Meghan and Harry sign deal with P&G, Microsoft is Cannes Creative Marketer of the Year: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. P&G’s Royal deal Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation has signed a “multi-year” partnership with Procter & Gamble, in the latest big commercial tie-up for the royal couple. According to a post on the Foundation’s website, the partnership will “focus on gender equality, more inclusive online spaces, and resilience and impact through sport” and will “elevate the voices of adolescent girls to ensure their point of view and lived experience is heard at the tables where decisions are made.” It goes on to say that expanding on P&G’s collaboration with Promundo, “together we will underscore the importance of engaging men and boys in the drive for gender equity throughout society and encourage shared caregiving at home so everyone in the family can thrive.” As well as adding to the couple’s deals with Netflix, Spotify and Apple TV+, the partnership sees Markle come full circle in her relationship with P&G. As outlets including Fox Business point out, aged 11, she wrote to the company to alter a "very sexist" ad for Ivory Clear that included the line, "Mothers around America are fighting greasy pots and pans." P&G later changed it to "People all over America." Microsoft’s Cannes accolade It was once arguably known as the dull corporate brand of the tech world, in contrast to colorful rival Apple. But Microsoft has left all that behind, as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity yesterday named it as the 2021 Creative Marketer of the Year. As Ad Age’s Ann-Christine Diaz reports, Microsoft has repeatedly impressed at the Festival in recent years, earning accolades across its suite of products, with campaigns such as 2019’s multiple Grand Prix-winning its “Changing the Game,”, created out of McCann New York, and McCann London’s multi-Lion honored “Survival Billboard” Xbox/“Tomb Raider.” Diaz spoke to Kathleen Hall, Microsoft corporate VP of brand, advertising and research, on how it’s managed to create breakthrough campaigns over the past decade, and even during the pandemic. Hall says it has “shifted the paradigm for the category, where tech, for the longest time, was about the shiny thing,” and “flipped it to being about the amazing things people do with our things.” The big short YouTube is backing YouTube Shorts, its new short-form video clips feature that rivals TikTok, with a $100 million fund to distribute to creators of the clips. Variety reports that YouTube expects the program to kick off in the fall of 2021 and continue into 2022. “Since Shorts is a new way to watch and create on YouTube, we’ve been taking a fresh look at what it means to monetize and reward creators for their content,” Amy Singer, director of global partnership enablement for YouTube Shorts, wrote in a blog post yesterday. Snapchat similarly has a fund to pay creators. The move comes as TikTok is consolidating its popularity with Gen Z; according to a new eMarketer report, it has already surpassed Instagram with Gen Z users, reports Ad Age’s Garett Sloane, and by 2025 is forecast to reach parity with Snapchat in the U.S. Come fly with me As Americans prepare to travel again, several travel brands are rethinking their agency partners. Following Travelocity's appointment of Doner earlier this week, now United Airlines has named 72andSunny global creative agency of record, replacing incumbent Dentsumcgarrybowen, writes Ad Age’s Adrianne Pasquarelli. Chicago-based United said it was impressed with the MDC Partners shop’s “thoughtful approach to strategic and creative direction” as well as its ability to collaborate in a way that “builds on United’s rich history.” 72's L.A. office will handle the account. Just briefly Team player: The Washington Football Team has hired a top marketer to help with its rebrand, which includes the selection of a new name and team identity after it dropped the Redskins moniker. Will Misselbrook, the Wall Street Journal’s former global head of creative, is the first chief creative and digital officer within the National Football League, reports Ad Age’s Jeanine Poggi. Banking on it: Leanne Fremar, chief brand officer, JPMorgan Chase, will discuss how it’s breaking through the clutter of an influx of digital banking startups in today’s edition of Ad Age Remotely. Watch live at 10.30AM EDT. Nut job: Ever wanted to see your face on a nut? Well now you can. Blue Diamond Almonds is appealing to "superfans" on Instagram with a stunt that offers them the chance to have their face carved into a tiny almond. It’s tapped Instagram artist and influencer Hoang Tran, aka @mumblestohimself, to immortalize fans' faces in a stunt by TBWA/Chiat/Day. Take a look over at Creativity. 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. From CMO Strategy to the Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, we’ve got newsletters galore. See them all here. Subscribers make the difference. Individual, group and corporate subscriptions are available—including access to our Ad Age Datacenter. Find options at AdAge.com/membership.

Meghan and Harry sign deal with P&G, Microsoft is Cannes Creative Marketer of the Year: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

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