This week’s marketing winners, losers and newsmakers.
Marketing News & Strategy
Marketing winners and losers of the week
Viral Pink Stuff cleaning brand gets a boost and Buick gains on Kendrick Lamar plug—plus why it was a bad week for Joan, Poppi and Tesla
Pink Stuff was named a best product by Kantar
Credit:
The Pink Stuff via FaceBook
Winners
The Pink Stuff
The rose-hued cleaning paste that became popular after going viral on TikTok was named a winner in the 2025 Product of the Year Awards. The annual awards, created with consumer research firm Kantar, survey 40,000 shoppers who vote for product innovation. The Pink Stuff was awarded “Best Product” in Kantar’s household cleaning essential category.
Nike
After running its first Super Bowl ad since 1998—a widely praised female empowerment spot—the sports brand acted quickly after the game, dropping a social video paying tribute to the winning Eagles, with some help from Kermit the Frog.
Buick
The General Motors brand did not buy a Super Bowl ad, but it got a significant boost during the game thanks to Kendrick Lamar, who stood on the roof of what appeared to be a Buick GNX during his halftime show performance. Lamar has an affinity for Buick, even naming his latest album GNX. With more than 127 million people watching, Buick enjoyed a 182% boost in traffic to its web pages, according to Cars.com.
GNX stands for Grand National Experimental, referring to a 1987 model. They are rare—only 547 of the turbocharged vehicles were made. Car culture site Jalopnik did some sleuthing to discover that the vehicle was not a real GNX, but a fabrication for the stage. “It would never make sense to build up this stage prop from a real GNX as most of them have been bubble-wrapped in rich dude collections for decades and even a shabby one will run you deep into the six figures,” it reported. Lamar is one of those people—he does own an actual GNX, according to multiple reports.
Losers
Poppi
The prebiotic soda brand attracted criticism for its Super Bowl campaign, which sent branded vending machines to certain influencers. Consumers were outraged that such lavish machines were gifted to influencers such as Chanel Iman, wife of New England Patriots defensive tackle Davon Godchaux; and Jake Shane, as many complained such individuals are affluent enough to buy their own products.
Read more: Poppi’s influencer vending machine backlash—what marketers can learn
Founder Allison Ellsworth addressed the controversy in a TikTok video earlier this week. “I hear you—there’s a lot of misinformation being spread out there by one of our competitors,” she said in the two-minute clip, adding that the brand wants to bring Poppi to the masses. She encouraged consumers to nominate places where they want to see the brand’s vending machines.
Tesla
The EV maker’s European sales are falling, and Elon Musk’s political views might be to blame. Tesla registrations in Germany fell by nearly 60% in January compared to the month before, reports the Financial Times, which cites Musk’s support of a far-right Alternative for Germany party ahead of elections later this month. The newspaper alluded to local reports about strong demand for stickers for Tesla owners that read “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”
Meantime, President Donald Trump’s policies, which include tariffs and a possible end to the $7,500 federal clean vehicle tax credit, could harm EV sales in the U.S. J.D. Power in a new report projects U.S. EV retail share to equal 9.1%, which would be flat compared with 2024.
Quote of the week
“We try to be what we call smart-dumb. Clever, but a little fun.”—Kevin George, chief marketing officer of Kelce-brothers backed Garage Beer, on the brand’s marketing approach.
Social post of the week
Number of the week
50%
Share of Gen Z respondents who cannot correctly define a tariff even when presented with four multiple-choice options, according to a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers about their understanding of tariffs from PR firm DKC.
On the move
Costa Sunglasses hired Robbie LaBelle as VP of Global Marketing. He had been VP marketing for nutrition and wellness brand Sports Research.
Athletes Unlimited, which operates women’s pro softball, volleyball and basketball leagues hired Vanessa Taveras as chief partnerships officer. She had been VP of strategic partnerships for IMG Academy.
Brand USA hired Leah Chandler as chief marketing officer. She was most recently CMO of Discover Puerto Rico.
Also read: CMO job moves and hiring trends to watch
