This week's marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.
Winners
U.S. Soccer: The gender gap between the men’s and women’s national soccer teams has finally been closed as result of a new collective bargaining agreement. “World Cup Prize money will be pooled between the men's and women’s teams and split equally among all players — a first in the soccer federation world,” according to a description by NBC News.
NHL: Viewership surged during the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The league reports that games on ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS averaged 768,000 viewers, up 58% from last season on NBCSN, CNBC and USA Network.
Celsius: The hot-selling energy drink is still on fire. The brand surpassed Rocstar as the No. 4 energy drink in the four weeks ending April 17, according to coverage of its recent earnings report from Beer Business Daily.
Read more: How celsius energy drink is challenging Monster and Red Bull—and winning
Losers
Grubhub: There really is no such thing as a free lunch. Grubhub had promised New Yorkers a complimentary midday meal up to $15 this week, but appeared to underestimate the huge demand such an offering would create. As a result, the food delivery service’s website crashed for many and was rife with glitches for others.
Read more: Grubhub's lunch promotion causes chaos
Wells Fargo: The bank came under fire this week for sham diverse-centric hiring practices, according to the New York Times. For example, Wells Fargo employees would interview women or people of color, per the bank’s diversity pledges, for a position, but that post had already been given to another candidate. Consumers were not shocked by the allegations, following years in which Wells Fargo has faced controversy, most recently for remarks CEO Charles Scharf made about a dearth of Black talent two years ago.