Oscar Mayer rents out its Wienermobile to the public: 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]

Wienerbnb
Today is National Hot Dog day. And in honor of this momentous occasion, Oscar Mayer announced it is offering up its Wienermobile on Airbnb. The 27-foot-long vehicle will be available in Chicago for three nights, starting Aug. 1, for $136 per night. The timing coincides with the Lollapalooza music festival. The price? That’s a nod to the number of years Oscar Mayer has been in business. Guests can enjoy food from the vehicle’s mini fridge, which will be packed with Oscar Mayer hot dogs and fixings. They’ll also get plenty of hot dog-themed items to take home. Oscar Mayer and Airbnb are also donating $5,000 to Rise Against Hunger. In other Hot Dog Day news, Char-Broil also posted what it says is the world’s longest hot dog on Instagram. 

On to other meat news
Slim Jim fans can now get a collector’s item that isn’t edible. The Conagra Brands meat-stick brand teamed up with Mattel on a WWE figurine based on the “Snap into a Slim Jim” ads featuring Randy “Macho Man” Savage from the 1990s. The $29.99 figurine is being offered up to fans on Wednesday night at Comic-Con in San Diego. Online pre-orders sold out last month but won’t be shipped until after fans at the event get them. There’s also a Slim Jim Savage lens for Snapchat. 

Thanks, Alexa
That’s a wrap on Amazon Prime Day, which once again proved to be uber-successful at a time when retailers could use a jolt. The length of the holiday—increased to 48 hours this year—translated to more sales for the ecommerce giant. Amazon said Wednesday that Prime members bought more than 175 million items and that sales exceeded last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Indeed, last year’s Prime event resulted in just 100 million products sold. But other retailers also fared well: large companies with revenue exceeding $1 billion saw U.S. online sales increase 72 percent on Tuesday compared with an average Tuesday, according to Adobe Analytics data. This followed a 64 percent increase on Monday, the first day of the shopping event.

Built Ford small
Prime Day is over but World Emoji Day, one of those fake holidays that brands just can’t seem to resist, is here. Ford is seizing on it by announcing that it got initial approval for a pickup truck emoji from the Unicode Consortium, which approves new emojis. While there are plenty of vehicle emojis, including at least a couple that look like semi trucks, Ford says there currently is not a pickup emoji among the roughly 3,000 approved icons. Ford’s proposal was short-listed and awaits final approval in 2020. The automaker supported it with a whimsical video narrated by Bryan Cranston. It was produced by Ford’s WPP agencies.

Hershey, which is selling emoji-themed chocolate bars this summer, is among the other brands hoping for a moment of glory if consumers celebrate the “holiday” today.

No social love
Kahlúa is the latest brand seizing on social media addiction and the backlash against being online all the time. The coffee liqueur today rolled out a campaign celebrating social posts that have gotten zero likes as a way to “liberate consumers, encouraging everyone to enjoy life in the moment and take likes and social media less seriously.” It includes an exhibit taking place July 25 through 28 in Manhattan’s Lower East Side “consisting entirely of zero-liked photography.” The brand also created an Instagram tool in which users can generate their nine least-liked images on Instagram. 

Would you buy this? 
The Horizn One suitcase, made for outer space travel, carries an out-of-this universe price tag of $50,000. Co-designed with Alyssa Carson—the world’s youngest NASA-astronaut in training, at just 18 years old—won’t be available for purchase until 2030, but one will be auctioned off next week at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center’s 50th Anniversary Ceremony in Alabama. The Horizn One's features include an electromagnetic base, which allows the suitcase to secure to floors or walls during zero gravity.

Number of the week 
330 million: The amount of 9-liter cases of wine that will be sold this year in the U.S., according to alcohol trade magazine Shanken. While 2019 marks the 26th straight year of industry growth—which looks good compared to slumping beer sales—the gain was just 0.3 percent. And Shanken notes that per capita wine consumption is expected to drop ”as consumers gravitate toward whiskies, cocktails and other alternative drinks, such as hard seltzers.”

Tweet of the week

Comings and goings
Craft brewer Lagunitas hired Kelly Murnaghan in the chief marketing officer role. She was previously VP of marketing at Vans North America.

Eargo, a direct-to-consumer health technology company, hired Shiv Singh as its CMO. He comes from Visa, where he was senior VP-global head of innovation and go-to-market, as well as global head of digital and marketing transformation. 

Lime has two new hires: The scooter company hired Jane Chung as global creative director. Chung had been running her own company, following stints at Huge and Elephant. Lime also named Kate Chartrand, who formerly led global communications at Lululemon, its new senior director of corporate and consumer communications.

Know a rising star?
Ad Age’s annual 40 Under 40 feature publishes Sept. 9. Don’t miss your chance to nominate someone ahead of the July 22 deadline. You can do so here.

Contributing: Jessica Wohl, Adrianne Pasquarelli, E.J Schultz, George P. Slefo