This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Taylor Swift: The singer is poised to break $1 billion in gross billings from her “Eras Tour” concert series, which would see her surpass Elton John for the record. After adding more international shows, Swift will bring her concert total to 106 by next summer, when she’ll play a final show in London. And more dates could still be added, to the delight of scores of Swifties clamoring for a ticket.

Also read: How Taylor Swift helped Gillette Stadium reshape its social strategy

Nike: It turns out that sponsoring a fake sports team pays off. Nike, which outfits the fictional AFC Richmond team in Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso,” earned $27.2 million of net sponsorship value during Season 3, as a result of its placements in the show, according to analytics firm YouGov. 

Overstock: The online home goods retailer is betting big on the bankrupt Bed Bath & Beyond. Midvale, Utah-based Overstock announced this week it is changing its domain name online to Bed Bath & Beyond after acquiring the defunct retailer’s assets for $21.5 million. And investors seem enthused—Overstock’s share price was up 15% to near $30 by midday trading on Thursday, following the news.

Losers

Walgreens: The drugstore chain said close 450 stores in the U.S. and U.K. following a steep decline in profits in the third quarter. In that period, earnings were down 60% compared to the year-earlier period to $118 million. The combination of consumers looking for more value in a down economy and the decline in COVID-19 vaccines and testing contributed to the drop, according to Walgreens executives.

Shein: The popular Chinese fast-fashion brand stepped in it this week when American influencers it invited to tour its factories posted favorable reviews and received backlash in response. Influencers and designers such as Kenya Freeman were slammed for covering up the true conditions of Shein work sites and employee treatment behind rosy social media posts.

YouTube: It was a tough week for the Alphabet-owned platform as it deals with a damning report from ad measurement firm Adalytics, which alleged that YouTube is serving ads that don’t adhere to its standards, including some that ran on obscure sites that did not even give viewers the chance to skip them.

Read more: Google's video ads face fresh doubts about inventory quality

Quote of the week

“McDonald’s goal was about reinventing Grimace, and making the beloved character more culturally relevant with a birthday limited-time offer. The brand’s community took it one step further ... likely driving a huge spike in sales and forever cementing this limited-time offer in the internet’s history.” —Eden Lipke, director, strategy at creative agency Movers+Shakers, on the Grimace Shake TikTok trend. 

Number of the week

77.6%: Percentage of Americans planning a summer getaway this year, compared with the less than 50% of Americans who traveled for leisure last summer, according to a recent survey from digital agency PMG.

Tweet of the week

On the move

Gupshup, a tech platform, appointed Mike Donohue as senior VP of global sales. He was most recently head of commercialization and GTM at PayPal.

REI Co-op promoted Michelle Kirkpatrick to VP, controller from divisional VP, controller. The retailer also promoted Ruchi Christensen to VP of distribution and fulfillment operations from divisional VP of distribution and fulfillment operations.