Super Bowl 2019: Brand Campaigns And Commercials Round-Up

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Super Bowl LIII is on Sunday, February 3 in Atlanta and millions of people will watch the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams battle it out to see who wins the supreme title.  Game day is not only about football, but it’s a time for brands to show their very best ads. Slowly, brands are revealing campaigns and advertisements that will premiere during the big game.

We will be updating as brands announce more details and release teasers, full spots

Serena’s Bumble Collaboration Debuts

Bumble is debuting a year-long marketing campaign with Serena Williams starting on Super Bowl Sunday. The campaign is titled “The Ball is in Her Court.” Bumble has not revealed how the ad will appear, but we do know it’s a multi-platform campaign.

Toyota Will Show Its Redesigned RAV4

Toyota’s RAV4 got a makeover and it will get a lot of attention during one of the biggest events of the year. Ed Laukes, head of marketing for the Toyota Division told Automotive News the car has the marketing budget to promote itself on a mainstream platform like the Super Bowl.

AB InBev Hitting The Super Bowl

Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer, an alcoholic carbonated drink by Anheuser-Busch, is one of the five brands the brewery will feature along with Bud, Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Stella. In the Bon & Viv Spiked Seltzer 30-second spot, two mermaids on the packaging—named Bonnie and Vivian—come to life. They pitch the drink to CGI sharks. The spot will air during the Super Bowl’s first ad break.

The world’s largest brewer also came out with its Michelob Ultra commercials. One 30-second spot promotes Michelob Ultra through fitness and robots.

The second Michelob 45-second ad promotes Michelob Ultra’s Pure Gold beer through ASMR. Actress Zoe Kravitz whispers into the microphone, taps the glass and pours the beer for a heightened the sounds of Michelob.

The Stella Artois ad combines Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw and The Dude from The Big Lebowski. The iconic characters are known for getting certain drinks, but the bar goes into chaos when they both order a Stella Artois.

AB InBev has exclusive alcohol advertising rights during the game and will air four 45-second spots, three 30-second spots and one 60-second ad. Anheuser-Busch will also have four billboards and four bumpers during the Super Bowl. AB InBev told Adweek this decision is part of maximizing their time during the game to “capture consumer attention at the right time.

TurboTax Returns To The Super Bowl

Intuit is the official NFL sponsor for financial and accounting software along with tax prep services. This will be the sixth year in a row TurboTax has advertised during the event.

Pizza Hut Features President Lincoln In Ads

The official pizza of the Super Bowl will continue its Abraham Lincoln-themed commercials. Two 15-second spots are set to air before the big game promote the $5 deal. The pizza company is also temporarily changing its name for the Super Bowl to “Pizza Hut Hut” and one Atlanta location posted its new sign. They’ve decided to expand beer delivery to about 300 restaurants in preparation for the game.

PepsiCo Will Run Three Super Bowl Ads 

PepsiCo debuted its 60-second “More Than Ok” ad with Steve Carrell, Cardi B and Lil John. The ad admits most consumers ask for Coke and its usually met with the response from bartenders or servers, “Is Pepsi, ok?” Carrell, sick and tired of hearing it, goes off on a rant.

Leading up to the game, Pepsi released three teasers featuring each one of the celebrities separately, but the setting—the diner—tied them all together. A 30-second version of the spot will air during the game and the 60-second ad will remain online.

Bubly Partners With Bublé

PepsiCo’s bubly will air an ad starring Michael Bublé, because bubly = bublé. Sort of.

In the press release, Bublé says “I might be Canadian, but I’m a big fan of American football… I had a blast doing my very first Super Bowl commercial with bublé – I mean bubly. Because of our similar names, the brand and I share a special bond. I love how the cans are bold, bright, and full of personality. They’re perfect for any Super Bowl viewing partés you might be having.”

Audi Wants To Push Their All-Electric Cars

The German automobile company is spending big money to show Super Bowl fans their full electric line of cars. Last year, Audi came out with the eTron followed by the eTron GT. The company wants to continue promoting the car and they felt the Super Bowl a great platform for it.

Loren Angelo, vice president of marketing of Audi of America, told CarBuzz “We’re returning to the biggest advertising stage to let America know that electric has gone Audi.” Audi will debut a 60-second spot during the second quarter and but haven’t disclosed how much they spent.

M&M’s Test Christina Applegate’s Patience In Super Bowl Ad

M&M’s 2019 Super Bowl ad features actress Christina Applegate driving three unruly M&M’s. Like children, Applegate threatens to “break them apart or eat them alive. The 30-second spot is promoting their new M&M’s chocolate bars. Last year’s spot featuring Danny DeVito was voted #6 in USA Today‘s Ad Meter top 10 list. “We’re excited to bring M&M’S back to such an iconic stage as the Super Bowl,” said Allison Miazga-Bedrick, brand director of M&M’S, in a press release.”  This is the fifth commercial M&M’s has done for the Super Bowl. The ad will air during the game, but there’s been no mention when.

Colgate’s Commercial With Comedian Luke Wilson

For the third year Colgate will run an ad during the big game. They made their Super Bowl debut in 2016 with a 30-second ad about saving water—with no mention of their products. This year, the 30-second spot features Luke Wilson as a ‘close-talker’ to demonstrate how good Colgate Total works. The campaign tagline is ‘Do More For Your Mouth,’ and is set to air during the third quarter’s second commercial break.

Kia To Publicize Education Scholarship During Super Bowl

Kia will promote their “The Great Unknowns Scholarship,” to “help young people get a foothold in higher education.” The South Korean car company aired the teaser during the NFC championship game. The spot questions the idea of using famous stars in a super bowl commercial, saying, “Millions of dollars will be spent on celebrity endorsements for Super Bowl LIII. But what if that money could be spent differently?” It’s a shift from last year’s ‘Feel Something Again’ spot with singer Steven Tyler.

Hyundai Shows You The Pains Of Car Shopping

Super Bowl ad veteran, Hyundai, released their 60-second commercial promoting the “Shopper Assurance” program—a modernized way to purchase a car with less hassle. The spot—featuring actor Jason Bateman as the elevator operator—takes the passengers to floors with life’s worst experiences, like getting a root canal, sitting in the middle seat during a flight and buying a car at a dealership. The ad called “The Elevator,” will air during the first quarter of the game.

Hyundai has been extremely successful during the Super Bowl, research shows they’ve aired top-10 ads in each of the past seven games.

Kraft’s DEVOUR Will Debut A Less Racy Super Bowl Ad

The frozen food brand debuted their 60-second ad of its Super Bowl commercial and it definitely lifted some eyebrows. The spot plays with the notion of a “food porn” addict. A tamer 30-second spot will appear during the third quarter.

Mercedes-Benz Is The Name Of The Game

Mercedes-Benz released its commercial featuring Atlanta’s own Ludacris. The Super Bowl ad with cameos from Wile E. Coyote and Free Willy promotes the new Mercedes A-Class, aimed at a younger demo.  The ad follows a man who gets everything he wishes for—much like the in-vehicle voice assistant feature, known as MBUX, will answer your wishes. The luxury car company also own the rights to Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, where the game will be played this year.

Avocados From Mexico Features Kristin Chenoweth And Puppies

Avocados From Mexico announced Emmy and Tony award-winning actress Kristin Chenoweth will star in their 30-second commercial during the second quarter for its ‘Always worth it’ campaign.

Persil’s ‘The Professional’ Returns To The Super Bowl

Adweek reports Persil ProClean is making its Super Bowl comeback for the fourth year in a row. Last year’s “Game-Time Stain-Time” spot features the recurring pitchman who loudly points out a viewer’s guacamole stain. It was directed by the comedic duo Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The detergent brand didn’t reveal any details about the new spot, when it will air during the game or how long it will be.

Skittles Is Producing The First-Ever Broadway Show

The Mars-owned candy brand announced it will air a live Broadway musical with actor Michael C. Hall. The teaser shows Hall talking to a psychologist about his anxiety about taking the role and explains how the ad is not a regular spot.

The show is titled Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical and written by playwright Will Eno. The spot will feature a 17-member cast ensemble and a Michael C. Hall in front of The Town Hall in New York City at 1 p.m. EST.

Turkish Airlines Continues Its Super Bowl Presence

Turkish Airlines returns with its third Super Bowl ad and Sir Ridley Scott is directing their 30-second commercial.  Scott, known for Gladiator and Blade Runner directed the short film, The Journey, for Turkish Airlines.

Olay Debuts First In-Game Super Bowl Ad

The Skincare brand will run its inaugural thriller-theme ad ‘Killer Skin,’ starring horror star Sarah Michelle Gellar from I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream 2. The 30-second spot is set to air during the first quarter of the Super Bowl.

Planters Makes A Comeback With Mr. Peanut

Kraft Heinz-owned Planters will air a 30-second spot with A-Rod, Charlie Sheen and the nutmobile. Mr. Peanut speeds through town to save A-Rod from eating kale chips. The mascot arrives right on time to give the famous baseball player a can of mixed nuts to enjoy as he watches the game. The 30-second commercial will run during the second quarter.

Doritos Teaser Features Chance The Rapper And Backstreet Boys

Doritos’ 60-second spot #NowItsHot was finally released unveiling the “I Want It That Way” remix with Chance and the Backstreet Boys, promoting the brand’s Flamin’ Hot Nacho. The commercial even mimics the original 1999 Backstreet Boys video with the white outfits and airplane hanger. Doritos will air a 30-second version during the game on February 3.

Hotels.com Is Offering a Free Room For Baby Makers

The hotel company took the “Super Bowl babies” concept—that the birth rate in winning cities goes up nine months after the game—for a few of its former Super Bowl spots. However, this year they’re offering free hotel rooms to 53 fans of the winning team to continue the tradition. Fans can visit BigGameBabies.com and enter for the chance to win a $250 gift certificate. They’ve also partnered with Spotify to create a playlist called Big Game Babymaking.

WeatherTech Brings Back ‘Made In America” Message

WeatherTech, a car mat and accessory manufacturer, will run a 45-second ad during the game. Instead of last year’s patriotic theme, the company is centering on our furry companions. The company said in a statement that WeatherTech founder David MacNeil “ventured into the pet products space after losing his last three dogs to cancer.” This is the sixth time the brand has run an ad during the Super Bowl.

Expensify Debuts Its First-Ever Super Bowl TV Ad

The expense management platform announced the airing of its first TV commercial during the big game. The 30-second spot features actor Adam Scott and 2 Chainz. The Super Bowl ad is part of the company’s multi-channel marketing campaign ‘You Weren’t Born To Do Expenses.’

SimpliSafe Is First Home Security Provider To Debut At Game

SimpliSafe’s posted a teaser of its first Super Bowl ad “Fear is Everywhere.” The 30-second video features a man trying to peacefully mow his lawn, but three neighbors on the other side of the fence keep reading unsettling updates about their neighborhood (looks like a dig at their competitor). The 30-second spot won’t be revealed until the game, which will air during the first quarter.

Verizon First-Responder Ad

Verizon plans to run a 60-second spot during Super Bowl LIII. It features 12 NFL stars who were rescued by first responders.

Pringles Humanizes Voice Controlled Speaker In Clever Ad

Pringles officially released its 30-second Super Bowl Ad called “Smart Sad Device.” Two friends are “flavor stacking”—the act of piling up chips of various Pringle flavors. An Alexa-type device wants to partake flavor stacking but begins to sadly list off why she can’t do it. She goes down a depressing rabbit hole, but before it gets too sad, one of the men stop her and ask her to play a song. The ad is scheduled to air during the game’s second quarter.

Yellow Tail Wine Features Fans In Its Commercial

Yellow Tail wine announced they’re coming back for its third consecutive year to the Super Bowl. The new ‘Tastes Like Happy’ campaign will feature two fan-produced video segments. Last year, the wine brand hosted a contest and received over 1,500 submissions. The Grand Prize winner Adrien Colon can be seen dancing salsa on a beach in Ibiza, Spain and runner up Katherine Nunez swings from a rope off a boat in Aruba during her honeymoon. The commercial will air between the second quarter and halftime.

Volvo Doesn’t Want You To Watch Super Bowl Ads

Volvo wants you to pass on the commercials this year and participate in a contest that could win you a new Volvo S60 sedan. On February 3, starting at 6 p.m. ET consumers will be able to take a digital test drive by visiting S60LongestDrive.com from an eligible mobile device. The three people who keep their eyes on the car the longest will win a Care by Volvo subscription to the S60.

According to Marketing Daily, the contest will be promoted through a digital and social campaign and through Volvo’s own channels such as email and its website.

Tostitos Plans To Set Unofficial World Record of Longest Livestream 

Tostitos will livestream a tortilla chip bowl for 53 straight hours in celebration of 53rd Super Bowl.  #TostitosLiveBowl is the first-of-its-kind event and it will be hosted at the Tostitos Cantina in Atlanta. Various NFL legends are expected to participate in the event such as Barry Sanders. The livestream will air on Tostitos.com starting on Friday, February 1 at 1:29 p.m. ET and conclude on Sunday, February 3 at 6:29 p.m. ET.  The official press release states “the bowl will be regularly refilled, and various Tostitos flavors can be requested by fans commenting on the livestream.”

Frank’s Red Hot Will Host A Twitter Sweepstakes During The Game

The hot sauce brand will present a sweepstakes as part of its ‘I Put That $#!t on Everything’ campaign. To participate, fans need to watch other brand’s commercials in certain categories like an adult beverage, candy, auto snack and several more. When an ad comes on viewers should tweet the chili pepper emoji, the ad’s category and the hashtag #FranksSweepstakes during the commercial break in which the ad airs.  There are several prizes, participants can win a brand new car with a trunk filled with Frank’s or a trip to Mexico for two. The contest runs on Sunday, February 3 from 3:30 p.m. to 11:59 p.m. ET. Like Volvo, Red Hot is taking a different approach to its Super Bowl advertising this year by making it interactive.

SNL Airs Spoofs Super Bowl Ads With Charmin Brutal Focus Group

Saturday Night Live got in on the Super Bowl ad action. The show aired a skit featuring a focus group discussing a fake Charmin commercial. The participants bring up every scenario the Charmin bears could get boxed into. One woman (Kate McKinnon) claims the bears are white and privileged. Another participant (James McAvoy) wearing an Eagle shirt under his hoodie recommends the ad should show a bear waking up “after a night of raging and the bathroom is completely destroyed, like Chernobyl” however, the bear’s bum is clean, so Charmin did its job.

Coca-Cola Will Not Run A Super Bowl Ad

Coca-Cola decided to opt out on running a commercial during the game this year. It’s the first time since 2006. Rather, the beverage company will run a 60-second animated pregame spot “Coke is a Coke,” before the National Anthem. AdAge reports the voices in the ad “recite an original poem that is inspired by quotes from Andy Warhol’s 1975 book, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol. The spot promotes Coke as a beverage anyone can enjoy.

Skechers Ad Features Former Quarterback Tony Romo

Tony Romo stars in Skecher’s 30-second Super Bowl ad to promote their slip-on footwear. The former Dallas football quarterback shows how he likes to make his life “easy.” He has a mini flying saucer give him his drink and has a tennis ball launcher to throw balls at his dog, so he doesn’t have to. The commercial is scheduled to air during the third quarter, but it could be moved to the second. Romo has been working with the show brand since 2017.

Head & Shoulders Showcases Unique American Entrepreneurs

The 30-second teaser takes a peek at the three business people who will be featured in each one of Head & Shoulder’s Super Bowl #HeadstrongAds. The commercials will highlight three people who went on to pursue less than conventional businesses. The P&G brand posted the video on their YouTube channel. No word on when the ads will air during the game.

Ram, Dodge And Jeep Spots Released At The Same Time

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles posted three ‘Big Game Blitz’ teasers for their various car brands. The 60-second Dodge spot shows two cowboys talking about favorite Super Bowl commercials, but they can’t remember the brand behind them. As if that wasn’t a jab to other brands, the other cowboy continues “They go crazy and spend all this money on a commercial for a game—can’t even remember who it’s for. They need you to just show you what they’re selling.” He then steps into 2019 Ram Heavy Duty truck.

Dodge’s new 45-second mini-spot highlights their cars and trucks driving around Atlanta, where the Super Bowl will be held. To add more of the state’s flavor, it features a remake of the Charlie Daniels Band song “Devil Went Down To Georgia.”

Jeep’s teaser features a Gladiator Jeep Truck beating a car crusher at a junkyard. According to AdWeek, Fiat Chrysler’s CMO didn’t specify whether these videos are actual teasers or if they’re the spots that will be aired during the Super Bowl. The company also didn’t say when the spots are set to air on February 3.

Dietz Nutz Makes Fun Of Name With Play On Words

Dietz & Watson, a meat and cheese manufacturer, created a spot with a lot of “dietz nuts” puns. The 30-second video features comedian Craig Robinson eating a bag of Dietz Nutz next to his brother Chris. Dietz Nuts aren’t really nuts and Robinson explains they are “meat nuts.”  They’re dried and cured sausage bites. After Chris goes into the bag to try one, Robinson can’t help himself and starts joking with him.  He asks him, “Hey Chris, how Dietz Nuts taste? Are they delicious?” The spot won’t be aired during the Super Bowl, but the company wanted to bring awareness to their meat snacks.

NFL Debuts Vague ‘NFL 100: Cake’ Teaser With Marshawn Lynch

In the 10-second video, the football star stares at a cake at a fancy party—looks like a wedding. Adweek reports the commercial shows what could happen if a football game broke out during a banquet celebrating 100 seasons of the NFL. The spot will also feature NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning and League commissioner Roger Goodell. You can watch the teaser on the Raider’s YouTube channel.

Sprint Ad Features Bo Jackson, A Mermaid And A Keytar

Sprint released its 30-second commercial starring football and baseball star, Bo Jackson. He’s not the only one who takes the spotlight, but an overly confident robot steals the show with his hilarious imagination. Sprint also posted a series of teasers with the sassy little robot. The company’s spokesman Paul Marcarelli also makes an appearance along with robots in last year’s Super Bowl ad. “Who better to tell the Sprint story of offering both a great value and a great network than a two-sport all-star athlete who really does ‘know,’” said Sprint CMO Roger Solé to AdWeek. “Bo Jackson personifies the ‘best of both worlds,’ and he recognizes that customers don’t have to compromise with Sprint.”

Microsoft Shows Anyone Can Play The Xbox Despite Differences

Microsoft’s Super Bowl ad follows the lives of young Xbox players who are differently-abled. They explain how the typical controller wouldn’t always work for them, but the new Xbox Adaptive Controller lets them play and feel like the other kids. The emotional spot highlights how these technological advances do more than just improve the way someone plays a video game, but enhances their lives. There is an extended version of the commercial online and the 60-second ad will air during the fourth quarter’s first commercial break.

Benefit’s ‘Boss Brows’ Campaign Highlights Activists Making A Difference

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Benefit is leveraging their top-selling brow products as the focus of their new campaign ‘Boss Brows,’ which features four unique women with one thing in common: activism.

Mama Caxx is a model, disability activist and an advocate for body positivity. Hayley Kiyoko, a singer and LGTBQ and human rights champion. Jen Gotch is the founder and CCO of gift and accessory brand ban.do and mental health advocate. Ericka Hart identifies a non-binary femme and is a breast cancer survivor, a sexuality educator and podcaster.

The campaign’s video begins with the words “There’s more to a brow,” each one fills in the sentence as the video goes on—a compilation of their thoughts into one. Hayley Kiyoko ends with “We show the world who is boss.”

Beyond the compilation video, each influencer stars in their own video sharing their story. The campaign reassures viewers to “raise their voice.”

The San Francisco-based brand’s brow line is extremely popular—they even have brow bars in malls and storefronts, offering various services such as brow waxing, threading and tinting placed next to their products.

“At a time where the beauty space is very noisy, there’s a lot of brands out there and a lot of conversations, it’s really important that we show who we are as a brand, and that people will align with that. … You’re going to see a lot of bold moves coming from Benefit,” said Erin Kramer, director of brand marketing for Benefit to Adweek.

The campaign has a new limited-edition set, which is also a collaboration with ban.do. The post featuring the set already has over 8 thousand likes on Instagram and the video over 15,000 views.

For many years, Benefit has been working with charities like Look Good Feel Better and The Princess Project. In 2017, their Bold Is Beautiful initiative—where 100 percent of the proceeds from their brow wax services at Benefit Brow Bars are donated to local charities for women and girls—raised $4.7 million.

Report: Most Marketers Believe They’re Creating Gender-Balanced Content

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Most marketers want to get gender roles right in advertising, but it can be a challenge to achieve the correct portrayal while avoiding stereotypes. According to Kantar’s AdReaction: Getting Gender Right report the majority of male and female marketers surveyed think they’re getting gender roles correctly. The report analyzed consumer responses to thousands of brands and campaigns and conducted a global survey of marketers.

The data shows marketers and consumers are on opposite ends when it comes to what they think is an accurate gender depiction. Around 76 percent of female marketers and 88 percent of male marketers believe they’re getting it right when it comes to gender portrayals in advertising. When it comes to creating gender-balanced content the percentage didn’t change for women but increased for men to 90 percent.

But consumers don’t feel the same way. Around 76 percent of female consumers and 71 percent of male consumers feel the way gender is portrayed is “completely out of touch.”

Research respondents samples show women are over-targeted in laundry and household product ads and under-targeted when it comes to stereotypically male products like automotive. However, the data did discover the majority of ads are targeted to both genders (67 percent of TV ads). Only seven percent are targeted solely to men and 26 percent to only females. In digital platforms, about 72 percent is targeted to both.

Still, 98 percent of baby, laundry and household products are targeted at women. Motor oil was the last one on the list, with only 29 percent targeting females. Data from Kantar’s Gender Equality Measure revealed around 45 percent of those surveyed think women are portrayed in an inappropriate way—rather than in a way that makes them think highly of the female ad character. The sweet girl stereotype continues, women are more likely to be seen as likeable and caring. Contrarily, when an ad shows an authoritative portrayal of females, most audiences find them to be believable, expressive and persuasive. These ads tend to do well and motivate audiences more strongly.

Bloomberg also recently released its 2019 Gender-Equality Index (GEI) in an effort to hold companies more accountable when it comes to helping with gender inequality in the work place. The news organization selected 230 companies committed to “transparency in gender reporting and advancing women in the workplace.” Since 2018, the index has more than doubled in size. This year, the data shows women had a 40 percent increase in executive level positions and 34 percent have programs to recruit women looking to return to work.

Marketers and media whom want be more informed about gender-inclusive language can check out GLAAD’s media reference guide—the glossary offers a comprehensive explanation of words and preferred usage.

Safilo Appoints First N.A. CMO; Pacers Hire Ex-Viacom Exec

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This week’s executive shifts include Safilo hiring their first CMO for North America, Pacers appointing a former Viacom exec, Primanti Bros. hiring their first chief marketing officer, EverlyWell appointing former Pinterest exec as chief marketing officer, Wetzel’s Pretzels’ CMO being promoted to CEO, Former Campbell Soup exec joining Oxigen as CMO, Dakshidin Corporation appointing cannabis marketer as CMO and Southwest Airlines promoting its CMO.

Check out our careers section for executive job openings and to post your own staffing needs.

Safilo Appoints First North America CMO

Safilo, an Italian eyewear company, appointed Victoria Hallberg as their first chief marketing officer for North America. She will oversee brand management, trade marketing and public relations.

Prior to that, Hallberg worked as VP of brand sales and strategic accounts for Marchon Eyewear. She was also the chief merchant and vice president of retail relations ar VSP Global.

Indiana Pacers Hires Former Viacom Exec

Pacers Sports & Entertainment hired Tatiana Holifield as vice president/head of digital strategy.

Previously, Holifield served as the senior director of social media and digital marketing strategy for Viacom and before that she was the director of brand marketing at NBCUniversal.

Primanti Bros Hires Their First CMO

Pittsburgh-based Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar appointed Adam Golomb as their first chief marketing officer. Before joining Primanti Bros., Golomb served as served as a senior director at Giant Eagle, a supermarket chain.

EverlyWell Appoints Former Pinterest Exec As CMO

EverlyWell, an at-home lab testing kit company, hired Jenifer Dasho as their new CMO. Before her new position, Dasho worked as head of consumer and creator marketing at Pinterest.

In 2014, she joined Trulia to serve as head of brand marketing. According to the EverlyWell press release, Dasho will be “responsible for brand positioning, paid media, product innovation, content, communications, research and creative.”

Wetzel’s Pretzels Promotes Former CMO 

Wetzel’s Pretzels promoted the company’s former CMO, Jennifer Schuler, to CEO. She’s been with the company since 2014. AS CEO, Schuler will assume global responsibility for the brand and its growth.

Oxigen Hires Former C-Fresh VP As CMO

Oxigen—an oxygen-enhanced water maker—appointed Bill Lange as their CMO. Previously, Lange served as VP of marketing at C-Fresh, a division of The Campbell Soup Company. In 2015, he joined Pressed Juicery as VP of sales and marketing. He’s also worked for companies such as ZICO Beverages, Nestle and KeVita.

Dakshidin Corporation Hires Whitechapel’s CMO

Dakshidin Corporation, a CBD and cannabis product company, announced the appointment of Robert Mack Peak as their new CMO. Previously, he served as CMO at Whitechapel Holdings, which was acquired by Dakshidin last year.

Peak has several years of experience in the cannabis industry. He launched Red Llama Trading, a producer of medicinal cannabis products and he developed branding and strategy at Marijuana Company of America.

Southwest Airlines Promotes CMO

Southwest Airlines promoted Ryan Green to senior vice president and chief marketing officer, from a vice president role. He will continue to oversee Southwest’s brand, advertising, loyalty program and digital strategies for their website.

Green joined the air carrier in 2006 as director customer loyalty.

Bandai Namco Appoints CMO For Bluefin

Bandai appointed Adam Newman as chief marketing officer of Bluefin. Bandai Namco acquired Bluefin, a California-based collectibles and hobby distributor, in September.His new duties will include overseeing North American sales and marketing efforts for all Bluefin brands. Formerly, Newman was the senior director of brand management for the Tamashii Nations Brand at Bandai America.

McDonald’s Italia Promotes Head Of Retail And Core Marketing

McDonald’s Italia has appointed Giorgia Favaro as chief marketing officer. Previously, she held the title of head of retail and core marketing for the division. As CMO, she will be responsible for food innovation, core menu offer and digital media planning.

Favaro started her career as a brand manager for Procter & Gamble.

Magic Johnson Enterprises Promotes CMO To President

Magic Johnson Enterprises appointed chief marketing officer Christina M. Francis to president. Francis joined the company in 2014 a senior vice president of marketing and communications. Before that, she served as CMO for the Orange Bowl Committee.

Sony Music Nashville Executive VP Departs

Billboard reports Sony Music Nashville’s EVP marketing John Zarling is departing the company by mutual agreement. He previously worked at Big Machine Label Group, where he was senior VP of partnership marketing and promotion strategy. During his time at Sony, Zarling helped to develop musicians such as Kane Brown, Luke Combs, Old Dominion and Maren Morris.

Comcast Appoints VP In California

Comcast has appointed Kristeen Cominiello as the new vice president of sales and marketing for California. She will be responsible for the customer growth of California’s residential services. Previously, Cominiello served as sales and marketing vice president for Comcast’s Oregon/Southwest Washington region. She started her career with the company in 2001 as a billing and repair representative at a Denver call center.

Cannabis Brand Cura Hires Former Apple Exec As CMO

Cura, a cannabis brand, appointed Jason White as their new chief marketing officer. White was previously the EVP and global head of marketing for Apple’s Beats by Dre. Before that, White worked at Wieden + Kennedy, where he served as Nike global account director and then managing director for the Shanghai office.

“I came to Cura with a desire to make a real impact,” said White in a press release. “After the Beijing Olympics with Nike and the world-changing ride at Beats across music, sports and fashion; I was thrilled to find another chance to shape the future in the emerging cannabis industry with the incredible team at Cura.”

Rakuten Kobo Promotes VP Of Marketing To CMO

Rakuten Kobo, Canadian ecommerce platform, appointed Marianne Hamilton as the company’s new CMO. Hamilton joined Rakuten Kobo in 2012 and previously worked as VP of marketing. Prior to that, she was the director of marketing at Motorola Mobility Canada.

Republic Records Promotes For Digital Marketer

Republic Records appointed Tim Hrycyshyn to be the music label’s vice president of digital marketing. He was previously director of digital marketing and oversaw campaigns for several musicians like Lil Wayne, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj.

Before he joined Republic, he worked in digital marketing Warner Music Group.

GameWorks Announces CMO

GameWorks announced Michael Sadowski as the company’s first chief marketing officer.

Before joining GameWorks, Sadowski was vice president of operations and general manager for Kelley Blue Book.

The Junkluggers Hires Former Edible Arrangements CMO

The Junkluggers—a sustainable junk removal service—appointed Kristy Ferguson as their new chief marketing officer. Previously, Ferguson served as CMO, chief strategy officer and chief innovation officer for Edible Arrangements. During Ferguson’s time at Edible Arrangements, she expanded the company from just being a North America franchise to across 13 countries.

American Lung Association Names New CMO

The American Lung Association has named Julia Fitzgerald as CMO for the organization. In this role, Fitzgerald will be overseeing ALA’s marketing and digital engagement in addition to public relations efforts and internal communications. Fitzgerald will be reporting to national president and CEO Harold Wimmer.

“We are very pleased to have Julia Fitzgerald join us to advance our critical work and lifesaving mission. Julia brings a level of experience and leadership that will unify and enhance our messaging and help us best serve as the nation’s premier resource for lung health,” said Wimmer to Biz Journals.

Most recently, Fitzgerald was VP of marketing at beverage container brand Thermos and has previously held a number of CMO positions at CPG International, Sylvan Learning, Sears and VTech Electronics.

“The American Lung Association’s brand has thrived for more than a century because of the organization’s ability to evolve to meet the lung health needs of Americans. I look forward to applying my experiences and successes in leading private sector brand and digital marketing to further the organization’s mission reach,” said Fitzgerald.

Max Life Insurance Promotes Aalok Bhan To Director And Chief Marketing Officer

Leading Indian life insurance company, Max Life, has promoted Aalok Bhan to the role of director and CMO. Founded in 2000, Bhan joined the company in 2012 in a role in the Executive Management Committee and thereafter held roles within the company as head of products, customer marketing and corporate communications.

In 2016, Bhan was promoted to the role of chief distribution officer at Max Life—a role in which he thrived in expanding Max Life’s presence throughout India.

“The industry is realizing the need to establish a deeper connect with new-age consumers, rendering more opportunities to be creative in our branding and communication strategies. I am positively thrilled to accept the new role and look forward to advancing the development and execution of our company strategies with greater dynamism going forward. As I continue my association with Max Life Insurance, I only wish to express gratitude for the immense faith that has been exuded in my capabilities by the management,” said Bhan in a press release.

Bhan will be based out of Max Life’s corporate office in Gurugram, India.

Editor’s Note: Our weekly careers post is updated daily. This installment is updated until Friday, February 1. Have a new hire tip? We’re looking for senior executive role changes in marketing and media. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.

Job Vacancies 

Chief Marketing Officer eBay London, UK
Global Head (CMO) of Print Marketing HP Palo Alto, CA
Vice President, Marketing Strategy  Saks Fifth Avenue New York, NY
Vice President, Consumer Marketing, Origins North America Estée Lauder Virtual, USA
Head of Marketing Uber London, UK
VP Marketing Analytics DISNEY New York, NY

Make sure to check back for updates on our Careers page.

Facebook’s IG Brand Report; Twitter Cuts Off API For Some Apps

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This week in social media news, Facebook publishes new report on what Instagram users expect from brands, Twitter continues to eliminate accounts that aim to intervene with U.S. midterm elections, cuts off API access to follow/unfollow spam dealers and extends in-stream video ads and sponsorships for K-Pop; Snopes terminates its partnership with Facebook and Tumblr extends Black History month until the end of the year.

Twitter Provides A Review Of U.S. Midterm Elections 

Twitter continues to spot and disarm service manipulation campaigns focused on political conversations and the company’s 2018 midterm elections report reveals some major improvements Twitter made to achieve this goal.

Why it matters: Social media became a powerful tool for foreign agents to intervene with fair elections in the U.S.

The details: The highlights of the report include election integrity data disclosure, advertising and promoted content data, recent updates on Twitter rules and policies, safety measures and more.

Facebook Report Shows IG Users  Eager To Hear From Brands

Facebook published a new report today, that focused on what users are looking for when it comes to product advertising on Instagram.

Why it matters: Unlike other social media, Instagram is not the easiest platform to win the customers over on—people don’t follow as readily. Brands have to go an extra mile in their efforts to effectively advertise their product on Instagram.

The details: According to the survey, 57 percent of participants use Instagram more than they did a year ago, and 44 percent will use it even more in the coming year; 41 percent reported that they don’t watch television on daily basis but 64 percent said they are open to seeing brands that generally advertise on TV communicate on Instagram. The report also provides tips for marketers to get the most out of Instagram. Here are some highlights:

  • Challenge your assumptions
  • Create content that’s mobile friendly
  • Experiment to reach additional audience

Twitter Cuts Off API Access To Follow/Unfollow Spam Dealers

Earlier today, Twitter cut off access to three popular social media tools—ManageFlitter, Statusbrew, Crowdfire—as a part of its fight against notification spammers.

Why it matters: Being banned from Twitter might be fatal for the businesses. The apps will stop functioning as they’ll no longer be able to take any actions on the platform.

The Details: A spokesperson provided the following comment to TechCrunch: “We have suspended these three apps for having repeatedly violated our API rules related to aggressive following & follow churn. As a part of our commitment to building a healthy service, we remain focused on rapidly curbing spam and abuse originating from use of Twitter’s APIs.”

Twitter Extends In-Stream Video Ads And Sponsorships To Showcase K-Pop Content Worldwide

Twitter extended its In-Stream Video Ads to K-Pop content to support K-Pop as one of the top global conversation drivers on the platform.

Why it matters: With this new move, brands worldwide will be able to run pre-roll video ads targeted at K-Pop admirers on the platform.

The details: In-Stream Video Ads and In-Stream Video Sponsorships will serve as complementary tools to conservative advertising tactics. It is important that there will be no regional restrictions, and global brands will be able to reach K-pop fans on Twitter 22 markets including.

Snopes Withdraws From Its Partnership With Facebook

The fact-checking site, Snopes, released an official message to its community today, which confirmed the termination of Snopes’ partnership with Facebook.

Why it matters: This change promises significant financial loses for Snopes, and the company will have to undergo major changes to adapt to make up for the loses.

The details: Snopes helped Facebook to decrease the amount of false news in the News Feed. And the reason for withdrawal lies mainly in bandwidth, Vinny Green, the company’s vice president of operations told Poynter.org in a phone interview. Since every fake post needs to be added to a dashboard on a platform manually, it becomes extremely time-consuming for Snope’s team, which consists of only 16 employees and doesn’t have actual headquarters.

“With a manual system and a closed system — it’s impossible to keep on top of that stuff,” Green said.

Tumblr Extends Black History Month 

Blackout announced its partnership with Tumblr in a post on its official page, in an effort “to bring the best of Black excellence straight to your dashboard.” And it’s spreading the news with #BlackExcellence365hashtag.

Why it matters: The project will showcase the achievements of Black people in history, science, music, art, media, social impact, fashion, gaming, poetry, and so many other areas.

The details: Here is a brief calendar of what you can expect:

February

March

  • #BlackExcellence365video series, a round-table discussion of important issues in the Black community. March’s theme is Black Girl Magic: The Importance of Black Women’s Work in the Media.

June

  • #BlackExcellence365video series X #TheBlackout: Content & Conversations Surrounding the Black LGBTQ+ community

August

  • #BlackExcellence365video series X #TheBlackout: Music in the Black Community

December

  • #BlackExcellence365video series X #TheBlackout: Mental Health in Communities of Color

Facebook Reports Strong Q4 2018 Results

According to the recent press release, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg stated, “Our community and business continue to grow. We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”

Why it matters: Despite the scandals and scrutiny in which Facebook has been finding itself a lot lately, the company’s quarterly report showed strong numbers. The shareholders didn’t suffer because as per the report, earnings per share increased despite increasing costs and expenses.

Details: Some of the fourth-quarter highlights include: daily active users increase by 9 percent YoY to 1.52 billion, the average price per ad decreases by 2 percent and daily active users increase in all four of the company’s geographic segments, including Europe.

TikTok Leak Reveals Monthly Active Users

Digiday reportedly received a leaked pitch deck that TikTok sent to a large advertising agency in Europe.

Why it matters: The Chinese social media channel is rapidly growing and becoming more influential in the U.S. and worldwide.

Details: According to Digiday, the deck numbers are dated as of November 2018 and the deck describes the four ad products TikTok is offering, as well as their measurements. Digiday learned from an unidentified media buyer that “TikTok is charging $10 CPMs for fixed buys.”

Facebook Plans To Develop New Products as Instagram Stories Explodes 

TechCrunch reported today that as Instagram Stories skyrocket to 1 billion users (500 million using the feature daily), Facebook considering launching new products in the nearest future.

Why it matters: As of today, 2 million advertisers are buying Stories ads across all Facebook’s properties.

Details: During the phone call with TechCrunch, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, highlighted the following products in planning.

  • Encryption and ephemerality will be added to more features for security and privacy
  • Messaging features will make Messenger and WhatsApp “the center of [your] social experiences”
  • WhatsApp payments will expand to more countries
  • Stories will gain new private sharing options
  • Groups will become an organizing function of Facebook on par with friends & family
  • Facebook Watch will become mainstream this year as video is moved there from the News Feed, Zuckerberg expects
  • Augmented and virtual reality will be improved, and Oculus Quest will ship this spring
  • Instagram commerce and shopping will get new features.

Nate Cardozo Joins Facebook To Oversee WhatsApp Privacy

CNBC reported that Facebook hired Nate Cardozo—the former senior staff attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation and one of the harshest Facebook privacy critics—to work on WhatsApp product as a privacy policy manager.

Why it matters: Hiring Cardozo to work on the WhatsApp privacy ranks demonstrates the company’s preparations for future legal and lobbying efforts, as at the moment it finds itself in hot water with the EU over merging other social media properties with WhatsApp.

Details: Cardozo will be joined by another privacy policy manager, Robyn Green, former Open Technology Institute employee. Both will focus on law enforcement access and data protection.

Twitter Will Conduct Research On Machine Learning Together With UC Berkeley

According to a recent Twitter blog post, the platform will partner with UC Berkeley researchers to improve ML and “increase the collective health, openness, and civility of public conversation” on Twitter.

Why it matters: According to the company, Machine Learning models are crucial to enhancing the user experience with the platform. “Making Twitter more healthy requires making the way we practice ML more fair, accountable and transparent,” the blog post stated.

Details: The new research initiative will focus on studying and improving the performance of ML in social systems and will be lead by Professor Moritz Hardt and Professor Ben Recht.

Pinterest Hires Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase To Lead Their IPO  

Reuters reported today that the image search platform, Pinterest, hired Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to lead its initial public offering (IPO).

Why it matters: With this move, Pinterest has the potential to raise around $1.5 billion in the IPO, which is likely to come in the first six months of 2019.

Details: The San Francisco-based company has seen rapid growth since its founding in 2008, and is valued at $12 billion. It hosts 250 million monthly active users and is now among other popular brands preparing for multi-billion IPOs this year, including Uber, Lyft, Airbnb and Slack.

Facebook Is Banned From Apple. Yet Again

Apple told TechCrunch that yesterday evening it revoked the Enterprise Certificate that allows Facebook to distribute the Research app without going through the App Store.

Why it matters: TechCrunch reported that The Research app asked users for root network access to all data passing through their phone in exchange for $20 per month, which violated Apple’s policy.

Details: TechCrunch’s investigation discovered that Facebook’s Research program was quietly run on iOS and Android since 2016 as Project Atlas. The program unethically recruited users in the 13 to 35-year-old range (5 percent of which were teenagers), with the help of ads on Instagram and Snapchat. The users received a monthly fee and referral bonuses to install Facebook’s Research app. The VPN app then routed traffic to Facebook and allowed root network access to the user phone to the company, which, in turn, let Facebook pull in a user’s full web browsing activity. According to TechCrunch, “Facebook went so far as to ask users to screenshot and submit their Amazon order history.”

Facebook Publishes A Report On Evolving Sports Engagement On Social Platforms

The Changing Profile of Sports Fans Around The World—a new report published today by Facebook, looks at evolving people’s engagement with sports content on mobile devices and social media.

Why it matters: With Super Bowl 2019 at the door, the report was put together to “help marketers gain a better understanding of who sports fans are and how they watch sports online” today.

Details: The “Sports Around the World” study conducted by the GlobalWebIndex was utilized. The study surveyed over 90,000 internet users and offered some interesting insights, such as nearly 60 percent of sports fans on Facebook said they watch sports online and nearly 80 percent of women surveyed say they watch live sports online or in person, compared to 90 percent of men.

Snapchat Considering Permanent Snaps

According to Reuters, Snapchat is considering making changes to its app that would allow the users’ content to stay on their profiles longer than 24 hours, or permanently.

Why it matters: This is the company’s strategic move to reanimate profits since Snapchat had seen a dramatic decline in user base and in revenue in 2018.

Details: The change would only apply to photos and videos in “Our Story” section, which the users can share not only with their friends but with the larger audience outside their network on the app. The Snapchat fans, however, will keep the option to delete their stories.

Twitter Kicks Off #SuperBowl Week 

As one of the internet’s great drivers-of-discussion, Twitter announced itself as the “home for all things Super Bowl” in the blog post earlier today.

Why it matters: Twitter is serious about keeping the fans posted about Super Bowl with fresh updates, a special emoji, radio broadcasting and livestreaming, which will bring a lot of traffic to the site.

Details: Twitter partnered with the @NFL on special Super Bowl emoji and offered the following hashtags for the fans to share and follow: #SuperBowl, #SBLIII, #GoPats, #EverythingWeGot, #LARams and #RamsHouse. Twitter will also livestream a variety of memorable moments for users every day until Super Bowl Sunday.

TicToc Steps Out Of Their Twitter “Comfort Zone” With The New Video Platform 

Bloomberg’s breaking news source on Twitter, TicToc, launched its own video platform today, AXIOS reported.

Why it matters: Although still native to Twitter, with this move TicToc attempts to develop and grow its own unique brand recognition.

Details: The new site will operate as a news video library with several categories, including, “Technology,” “Politics,” “Social Movements” and “Culture.” The site is designed to suit fast-paced news consumption and will feature videos that are under a minute and are set up to be watched with sound. The format of the content offered will vary from data to images and will aim to deliver vital information with more efficiency.

Facebook Expands Its Ad Archive Internationally

Facebook is launching versions of its political ad archive to countries with upcoming elections like India and Ukraine.

Why it matters: Users can look up information on any political ad they encounter on Facebook. The platform has a lot of influence on politics with so many followers using it—India has the largest audience. This news is also important because it shows Facebook is trying to avoid a repeat of the 2016 fiasco.

Details: According to Recode, the social media platform hopes its ad archive product will have ‘a global expansion’ by June. After the 2016 midterms, Facebook made “war room” so employees from different teams could more effectively respond to misinformation or voter suppression problems.

Snapchat’s Sunset Strip Billboard Turns Into AR Video Ad

Snapchat is promoting its original show, Bringing Up Bhabie, with an AR-enabled billboard.

Why it matters: Snapchat is getting creative on ways to attract Gen Z and get them to gain interest in their shows. Its Snapchat’s response to TikTok—a lip sync app.

Details: The billboard—located in one the most expensive areas for ads—has a Snapcode users can scan with their app. It turns the vertical billboard into a video of Bhabie ranting, it’s even somewhat personal because it seems she’s talking directly at you. The singer also premiered her new single “Bestie,” through a Lens Challenge. According to Next Reality, Snapchat users can access the Lens Challenge by opening the Snapchat camera and tapping the screen to access the Lens Carousel. Then you need to tap the smiley icon at the bottom of the screen to enter the Lens Explorer. “Users can then lip-sync along with the track, with the Lens providing an augmented reality backdrop using Lens Studio’s background segmentation feature.”

Instagram Stories Can Be Shared Via Direct Links

Following in Snapchat’s footsteps, Instagram launched a “Share link to Entire Story” feature to get more engagement and eyes on the stories.

Why it matters: Stories are getting easier to share, so more people will be able to watch them. Brands get another perk, the option to “Promote” their stories so they can increase their reach by promoting their story to users who aren’t followers.

Details: The platform is rolling out the new features they tested last year. The “Promote” option also sends users to a brand’s profile, website and it lets consumers to DM them in Direct.

Google And Facebook See A Boost In Ad Sales

Privacy and regulation issues aren’t hurting advertising on these platforms. This comes before the companies report their fourth-quarter earnings.

Why it matters: Facebook and Google are still very relevant and important tools to reach customers.

Details: Bloomberg reports advertiser attitudes haven’t changed towards Facebook. Experts state consumer spending is growing and so is digital advertising. For example, Instagram ad dollars spiked 120 percent from 2017.

Facebook Stories See A Notable Increase In Ad Spend 

A report finds advertisers elevated their ad spend on Facebook Stories by about 124 percent during Q4 2018 compared to 2017.

Why it matters: This is evidence Stories is working for brands and there are no signs of slowing down.

Details: The report by Nanigans was shared with Mobile Marketer.  For Facebook Stories, the report found CPM jumped 112 percent, CTRs increased 52 percent and CPCs surged 39 percent. Also, advertisers allocated 61 percent of their budgets to video.

Editor’s Note: Our weekly social media news post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, February 1. Have a news tip? We’re looking for changes to and news surrounding social media platforms as they relate to marketing. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.

Brand React To The Polar Vortex With Humor, Helpful Tips

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The polar vortex is not a typical snow day in from work and school. The extreme and deadly vortex traveled to the Great Lakes states and its made the weather abnormally cold. The freezing, monster winds covered parts of the US ranging from West Virginia to as far north as the Dakotas. Those living in Minnesota are experiencing the worst temperatures—60 below zero. In response to this insane weather, some brands are using humor while others are offering helpful tips.

The Glenlivet used humor to get into the conversation and tweeted a gif of their scotch bottle being enveloped in snow with the words “Just chilling, hbu?” One user responded with a gif of a dog wearing sunglasses in a pool with the words “A bit cold.”

Chicago brewery Goose Island, made a campaign out of the situation. The Chicago Tribune explains:

Goose Island is back with another subject dear to [Chicago’s] heart: dibs.

“Dibs,” for those unaware, is the time-honored practice of digging out a parking spot on the city’s streets after a large snowstorm, then claiming the real estate in perpetuity with whatever junk is handy in the garage. Lawn chairs. Traffic cones. Plastic coolers. The more ridiculous the better.

Goose Island will honor both the tradition and the debate around it with a beer release at its taproom Saturday at noon. The beer, an ideal-for-winter porter clocking in at 6.5 percent alcohol, will be available on draft and to-go in 32-ounce cans, tagged either with an orange Pro Dibs sticker or a blue Anti Dibs sticker.

Baseball franchises with outdoor stadiums were also affected by the polar vortex. The Colorado Rockies got around 1.7K likes when they asked their fans to name their snowman. After the team got a few submissions, they posted the best and worst names suggestions. The Cleveland Indians asked fans for 1 million retweets to lick a foul pole. So far the tweet has only gotten around 40K retweets.

The Broad, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, incorporated Ed Ruscha art with the cold weather in response to the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo.

Lyft went another direction and instead of offering some laughs, they offered help by providing “Relief Rides” to warming centers in Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee and the Twin Cities. The response was mostly appreciative, but also met with some concern. One user replied “Thank you for this. I hope you compensate the drivers for driving in such difficult conditions and really helping people in need.”

A report by Trailer Park and USC’s Annenberg Innovative Lab found marketers don’t want to just “share a voice” through various platforms, but getting a “share of cultural conversation” may just be as vital. The study found 73 percent of consumers surveyed say “news finds me, but then I validate it’s actually news by checking a credible source.” If a brand connects with a current event, it could gain more attention to their digital content.

Youth Marketer Gregg Witt: For Brands, Collaboration Is Not Just A Trend, But A Survival Tactic

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Generation Z, those born between 1995 and 2000, are now young adults and many of them have entered the workforce. Marketers often clump this group together with millennials, but they’re not the same marketers shouldn’t view them under the same lens. Gen Z is less interested in mainstream platforms like TV and leans towards YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat. Gregg Witt says Gen Z refers to themselves as the “hyper-individualized generation.”

Witt, a youth brand strategist and chief strategy officer of Engage Youth, spoke to AList about some of the nuances of Gen Z—a group that is expected to surpass millennials in 2019 as the largest generation. Witt co-authored the book The Gen Z Frequency: How Brands Tune In and Build Credibility, where he explains how the generation tends to be independent, diverse, engaged in social and political causes, and how they’ve developed an ability to filter information—like advertisements—extremely quickly.

Let’s talk about the growing importance of Gen Z for marketers.

If you start off with importance, from the psychological perspective and from the matter of fact, there is more Gen Z population worldwide than any other group of people before them.

It’s not only that there is this massive population, but it’s going to be a colossal shift in the consumer demographics. When Nigeria and Indonesia become the largest youth populations, you are going to see the market shift.

The sheer numbers of creation, innovation, markets, new markets, that are going to come to these countries. We see generations come and go—some things change, some things are similar, some are completely different—but this is pretty colossal.

What do you think marketers get wrong about Gen Z? 

I think that a lot of times they look at Gen Z with almost a herd mentality, thinking all Gen Zers are the same and they are into the same thing: people, brands, society. This happens with millennials too.

With Gen Z, what a lot of the brands and marketers get wrong is that they are continuing to label Gen Z like they’re a herd of sheep or label them off that they’re not so individualized. They’re not really looking at the cultural nuances.

Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube are excellent channels and platforms to reach Gen Z, but what a lot of the brands get wrong is that there is a slow, steady but major migration from these mass, understood platforms to the niche platforms, messengers and apps.

They’re missing out on the conversation. They are not actually aware that the true, intimate, real conversations are happening in Discord, TikTok and YouNow and even Messenger App. A lot of people don’t understand that even Facebook Messenger is very popular with older teens and young adults.

Utilizing all these smaller, cultural interest group-based platforms like AskFM, with massive growing populations and there is an actual conversation happening there. There is less algorithm and there is more engagement. That’s just one angle.

I think another very basic thing that brands often bypass is that they look at Gen Z today not at Gen Z in five to six years. Today they are tweens, teens and young adults and they’re very different segments.

Can you talk about the connection between purpose-driven marketing and Gen Z?

This is a matter of fact, and I thought it was [just] buzz before, but one of the pinnacle markers of Gen Z is that they are purpose-driven. I think part of it is, that [purpose-driven] is what you hear all the time from that age group, so you do tend to follow a bit. They don’t see [cause marketing] as played out. They just really want to see that it’s authentic and it doesn’t have to be grandiose.

Gen Z really cares about the story with brands and organizations. They can see when the brand or the company—either really small Instagram brands to Fortune 500 ones—that they live and breath their cause and that it actually is having some impact.

There is another important generational marker: their attitudes, views and perceptions of diversity. I find that in diversity, respect, and just [general] acceptance of people—we find one of the softer beautiful, encouraging, refreshing things about Gen Z.

What do you think has changed since we started tracking their habits? 

The reality of shoppable content and limited-edition products has become the demand. The idea of a really special product that’s associated with a certain content is becoming a trend that Gen Z wants, desires or demands.

It will continue to increase, as Amazon and other brands continue to commoditize every category. Amazon has the power to affect the Targets and Walmarts and to commoditize everything. Those brands in the middle are scared and [they’re] going to need this cool special content [to survive].

What types of brands are marketing best to Gen Z? 

Everything: fashion, technology, downloadable on-demand content, restaurants and food—being in that eco-system of relevant content because [brands] will be just missed if they are not.

It starts going into the broader content discussion. The big trend, this is a trend that I have a lot of passion for, is collaboration. I’ve looked closely [at the collaboration trend] saying, “God, is this going to burst? Is this going out of the way?”

Collaborating, even in different categories and genres, actually creates an opportunity to increase and grow a brand’s market. It becomes a survival tool. Let’s just say, that you’re a tailor that makes custom clothes and think you’re too big to be disrupted. If you never do collaborations with Twitch creators or Instagrammers, those smaller Instagram brands are going to slowly slice up all of your business.

The competitors for your business on Instagram, for a specific example, it’s not like 1000 or 5000 but more like 10,000 or 100,000 competitors slicing up your market share. The [collaboration trend] is not just for excitement, surprise and delight, but collaboration for survival.

How can brands avoid pandering to Gen Z? 

I would say that brands need to really leverage cementing their identity and make sure they are clear on their identity, value proposition, what they offer and what they don’t offer to the young people or to the modern consumer.

They need to determine certain areas where they contribute to culture. They can’t only be focused on smaller communities; they have to look at the conversions.

What trends do you see developing this year? 

A lot more brands will experiment and get into AR activation this year, but the big trend that we are going to see is chatbot—and it’s going to be normalizing. The chatbots are going to be more involved in what we are talking about.

You are going to see much more truly conversational chatbots on the rise. I’m not going to claim to be the tech expert on it for sure, but that’s going to be the major trend.

It’s a little sad, but esports will dominate traditional sports, as far as viewers. And we’ll see the evolution of esports as culture and lifestyle; esports brands, esports apparel, and the actual complete lifestyle around esports. It’ll be mainstream by the end of the year.

Companies seem to have less and less control over the brand narrative. Where does Gen Z fit into this cultural shift? 

Brands [that] give young people an opportunity to be a part of the brand’s story, and an opportunity to further attain an inspirational goal, can be very effective and potentially more effective with Gen Z.

Even though I say Gen Zers are highly social, it’s also a lonely place to be too. [They want to] be part of something important. Ultimately, when it comes to the storytelling and how brands can be successful—it comes down to the true sense of belonging that the organization is providing. I believe in that.

American Eagle Surrenders Creative Control To Gen Z’ers For New Campaign

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There’s no better way to reach a specific audience than to have them conceive the content that genuinely grabs their attention. American Eagle partnered with 10 Gen Z influencers for their #AExME Spring campaign to do creative takeovers.

“This spring, AE is amplifying the voices of our customers by joining forces with a group of inspiring Gen Z’ers to help encourage others to share their unique style through our spring collection and Ne(X)t Level Jeans,” said Chad Kessler, American Eagle global brand president in a press release.

On top of styling and directing each shoot, they took their own pictures.

#AExME is American Eagle’s brand platform aimed at making their marketing more authentic and it strays away from posed models and highly curated settings. All participants chosen for the campaign had been carefully scouted from social media as part of an initiative to honor “freedom, inclusion, empowerment and difference.”

The creative process was very simple: they used their cameras and intimate scenes, like their homes, to express their own stories.

There are a series of self-portraits and videos in the campaign, with person showcasing their own interests and passions. For example, Mariana “doesn’t shy away from pushing her own limits and discovering who she is in the form of music and her passions.” Daevin is “on a mission to spread positive energy through his pictures and interactions on social media.”

AExME

“As a brand, AE has been a pioneer in collaborating with today’s youth to support self-expression and prioritizing their individuality,” said Kessler.

This an example of just one more step the company is taking to grow its Gen Z following. Last year, American Eagle launched a campaign to advertise its Ne(X)t Level Jeans. It featured a “Make Moves” video set to Kendrick Lamar’s “DNA.” It showcased real, diverse customers revealing how they move during their daily routine.

Aerie—American Eagle’s intimate apparel brand—has been doing its own style of videos on YouTube. Instead of copying the TV ad format, the brand concentrated on short tutorials, fit guides and simple video backdrops. American Eagle and Aerie both collaborate with influencers and its been quite a success. Mobile Marketer noted a Gartner L2 report found influencer Iskra drove 57 percent of Aerie’s views on YouTube in 2017.

 

Nissin Cup Noodles Discusses Deepening Their Relationship With Gamers

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Nissin Cup Noodles collaborated with Bandai Namco to promote the highly-anticipated game Jump Force. It’s not the first time the popular noodle brand partnered with a video game creator. Last year, Nissin Cup Noodles did a similar campaign teaming up with Square Enix to promote Dissidia Final Fantasy NT ahead of its release on PlayStation 4. At that point, it was the first time the brand’s U.S. division partnered with a gaming company to promote their product.

The noodle brand distributed specially-marked packs featuring characters from the game. The packaging had codes for “exclusive in-game downloadable content.” After purchasing a special edition Cup Noodle, fans had to take a picture of their receipt and text it to the number on the package.

The process is the same for the Jump Force sweepstakes, but instead of getting content, consumers can win a trip to Tokyo, Japan and receive tickets to the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama.

This is an example of how more non-gaming brands are collaborating with gaming companies. And it must be working.

Gamers are very attractive to marketers because of the high amount of engagement the content demands and the diversity of the platforms.

The company has in the past been fairly involved in eSports. A few years ago, Cup Noodles sponsored a local eSports tournament in Southern California.

To get a little deeper on their strategies, AList spoke to Jaclyn Park, vice president of marketing at Nissin Foods US, about the Jump Force collaboration and their fan store.

Why did you decide to collaborate with Jump Force?  What made you want to do the sweepstakes to travel to Japan?

We really know and believe in the natural connection that gaming fans have with Cup Noodles. It’s something that we’ve seen in consumer research as well as our interactions with consumers in the market place. What we hear is Cup Noodles is the perfect gaming food because it’s delicious, warm and satisfying and you can put it down and play your game and pick it up and it’s still hot. It also doesn’t get your fingers messy.

I do think that the roots of Cup Noodles in Japan give it a culture connection and the top video games companies come out of there. We have always had this belief that’s been solidified to what we see on the market about the natural connection between Cup Noodles and gaming.

Last year, was the first time we acted on it in a big way with our first on-pack promotion. We were thrilled to find the opportunity with the new game, Jump Force, which is a great game that again has that cultural connection to Japan.

We feel like, with our roots in Japan, it was just a nice way to bring our love of all things Japanese together into a really fun on-pack promotion.

Has the Nissin Cup Noodle Japan been working with gaming companies for a long time?

Yes, there is a character in one of the Final Fantasy games that actually wears a Cup Noodles hat and it is something that came about through those connections and friendships that was built up between the two companies in Japan.

How was the response been in the US with the partnership you did last year?

We thought that the response was great. We did it on millions of packages and we collected a lot of responses especially from the social media space. We were thrilled to see people posting photos of the packages on shelves with the Dissidia Final Fantasy characters on them.

People were super excited, there were some really funny photos of people clearing out the shelves. The Cup Noodles packages were treated almost as collectibles and we think that is a lot of fun. We enjoyed seeing people get so excited about these kinds of partnership.

We really felt like we were on to something, so we felt very confident exploring something in the same vein, but a little bit different this year.

Which social media site was the most popular in showcasing these cups?  

Actually, with the hardcore gamers, Twitter is really their go-to social media site, but Instagram is definitely the most visually-oriented, obviously.

These were two sites on which we saw the most traction—kind of the breaking news, the “oh my Gosh, I found this Cup Noodles on the shelf, I can’t believe it! Am I really seeing this?” We saw a lot of that on Twitter because it’s just kind of the platform that lends itself to that. But a lot of the visuals, we also saw a lot of cross-posting as well.

People are just aren’t on one social media platform, but Twitter is the one it seems to be really big for the gamers. And then for people who really like to curate and present visually-arresting images, of course, Instagram is always a good place.

How did the partnership with Bandai Namco begin?  

The Bandai Namco partnership did not start in Japan, so it wasn’t our Japanese counterparts coming together. It was started in the US, in Los Angeles, they have an office in northern California.

We have the connections to the gaming world through some other partners we work with, specifically our agency. Once the news and the word of our Dissidia partnership came out last year, gaming companies took notice.

There was an interest in Bandai Namco’s part based on the new game they knew they were working on and once they layered in the Japanese connection and their connection to anime, which our fans also appreciate—we were in.

Have people already been submitting photos? 

Yes, we’ve already seen some photos that were really fun. I actually just put a Power Point together of the screen grabs for internal use to share the world with our people here. It’s been fun.

My favorite so far has been the completely emptied out shelf at a local grocery store with only one left. Just one lone cup left. The person who posted said that they had to put [the one they got] back there, just to take a picture. We’ve gotten hundreds in just a few days.

There is still time—until June 30—so we encourage everyone to enter and you can enter more than once.

Now let’s dive into the fan store. Why did Nissin Cup Noodles want to get into the e-commerce world? How have consumers reacted?

The reason why we wanted to get into e-commerce is that we wanted to share the love of the brand we were already seeing in the market place. The marketing team would go the events and we were fortunate enough to have Cup Noodles t-shirts, or Cup Noodles hats, so we could show our pride and our love for the brand.  We would always have consumers at the event asking “Hey, where can I buy that shirt, where can I buy that hat? Do you sell that shirt? Can I have that shirt?”

We started giving away the items at events, but we had very small quantities, and we decided to ramp it up and bring the items to a bigger audience. There is a lot of untapped love for these brands. It’s just the feeling of nostalgia and comfort everybody knows Cup Noodles and Top Ramen, and more times than not, there are brands that bring a smile to your face, just because memory you have associated with those brands.

We started small on National Noodle Day and we ramped up a bit for the holidays with some new items, like wrapping paper. It’s actually going pretty well and when we launched in October it helped that we had some Cup Noodles costumes—those were a big hit.

Other than the adult costumes, the stickers and mugs have been the most popular.

Who usually the buys the merchandise? 

We don’t collect of demographic info on our buyers because of privacy reasons. We do know that they are our fans, but everybody loves ramen and Cup Noodles, so it’s not just gamers.

But we do have some fun ideas that are the most appealing to especially the gamers. I know that a lot of people who follow us on social media and see the announcements on our social media platforms, like what is new in our fans stores and we allow people to easily click over.

We know that there are the fans that know and love us and we appreciate when they spread the word. They do a really good job with that.

Do you think Cup Noodles will continue to work with video game companies throughout the year and in the future? 

I think our interest in gaming and tapping into our natural connection to gamers and how much they love us is absolutely something we’re continuing to pursue. It would be foolish of us not to. And also, why wouldn’t we want to celebrate the people who have such a great love for us? We are always looking for opportunities in this space.

 

IG, FB, WhatsApp Messaging Will Be Integrated; Pinterest’s Skin Tone Palette Feature

BY

This week in social media news, Facebook is working letting Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp users message each other, YouTube will curb promoting conspiracy theory videos, multiple studies find people over 65 and conservatives tend to spread fake news, Pinterest will roll out a skin tone palette on iOS devices, Twitter shares fall after their CEO talks about harassment and works on new ‘original tweeter’ feature, Google, Facebook and Amazon spent record numbers on lobbying last year.

Facebook Is Working On Integrating Messenger, Instagram And WhatsApp

The New York Times reveals Zuckerberg wants to reconfigure the underlying infrastructure so users of each platform can communicate with one another.

Why it matters: This new feature could make the three platforms the most popular messaging service. It can also make Facebook more attractive to advertisers because of increased user engagement.

Details: Thousands of Facebook employees are working on the integration and Zuckerberg ordered all of the apps to incorporate end-to-end encryption to ensure privacy. WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram will still operate as stand-alone apps just the messaging infrastructure will be combined.

YouTube Plans To Cut Down On Promoting Conspiracy Theory Videos

The video platform said it would stop recommending “borderline content”—videos that almost break their guidelines—to curb viewers from watching videos with misinformation and conspiracy theories.

Why it matters: It’s an effort to prevent spreading “clickbaity” videos and inaccurate information to users.

Details: YouTube said the change would affect less than one percent of videos that are available on the platform. YouTube added this is not a way to control what viewers want to see stating, “To be clear, this will only affect recommendations of what videos to watch, not whether a video is available on YouTube. As always, people can still access all videos that comply with our Community Guidelines and, when relevant, these videos may appear in recommendations for channel subscribers and in search results.”

Baby Boomers Spread The Most Fake News On Twitter And Facebook

Two different studies find that people over 65 and conservatives are the biggest culprit for spreading misinformation on Twitter and Facebook.

Why it matters: We have a better idea who is sharing misinformation on social media.

Details: The study, published in the journal Science, examined over 16,000 Twitter accounts and found 16 of them tweeted out 80 percent of fake news. It’s an extremely small percentage, 99-percent of users don’t spread inaccurate information. The study’s co-author David Lazer, a Northeastern University political and computer science professor said “misinformation ‘super sharers’ flood Twitter with an average of 308 pieces of fakery each between Aug. 1 and Dec. 6 in 2016.” Another study analyzed the spread of false information on Facebook. It also found it was a small group of people sharing fake news, but those who do who did were more likely to be over 65 and conservatives.

Pinterest Adds Skin Tone Search Feature To iOS

Pinterest will launch a palette with a range of skin tones so users can find better beauty ideas.

Why it matters: This option recognizes Pinterest users’ diversity, and if the search is more personalized consumers will more likely buy more products.

Details: Pinterest began working on a way to better search for skin tone related keywords last April. The new palette will allow users to see other personalized pins and videos in the results. The company estimates around 52 million people engage with pins related to beauty content and about 63 percent of them pin and search beauty-related products on Pinterest. Additionally, about 86 percent of users made a purchase based on the pins.

Twitter Shares Fall After Dorsey Interviews On Harassment, Nazis

CNBC reports the platform’s shares fell over 4 percent after Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey spoke about white nationalists, harassment and his trip to Myanmar in interviews with Rolling Stone and The Bill Simmons Podcast. 

Why it matters: It seems some are uneasy with Dorsey’s comments as he put more weight on user actions when it comes to cleaning up harassment and hate groups on Twitter.

Details: During The Bill Simmons Podcast, Dorsey was asked about harassment on Twitter. He told Simmons, “I will say that we don’t feel great about the state that we’re in. Our entire harassment and abuse framework is dependent upon people reporting harassment and abuse, and it’s completely unfair that the victim of the abuse and harassment has to report it themselves.” During the Rolling Stone interview, Dorsey talked about white nationalists and Nazis and said users who align with these groups aren’t removed more because “A lot of people don’t report. They see things, but it’s easier to tweet out ‘get rid of the Nazis’ than to report it.” He added his controversial trip to Myanmar was a meditation trip and said Twitter is very small there compared to Facebook.

Twitter Works On ‘Original Tweeter’ Tag To Find Them Easily

Twitter is testing out a new tag to indicate who was a tweet’s original creator.

Why it matters: Threads can be very, very long and this will be a simple way for users to see who initially created a tweet. It will also help in determining real and imposter tweets, especially from notable users.

Details: Twitter confirmed their new feature to TechCrunch and revealed the tag has “been rolled out to a ‘small percentage’ of iOS and Android users across markets”.

Google, Facebook And Amazon Spent Over $48 Million Lobbying In 2018

The three tech giants spent a record amount on lobbying last year because of increased pressure from Washington.

Why it matters: It shows the companies are making efforts to protect their interests and possibly worried about government intervention.

Details: A lobbying disclosure report revealed Google spent $21.2 million on topics such as “online privacy and data security issues, general online consumer protection issues, mobile location privacy issues and policies on online controversial content.” Facebook spent $12.6 million and most of the money was spent on data privacy and cybersecurity. Amazon spent $14.2 million—a record number for the company—on postal reform, but also data privacy like the other two.

YouTube TV is Going Nationwide Just In Time For The Super Bowl

YouTube announced its cable-free live TV is expanding nationwide just in time for the big game.

Why it matters: YouTube TV scales its competition with Sling, PS Vue and Hulu TV for cord-cutters.

Details: YouTube’s statement revealed YouTube TV will now be available in 95 markets, “covering over 98 percent of households in the United States. When it launched two years ago, YouTube TV’s subscribers grew supposedly from around 300,000 in January 2018 to 800,000 in July. Users can watch over 60 networks including ABC, NBC, TNT and ESPN. Also, each YouTube TV account is only $40 a month and each membership comes with six accounts.

Instagram Says It’s Not Limiting Post Reach To 7 Percent

Instagram released an official statement explaining how it’s not capping the reach of user photos to seven percent of your followers.

Why it matters: If your content is only seen by seven percent of your followers then the reach isn’t as wide as previously thought and no one likes Big Brother controlling how many people see your photos.

Details: On their Twitter page, the platform explains what you see is all about engagement and the ones you engage with more you’ll see first on your feed. In an effort to clarify any more rumors, Instagram stated don’t hide posts from people you’re following.

FTC Plans To Place ‘Record-Setting’ Fine to Facebook

The FTC has been investigating the social media platform’s privacy practices since the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Why it matters: Facebook has already been fined multiple times in Europe due to GDPR, but not yet in the U.S.

Details: The Washington Posts reports the penalty is expected to be over $22.5 million fine the FTC gave Google. Off the record, three people told the paper that U.S. regulators have discussed the fine against Facebook, but details have not been finalized yet. However, the government shut down has slowed things down.

iPhone Users Can Share Netflix Content On Instagram 

Netflix just gave iPhone users the ability to share links to shows and movies on Instagram Stories.

Why it matters: Given that Facebook probably considers Facebook Watch a “competitor” of Netflix, it’s interesting that they are allowing Instagram to share Netflix content in Stories.

Details: This will only work if you have the Netflix app on your phone. If you have it, tap “share” on the show you wish to share on Stories. Then you tap “Instagram Stories” and proceed like you usually do before you post to Stories. Android users will get the option later.

LinkedIn Allows Target Ads Based On Interest

LinkedIn announced marketers can now target their advertisement based on user interest.

Why it matters: Marketers can have a better idea on the way Linkedin users interact with content and their search activity, making their ads more attractive to the consumer.

Details: Under the campaign manager, there is a list of about 200 targeted “interests.” According to Media Post, Abhishek Kumar, Linkedin’s product strategy and operations, stated the process is “not based on search targeting, as with Google’s strategy, but rather by the interests that are reflected in users’ engagement and search activity.”

Twitter Tweets Video About “New Twitter”

Looks like Twitter is updating the user interface.

Why it matters: It may seem like just an update, but chances are Twitter is trying to move past the “filter bubble” it helped to create. They’ve referenced it previously.

Details: Twitter tweeted out a short video explaining some of the new update features and mentioned some users may already be able to opt-in to the new user interface.

Instagram Predicted To Be A $14 Billion Business This Year

Analysts anticipate Instagram will produce $14 billion in revenue as it continues to drive growth to Facebook.

Why it matters: Facebook’s core business is slowing down, but Instagram just keeps on expanding and improving its advertising efforts.

Details: Business Insider reports analysts predict Instagram will be Facebook’s “material driver for growth in [2019] and can grow 60 percent+ supporting core FB which FB which could decelerate below 20 percent+ growth for the first time.” They also predict Facebook Messenger and Whats App will be growth opportunities for Facebook.

European Snapchat Users Can Unlock Oreo-Themed AR Lens

Oreo’s new European campaign ‘Oreo People’ will let users scan codes on special Oreo packaging to unlock a cookie-themed AR lens, filters and ‘Oreoji’ digital stickers.

Why it matters: Mondelez-owned Oreo is attempting to reach a younger demographic through Snapchat over traditional platforms like TV.

Details: Oreo is placing Snapcodes on 134 million packages in Europe. In the UK fans can unlock a video game where players can roll downhill inside a transparent ball and avoid obstacles.

Editor’s Note: Our weekly social media news post is updated daily. This installment will be updated until Friday, January 25. Have a news tip? We’re looking for changes to and news surrounding social media platforms as they relate to marketing. Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.