Winner
As if Peloton needed any more wind at its back, it now has Beyoncé on its side. The fitness brand, whose quarterly sales surged 232%, this week announced a multi-year deal in which Queen B will help create themed workout experiences that includes new classes featuring music, movement and wellness.
Loser
Walmart sought to create some buzz Thursday by offering on its website limited inventory of Sony’s next-generation PlayStation 5 game consoles on launch day. One problem: The site could not handle all the traffic and crashed not once, but twice.
Popular
Ad Age readers have flipped the page on the election and are ready for Christmas ads—at least according to our tally of this week’s most-read stories, which includes this post on Amazon’s holiday ad from Lucky Generals starting a ballerina (which actually went live back on Nov. 2) and a look at Burberry’s new ad that puts a modern spin on “Singin' in the Rain” in which dancers dodge huge chunks of falling ice.
Bird protection
For those wannabe chefs tackling a turkey dinner this Thanksgiving for the first time, Progressive Insurance has your back. The insurer has partnered with Whole Foods Market on a Thanksgiving Turkey Protection Plan, which offers insurance for dinner disasters with a $35 Whole Foods gift card. Progressive is airing a spot in support of the policy. Other brands are also anticipating Thanksgiving fails. In Manhattan, people who buy Campbell Soup Co. products ahead of the holiday to prepare side dishes can sign up for dinner insurance. If the dish doesn’t come out right, they submit a photo on Thanksgiving and Campbell will deliver a gourmet replacement, made in one of the company’s ghost kitchens, in time for dinner.