Table of contents for April 4, 2016 in Adweek

Even during the offseason the National Football League can’t stay out of the public eye. The New York Times has not been shy about taking on the NFL and the dangers associated with playing football, but on March 24, the 164-year-old newspaper published its most damning takedown of the country’s most popular sport. The paper ran a detailed investigation of the league’s research on concussions, stating it was “far more flawed than previously known”—and compared football to the tobacco industry. The report prompted the league to respond with its own 2,500-word rebuttal. The NFL even purchased banner ads in the sports section of the Times—including above the article that touched off the firestorm—and Promoted Tweets on Twitter. But that wasn’t the end of it: On Tuesday, NFL attorney Brad Karp…

Specs Claim to fame C. Sean McCullough, regional director of sales at AOL Advertising, is a father, pianist and music lover seeking to humanize advertising. Base New York Twitter @AOLAdvertising Programmatic is the most important advertising advancement of the 2016 election cycle—but it’s not solely because of the technology. Programmatic has enabled brand advertisers to effectively reach audiences in real time, and now political candidates can do the same. But no matter how accurate the data and how complex the targeting, any campaign without a piece of creative that elicits an emotional response from people is all for naught. On the other side of all that technology is, ultimately, a voter. And voters, much more so than consumers, are motivated to action by having formed emotional connections. There’s been a…

A few weeks ago, Lincoln Financial began running a 60-second spot about fiscal planning for your family’s future. Financial services ads aren’t typically attention grabbers, but there was something stark and penetrating about this one. Created by FCB and shot in black and white with a backing track of “Love Me Tender,” the spot showed people in their 40s, dealing with the joys and challenges of middle age—raising children, caring for elderly parents, trying to carve out time for themselves. Love, the ad said, means having responsibility—your responsibility. If you happened to notice this spot, and if it happened to speak to you, it also may have shaken you from a kind of cultural torpor. The ad was targeted squarely at Generation X, consumers who fall between their mid-30s and…

Dash Robot $150 Silicon Valley tech toy startup Wonder Workshop wants to make coding easy for kids of all ages with the Bluetooth-enabled Dash robot. The friendly blue bot syncs with five different apps tailored to different learning levels, like Go, which teaches basic controls to make Dash move and light up, and Wonder, a picture-based coding program that lets kids teach Dash detailed behaviors from navigating around objects to responding to voice commands. Kids can further customize their robots with add-ons like a smartphone mount that allows Dash to shoot video, a launcher that transforms it into a catapult, and even a xylophone that lets it compose and play music. Buy it: makewonder.com SMART Rainy Days Davek Alert Umbrella $125 Scared to invest in a high-end umbrella…

What’s the first information you consume in the morning? My Twitter newsfeed. Who do you follow? For news, I follow The New York Times, The New Yorker and ProPublica. For entertainment, I like The A.V. Club and The Onion. Any favorite apps? You’ve [hit on] my bugaboo with this technology stuff. I don’t really have any apps! [Laughs] Oh, you know what I love is CudaSign. It’s an app where you can sign papers. It’s made my life so much easier because I would always get all these contracts, and now I just swipe my finger and it’s done. What TV shows do you watch? OK, now we’re on common ground. [Laughs] There’s a show I just watched called Black Mirror. It’s beyond great. It’s one of the most insightful,…

Shenan Reed President, Digital, North America, MEC Shenan Reed gave up on finding a work-life balance years ago. Instead, she practices the same thing she preaches to her agency’s clients: Integration. “You can’t be three different people,” she says. “I decided I’m going to stop feeling guilty about doing personal stuff in the office as much as I’m going to stop feeling guilty about doing work stuff at home. The worlds just blend together.” So far, it’s working. The mother of two young children joined MEC in 2014 from Morpheus Media, an agency she cofounded. Reed’s entrepreneurial energy followed her to MEC where she fosters a vibrant digital community and has a tendency to “geek out” over tech innovations. The agency’s 300-person team of digital experts has grown 10 percent…

“Hire a partner or company with the expertise to implement and deliver a true concierge experience,” said Bohan CEO Shari Day. “Provide enough space to accommodate services,” advised Ben Rydell, Y&R’s concierge. “Allow for convenient visibility for pickup and drop-off activities.” “Establish a budget by employee per month and encourage them to use it,” said Day. “Don’t place any limitations on an executive concierge,” said Rydell. “Let them fill up as many resources and services as necessary throughout the week.” “The position requires great customer service skills, self-motivation and negotiation skills”— so make sure the service or individual you hire is the right fit for your agency’s culture, said Anne O’Driscoll, Y&R’s svp, facilities management.…

When she made her debut four years ago as ace D.C. crisis manager Olivia Pope on the ABC drama Scandal, Kerry Washington would not allow herself to dream that the show would ever become the hit that it is. “I didn’t have a lot of expectations, to be honest,” she admits. “It was a great thing, but I feel like expectations are resentments in waiting. But in a million years, I couldn’t have expected the success of the show and the impact that it would have culturally in terms of fashion, changing language, images of gender and the landscape of casting in television.” Nor did she anticipate the impact that Scandal—one of broadcast television’s top 10 series in the 18-49 demo—would have on her career. The actress has secured partnerships…

While many marketers have given Gen X short shrift, that is not to say every brand ignored them. Wendy’s, Chipotle and Red Lobster are just a few that have long viewed Gen X as core customers. The same can be said for Cheerios, Virgin, Honda and Patagonia. And Apple’s “Think Different” is a Gen X mantra if there ever was one. “My feeling is that we’ve been targeted our entire lives,” says author and marketing authority Seth Godin (who regards himself as “pioneer Gen X”). “But there’s a thing that might make it seem otherwise: American pop culture got mostly baked from Kennedy through Nixon, which means that the soundtrack and the imagery that has been used on us is still Beatles/Mad Men/CSNY/ Godfather. In other words, baby boomers made…

While retailers have long fretted over whether social media sites drive adequate sales, major players in the category seem to have no intention of backing away from Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. But a new study might change their minds. Between January and March, e-commerce vendor Custora crunched data about $100 billion in sales among 500 million shoppers and found that only 1.5 percent of retailers’ last-click e-commerce transactions came via social media. Within that sliver of activity, Facebook dominated 81 percent of sales, while shopping-centric Pinterest generated 10.8 percent and Instagram, YouTube and Twitter collectively yielded 5.2 percent. “If you’re looking on a last-click basis, there’s been no movement in terms of social media platforms. Even the advent of buy buttons has done absolutely nothing to move the needle,” said…

‘Ultimately, we want to not only tell and show people what [virtual reality] is but why it matters.’ Bio Jesse Coulter is vp, chief creative officer at Samsung USA and chair of the Clio Awards’ new Brand Jury overseeing the evaluation of submissions in the Innovation & Integrated Campaign mediums. Before joining Samsung, he was co-chief creative officer of CAA Marketing, where he worked on brands including Chipotle. From opening a cool experiential space in New York’s trendy Meatpacking District to bringing virtual reality to the masses, Samsung is determined to connect consumers to the latest technology. As the electronics maker’s chief creative officer, Jesse Coulter oversees marketing strategy and ad campaigns in North America. Here, he talks with Adweek about his first year on the job, the difference in…

Specs Current gig North American CEO, GroupM Previous gig CEO, Xaxis Twitter: @Blesser Age 41 How does your background at Xaxis help in your new role at GroupM? Ultimately, only a machine and data can really match up consumer sentiment with appropriate advertising messages. And that’s, of course, not true today in all channels. But I do think that over time, all media will be digital, all digital will be addressable, and all addressable media will be bought and sold programmatically. In my new role, the objective is to continue to push GroupM forward in terms of technology innovation, but instead of technology as it applies to the marketplace—which is still obviously very important—it’s also focused on technology that is directed toward consumers to make sure our messages are targeted…

THE PILSNER Since bottled beer was high-end in 1903 (most beer came on tap), Miller chose a clear glass bottle to show off its purity. The tradition endures to this day. THE NECKER The “soft cross” label is an adaptation of industrial designer Brooks Stevens’ famous 1954 logo, which endures in neon bar signs everywhere. THE GIRL A fixture since 1907, our nameless lass got a facelift by Landor in 2010, resulting in a smaller nose, fuller tresses and a slightly shapelier bustline. The world is full of famous female advertising icons—Betty Crocker, Bounty paper towels’ Rosie the waitress and, most recently, Flo, the irrepressibly perky customer service rep for Progressive insurance. Most of these characters have well-known lineages, but one brand mascot is as mysterious today as she was…

For 64 years, NBC’s Today Show has been a reliable friend to bleary-eyed Americans. Starting at 7 a.m. and running for four, glorious hours (wrapping with those delightful day drinkers Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb), the program has changed substantively over the past 63 seasons and, like any aging New York beauty, has undergone a few nips and tucks along the way. Its most recent face-lift is centered around social media. The Orange Room, built last year and manned by anchor Carson Daly, is the show’s digital studio, and just last week, Today created interactive green rooms for its guests: the Facebook Live Booth and Instagram Mini Room, which enable guests and anchors to communicate with the show’s Facebook audience in real time. Said Today digital executive producer Ashley…