Table of contents for July 13, 2020 in Adweek

Adweek: What’s your approach to leadership in uncertain times? Jeff Green: I have a maybe slightly contrary view on the role of leadership. For a long time, people were trying to figure out how to create a work-life balance, but people are looking for a lot more from companies today. We see this as it relates to social justice as work becomes a bigger part of our lives. And so, it’s more about how do we integrate work with life, and anything, so that’s been our style and my approach. It’s meant that there’s a greater emotional burden to leading The Trade Desk than most other companies. And because we care about our people and their wellbeing to an exceptional degree, it’s been the toughest leadership challenge that I’ve ever…

Have you ever seen a television commercial play for two seconds, and then it suddenly gets cut off for a different ad to run? That’s addressable TV done poorly. Today, there are a handful of consortiums made up of distributors, programmers and ad-tech companies working toward improving addressable TV technology. Addressable initiatives are taking off as TV consumption habits drastically change, leaving marketers with fewer opportunities to reach engaged audiences. “The consumer’s expectation is becoming a viewing environment that has less advertising. Is there a way to make each ad that a consumer sees more valuable and an advertiser willing to pay more for it because it is more valuable? That answer is addressable,” said Tracey Scheppach, CEO of video agency Matter More Media. Addressable TV advertising has traditionally been…

At this moment, the entire country is engaged in digesting the daily chaos of multiple crises. With everything that’s going on, it’s easy to miss some impactful changes. These changes could lead to difficult outcomes for those in the cannabis industry. In order to fully understand how to adapt, it’s important to understand the backstory. On March 5, Twitter instituted a policy intended to curtail “synthetic and manipulated media.” The initiation of these new guidelines led Twitter to provide additional context on content deemed misleading. One of the conditions Twitter chose to monitor are messages that can be construed as voter suppression or intimidation. Notably, cannabis-related content is not a target of Twitter’s new policies. Over the last decade, President Donald Trump has become the unofficial face of Twitter, given…

We recently brought together 50 top marketing leaders for two CMO Symposiums. We called it The Great Marketing Reboot in an effort to find out what’s changed in the past three months, what’s changing in the next three months and what’s forever changed. Based on the conversations and a quantitative survey issued in partnership with the Mobile Marketing Association, here are some of the key findings: ELEVATED ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION We all suspected that advertising budgets had been slashed in the past three months. That has been pretty obvious as marketers pivoted from their previously planned big campaigns and turned to social media to simply listen and apply resources in response to the immediate real-time needs. What we didn’t see coming before the storm was the pivotal and historic…

A few years ago, a video game company reached out to Sealed Air Corp. with a strange request: It wanted to license the trademarked name of Bubble Wrap for a stress-relieving app it was working on. A 2012 study by Kelton Research revealed that one minute of Bubble Wrap popping furnished the same stress-relieving effect as a 33-minute massage, so why not make an app for it? Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. “They couldn’t find a sound that was satisfying enough,” said Sealed Air vp of global brand and content marketing Jenn Grabenstetter. No surprise there. Anyone who’s spent time popping Bubble Wrap knows that there’s no substitute for the real thing. And while most Americans probably don’t think very much about Bubble Wrap, the truth is that it’s a…

At the end of June, Chuck E. Cheese announced it had filed for bankruptcy protection and would immediately shutter 34 restaurants. Eleven is the latest chapter in the story of this “eatertainment” pizza chain, though not the strangest. Started in 1977 by Atari founder (and Steve Jobs’ old boss) Nolan Bushnell, Chuck E. Cheese originally had a cigar-smoking rat as a mascot, one the marketing folks hastily softened into a somewhat less creepy mouse, shown here in 1987. In the analog days, the eatery’s big draw was Chuck’s band of animatronic pals who’d sing and play instruments. Management unplugged them all in 2017, but an employee in a mouse costume still made the rounds for selfies. Though the chain was already struggling under debt left from a $948 million LBO,…

ON ADDRESSABILITY Charter’s Spectrum, Comcast Advertising, Cox Media AMC Networks is the first and only programmer on board. NIELSEN Members include A+E Network, AMC Networks, CBS, Discovery, Disney Media Networks, Fox, NBCUniversal, Univision, WarnerMedia. Nielsen’s integrating its tech into smart TV chip manufacturer MediaTek. PROJECT OAR Led by Inscape Members include AMC Networks, Discovery Networks, Disney Media Networks, Fox, FreeWheel, Google Ad Manager, Hearst, Invidi, NBCUniversal, Scripps, ViacomCBS, WarnerMedia, Xandr.…

The past month saw an explosion of grassroots organizations formed by Black advertising professionals and allies to develop solutions to reverse systemic racism in the industry. New groups including Allyship & Action, 600 & Rising and Where Are the Black Designers? have gained momentum through support from peers and high-profile talent. Each group wants to bring permanent, systemic change, which likely means bringing in corporate sponsors. But how can these new organizations with populist appeal keep their authenticity while working within the system they’re trying to overhaul? It’s a question they’ll work in parallel to answer, but also one where they can find guidance from the industry’s established advocacy groups, like Adcolor and the 3% Movement. CHOOSING PARTNERS THAT WON’T HURT YOUR MESSAGE Work (and life) partners Nate Nichols and…

WHEN WE INTERVIEWED OUR PICKS FOR THIS YEAR’S Women Trailblazers issue, the mood was understandably introspective. Not only was the pandemic reshaping life at work and home, but the nation was (and remains) at a cultural tipping point. While many of us wonder what the future will bring, the women featured here are actively building the future they want—pursuing an end to racial and gender inequality, leveling the playing field and making room for those who might otherwise be overlooked. Here, they talk about career milestones, the people who inspire them, what they’re setting their sights on next and even their go-to songs (hello, Prince and Lizzo!). To read the extended versions of these interviews, please visit adweek.com. Jacqueline, Thanks for all the years of bingeable TV. We want to…

Denise Roberson went into 2020 with a plan: She was going to make waves as TBWA\Chiat\ Day Los Angeles’ first-ever chief purpose officer. But when the pandemic upended her plans, it was an opportunity to apply everything she’s learned in her career to teach companies the proper way to align their values with what’s going on in people’s lives. Although Roberson spent two decades as the CEO of agency Jadi Communications, higher education has had an impact on where she is now. She’s currently doing research for a doctoral program at the Business School Lausanne in Switzerland and is a professor of marketing for Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School’s presidents and key executives MBA program. In 2013, Roberson was introduced to the idea of purpose and business author John Elkington’s…

Campaign Zero Focuses on research-based solutions on the local and national level in an attempt to end police violence. Color of Change Civil rights advocacy organization formed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which claims to be the largest online racial justice group. NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund A leading civil rights group and law firm founded by future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1940 during his 25-year association with the NAACP, the organization became independent of the broader NAACP banner in 1957.…

How did you get to where you are today? In 2018, I stepped up during difficult times to become the first to lead diversity, equity and inclusion at Papa John’s. I am here now because of the village of people that surround me, both inside and outside the organization. As a new executive to the role of DEI, I tapped into a network of D&I champions, equity advocates and corporate activists. Our common goal was to break down the invisible barriers that exist for traditionally marginalized communities and create workplaces that are inclusive and diverse. Tell us about what you are doing now, outside of your daily job. I am active in my community serving on several nonprofit boards and have stepped up most recently to help provide guidance and…

In the early 1990s, Gabrielle Union was paying her way through college and studying for the LSATs when an internship at a Los Angeles modeling agency led to the opportunity to make $120 a day to be the “Black girl” in teen magazines. She said yes—after all, it beat her $7-an-hour gig at a local bookstore. And that decision changed her life forever. Union went on to star in sitcoms like Moesha as well as three of the highest-grossing teen movies of all time, including 2000’s Bring It On. But life took yet another turn in November 2019, when Union was dismissed from her role as a judge on America’s Got Talent. She alleged that racist behavior and unfair treatment of employees were the reason for her departure, and in…