This week’s winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Modelo: The Mexican import is now the No. 1 or No. 2 beer brand in 11 states, according to brand owner Constellation Brands. That is more than double the amount of states it led just three years ago, said Constellation Chief Financial Officer Garth Hankinson, who shared the news this week at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer and Retail conference, as reported by Beer Business Daily. In Chicago, the brew is boasting about its status as the city’s top-selling beer in ads spotted at O’Hare International Airport.

Lexus: The Toyota-owned luxury auto brand tops the latest National Automobile Dealers Association's Dealer Attitude Survey, which surveys auto dealers about their sentiment toward brands. Honda also re-entered the top five after falling out in an earlier survey. Automotive News has more.

Wieden+Kennedy: The agency’s Portland office picked up a big-spending new client in Allstate, which has cut ties with Droga5. The insurer also does plenty of work in-house, including a heavy dose of “Mayhem.”

Losers

Kyrie Irving: Nike officially terminated its relationship with the Brooklyn Nets player this week, weeks after putting its deal in review following the athlete’s antisemitism. The sportswear giant had worked with Irving for eight years in a deal reportedly worth $11 million a year. Trouble was brewing long before the outspoken Irving’s latest remarks–last year, he publicly called Nike’s Kyrie 8 shoes “trash” and said that the brand had released the shoes without his permission.

Email marketing: Spam alert! A recent study from Brand Keys found that a host of marketers are blasting their customers with too many emails and damaging potential opportunities for consumer engagement and loyalty. The study, which was also conducted in 2018, listed the worst email abuse culprits, which include repeat offender Amazon and new entrants Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com, Facebook, Expedia and Banana Republic. The list was developed through a poll of more than 2,200 U.S. consumers between the ages of 16 and 55 who opted in to emails. 

Shopify: The e-commerce platform faced backlash this week for reports that it has told its employees “not to engage” with those who complain about the company’s hosting of Libs of TikTok, an online store that sells anti-LGBTQ products. Business Insider found that enough customers have complained about the store to Shopify that the company offered specific guidance to its representatives on how to handle them. 

Tweet of the week

Number of the week

62%: Rise in October advertising spending by OTC cold and cough brands over October 2021, according to data from advertising intelligence platform MediaRadar.

Quote of the week

“The act of being seen, heard, understood, and respected for who we are as individuals and within a group, structure, or system.”—That is how the Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing defines inclusion, which the ANA has named as its 2022 marketing word of the year. Runners-up included “hybrid” and “metaverse,” but inclusion “was the top vote-getter by a solid margin,” ANA stated.

On the move

Hertz Global Holdings has hired Wayne Davis as executive VP and chief marketing officer, effective Jan. 3. He will oversee the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands,  “shaping the company’s marketing strategy to drive effective brand reach and customer engagement,” Hertz announced. He previously led the Café brand for GE Appliances. 

Hallmark Media hired Kelly Garett as VP of development. She was most recently executive director of original programming at Disney.

Equinox hired Jeff De Korte as CMO. He had been senior VP of consumer marketing at Caesars Entertainment.

The Association of National Advertisers named Christine Guilfoyle president of SeeHer. She had been executive VP, membership.

First Tech Federal Credit Union hired Brandon Hunt as CMO. He was most recently head of marketing for Nike’s digital product organization.

Electric vehicle charging provider Wallbox has hired Procter & Gamble veteran Javier Riaño as CMO. At P&G he was VP of corporate marketing for Spain and director of beauty and grooming for southern Europe. Wallbox, which ran a Super Bowl ad this year, also hired  Myriam Lhermurier Boublil as chief communications and public affairs officer. She previously worked at Domestika, Google and Paypal.