Adweek

trumping the president

The fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol Hill is still being tallied by the courts, law enforcement and Congress. But repercussions for President Donald Trump, who has been impeached by the House of Representatives for inciting the deadly insurrection, came swiftly from the same platforms that had been hesitant to censor him even during the darkest moments of his term. Several social networks temporarily suspended accounts affiliated with or held by the outgoing president until Inauguration Day (Jan. 20) to avert further violence, including Google-owned YouTube, Twitch and Facebook, which is also purging posts containing potentially inflammatory phrases such as “stop the steal.” Others went so far as to issue permanent bans beginning with Trump’s preferred social media outlet, Twitter, and followed by Snapchat. Deutsche Bank, which holds over $300…

brand marketing

NOW YOU SEE IT… In a new music video for Spanish-language artist Giovanny Ayala, the Tecate product placement is hard to miss. But the cans weren’t there just hours before the video went live. The brand integration is the work of Mirriad, a production firm that uses AI computer vision to weave products and background ads seamlessly into TV shows, movies and other video content. It’s one of a handful of companies championing this new blueprint for dynamic product placement. The ultimate vision is a system in which product placement is sold more like digital advertising, with the ability to add or switch out brands.…

you have questions. we do, too.

When we were living the pandemic in two-week increments back in March, holding out hope that we’d return to “regular life” soon and that this whole quarantine was a blip, our newsroom started filming a daily TV show called Adweek Together. Dozens of guests came on to share their thoughts, frustrations and triumphs in the early days of what we now know as a global crisis. In one episode, I asked Tiffany R. Warren, executive vp, chief diversity and inclusion officer, Sony Music Group, and founder of ADCOLOR, for advice on maintaining DEI initiatives remotely, and I’ll never forget what she said: “I have to live it first.” We have lived it, reader. More than 300 days of it. And while there are still many unknowns, our editors have dug up…

will it stay or will it go?

Beer kegs collect dust, abandoned and untapped. Gym ellipticals sit silent without their usual sheen of sweat. Pots and pans hang on hooks in dark restaurants. The past year has seen businesses across numerous industries shutter, open with restrictions, then sometimes close again for good as nations navigate the global health crisis. A central question on marketers’ minds throughout it all is this: How many changes in consumer behavior will turn into habit, and how many will subside as soon as Covid-19 does? Knowing what will last helps determine where to allocate advertising dollars. While the answer, like any prediction, might be elusive, a good place to start is the household. Since the virus outbreak, governments have closed everything from offices to schools to restaurants, forcing people to restructure their lives within…

a year of reinvention

Last year, change was thrust upon agencies. While shops grappled with a suddenly remote workforce, clients were pulling or pausing ad spend while asking agencies to reconfigure campaigns and messaging to ensure relevance. Change will come this year, of course. But it will be more purposeful, as agencies, armed with learnings from 2020, double down on providing value to marketers. “This next year is going to be about clients getting real about growth and agencies getting real about what that takes,” said John Harris, CEO of Worldwide Partners, a network of more than 70 independent agencies. According to Harris, a recent study found a third of members are introducing new models for working with clients, while 42% identified creating a new agency model as the primary post-pandemic challenge. While approaches will vary, industry observers…

diversity efforts in 2021

Agencies spent much of last year concocting plans to combat systemic racism internally and hiring diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) leads. Kaplowitz said agencies “bought time” with such actions. Now, it’s time to do the work. “They’ve got to take all of those commitments that were made around DEI and start actioning them,” she said. “We really believe that the composition of agencies is going to start to change.” Kelly Fredrickson, president of MullenLowe, said agency employees will not tolerate “empty promises” related to DEI. “They want to see action, and the future of our business rests on keeping these promises to our employees, our industry and our society.”…