Marketing trends for June 16, 2023

This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers. Winners Citi: The bank’s in-house agency was a big winner at the Association of National Advertisers’ In-House Excellence Awards ceremony, which took place in Orlando, Florida this week. Called Citi Creative Services, the agency has a flat structure without hierarchy, which helps with decision-making, Citi said. Aflac was also honored with “Best in Show” for a recent campaign highlighting the gap between the end of health insurance and the piling up of medical bills. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Cava: The Mediterranean fast-casual food chain went public on Thursday and investors are already clamoring for a piece. Cava’s shares opened at $42 Thursday, nearly double the $22 per share amount the brand priced itself at on Wednesday. The new price values Cava at a market valuation of $4.68 billion. Read more: Cava rebrands with sunkissed look Keurig: Mick Jagger’s still got it—at least when it comes to appealing to coffee fans. The Rolling Stones recently partnered with Keurig on a Stones-branded custom-designed brewer, matching tumbler, and a “Start Me Up” K-Cup pod coffee blend. Havas New York, which conceptualized the limited-editing iced coffee kit, reported this week that it sold out all 400 of the kits made in less than 24 hours. Bravado, Universal Music Group's merchandise and brand management company, was also involved. Losers Instant Brands: The pressure is up for the maker of Instant Pot, Corelle and Pyrex glassware. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, citing tighter credit and high interest rates as problems. Estimated assets and liabilities were listed near $1 billion in the petition, which was filed in Texas. It’s been a tough year for food storage brands—Tupperware has also struggled. The Stanley Cup: The Las Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup this week—but did anyone notice? The NHL final ended with more of a whimper than a bang as it saw its smallest audience in nearly 30 years. The game between the Florida Panthers and the Vegas Golden Knights averaged 2.72 million viewers on TNT and TruTV, according to Sports Media Watch, which noted the audience was the smallest since a 1994 game between the Canucks and Rangers. The Cup ratings aside, it was a banner season for the NHL when measured by sponsorship revenue gains. TrueCar: The online vehicle shopping marketplace has laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce and replaced its CEO amid steep revenue losses. Automotive News has more. Quote of the week “Brands still need to be transparent and authentic. But I do think everything is personal now, and it’s just hard to protect yourself.”—Lisa Mann, manager of the consumer practice and chief marketing officer of executive placement firm Raines International, on the rising trend of marketing executives being personally attacked for ad campaigns. Read more: Doxing sparks new fear for brand leaders Number of the week 8%: Rise in price of ice cream between April and May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index, in an ominous start to the summer selling season. Tweet of the week They gonna charge $7 to get in the door too? https://t.co/izr8too7GX— meredith minkow (@murrminks) June 13, 2023 On the move Vibenomics, a provider of digital in-store media that is owned by Mood Media, hired Brian Quinn as head of global advertising sales. He was most recently chief growth officer at Pixability. Fivetran, a data movement platform provider, hired Rachel Thornton as chief marketing officer. She had been CMO of Amazon Web Services. Saks Off Fifth hired Mara Sirhal as chief merchant and brand officer, a newly created position. She was formerly executive VP, brand president at Bed Bath & Beyond and Harmon Beauty.

Marketing winners and losers of the week

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