Table of contents for October 19, 2020 in Adweek

Motel 6’s promise to “leave the light on for you.” The Chick-fil-A cows. Ram’s mesmerizing Super Bowl ad, “Farmer.” Such work made Dallas-based The Richards Group a consistent creative powerhouse, but three words—”It’s too Black”—created an unprecedented spiral of backlash that cost the 700-person agency almost all of its clients. Founder and owner Stan Richards used the phrase to criticize a Motel 6 campaign idea in an internal meeting, and the resulting fallout quickly included the loss of the decades-old client relationship, along with The Home Depot, Keurig, Dr Pepper, Salvation Army and more. “I made a mistake. The biggest mistake of my life, one I will never be able to adequately explain or take back,” Richards said in announcing his exit. “All I can say is that I was…

Media organizations and agencies have created tools to address brand safety in 2020. Vox Media, for instance, now offers a self-serve ad solution for marketers in the form of Concert, its proprietary ad technology. Conceived as a publisher marketplace intended to reach the Vox network’s audience safely and at scale, Concert also includes placements on local properties such as The Boston Globe and conglomerates like NBCUniversal. It’s a promising example of how a media company can take more control of its valuable first-party data to create so-called brand-safe scenarios. By demonstrating a deeper knowledge of their own audiences, publishers can better guard their environments to deliver a quality advertising experience for marketers and consumers.…

While White Claw wasn’t the first hard seltzer to market, it might as well have been. The White Claw brand’s viral popularity has driven the growth of the entire category. Nielsen reports that White Claw accounted for 63% of hard seltzer’s total growth in a 13-week period prior to the pandemic. While that lead slipped to 43% of category growth this summer as new brands proliferated, overall hard seltzer growth only accelerated amid the pandemic, with White Claw perpetually leading the way. From a branding perspective, “they got a lot of things right,” said Schuemann. To start, the name was “brilliant,” he said. “White” invokes something refreshing and light, while “claw” sends a strong, hard message. “The play of that, it’s so easy to remember,” he said. The packaging, with…

Adweek: How can brands best work with creators to make content that’s authentic and potentially viral? Zhong: It’s super smart for brands like SeatGeek, G Fuel, Chipotle and even Nike to allow creators the freedom and flexibility to do whatever campaign they want that’s in their voice. They are trusting the creator to make something that resonates with their audience as opposed to giving them a script. That’s the only secret to building a successful influencer campaign these days, because really fans can see right through ads. What would you say to the brands that are still hesitant about letting go of some of the creative control? Give them some guidelines, give them some things they can say and cannot say, but still give them the freedom to experiment and…

THE JUDGES MANY THANKS TO OUR ESTEEMED PANEL OF JURORS WHO TOOK TIME OUT OF THIER BUSY SCHEDULES TO JUDGE THIS YEAR’S MEDIA PLAN OF THE YEAR ENTRIES. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN SERVING AS A JUROR IN 2021, PLEASE CONTACT MIMI PATTERSON AT MIMI.PATTERSON@ADWEEK.COM. Al Hawes SVP, Head of Content, Starcom Kate Bower Managing Director, Global Creative Strategy, Spark Foundry Alison Karp Executive Director, Wavemaker Bill Durrant President, Exverus Media Brittany Moten Account Director, Havas Media Christine Chen Head of Communication Strategy and Partner, GS&P David Gong Head of Marketing, PMG Ian Mundorff Global Head of Media, HP Ipalibo Da-Wariboko Global Strategy Director, Carat JiYoung Kim Chief Digital Officer, Carat Jillian Davis Director of Brand Strategy and Associate Partner, barrettSF Lauren Tetuan EVP, Director of Media, Deutsch LA Lawrence Teherani-Ami…

Throughout the pandemic, major cities have seen residents uprooting and heading for the suburbs or rural areas. Understanding what this trend looks like can help marketers better target consumers within their new locales. San Francisco, Houston, Washington, D.C., New York and Los Angeles are seeing the most regional and long-distance moves. And as people relocate, they’re looking for new shops to frequent and products to update their spaces. Some common search topics Nextdoor compiled in its survey based on internal data from its users were house cleaning services, handypersons, pest control services and pet care. “[Nextdoor’s] first-party view provides meaningful insights about moving trends and what neighbors are looking for as they get settled,” said Maryam Banikarim, Nextdoor’s head of marketing. In addition to getting their houses in order, people…

Artists have long been fascinated by skeletons and skulls. Depictions can be traced as far back as 8,000 B.C., but perhaps never at quite the scale of the 12-foot Giant-Sized Skeleton sold at Home Depot that has captured the hearts of thousands and inspired numerous memes. Since Sept. 23, the skeleton has more than 155,000 mentions across social media, and has received 1.2 million engagements. “The lesson here is that if the product is going to make for incredible pictures, it is going to do well on the internet,” said Todd Grossman, CEO of the Americas at Talkwalker.…

Advertisers are always conscious of brand safety. But a pandemic and civil rights movement have brought a new sense of urgency to the issues of ad placement. To meet the challenges of the moment, publishers and media buyers are adopting new data tools designed to ensure greater brand safety. Still, the potential analytics cures threaten to change the way ads are bought and sold. At bottom, publishers and media buyers express hope that the spring health emergency and summer of protest will prompt both sides to have franker conversations about advertisers’ needs and publishers’ solutions—and what each side can reasonably provide. “The principles of brand safety haven’t changed, but the ability to demand greater transparency has,” said Andrew Goode, evp, head of biddable media, North America at Havas Media. “Media…

LEAN ON CONTENT When marketing product feels tone deaf, Senreve turned to content, relaunching the brand blog where it shared everything from cookie recipes to other brands the team had discovered. The idea, Chung said, was to provide “uplifting content that’s inspirational, informative, interesting and brings them out of a slump.” CHANGE YOUR MINDSET For a long time, luxury was exclusively aspirational for many consumers, and that was part of its appeal. But now, Larian said brands have to think differently about what luxury means. “It’s a luxury now for someone to be able to buy a silk gown from us at an affordable price point,” she said. ADJUST YOUR LINEUP When it became clear that Americans wouldn’t be living their normal lives for a while, Cuyana worked with its…

YOU CAN BE EFFECTIVE WITHOUT PERFECTION You can still communicate and connect with people through technology that’s not high-end production. There’s value in the real and the raw. … If we sit back and try to have the perfect statement or the perfect plan, we’re going to miss the moment. And when you miss the moment, you [really] miss the moment. We’re focused on how can we be more agile? How can we be more responsive? How do we give ourselves a break, not being perfect, but getting out there and just participating? That’s the key to change. HEIDI BROWNING PEARSON CMO, NHL DON’T BE AFRAID TO FAIL You have to try new things. To our consumers and our fans, the world is more forgiving now than ever. I also…

In 2006, a one-minute spot hit American TV sets (YouTube was barely a thing yet) and promptly made history—at least in the world of deodorant. Titled “Billions,” the eyebrow-raising, Clio-winning ad via BBH London showed hordes of young, nubile women dashing out of the jungle. Mad with desire, they stampede toward the beach. After a few seconds, it becomes clear what they are all after: an average-looking, shirtless guy. As the women engulf him, he raises his arms in triumph. And little wonder why, as the sweet, woody fragrance he just sprayed on means he won’t be sleeping alone that night. Even if you’ve never seen the ad, you’ve likely seen some variation of it. Spots like this not only ran for a generation, but they made Axe deodorant spray…

In the early years of television, the undisputed jewel of any media plan (assuming a brand had the money) was to land a sponsored program. A brand could literally get its name on the show itself if it agreed to foot production costs. In the days of rabbit-ear antennas, Americans by the millions tuned in to sponsored shows like the Kraft Television Theatre, the Buick Circus Hour and, as shown in this 1963 photo, the International Hour: American Jazz, sponsored by Miller Beer. Most of these deals included commercial spots starring the show host, which is why the dapper Willis Conover is enjoying a nice cold Miller for the camera. As TV shows got more expensive to make, networks began inking deals with multiple advertisers on each program, and the…