This week’s marketing winners and losers

This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers. Winners Airbnb: The brand is pledging to provide temporary housing for 20,000 Afghan refugees worldwide via funding from its nonprofit arm, Airbnb.org, and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. If you’re willing to host a refugee family, reach out and I’ll connect you with the right people here to make it happen!— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) August 24, 2021 Gap Inc.: The retailer surprised to the upside in its second-quarter earnings results, powered in part by its athleisure brand Athleta, whose sales are up 13% from last year, Bloomberg News reports. Manchester United: File this under “the rich get richer.’’ Cristiano Ronaldo is leaving Juventus to return to Man U. He last played for the soccer powerhouse in 2009. The move should please Manchester’s litany of sponsors, which include Chevrolet, Cadbury, Adidas and Marriott. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. Losers BBDO Worldwide: Time for the agency to get the donuts might be running out. The shop must defend its Dunkin’ account after the chain launched a creative review under new CMO and Coca-Cola Co. alum Rafael Acevedo. OnlyFans: No matter where you stand on the subscription site OnlyFans allowing sexually explicit content, it’s clear that the company has had a dizzying stretch of days. Last week it said it would ban explicit content, citing pressure from banks, only to reverse that move on Wednesday, stating in a tweet that “we have secured assurances necessary to support our diverse creator community and have suspended the planned October 1 policy change.” Tastebuds: Maybe skateboarders will love it, but PepsiCo’s newest brand crossover—Mtn Dew Flamin’ Hot—has us reaching for the Tums. Tweet of the week Hard seltzer is now essentially flat YoY in scan data. That's a remarkable deceleration in recent months. At its peak last summer, seltzer was gaining almost 7 share YoY of beer dollar sales in scan (IRI Total US MULO+C+Liquor). pic.twitter.com/RRpThrQnU8— Bart Watson (@BrewersStats) August 27, 2021 Quote of the week “The resurgence of the pandemic and the breakthrough infections among vaccinated people are having a big impact on people’s willingness to come back into public places, including the workplace”—Partnership for New York City CEO Kathryn Wylde on the new survey findings from the business group showing that NYC employers now anticipate that only 41% of their office workers will be back by Sept. 30. Number of the week $7.8 billion: How much will be spent on advertising during midterm election season, according to Kantar/CMAG. On the move Hugh Dineen, most recently chief marketing officer at MetLife, is now president, global brands and global CMO of Wella Co., the beauty and hair care marketer. Walgreens Boots Alliance alliance hired Tracey Brown for the newly created position of president of retail products and chief customer officer. She was previously CEO of the American Diabetes Association.

This week’s marketing winners and losers

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