Marketing winners and losers of the week

This week’s marketing winners, losers and newsmakers. Editor’s note: This column is taking a holiday break next week and will return on July 12. Winners Hallmark Channel: The cable network’s holiday movie marathon will have some NFL flavor this year. Hallmark and the Kansas City Chiefs this week announced the production of “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.” No, the movie will not star Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce—but it seems fairly obvious that Hallmark is leaning into the pop star/tight-end romance with its move to partner with the Chiefs. Who are they to fight the alchemy? The NFL is capitalizing on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's romance, partnering with Hallmark for the movie 'Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story.' https://t.co/NL8cUCKaAf— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) June 25, 2024 The plot involves a romance between a woman whose family are Chiefs superfans and a man who is the team’s director of fan engagement. The cast includes Tyler Hynes, Hunter King and Ed Begley Jr. Skydance Sports, a joint venture between the NFL and Skydance, is the studio. Kansas City-based Hallmark stated that the movie will be supported with a “multifaceted partnership” including “unique co-branded merchandise, and on-air, social, and digital promotion.” It added that “over 50% of Hallmark Channel viewers also watched sports while the Countdown to Christmas was on air in 2023, making this film the perfect holiday occasion.” New York Times Games: After seeing success with Wordle and Spelling Bee, the New York Times Games unit officially unveiled a new word search game, Strands, this week. The debut follows four months of testing in which millions found and played the game. Jonathan Knight, head of Games at the Times, told CNN: “We’re seeing the new games build on each other, so that’s really exciting as our audience has grown pretty significantly over the past couple of few years.” Akil McLeod: There’s a new Gen Alpha marketing star, and he’s only 1 year old. Akil McLeod, who goes by Sonny, was announced this week as the 2024 Gerber Baby. McLeod, who made his debut on NBC’s “Today,” was chosen by a selection panel that for the first time included parents of previous Gerber babies. McLeod, an Arizona resident who enjoys playing with toy cars and reading a squishy ABC book, will be featured on Gerber’s social channels. Plus, his family will get $25,000 in cash, free Gerber products for up to one year and a new wardrobe from Gerber Childrenswear, among other prizes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gerber (@gerber) Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Losers Toys R Us: The retailer’s use of generative AI to create a new brand film about founder Charles Lazarus and mascot Geoffrey the Giraffe drew backlash from some creatives this week. Some called the new 60-second film, which was created with OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool Sora, an “abomination” while others criticized how the AI-generated images of a young Lazarus appeared to be a different person in multiple frames. Read more: Toys R Us AI-generated ad sparks creative backlash Totally Cool: The summer is already heating up but consumers will have to forego certain frozen desserts. Totally Cool, a manufacturer of ice cream products, issued a recall of 68 of its desserts due to listeria contamination. More than a dozen ice cream brands are affected, including items from Friendly’s, Jeni’s, Hershey’s and Chipwich. Consumers with certain lot codes should return the products for a refund. Caffeine TV: The sports streaming service went out of business this week, stating that “we’re at the point where we are still not quite profitable, so we’ve made the decision to end the service as of June 26th as we figure out our next steps.” Caffeine TV’s programming included a streaming deal with LIV Golf. Quote of the week “Whether it’s perceived as purely positive, negative or somewhere in the middle, we’re going to continue to try to position our brand that way.” —Daniel Folkman, senior VP of business at Gopuff, on how the brand purposely pursues marketing that is topically relevant in cultural conversations, despite backlash. Read more: Gopuff’s instant commerce push and edgy marketing Social post of the week May 29th: Damn looks like another boring summer for the Mets June 26th: Grimace is slamming beers during a rain delay pic.twitter.com/vZYJoGOvgm— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) June 27, 2024 Number of the week 82%: Percentage of Gen Z consumers who believe Ozempic and other drugs used for weight loss are unsafe or unhealthy, according to a recent survey conducted by Gen Z research and strategy firm DCDX. Also read: Havas to help brands weight loss marketing strategies On the move Target promoted Christina Hennington to chief strategy and growth officer from chief growth officer. Rick Gomez was promoted to chief commercial officer from chief food, essentials and beauty officer. In addition, the retailer appointed Lisa Roath chief merchandising officer. She remains chief marketing officer as Target searches for her replacement in that role. Cruise, the autonomous vehicle brand majority owned by General Motors, hired Nick Mulholland as chief communications and marketing officer. He comes from EV startup Rivian, where he led the global communications team. Cart.com, a logistics commerce company, appointed Lani Doyle as chief people officer. She had been chief human resources officer at Strategic Solutions Group. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs

Marketing winners and losers of the week

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