Adweek October 24, 2022

After many months of companies dealing with higher costs and consumers struggling with inflated prices for everyday goods and services, Procter & Gamble trimmed its marketing spend during its most recent quarter. “Absolute dollar advertising spending is down,” P&G chief financial officer Andre Schulten said. P&G now allocates more than 50% of its media spend to digital, where the manufacturer is using its first-party data to deliver tailored ads with more efficiency. The company has also increased its investment in advertising by $1.2 billion between 2019 and 2022. The Cincinnati-based maker of Gillette razors, Tide laundry detergent and Charmin toilet paper reported organic sales growth of 7% during the three-month period ending Sept. 30 compared to the same time in 2021. This result was largely due to charging shoppers higher prices. Volume was…

New Orleans is largely known for its ceaseless nightlife, cuisine and jazz. But as travelers seek more authentic engagement, Dentsu Creative crafted a virtual reality tour called “New Orleans Plus One.” Using a VR headset and the YouTube app, viewers oscillate between a dinner with the city’s cultural luminaries and slice-of-life glimpses of NoLa. “Tourists want to rediscover the parts of themselves they lost over the last few years,” said Dentsu’s Andrew Hunter. “They’re craving inspiration, which the people of New Orleans ooze in spades.”…

Adweek’s summit designed to cut through the noise and connect the most forward-thinking minds in publishing to solve challenges took place Oct. 18-19. Speakers included Café Media’s Paul Bannister giving the lay of the identifier landscape; Condé Nast’s Pamela Drucker Mann on how the media company grew its digital ad business by 40% in 2021; and Dow Jones’ Josh Stinchcomb on how data is driving more than revenue for publishers. Bottom line? “Focus on creating content the reader will engage with,” said Corey Wong of Leaf Group, “and the monetization will eventually come.” For all the insights and panel videos, visit adweek.com.…

Adam Heimlich was an early adopter of tools that have since become mainstream in digital advertising, founding Horizon Media’s programmatic desk in 2014. As CEO of Chalice Custom Algorithms, he helps brands carefully assess their media spending, a fine-tooth comb strategy that is only just starting to be in vogue in programmatic advertising. He’s also become an advocate for the ad-tech industry, testifying before Congress about Google undermining competition. But at the start of his career, Heimlich thought advertising was stodgy. “It wasn’t full of young people; there was no digital,” Heimlich said, describing the crowd in 1992 at McCann Erickson, where he worked as a temp. “That generation above me seemed more conservative.” Heimlich grew up in a family he described as “anti-capitalist and leftist,” and he’s a proud member of Gen…

WITH HALLOWEEN JUST around the corner, we have an issue for you that’s all treats, no tricks, featuring two of our biggest award packages: Media Plan of the Year and Fastest Growing Agencies. Two packages in one issue is sort of like finding a house that gives out full-sized candy bars on Halloween night! Not too long ago, our Media Plan of the Year winners went to campaigns that were largely TVcentric. But as this year’s honorees prove, if you want to break through in this cluttered environment, you have to literally think outside the television box. The 2022 Media Plan of the Year list is packed with incredible campaigns and activations, including Chipotle’s mixed-reality moment that redefined breaking the ice during an NHL game, an Adidas “liquid billboard” on a…

The eyes of the car-buying public are usually trained on the flashy new offerings at the New York International Auto Show or, more realistically, on whatever models are on the lot at the nearby dealership. So it’s a good bet that few Americans took note of a virtual event that Volvo Group held in Gothenburg, Sweden, last October. Never mind that the unveiling was anything but flashy, but the vehicle making its debut wasn’t even a passenger car. It was an 8.2-ton hauler that’ll be put to work in the mining and quarrying industry. (It goes without saying: This is not your father’s Volvo.) Since the electric vehicle is also autonomous and requires no driver, the canary-yellow hulk was essentially a dump truck with its cab chopped off. Why would anyone who’s not…