This week's winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Pharmacy chains: Walgreens, CVS and other retailers that are giving out COVID vaccine boosters are getting a third dose of a sales bump as shot-takers do some shopping. Read more here on the marketing strategy.

CES: Despite rising COVID case numbers there are signs that the Las Vegas event will reclaim a bit of normalcy when it is held next month. TikTok is the latest brand confirming its presence at the event, which organizers say has already netted 200 companies and 10,000 registered attendees. (Of course, registering and actually showing up are two different things.)

Tubi: Fox Entertainment’s free video streaming service got a boost from measurement firm TVSquared, which reported this week that between 84% and 95% of Tubi-watching households were incremental to linear (broadcast and cable) TV buys for entertainment, automotive and consumer packaged goods brands.

See Ad Age’s 2021 Year in Review here.

Losers

Peloton: The fitness brand got a PR boost, but maybe not the one it was banking on, following the release of HBO Max’s new Sex and the City reboot “And Just Like That..." this week. Early in the show's first episode, one main character meets an early demise following an especially strenuous Peloton stationary bike workout. According to reports, Peloton did not pay for the product placement. The unfortunate storyline calls to mind the death of beloved “This Is Us” character Jack Pearson due to a fire-causing Crock-Pot. However, the Peloton storyline follows actual safety issues experienced by the fitness brand earlier this year, when it recalled its treadmills following the death of a child.

Chanel: A high-end advent calendar from luxury label Chanel was blasted as being anything but. Elise Harmon, a TikTok influencer, who spent over $800 on the limited-edition calendar, filmed an unboxing of each day for her followers; instead of lavish gifts, several doors included unwanted items like a dust bag or stickers. Consumers took to social media to voice their outrage. Eventually, the fashion house apologized, noting it “disappointed” some.

Olympic sponsors: Coca-Cola Co., Airbnb, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, and other sponsors of the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing are under more pressure to take a stand against human rights abuses in China after the U.S. government announced a diplomatic boycott.

Get the latest Ad Age Super Bowl 2022 news here.

Tweet of the week

Number of the week

850 pounds: The weight of a pot brownie made by MariMed, a Massachusetts-based cannabis company, which says it beats the previous record of 243 pounds for a cannabis-infused brownie. But the company says it can’t get the record established as an official Guinness World Record because it no longer certifies records “related to the consumption, preparation or use of tobacco, cannabis or nicotine products.” 

Quote of the week

“We don’t negotiate with virtual land pirates”— a spokesman for Mischief @ No Fixed Address on a move by a creative duo called Very Serious Partners to offer agencies their own personal virtual offices in the metaverse in exchange for hiring them. 

On the move

Digital Envoy, a privacy-sensitive, IP-based geolocation and IP intelligence company, hired Michael Kercher as general counsel and chief privacy officer. He had been chief privacy officer and global privacy counsel at WestRock Co.

The Ironman Group appointed Suzanne Cohen chief marketing officer. She was most recently managing director, head of branch and local experiences at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cheryl Gresham has been appointed chief marketing officer of Visible, a Verizon company, effective Dec. 13.

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