We Didn’t Start the (Retail) Fire; Lessons from TV in 2020: Tuesday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Ecommerce Was By Far the Biggest Retail Trend of 2020 Adweek’s Lisa Lacy compiled an epic, sweeping recap and analysis of the 2020 retail roller coaster—we’re talking ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ in terms of detail, variation and intensity. Relive the ride, from panic buying, toilet paper hoarding and virtual experiences to lawsuits and walkouts topping a heap of drama at Amazon. Oh, and did I mention ecommerce? Because that’s what it’s all about. How 2020 changed the retail world: It was always burning, but the flames are really leaping now. 11 Top TV Execs on the Biggest Thing They Learned During the Pandemic Plenty of us turn to television for comfort and digestible lessons, but it’s the folks behind shows who can teach us what TV itself will look like and why after this year of one WTF after another. That’s why Adweek’s Jason Lynch went straight to the top for answers, talking to execs from NBCUniversal, HBO Max, CBS Entertainment, Tubi, Showtime and more to discover what they learned in 2020 and give us an idea of what’s to come. What does innovation look like now? “I learned that if we rise to the occasion, our audience will follow us.” Ad Buyers are Still Figuring Out Their 2021 Budgets If ecommerce is the buzzword for retail, “uncertainty” is the buzzword for—well, really, everyone after 2020. But ad tech is facing several simultaneous existential crises, brought on not only by the pandemic but with an added helping of cookie-death. The IAB surveyed 250 ad buyers from brands, agencies and marketing firms for its 2021 Marketplace Outlook Survey and found that that uncertainty is just as rampant internally as externally: Only 8% of ad buyers have their 2021 budgets figured out, and almost 50% either have no idea or are only working with ballpark estimates. Spend on the wild side: See the data on what those (few) who have figured out their budgets plan to do with them. ‘More on a Level Playing Field’: How Dubsmash Can Help Reddit Compete Reddit has long been known for its festering hate-holes—though it has in recent years taken steps to combat them. Its latest move, the acquisition of the TikTok-like app Dubsmash, shows that the company is making a firmer commitment to inclusion and representation—and aims to make the platform more attractive to advertisers. Touting the numbers: Reddit wasted no time in boasting Dubsmash’s high percentage of women and Black users. More of Today’s Top News & Highlights: Molson Coors’ CMO Michelle St. Jacques on Creating Opportunity in an Unprecedented YearPerfetti Van Melle USA Appoints Wavemaker as Media Agency of Record10 Years After Setting ‘Audacious Goals,’ Unilever Shows How Purpose and Profit Can Coexist Twitter Billboards Show How We Coped With the Horrors of 2020 by Tweeting About It, of Course Twitter has once again leveraged its users’ content in a new campaign that shouts a firm but funny “good riddance” at 2020. The collection of billboards includes humorous but earnest goodbyes to the hated year, including tweets from Dionne Warwick, Angie Thomas and many more, selected from among millions. More of the Latest: Iggy Pop Looks Ahead to When We Can All Meet on the Beach in This Touching UK AdPositivity Will Be the Buzzword on Social PlatformsCold Lead Gen Outreach on LinkedIn Is Not Advised, But It’s Still HappeningAdweek Podcast: How Brands Turned to Social Media in 2020