Brands in Culture Archives - Digiday

Why Marriott Bonvoy wants everyone to know it’s more than just a hotel chain

Kristina Monllos — Fri, 12 May 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Marriott Bonvoy wants people to know that it’s more than just Marriott — the hotel chain actually has 30 brands under its umbrella and 500 boutique hotels. To get the message across to younger consumers, Marriott Bonvoy is taking an educational approach to its advertising to showcase the various experiences across its offerings.

“A lot of people hear Marriott — and there’s tremendous brand awareness — but they think of Marriott Hotels or Courtyard by Marriott,” said Brian Povinelli, svp and global head of marketing and brand at Marriott International. “The strategy for the company over the past decade has been to create a travel marketplace where we offer everything from entry-level, select serve to high luxury including yachts like the Ritz Carlton Yacht.”

The hotel chain is looking to use its marketing efforts now to connect its various brands including Westin, Moxie and Ritz Carlton, as well as its many boutique hotels, so that consumers understand it has more to offer than its namesake brand. To do this, Marriott Bonvoy has joined the myriad brands using both in-house and external agencies for its marketing efforts. (Roughly 82% of marketers have some in-house now, according to the ANA’s latest study.)

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Liquid I.V. spends more in ads to reach Gen Z, millennials

Julian Cannon — Tue, 09 May 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Liquid I.V., an electrolyte drink mix brand, is expanding its ad budget as it shifts its brand messaging to reach Gen Z and millennials.

The company is one among many brands chasing the two demographics, using influencer marketing to seem relevant and authentic in the channels Gen Z and millennials occupy.

Last summer, Liquid I.V. marketed its product as a high performance sports beverage, but the company found that too many people did not relate to it. Instead, this year, the focus will be on hydration, said Stacey Andrade-Wells”, vice president of marketing at Liquid I.V.

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Why Gen Z content creators were a key part of the NFL Draft

Julian Cannon — Wed, 03 May 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Gen Z content creators and social media influencers are becoming a line item in the NFL’s marketing strategy. And it tapped that part of its strategy to better connect with younger audiences during the NFL Draft.

The move was part of the NFL’s push to raise awareness of the Draft and its content creators among younger viewers. Instead of concentrating solely on the newly drafted players, the NFL wanted to celebrate the Draft as a whole through cross-social platform collaboration with partners and content creators. Beyond the Draft, the NFL plans to continue leveraging social media influencers for future events, according to Ian Trombetta, the NFL’s svp of social and influencer marketing.

“We’ve been looking for ways to expand and to complement our existing influencer and celebrity strategy and that really is still the basic principles of building authentic relationships, finding ways to activate year round with these creators,” said Trombetta. He added that the NFL’s revamped youth-focused strategy aims to put a spotlight on content creators and, ultimately, move the needle in terms of NFL viewership.

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Amid WGA strike, marketers, agency execs ‘working with media partners to understand contingency plans’

Kristina Monllos — Wed, 03 May 2023 04:01:00 +0000

On Tuesday, the Writers’ Guild of America began a strike after six weeks of negotiations broke down between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — which includes Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Discovery-Warner, NBC Universal, Paramount and Sony.

Marketers and agency execs say that they are watching the strike closely to understand what the impact may be for advertisers in the coming weeks but that it’s early days and difficult to read the tea leaves. Advertisers are already asking questions about the length of the strike, according to agency execs, who say they hope it can be resolved soon.

Production for late night television shows like The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live, Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Real Time with Bill Maher and Saturday Night Live have shut down. It’s the first ripple effect of the strike; WGA picketers were also present at Peacock’s NewFronts presentation on Tuesday. The WGA and the AMPTP did not return a request for comment.

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NFL CMO Tim Ellis on why content creators are leading the league’s Gen Z-focused strategy

Julian Cannon — Mon, 01 May 2023 04:01:00 +0000

As this year’s NFL Draft is currently taking place in Kansas City, NFL CMO Tim Ellis wanted to bring a youthful energy and better connect with younger audiences. To do so, the NFL is hosting a three-day event showcasing the talent of current Gen Z content creators through on-site social activations.

During the NFL’s Draft, the NFL partnered with @Leon.Ond to surprise & delight deserving fans with his famous “Spin the Wheel” content; @SidetalkNYC captured footage of passionate fans during the draft; and @ThePeopleGallery captured highlights of prospects’ style on the red carpet. Meanwhile, video creator Lisa Nguyen (@LisaNguyen on TikTok) visited her favorite Kansas City restaurants to talk football and food. The goal for this is to connect with Gen Z NFL fans authentically while also leveraging its content creators to gain interest on the NFL Sunday Ticket.

This comes months after the NFL revamped its social media strategy with its NFL Content Creator Network to allow fans to directly engage with Gen Z football fans, such as Twitch streamer Esfand, who presented a showcase of the meeting of traditional athletes and gaming creators.

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How cannabis culture is becoming a bigger part of Jack in the Box’s marketing strategy

Kimeko McCoy — Thu, 27 Apr 2023 04:01:00 +0000

As cannabis usage becomes more mainstream, fast-food-chain Jack in the Box is fanning the flames of its cannabis-friendly marketing strategy, further catering to late-night snackers, to drive traffic and ultimately boost sales.

The California-based food chain is pushing the envelope further, building off of previous cannabis-friendly campaigns, in response to recently relaxed cannabis and CBD regulations across states like Minnesota, Delaware and New York. Advertising platforms like Twitter and Google have also relaxed bans.

Last week, in celebration of 4/20, Jack in the Box rolled out a partnership with WeedMaps, a marijuana-focused online platform, allowing people to map out locations to food truck activations and their nearest Jack in the Box location. It’s the first time Jack in the Box has officially partnered with a cannabis brand.

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Brands turn to gamification to reach hockey fans during the NHL playoffs

Julian Cannon — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Great Clips, New Amsterdam Vodka and Kruger Products are reaching out to hockey fans during the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they’re taking a gamification approach to their ads to do so. The brands see the playoffs as a unique opportunity to boost awareness and gain new customers through interactive offerings.

Similar to its approach to March Madness, Great Clips is encouraging all hockey fans to share photos and videos that reflect their unique styles and highlight their unique characteristics for a chance to be recognized in its first-ever, virtual Hockey Hair Hall of Fame. The effort is running from April 17 to May 7. And in addition to weekly prizes, Great Clips and a panel of judges will select six inaugural members of the Hockey Hair Hall of Fame who will receive free haircuts for a year and a signed hockey jersey from NHL All Star Jack Hughes, with one inductee receiving a grand prize package.

Great Clips’ campaign is part of its five year partnership with the NHL involving creative marketing mixes during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The financial agreement was not disclosed.

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Marrying the craft of culture, marketing and technology serves as a true north for progress for brand execs attending Possible

Jim Cooper — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 04:01:00 +0000

As part of its plan to differentiate itself from larger and more established conferences such as CES and Cannes Lions, the newly launched Possible conference held in Miami Beach this week focused on the importance that culture holds in the digital media and marketing ecosystem. And indeed it was something speakers and attendees had top of mind.

Steve Stoute, CEO and Founder of UnitedMasters, a music software and services platform, and creative agency Translation, and a longtime music and marketing executive and industry thought leader, sat down with Digiday in our joint video studio with Possible right off the main stage at the Fontainebleau Hotel to discuss the importance of culture, diversity, equity and inclusion, and the impact of artificial intelligence on the media, influencer and talent economy — as well as his hopes for Gen Z as a broad engine of progress.

“It’s important that we are in lockstep with technology and culture, or we will get passed by all the time,” said Stoute, adding “[Marketers] need to stop thinking that they can put people in segmented boxes in order to target them. That idea is old.”

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Pringles goes all in on social to put college athletes front-and-center for ‘March Mustache’ campaign

Julian Cannon — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000

While March Madness is most associated with television and streaming, Pringles is turning to social media — particularly Instagram — to leverage some of the college athletes playing in the basketball tournament. The chip brand is looking to reach college basketball fans on second screens and offering chances to win tickets to attend the tournament’s final games.

Specifically, Pringles signed Gonzaga University’s Drew Timme (who has 92,000 followers), the University of Virginia’s Ben Vander Plas (12,000 followers) and Duke University’s Dariq Whitehead (87,000 followers) for its March Madness campaign. According to Mauricio Jenkins, Pringles’ U.S. marketing lead, the brand chose these athletes because of their abilities, of course, but also because their mustaches are part of their identities and personalities, much like the Pringles mascot. The financial agreements between the parties were not disclosed.

“While Pringles stands for mustaches of all shapes, sizes and textures, Drew’s iconic horseshoe ‘stache, Ben’s epic caterpillar ‘stache and Dariq’s fan-favorite pencil ‘stache stood out to the brand as part of their identities and each pairs perfectly with Mr. P’s burly look to create the one-of-its-kind Pringles March Mustache Collection,” said Jenkins. Through this campaign, the brand is aiming to bring together sports fans and snack fans, and doesn’t plan to reduce its ad spend in the current economic climate, Jenkins added.

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L’Oreal uses social listening, in-house teams to tap into beauty trends ‘at the speed of culture’

Kristina Monllos — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000

L’Oreal is doing more social listening this year to follow beauty trends as they emerge and move quickly to figure out how its many brands can tap into these trends. To accomplish this, the beauty behemoth is turning to in-house teams to accelerate content production that taps into trends within days, rather than the weeks or months of traditional marketing and advertising timelines.

“As I look forward and look at where we’re betting on this year and beyond, we’re recognizing the speed of change has changed,” said L’Oreal’s chief digital and marketing officer Han Wen. “It’s accelerating. Our goal within L’Oreal is really focusing on how to move at the speed of culture driven by algorithms, driven by content platforms, driven by changes around consumption behavior.”

Brands under the L’Oreal umbrella are doing more qualitative and quantitative research around trends as they are happening, explained Wen, adding that, as the company identifies the various trends it can tap into, it figures out which brand is best-suited to do so. For example, as recent beauty trends emerged around the Y2K aesthetic, L’Oreal realized that white eyeliner was making a comeback. L’Oreal brand NYX was one of the original white eyeliner brands popular in the early 2000s, so tapping into this particular trend made sense for the brand, explained Wen.

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Google Pixel creates ad campaign to highlight the 50th anniversary of hip-hop

Julian Cannon — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Google Pixel is highlighting the birth of hip-hop with a new, multi-touchpoint ad campaign.

The 50th anniversary of the music genre is approaching — credited with beginning on August 11, 1973 — when it was created at a birthday party in Bronx, NY.

In response, Google is highlighting the features of its Pixel device through social media, live events, original content, artist partnerships, immersive experiences that will be amplified across social and digital. Google declined to say how much it’s spending on this campaign, but the social media giant spent a little over $215 million on advertising last year, according to Kantar data.

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Slack shifts brand marketing efforts from ‘always on’ paid media to tentpole events like SXSW and Dreamforce

Kristina Monllos — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Slack is retooling its brand marketing efforts this year to focus on tentpole events like South by Southwest and Dreamforce. By doing so, the workplace messaging app wants to reach its target audience of software decision makers and small business owners more efficiently, explained Colin McRae, head of brand and creative at Slack.

“This year represents a very different approach to our brand marketing strategy,” said McRae. “Historically, we’ve really tried to drive aided awareness through the top of the funnel. To do that, we’ve had an always-on approach. This year, with the economic headwinds and everything happening in tech, we wanted to be much more considered in how we go to market with our brand marketing efforts.”

By focusing on tentpole moments like SXSW, Frontiers and Dreamforce, Slack wants to “not only drive top of funnel metrics but also drive down funnel performance,” per McRae. “We’re trying to align with our enterprise and self-serve teams to make sure we’ve got a real full funnel, end to end customer journey that’s not only driving awareness but results. For us, these events have proven to be an excellent way for us to speak to both audiences in one breath.”

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Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Slack and others ‘kicking it up a notch’ with experiential efforts for in-person SXSW

Kristina Monllos — Mon, 13 Mar 2023 04:01:00 +0000

Last March, South by Southwest returned in-person (and online) after taking place online in 2021 and being canceled completely in 2020 due to the pandemic. This year, the festival’s expected in-person attendance is closer to pre-pandemic levels, according to marketers and agency executives. They said they’re sending more employees to the event this year, and there’s more interest in experiential efforts on the ground now.

“In real life [experiential marketing] was lighter last year compared to pre-Covid years, certainly,” said Peter Lewis, chief partnerships officer for SXSW. “We’re witnessing strong interest and seeing activities that are on-par with previous years.”

Brands like Amazon Prime, Paramount+, Slack and Porsche will have immersive experiences for festival attendees. It’s unclear exactly how many attendees or brands will be there this year. SXSW did not share specific figures, but noted that the festival “will be significantly larger than last year based on registration numbers, hotel bookings, and client, exhibitor and sponsor activations.”

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How one health and wellness platform is trying to change the cultural narrative around female health

Seb Joseph — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 05:01:00 +0000

The barriers to changing the cultural narrative around female health and menstrual cycles are as high as they are vast, spanning stigma and shame to more diverse marketing and addressing the longstanding data gap between men and women.

Nick Lisher, CMO at period and ovulation tracker Flo Health and Anka Bedineishvili, strategy director at marketing consultancyTwentyFirstCenturyBrand have spent the last 18 months or developing solutions to address the lack of understanding and dispel misinformation around the issue. Digiday caught up with both marketers to find out how.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

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Marketers adapt to serve niche communities as culture fragments, strays from universal water cooler moments

Kristina Monllos — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 05:01:00 +0000

For decades, breakthrough cultural moments, shows, ads and more were defined by whether they got people talking at the watercooler. If something got an office to gather around to discuss it — say the (somewhat controversial) ending of The Sopranos or maybe Oreo’s Dunk in the Dark — the cultural significance was clear.

Today, we not only don’t have a watercooler — as the return to the office hasn’t been a return to pre-pandemic normal — but we have fewer mass cultural moments where everyone is paying attention to one thing. In recent years, the proliferation of content online has made the experience of the internet more individualized, according to agency execs, allowing people to focus on specific niches that they find interesting rather than tune into whatever they’re supposed to like because everyone else says they should.

The bottom line

In recent years, the proliferation of content online has made the experience of the internet more individualized.

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