Travis Scott.
A quick look at the week’s winners, losers and newsmakers.
Just when we were getting sick of Oreo’s online stunts and constant flavor introductions, the brand lures Lady Gaga to back special edition pink-hued golden cookies. As endorsement deals go, this one is monstrous. Although Gaga was not excited enough to get out of bed for it.
Movie theaters are in for a lot more pain, as signaled by Warner Bros. announcement this week that it will release its entire 2021 slate simultaneously on HBO Max and theaters. The pandemic-induced closure of theaters is crushing cinema advertising. If more movies go straight to streaming, it does not bode well for the movie ad biz in 2021.
‘Tis the season of year-end-lists, and YouTube’s Tuesday release of its top videos, creators and brands of 2020 was popular with Ad Age readers. Also drawing lots of eyeballs this week was this post on brand social feeds seizing on the mysterious metal monolith in the Utah desert. Because if there is something strange happening online, you can bet brands will exploit it.
Travis Scott will soon have another endorsement gig, repping a new Anheuser-Busch InBev hard seltzer brand called Cacti. The rapper spilled the beans as part of a lengthy Forbes interview. Beer Business Daily reported more details today, describing the forthcoming brand as an “agave spiked” seltzer, made with 100% blue agave, real fruit juice, and natural flavors. A spokeswoman for the brewer told Ad Age that “Anheuser-Busch is in the early stages of collaborating with Travis Scott, and we’ll have more to share soon.”
In other booze-celeb news, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new tequila brand is apparently flying off the shelves. The brand, called Teremana, is expected to record 400,000 case shipments in its first 12 months, according to liquor trade pub Shanken News Daily, which describes it as “one of the biggest debuts for a new-to-world brand in history.” The publication quotes Wayne Chaplon, CEO of liquor distributor Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits as saying that while “a celebrity name doesn’t necessarily guarantee success in the spirits business,” the Rock’s “sizable and highly engaged social media following has … contributed to creating significant consumer pull for the Teremana brand.”
14%: The decline in average spending for the five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, according to data from the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics; the relevancy of Black Friday continues to diminish.
No. 2, a toilet paper made from bamboo, is playing off an old prank to push its product. The brand is asking consumers to “TP” their friends—but not by wrapping toilet paper all over the yard. Instead, No. 2 wants people to fill out a form online that will get their friends and family a free roll of the stuff, which claims to be an environmentally conscious version of toilet paper that is biodegradable, has no added inks, dyes or scents, is septic-safe and plastic free, and in the brand’s words, does not leave any “butt-crumble.”
“While getting TP’d was once insulting, this is a playful take on the tradition that we hope will help educate people about why bamboo is a better option for the Earth,” says No. 2 founder Samira Far.
Yet another brand is seizing on the germophobia brought on by the pandemic. Turtle Wax—known of course for its car wax products—is out with a new multipurpose cleaner and disinfectant that uses so-called Byotrol24 technology, which Turtle Wax claims “disinfects over 99.9% of germs,” including those associated with the coronavirus. A new ad does not mention COVID by name—but the intent is clear.
“The phrase I’ve heard about Reddit that always rings true is that it is the best and the worst place on the internet, and it can vacillate between those two ends of the spectrum with the swipe of the thumb. It’s a really challenging environment for brands understanding how to be relevant.”—Ryan Ku, head of strategy and innovation at creative ad agency Eleven, on the difficulty for marketeers navigating the site, which revealed fresh intel this week on its ad business.
Lee Applbaum, who last year resigned as global chief marketing officer for Patrón and Grey Goose to join cannabis brand Surterra Wellness, is on the move again, joining private aviation brand Wheels Up as CMO.
