Trending: Flights to nowhere and Lowes’ surprise Fashion Week hit

A quick look at the week’s winners, losers and newsmakers. Winner There was a surprise brand standout at New York Fashion Week, which went mostly virtual this year and wrapped up on Wednesday. Lowes—known more for screws and saws than stilettos—generated 8,600 social media mentions tied to the event as result of a tweet featuring a runway made entirely from products sold at the home improvement retailer, according to social listening and analytics company Talkwalker. Lowes got more mentions than brands more typically associated with the event, including Mercedes Benz, Michael Kors and Burberry, according to Talkwalker. But overall, NYFW drew a lot less social media interest than last year, with only 82,000 mentions of “FashionWeek.” That compares with 484,000 mentions of NYFW on its first day alone last year, according to Talkwalker. This entire runway is from Lowe's. That's the tweet. #FashionGoesHome #NYFW https://t.co/3YzVDorCuP— Lowe's (@Lowes) September 13, 2020 Loser Not to pick on a guy who’s already had a pretty tough year, but Bloomberg Businessweek’s mocking cover illustration of Mark Zuckerberg—which portrays him as a suck-up to Donald Trump—is obviously not a good look for the leader of a company that must straddle the political divide to keep users from revolting. Popular Patagonia’s profanity, and political activism, is a hit with Ad Age readers who made this post on the brand’s “Vote the assholes out” clothing tags our most popular of the week. Leave the luggage at home Another burgeoning COVID travel trend: flights to nowhere. In Australia, Qantas has begun offering seven-hour scenic flights that include low level flybys of attractions like the Great Barrier Reef. The initial offering sold out in 10 minutes, according to the airline. "It's probably the fastest selling flight in Qantas history," CEO Alan Joyce told CNN. "People clearly miss travel and the experience of flying. If the demand is there, we'll definitely look at doing more of these scenic flights while we all wait for borders to open." Tweet of the week WeChat: Enormously popular with Chinese-Americans. Owned by Chinese company. Will be crippled in US Sunday night.TikTok: Enormously popular with Americans including some Trump voters. Owned by Chinese company, trying to do deal w/Trump supporters. Will be OK through election.— Peter Kafka (@pkafka) September 18, 2020 Number of the week 37 percent: The share of consumers who say they plan to spend more on American-made products this holiday season, up six points from last year, according to a forthcoming survey from consulting firm AlixPartners. Quote of the week “We’re experiencing tremendous growth right now and I think the Great American Roadtrip or the need for families to travel locally is having a great renaissance”—Jen Young, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Outdoorsy, on pandemic-induced surging demand for RVs. Check out the full interview here. A Peep-less holiday The pandemic is dealing a not-so-sweet blow to fans of Peeps, Mike and Ike and Hot Tamales, as that trio of brands won't have Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day shapes and packages in stores this fall and winter. Just Born Quality Confections resumed limited production in May and opted instead to put all of its muscle behind Peeps for the 2021 Easter season as well as its everyday candies. So, don't fret—the Easter bunny will be able to stock up. On the Move Susan Somersille Johnson joined Prudential Financial as global chief marketing officer, effective Oct. 5. Johnson was most recently CMO and executive VP at Trust Financial. Spirits marketer Campari America named Andrea Sengara as VP of marketing. She was at LVMH.

Trending: Flights to nowhere and Lowes’ surprise Fashion Week hit

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