This week’s marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Adidas: It took a while but Adidas eventually made the right decision this week when the sportswear giant said it was parting ways with Ye, following increasingly anti-Semitic remarks from the rapper previously known as Kanye West. In a statement on Tuesday, Adidas said it was terminating its partnership with Ye, effective immediately. Adidas followed Gap, which last month dropped West. Also this week, Gap said it was removing all Yeezy merchandise from stores and Skechers executives escorted Ye from their Los Angeles office when he came to call. Brand experts applauded Adidas’ move.

Michael Bublé: Look for the Canadian crooner to perhaps be in a lot more ads in 2023. He blew away a lot ot the marketing execs making those decisions during a performance this week at the Association of National Advertisers' Masters of Marketing conference. Music acts at business conferences are hit or miss—mostly miss—because it's hard to energize a bunch of lanyard-wearing attendees. But Bublé—who appeared in a 2019 Super Bowl for PepsiCo’s Bubly—was engaging. He interacted with the crowd, including inviting people on stage to dance and snapping selfies.

Coca-Cola: The beverage company reported a 10% jump in third-quarter revenue, beating analyst expectations, and raised its full-year revenue outlook. Motley Fool declared that “Coca-Cola is still firing on all cylinders,” adding that while the company “suffered a slowdown in 2020 as the pandemic's impact on restaurants and other foodservice customers offset stable retail sales ... business recovered quickly in 2021, and that momentum continued throughout the first three quarters of 2022.”

Read more: Coca-Cola ad spending on track to reach an all-time high

Losers

Alphabet: The tech company and Google owner reported a worrisome slowdown in sales and earnings this week amid larger signs of economic turmoil. Third-quarter revenue rose 6% to $69.1 billion, missing analyst expectations. Reports pointed out that this is the first time Google’s parent company has had quarterly revenue rise by less than 10% since 2020. Google said its ad revenue rose only 2.5%, to $54.5 billion; YouTube’s ad sales fell 2%.

Meta: The company formerly known as Facebook also took a big hit this week. Ad revenue, which makes up the vast majority of overall revenue at $27.7 billion, fell 3.6% to $27.24 billion. At Meta’s Reality Labs, which includes Quest and VR, revenue was nearly halved to $285 million from $558 million last year.

TV networks: Yes, networks are pouring more money into streaming that is drawing brand attention—but interest in old-fashioned TV ads continues to fall. Ad Age’s 2022-23 TV ad pricing chart—published this week—reveals that of the 61 returning series across ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and The CW (plus one from Amazon Prime Video) tracked by Ad Age, 30 saw the cost for a 30-second ad fall by more than 5% compared to last season.

Tweet of the week

Number of the week

425%: Percent increase in attendees at this year’s Masters of Marketing event in Orlando Florida, compared to last year’s number of in-person viewers.

Quote of the week

"I learned how to spell cooch!” Bob Liodice, chief executive of the Association of National Advertisers, to Soyoung Kang, chief marketing officer of Eos Products, following her Masters of Marketing presentation about how Eos has grown its brand from viral campaigns such as Bless Your F#@%ing Cooch.

On the move

Sexual wellness brand Foria announced the hire of Liz Dolinski as chief marketing officer. She had been chief growth officer at Lunya, a direct-to-consumer sleepwear brand.

Cellebrite, a provider of digital intelligence solutions, hired Lisa Cole as chief marketing officer. She was formerly VP of corporate marketing at Faro.  

GM promoted Deborah Wahl to senior VP. She will retain her CMO title.