This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Taco Bell: The fast food giant’s recent campaign featuring Pete Davidson promoting its breakfast items appears to be paying off. In an earnings call, execs from Taco Bell parent company Yum Brands said sales of the brand’s breakfast items such as burritos and egg-stuffed quesadillas grew 9% in last year’s fourth quarter, thanks to Davidson. The chain beat analyst expectations with a 14% gain in sales for the quarter. Now if only the comedian and “Saturday Night Live” veteran can do the same thing for Hellmann’s, which will air a Super Bowl spot starring Davidson alongside actors Jon Hamm and Brie Larson. As Hamm says in the spot, “He really is everywhere.”

Fortune Cookies: There’s a new marketing channel popping up for advertisers and it’s quite divine. Dude Wipes, the flushable wipes brand, recently worked with OpenFortune, an out-of-home ad agency that puts ads on fortune cookie slips at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. A Chicago area campaign that saw Dude Wipes ads in 1 million fortune cookies resulted in some lucky numbers: an estimated 25 million social media impressions and a 74% brand recall rate for Dude Wipes.

Doritos: The snack brand not only scored Jack Harlow for its Super Bowl ad—but Elton John, too. The singer makes a surprise appearance in the ad that was released this week. And it’s the perfect kicker. Check it out below. And for all the latest Big Game ad news, bookmark our coverage with this guide.

Losers

Bed Bath & Beyond: The beleaguered chain had more negative news this week. This time, the retailer said it is closing another 150 stores, following last week’s announcement of 87 shuttering. First-quarter sales are expected to be down as much as 40% as the company tries to avoid a bankruptcy that appears inevitable.

AMC: The movie theater company invited backlash with the announcement that it will charge different prices for seats in different sections of the auditorium. Consumers, including actor Elijah Wood, complained that the policy is undemocratic for those with lower incomes.

Chipotle: The restaurant chain reported disappointing fourth-quarter results. Revenue, profits and same-store sales all missed expectations as Chipotle said customers dined out less often due to rising costs. The holidays in particular did not result in the momentum the chain had expected, executives said.

Adidas: The sportswear giant reported a weak performance for Ivy Park, the clothing brand produced in partnership with Beyoncé. According to the Wall Street Journal, which reviewed internal Adidas documents, the brand’s sales fell more than 50% last year to around $40 million, severely missing the $250 million goal. It caps a bad week for the singer, who was again snubbed for Best Album of the Year at the Grammys. 

Tweet of the week

Number of the week

61%: Amount of U.S. consumers who plan to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday, according to market research firm Numerator.

Quote of the week

“We expect, as Black creators, to be reached out to for Black History Month or Juneteenth. 2020 was kind of when the alarm bells were set off, and then 2021 is when we started to see brands actually putting things into action. But it feels like it's gotten a little quiet, and I think that's partly because [brands] are not receiving the same pressure as there once was.” –Jayde Powell, a freelance marketer and creator, on the dearth of brand partnerships with Black creators for Black History Month.

On the move

DexCare Inc., the healthcare-focused data company, hired Jamie Gier as chief marketing officer. She was CMO of Ceros, a tech company.

Allego, a sales training platform, hired Heather Moses as chief marketing officer. She had been senior VP of marketing at Nexthink.

Albertsons hired Harvey Ma as VP of Albertsons Media Collective. He was most recently senior VP, omni, consumer and retail performance at NielsenIQ.