This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Jeni’s: The Columbus, Ohio-based ice cream brand with a cult-like following is looking to boost its fanbase through a “Ted Lasso” collaboration. Inspired by the Emmy Award-winning Apple TV series, “Biscuits with the Boss” is a mix of shortbread cookies and salted butter sweet cream ice cream. The new flavor will be available for a limited time only in early March. Hopefully, Jeni’s has a smoother rollout than the disaster that was its collab with Dolly Parton two years ago.

NFL: Not only were Super Bowl TV ratings up, but the league scored on its social media channels, calling it “the most engaging day ever.” Its Twitter impressions jumped 30% compared with Super Bowl 2022, while it reported its all-time best day for Instagram reach, where this post on Rihanna’s halftime performance now ranks as the NFL’s “most viewed, and most engaged with video ever,” according to the league. It garnered over 3.7 million likes and 28,000 comments as of writing.  

Read more: Rihanna’s Fenty was a Super Bowl marketing winner

Read more: The best and worst Super Bowl ads

Louis Vuitton: The high-end fashion label gained buzz this week when it announced Pharrell Williams as its new men’s creative director. The first collection from Williams, who collaborated with the brand in 2004 and 2008, is due out in June. He succeeds Virgil Abloh, who died in 2021.

Losers

Gucci: The luxury label logged a 14% decline in same-store sales for the three months ended in December, according to parent Kering, which counts Gucci as its largest brand. Gucci is dealing with designer turnover following the departure of Alessandro Michele and his replacement by Sabato de Sarno. Kering is also still dealing with the fallout from its Balenciaga brand, which featured a grossly inappropriate ad campaign in the fall that depicted children and teddy bear toys in bondage gear.

High-end hotels: Higher prices are causing many travelers to gravitate toward low- and mid-range hotels and avoid the high-end spots, according to a CNN report citing travel company Trivago. A Trivago executive said that four- and five-star hotels are falling out of favor while two- and three-star chains are gaining ground. Experts expect inflation to continue to take a toll on leisure travel, which is seeing signs of a slowdown.

Olaplex: The beauty brand is getting sued by a group of customers who claim its hair products cause bald spots and hair loss, among other issues. The group said the items resulted in “serious injury” by causing allergic reactions and using ingredients that are not allowed in Europe. Olaplex, which is sold at retailers such as Ulta Beauty and is a popular choice by influencers on social media, has denied the claims, according to a report.

Tweet of the week

Number of the week

3%: Jump in retail sales in January, the highest in two years, according to the Commerce Department 

Quote of the week

“The agency goals don't always correlate with the client goals. As much as you want to be a cheerleader for the agency to do the best work possible—and it is a symbiotic relationship, where great work means good things for us and good things for them—we didn't always necessarily feel that.” —Jason Sperling, who was recently named chief creative officer of Innocean USA after working at Meta Reality Labs.

On the move

Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., whose holdings include the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, hired Jeremy Watkins as senior VP of communications. He previously managed the sports and gaming division at Hiltzik Strategies, a strategic communications firm.

Constellation Brands, whose brands include Corona and Modelo, hired Ricardo Dalmas as senior VP strategy, insights and analytics.