Big as the what? Big as the Super Bowl: Marketing, Storytelling &...
Agency & Brand news you probably missed + brand storytelling advice/rant.
TikTok is obsessed with Irena Aizen Paintings and everyone, including truly yours, a meme.
Before you go further, Attention is like money–you can waste it or invest it. If you invest it in my paid newsletter, you'll get dividends for years.
On my feed as of now…
AdAge’s Best Places to Work 2025. (read)
Julia Fox and Martha Stewart strip down in MAC’s nude lipstick campaign.
Cadbury bars riff off of ‘Made to Share’ idea in limited-edition campaign.
This ad campaign is soo good. Somewhat similar to Coke’s name on bottles campaign.
Bob Iger gets 30% Boost in Total Pay to $41.1 Million on Disney profit.
Fox scores first $8 million Super Bowl Ads: Here's How.
Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network to launch music channel, new shows with SiriusXM.
Net worth of millennials has quadrupled: Why some call it 'phantom wealth'.
Meta blows past Q4 expectations with record revenue and profit as Zuckerberg touts massive AI investment.
The Spotify/UMG Deal Signals Hope for Publishers — What Comes Next?
Björk slams Spotify as "probably the worst thing that has happened to musicians".
DeepSeek R1's recipe to replicate o1 and the future of reasoning LMs. (read)
Stella McCartney buys back minority stake From LVMH.
Brand News
Super Bowl & Best Ads:
Hellmann’s hits the Super Bowl spot with ‘When Harry met Sally’ remake.
Willem Dafoe and Catherine O'Hara are Pickleball Phenoms in Michelob Ultra SB59 ad spot.
'Ditch the cow': Gordon Ramsay's new F-word is Flora - vegan butter.
Charli XCX and Martha Stewart are listening not judging in Uber Eats Super Bowl ad spot meanwhile Matthew McConaughey is…..
‘Actually, it's IKEA’ campaign mimics aspirational brand ads with incredible value products.
Harrison Ford partnering with Glenmorangie Whisky for an iconic Scottish ad campaign.
Actimel highlights winter’s toll on the body with falling billboard posters.
The Ordinary launches creative ad campaign "The truth should be ordinary".
Heinz triggers Britain's taste memories with iconic food combinations and relies on brand memory, logo-less ad spot.
Liquid Death enters The Big Leagues with First Super Bowl ad spot.
Old Spice and Instacart partner for Super Bowl ad spot titled ‘Big Game Deals’.
Suntory Boss Coffee taps Celebrity Chef Andy Hearnden for new new campaign via It's Friday.
7-Eleven gives free emotional support pizza to fans of Super Bowl Losers.
IKEA UAE transforms outdoor collection into downloadable desktop icons.
SAFE Project highlights how Alcohol misuse can snowball in the Winter.
Lunar New Year:
Lee Kum Kee launches first-ever global campaign in time for LNY.
'The Family Anchor' - TNB New Year Campaign highlights the Importance of Family Traditions.
How Panda Express crafts an authentic Lunar New Year campaign.
CHAGEE apologises for misuse of 'Lunar New Year' translation.
Disney Merch among top searches on Google during Lunar New Year 2025.
Singtel's attempt to reimagine LNY traditions misses the mark.
FairPrice Group launches new integrated campaign ‘Love prospers in the little things’ for LNY.
Lunar New Year goodies: APAC's Year of the Snake campaigns.
Beauty & Fashion:
e.l.f. Cosmetics and Meghan Trainor unite to debut global cloud skin campaign and limited-edition product bundle.
Myntra’s ‘Fashion with caution’ ad campaign turns heads—and trolleys.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode relaunches lip liner: the return of a trend.
Chanel cuts 70 US Jobs warning of challenging luxury environment.
NYX cosmetics blends music and makeup for TikTok-focused mixtape.
Kiehl’s responds to intimate care ad censorship with ‘pubic hair’ font.
Bala x Emilio Pucci brand collaboration is here.
Puma took over Paris Fashion week with immersive brand space.
Food & Drinks:
Starbucks bets on Barista Love marketing to broader audience to support turnaround.
For Valentine’s Day, Knorr and Tinder find cooking is the ultimate "Green Flag" to make your dating profile stand out.
Kellogg’s “See you in the morning” OG ad spot by Leo Burnett UK.
‘Only at McDonald’s’ brand platform in the UK centers fan truths around menu items. Have you ever rogue dipped a fry?
Texas Pete reintroduces brand mascot with boot-stompin’ ballad.
CentreFruit, Indian gum brand revives iconic waggle with fresh humour.
Post Malone's Oreo Cookies are a melodic chorus of Salty And Sweet.
Oreo Canada launches limited edition Cakeshop.
Another Vegan product rebrand, Hellmann’s Mayo is now plant-based, not vegan.
[ yellow tail ] and Domino's® team up to create The Ultimate Pizza-Wine Pairing.
AUNZ Work of the Week: StrangeLove and Today the Brave.
Popeyes and Tequila Don Julio kick off Limited-Edition 'Championship Lineup’.
Cheetos continues to embrace ‘Other Hand’ imperfection with custom font.
Other:
Trainline demands people get their bums on trains to save the world.
Vevo & TurboTax tap genre-bending Shaboozey to bring a new vibe to tax season for Gen Z.
Axis Bank celebrates 🇮🇳 Republic Day by reimagining PIN security.
Patak’s unveils new meal kit campaign titled ‘‘Curry Saucerer’s Apprentice”.
VisitBritain showcases The Nation as a blockbuster-inspired ‘Starring GREAT Britian’ ad spot.
EY launches global film focusing on next generation.
EasyJet Holidays introduces new Life Admin concierge service.
TfL celebrates 25 year anniversary with vibrant posters.
Dollar Shave Club ad spot focuses on an 'ex-moustache'.
DfE launches outdoor campaign aligned with time of day and environment.
NBA Paris Games draws fans and brand partners for Wemby return.
More ads to ponder: Ikos, Sure and Holocaust Memorial Day.
Storytelling vs Brand Storytelling
Storytelling isn't hard. Making people give a f**k about your story is.
The stories we find most engaging aren't perfect, but they are either told by someone we trust or are constructed to highlight whatever will resonate most with our thinking/liking.
These are the two most common elements a story needs to generate revenue and resonance.
It's Spielberg vs. Nolan: Messenger vs. Medium. One is known for using the message to market his stories. The other uses the medium (IMAX) to do the same.
While brands don’t need to treat their stories like art forms: movies, documentaries & fiction writing. They do have an ego to build something like that. A small brand can’t afford time or money to build a narrative structures like these.
Having an ego and passion to treat brand storytelling as an art form benefits your brand as long as you aren’t delusional.
The first rule of brand storytelling is acknowledge what you have and what you don’t. Creativity means breaking boundaries, yet by saying this, people forget they're admitting boundaries exist and matter. To think out of box isn’t about abandoning the box. It’s about transforming the box into a kite.
I have always thought of brand storytelling and marketing as a form of survival tactics. You can't abandon the box (frameworks, data, and capitalism) for the sake of creativity.
Because you need to keep that job or business alive. There are people who think creativity is all you need. I disagree.
They are either extremely privileged or delusional. Being delusional isn't wrong, especially when you are young and passionate. Many ad agencies and brands hire young talent for this sole reason.
The other side of the story is privilege. You are not fighting for survival when the product is telling a story. You are doing additional work to use creativity for leverage or for shareholders.
Remember that the products with privilege in 2025 aren't simply the best in terms of quality. These products have privileges because of design, trends, and more.
Your brand in 2025 is fighting brands that aren't using storytelling for survival because either they can afford it, or they have products selling the story.
Most creative founders and marketers get either too inspired or jealous by this fact. That's when ego makes them delusional to the extent that they destroy the brand.
They invite their nieces to do the TikToks, ask about virality, and never listen to the creative and finance people who actually know what they are talking about.
Don’t be like that, remember:
Brands do storytelling. Businesses do brand storytelling.
The difference is: when a brand fails at storytelling, it loses brand value. When a business fails at brand storytelling, it closes the f**king shop.
It's better to be known as a random shop than to be known as the local shop that got canceled for doing business with XY country.
Being generic is a form of brand identity that works for a lot of businesses. And more brands than ever need it in 2025. Because controlling the brand and story of any business is harder than ever.
That's why you need to do storytelling with a clear strategy, and frameworks can be your best buddies.
Here's what every business owner needs...
1. Build a messenger effect: Someone from your team needs to take the messenger role and build trust. If it's someone other than the founder, you also need to build an exit plan. So when that person leaves, the messenger effect transfers to you.
2. Always have a problem-solution equation: In the beginning, you need to focus on storytelling that solves the problem for the most active audiences. Later on, you can start telling stories that take time to consume but engage audiences.
3. Build an exit strategy: Know when to step back if your story goes viral. You don’t want to stretch the story to attract the wrong audience. Once the people have adopted your narrative. Let it run.
4. What the hell, sure: The internet and most people in this world are in this mood. You ought to have somewhat of a similar mood to experiment with your story structures and ideas.
Especially, you need to have this mentality towards competitors. Nothing is original, most people are on similar vibe frequencies, curated by algorithm. You can’t start fighting over tiny similarities between your brand story/tone vs competitors tone.
There is a solution though. You can help your creative teams gain a new experience by allowing them to spend time on stupid and cool things.
5. Instead of relying on storytelling frameworks, use them to test how many new trends and ideas fit their structure.
Analyse your best ideas and see in how many frameworks they fit. You don’t need to follow the frameworks if you find they hard to use. But you should use them to check where your ideas stand.
6. Ask people to describe what they think your brand story is. Most people have never been asked that question by local businesses.
7. Don’t sign off on ideas or strategies that you can’t imagine yourself doing as a human. Not as extroverts or introverts.
8. Start today, not tomorrow.
Brand stories are like Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Agency News
Acquisitions, Restructuring & Hires:
DDB restructures North America agencies under new leadership unit.
Subway is reviewing U.S. Media and Creative accounts.
Forsman & Bodenfors hires Justine Armour as global chief creative officer.
Welch's is seeking a new Creative Agency for Sparkling Juices.
Publicis Media acquires Dysrupt to ‘supercharge’ performance marketing.
OvareGroup expands global footprint with Togetherwith acquisition.
Independent ad agency’s faux ‘Marion Ett’ LinkedIn profile encourages WPP staff to cut their strings.
Publicis ANZ acquires indie media shop Atomic 212°.
Optus creative account goes to pitch as media decision looms.
Wieden+Kennedy enters Australia, setting up Sydney outpost after winning McDonald's account.
MachWon launches as next-generation AI-powered Creative Agency.
Wins:
Publicis wins Santander global creative and media.
Deutsch Family Wine and Spirits names Tombras Media AOR.
Jack Link's appoints Creative & Media Agencies.
PHD wins Zurich’s Media in Australia.
72andSunny wins AFL to launch 2025 Season.
Myer consolidates Creative and Production with Howatson+Company.
R/GA wins Eli Lilly Social Business account.
BMF retains Tourism Tasmania account to remain Lead Creative Agency.
Pandora consolidates Global Media Account with Dentsu.
ATP Tour taps M&C Saatchi to engage younger fans with innovative digital content.
FCB Group India expands portfolio with 14 new clients across agencies.
Clipper Tea appoints Defiant as lead Strategic and Creative Agency.
HGS Interactive secures digital media mandate for Tata Chemicals.
Autodesk names Giant Spoon as first creative Agency of Record.
MAGNERS appoints ARK Agency.
Visa parts ways with Wieden+Kennedy, adds Anomaly to agency roster
Report of the day: UK Ad Industry
34% of respondents had never heard of the ‘Pitch Positive Pledge.’ When asked to rate the impact of the Pitch Positive Pledge, it was scored an average 3 out of 10.
Agencies appear to be giving away intellectual property rights in return for nominal pitch fees of less than £25K, with 13% citing their agency as doing so.
🏈 Prepare for the next Super Bowl by reading these advertising articles and reports
Nielsen: 2024 Viewership data and 2023 device and viewership.
Annual Super Poll Reveals Viewers Attitudes Towards Ads in the Big Game
System1: How to win the Super Bowl
Social Media Inspo 🧋
Brand Characters & Music: Beats by Dre
Community Building & Engagement: Grindr x Troye Sivan
Roleplay & Skits: Graza
It’s time to post your DIY experiments: Sol De Janeiro
Salomon’s campaign for XT-Whisper: Atheltic
Apple and Sunday Scaries: I hope this email finds you well
What To Read Next
Kids are having birthday parties at Sephora now and they aren’t going anywhere.
Into The Creatorverse: McCann's Social Media Predictions For The Year.
UK adspend hits £10.6bn in Q3 2024 driven by online ad formats and AI.
Loewe’s CMO Charlie Smith is encouraging the fashion house to ‘behave like a publisher’.
How CMO Sophie Bambuck of The North Face, Nike, Converse, and Everlane Builds Brands for Everyone.
The McVulnerability Trap - The Atlantic.
We shall meet again on Sunday with Social Media & Digital Marketing News Recap. Until then, you can find us on Instagram. We have a new collab out!
