his happy accident is the chain that bears its founder’s name, which marks its 90th birthday this year. You could reasonably say that Tom Carvel—who began franchising in…

FOR NEARLY FOUR DECADES, ADWEEK has been recognizing the brightest minds in branding and marketing with our highest honor, the Brand Genius award. Once given only to marketers, the 2024 class represents an evolution of who’s creating the buzz that lights up imaginations and drives growth for companies and communities. Among this year’s winners are the people elevating women’s sports; the marketer respecting baseball’s legacy while reaching out to the next generation of fans; the chief brand officer turning Mattel into Hollywood’s new darling; and the Hilton marketer who finally got Paris herself into an ad for the hotel chain—and broke the TikTok mold. In short, 2024’s Brand Geniuses are looking beyond how things are and reaching for what could be: a world that’s more dynamic, equitable, and a whole…

“What really makes you different? Tell that story.” MAINTAINING DAILY HEALTH and wellness can be expensive and challenging, particularly for women. When Lo Bosworth became frustrated with the products available to her during a personal health crisis, she decided to take action. Many people recognize Lauren “Lo” Bosworth from her time on MTV’s popular reality shows The Hills and Laguna Beach, but they may not be aware of her impressive second act as the founder of women’s personal care brand Love Wellness. Bosworth founded the brand in 2016 while trying to manage chronic symptoms that existing drugstore products and prescriptions couldn’t alleviate. Recognizing the need for doctor-developed products made with high-quality ingredients that women could trust, she created Love Wellness, a collection of vaginal, hormonal, and gut health products. “Feeling…

“I’ve never been a marketer that believes it’s brand or performance; it all belongs together.” WHEN KARIN TIMPONE joined Major League Baseball in 2021 as chief marketing officer, she inherited a loyal, longstanding, and slightly older fanbase. At the time, her mission was “to grow the next generation of fans,” filling stadiums in the process. Over the last 12 months, she’s hit several home runs. In March 2023, alongside the league’s first AOR in eight years, Wieden+Kennedy, Timpone appraised tradition’s place in the current game and addressed it in a three-spot campaign dubbed “Baseball Is Something Else.” Launching amid changes designed to make the game more fast-paced and higher-scoring, the creative work had several jobs to do, said Timpone, including to “measurably engage fans in new ways” and support ticket…

ALICIA TILLMAN IS the rare chief marketing officer who’s comfortable in both B2B and B2C settings. Tillman has been Delta Air Lines’ CMO since April 2023, and she is helping to reinvent its brand experience. Before her time at Delta, Tillman worked at fintech startup Capitolis and enterprise software company SAP as global CMO. She also spent 11 years at American Express. Being able to live comfortably in both B2B and B2C worlds, and leading marketing at both heritage brands and startups, is no easy feat. Tillman chalks up her marketing savvy to good training and sticking to the basics. “I am a believer that the fundamentals of marketing don’t necessarily matter if you think about the category you’re in—B2B or B2C, or pure consumer base,” Tillman said. She finds…

“I highly encourage anybody to take over as CMO when you have zero revenue in the middle of a pandemic.” THE FIRST FEW weeks in a new job can be a rough time for even seasoned executives. But when Mark Weinstein moved into the CMO’s office at Hilton in the summer of 2020, the task before him was little short of harrowing. “I highly encourage anybody to take over as CMO when you have zero revenue in the middle of a pandemic,” Weinstein said, sporting his waggish sense of humor. But the situation was no laughing matter. With the U.S. in full lockdown and international travel down by 74%, Hilton reported a second quarter loss of $432 million. Its own communications office called the pandemic “the biggest test in [Hilton’s]…

JUST IN CASE you need further proof of the speed of technological change, consider this. The must-have electronic accessory of 40 years ago is today a device that a Gen Alpha kid won’t even recognize. We speak of the video cassette recorder, an appliance once so trendy that TV host Mary Hart did this publicity shot with one. In 1984, VCR technology was already a decade old, but market forces were finally making the machines affordable—and ushering in a new era of entertainment. “Today, with price wars, added features, cable television and a wealth of video boutiques that will rent you everything from Star Wars to Jane Fonda,” declared ADWEEK, “the VCR has become a medium for the masses.” But amid all our gushing about a Blockbuster future, we somehow…