This week’s marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Pop-Tarts: This was a Halloween no-brainer—a giant Pop-Tarts costume. The collaboration with Spirit Halloween was revealed this week on Pop-Tarts’ social channels. It will have to compete with a range of other branded costumes, as marketers lean into spooky season more than ever. But given the success that Pop-Tarts had with its edible mascot last college football bowl season, this costume is worth betting on.

NBC’s “Today”: The morning show got a boost from its Paris Olympics coverage over the summer, giving it an edge in its long-running competition with “Good Morning America.” In the third quarter, “Today” attracted more viewers in the third quarter of 2024 than its ABC rival, the first time this has happened since the first quarter of 2018, according to Variety. But changes are afoot. On Thursday, “Today” announced the departure of co-anchor Hoda Kotb, who has been a host on the program for 17 years, six of them as a lead.

Angel City FC: The Los Angeles NWSL franchise tops Sportico’s ranking team valuations for the women’s pro soccer league. It was valued at $250 million, up from $180 million in 2023. The increase comes after Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, took a controlling ownership interest in Angel City.

Losers

TJ Maxx: The discounter was accused of racial profiling in a TikTok video that has since gone viral. In the post, which has been viewed more than 6 million times, a Black customer who goes by Sofireee3 says TJ Maxx employees followed her and her boyfriend, who is also Black, around the store and guarded the door as if a theft would occur. “I’ve never experienced racism and discrimination so apparent from anyone or any place,” Sofireee3, who describes herself as an aspiring influencer in her bio, wrote in her post. In a later post, Sofireee3 said that TJ Maxx reached out and said it was “disappointed to learn about your recent experience at one of our stores.”  Fashion watchdog group Diet Prada noted in an Instagram post about the incident that TJ Maxx parent TJX earlier this year began giving its staffers body cameras in an effort to prevent shoplifting.  

Coca-Cola Co.: Coca-Cola Spiced, introduced in March as a “permanent” flavor addition, will be pulled from shelves by the end of the year, the company confirmed on social media. Coke officials had high hopes for the raspberry-flavored soda, which they said was developed using data from Coke freestyle machines. Cherry Vanilla Coke is also being discontinued.

Visa: The financial services brand was the subject of an antitrust lawsuit filed this week by the U.S. Justice Department. The complaint alleges that Visa is penalizing merchants and banks that don’t use its services and technology for transactions. When they do use Visa’s network, the financial giant collects an incremental fee for each transaction. The DOJ found that 60% of U.S. debit transactions are on Visa’s network, leading to it charging $7 billion in annual processing fees and allowing the brand to stifle competition.

Quote of the week

“As a brand, you don’t want consumers turning their political brain on.”—Will Johnson, CEO of The Harris Poll, at Ad Age’s Business of Brands conference about how brands must be careful about the language they use when discussing certain issues.

Read more: How CMO roles and brand messaging will be impacted by the election

Social post of the week

Number of the week

46%: Percentage of consumers who made a second-hand purchase in the last three months, according to a recent survey from MorningConsult.

On the move

Goldbelly, the food e-commerce marketplace, hired Christina Grdovic as chief partnership officer. She had been head of partnerships and content at Wonder.

Barry’s appointed Jackie Lamping as chief marketing officer. She previously founded Ava Ventures.

Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream named Hillary Frei CMO. She was most recently head of marketing at Wetzel’s Pretzels.

Contributing: Jon Springer