A new top marketer at Reebok and an unlikely retail collab: Marketer’s Brief

Welcome to the latest edition of Marketer's Brief, a quick take on marketing news, moves and trends from Ad Age's reporters and editors. Send tips/suggestions to [email protected].

Macy’s takes it outside—sorta
Macy’s has some unlikely partners for its latest iteration of Story, the rotating concept store it purchased last year and recently debuted within 36 of its locations: Dick’s Sporting Goods and Miracle-Gro. The new concept recreates the outdoors inside Macy’s, with gardening workshops and plant growing systems. This is the first time Dick’s is selling its own private-label brands, such as Alpine Design, at another retailer. Miracle Grow will be selling its growing system on Macys.com and at Story. The experience will run until September.

Recognize that voice?
Jason Bateman, who starred in Hyundai’s Super Bowl, now has a permanent gig with the brand. The actor will provide the voice-overs for the automaker’s national and digital advertising, Hyundai announced this week. Dean Evans, CMO of Hyundai Motor America says this about Bateman: “He is versatile in a way that he can be both humorous and entertaining, but also serious and informative.” Having a celebrity VO is a common tactic for automakers. Jon Hamm has regularly handled ads for Mercedes-Benz, Fred Savage (of “Wonder Years” fame) is on Honda ads and Michael B. Jordan is with Acura, to name a few.

Quipping up new services
Direct-to-consumer dental brand quip is further remaking the industry with the debut of quipcare, a new free app that lets customers book appointments with the brand’s partner-dentists at lowered rates. A release notes that rates are as much as 40 percent lower than average rates in a given area. The app is designed to appeal to consumers who may not have dental insurance—one-quarter of Americans, according to Quip. Last year, Quip acquired Afora, a dental care membership company.

Newest cannabis entrant
Michael Cammarata, the Schmidt’s Naturals co-founder and CEO who sold the natural deodorant business to Unilever in late 2017 and this year has launched scents backed by primatologist Jane Goodall and singer Justin Bieber, is turning to cannabis. He’s the new CEO of Quebec-based cannabis and natural personal-care products marketer Neptune Wellness Solutions, based in Quebec. He’ll be replaced at Schmidt’s by Ryu Yokoi, a longtime Unilever executive who’s been Schmidt’s chief operating officer the past 15 months. A Unilever spokesman says Schmidt’s creative and product development teams will continue to operate out of its Portland, Ore., office.

Taco King?
Burger King is getting back into the taco business, for a limited time. Apparently, the home of the Whopper has a burning desire to feed the masses $1 tacos. While they look great in marketing materials (the video comes from creative agency David Miami), they look much less appetizing IRL, according to a number of people who posted about them on Twitter and elsewhere. GrubGrade offers a somewhat positive take: “Yeah I admit it looks awful, but it’s a satisfying value menu item that fits just right on the BK menu.”

Would you buy this?
Tie-Dye is now a flavor. The latest limited-time Starbucks Frappuccino was announced Wednesday. The Tie-Dye concoction is described by the chain as “a tropical Crème Frappuccino with dashes of powder in yellow, red and blue (which gets its color from red beet, turmeric and spirulina) that mix to make a rainbow of vibrant hues.”

Number of the week

88: percent of consumers who say retailers could do more to earn long-term loyalty, according to a survey from Clarus Commerce

Tweet of the week

Comings and goings
One year, agency review and brand campaign later, and the top marketer at Reebok has left the sneaker brand. Melanie Boulden, a former Crayola chief marketing officer who joined Adidas-owned Reebok as senior VP of global marketing last year, was recently appointed president and general manager of Coca-Cola’s venturing and emerging brands division, effective Aug. 5, according to a report.

As for Reebok, the company is tasking Matt Blonder, VP of marketing and digital brand commerce, with leading all marketing.

FITE, a digital combat sports platform, has tapped Kim Hurwitz as CMO. Hurwitz formerly was CMO at Karate Combat.

Contributing: Adrianne Pasquarelli, Jessica Wohl, E.J. Schultz, Jack Neff