DiGiorno bakes pizza ‘Pi’ Super Bowl stunt, and Etsy basks in glow of Bernie’s mittens: Trending
A quick look at the week’s winners, losers and newsmakers.
Winner
Forget REI, Columbia or any other highly advertised outdoor-wear marketer—January’s cold-weather retail star is Vermont teacher Jen Ellis, whose homemade mittens for Sen. Bernie Sanders are getting major play thanks to the image of Sanders wearing them at Wednesday’s inauguration that is setting a new standard for virality in 2021.
If you want a pair, sorry—they are sold out. But Ellis is sharing the love with Etsy, which might just be the biggest brand winner in all of this.
Loser
It’s no secret that Donald Trump loves Diet Coke. And while that might help the brand with his millions of followers, the brand failed to get any bipartisan glow this week when news came that Joe Biden dumped the ex-president’s special Diet Coke button.
Popular
Our story on the aforementioned Bernie mittens sensation stole the show this week on adage.com. Also drawing tons of eyeballs was a story on a keyboard developed by the Brazilian arm of Condé Nast that suggests alternatives when a word deemed prejudiced or pejorative is typed.
Pizza math
We still don’t know which teams will play in the Super Bowl but fans of frozen pizza will be hoping for a score of 3-14 (Pi, get it?). If that’s the score at any point during the Feb. 7 game, DiGiorno plans to tweet details to enter for a chance to score free pizza. It offered the same deal during last year’s Super Bowl, but that never looked like finishing 3-14. (The final score, if you’ve forgotten was Chiefs 31, 49ers 20.)
Tweet of the week
Chevy mouses around
General Motors has enlisted Disney for its high-profile electric vehicle push. The automaker says it will reveal its new Chevrolet Bolt EUV and Bolt EV by teaming up with Walt Disney World. Representatives did not disclose details, but we assume Mickey will be involved.
From Manila to Milwaukee
National Basketball Association teams have been doing booze deals for years—but here is a first: The Milwaukee Bucks just named Tanduay rum as an official sponsor, saying it is the only Filipino brand to partner with an NBA team. The pact includes co-branded packaging.
Tanduay Gold Rum packaging with Milwaukee Bucks co-branding.
Quote of the week
“Bundle up in your car, sit on the hood, put some chairs out”—Texas-based attorney Larry Waks on using drive-in theater venues during the pandemic as a replacement for live music concerts. Waks, who helped broker deals for the “Encore Drive-In Nights,” appears on the latest edition of the “Marketer’s Brief” podcast, where he also talks about celebrity-backed booze.
Number of the week
22,000: Number of fans the National Football League has decided to let into the Super Bowl at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay (capacity of about 66,000). This includes 7,500 vaccinated health care workers.
On the move
Walgreens Boots Alliance global chief marketing officer Vineet Mehra is leaving for an undisclosed job in Silicon Valley.
Contributing: Jessica Wohl
