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Livestreams fuel Giving Tuesday

Good morning, and welcome to December and Giving Tuesday!

The pandemic, straining finances around the world, brings extra significance to Giving Tuesday. After millions were spent during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, brands now want consumers to give to causes. Along with numerous nonprofits, brands including the National Basketball Association, eBay and State Farm are encouraging consumers to donate by using the hashtag #GivingTuesday and sponsoring livestream events.

State Farm and YouTube are partnering with gaming streaming channel The Game Theorists on a livestream featuring gaming influencers Pokimane, MrBeast and others to raise $1 million to help St. Jude Children's Research Hospital fight childhood cancer. Last year, the event raised more than $1.3 million. Meanwhile, PayPal, Ford, Facebook and GoFundMe are among brands supporting Giving Tuesday. The nonprofit, founded in 2012, will this year present a livestream hosted by NBC’s Mario Armstrong, and the NBA is aiming to raise $30,000 to fund its classroom math program, NBA Math Hoops. A variety of small businesses, including mask retailer Lunair Wellness and e-commerce baby food brand Little Spoon, are donating portions of sales to organizations and families in need.

Consumers can use Instagram's GivingTuesday donation sticker in their stories to be added to a shared Story. Instagram is also testing a feature allowing users to link to nonprofits in their posts.

Is 2021 here yet?

Unfortunately, it's still a month before we can officially say 2020 is over—but that’s not stopping brands including Kia from taking advantage of the new year. Ad Age’s E.J. Schultz writes that the car brand is already launching its first large-scale New Year’s marketing campaign. A new 2021 Kia Sorento will haul the giant “2021” sign—which will sit atop One Times Square during the annual ball drop—across the country, making stops at dealerships along the way. The brand will run New Year's Eve TV ads on ABC’s “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021,” including an in-show integration that will spotlight the Sorento road trip. Barefoot Wine and Planet Fitness are also sponsoring the celebration but have had to alter their plans due to the pandemic. Look for Planet Fitness’ yellow and purple branded masks.

Motel 6 moves on

In October, Motel 6 dropped the Richards Group, its agency of 34 years, after founder Stan Richards described a proposed ad as “too Black” for the chain’s “white supremacist constituents.” As it turns out, the brand had launched an agency review even before that incident. Now, Motel 6 announced it has found a replacement: Kansas City-based independent agency Barkley.

Motel 6 says it chose Barkley to be its new agency of record because of its ability to “build modern brands for modern consumers.” Along with the new agency, the brand has introduced a new role—VP of brand management— as part of a push to place more emphasis on restructuring and evolving the business. Ad Age’s Judann Pollack writes that Barkley’s first Motel 6 work will be a campaign centered around returning to travel.

AMC focuses on DE&I

As America grapples with racial injustice, brands are in the spotlight—embracing social justice reform or being called out when they miss the mark. AMC Networks is the latest media company to hire its first chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer to help it attract and retain a diverse workforce and tell stories that show a full spectrum of the human experience. AMC tapped Aisha Thomas-Petit, who previously served as head of diversity, inclusion and corporate social responsibility at ADP, writes Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi. 

Just briefly

E-commerce goals: Facebook has announced plans to buy customer relations software company Kustomer to boost its e-commerce abilities. The deal is worth up to $1 billion. With a ton of competition, there is “opportunity for social media sites to become more integrated with direct sales,” writes Ad Age’s Garett Sloane.

Bring your e-game: Campbell’s Chunky soup, an official sponsor of the National Football League, is hosting a Madden NFL 21 esports tournament with nonprofit Genyouth and Target that will stream on the NFL’s Twitch and YouTube channels. NFL players including Saquon Barkley, Dalvin Cook and Justin Jefferson will coach players as they compete with the goal of delivering 100 million meals for kids, writes Ad Age’s Jessica Wohl in our NFL blog.

Say it with dance: Nike is celebrating Black women through dance in a new film with the Turmalinas Negras dance troupe and Brazilian singer Ludmilla. The spot comes from agency AKQA and consultancy Think Eva and is being shown in Nike’s training app. The choreography, says Nike, forms "a timeline that shows how movements connect with ancestry and culture, going through rhythms such as break, hip hop and funk."

That does it for today’s Wake-Up Call. Thanks for reading and we hope you are all staying safe and well. For more industry news and insight, follow us on Twitter: @adage.

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