Ryan Reynolds' Sweater; 2019's Best Brand Social Campaigns: Friday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new 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. Ryan Reynolds’s Ugly Sweater Brings Holiday Fundraising Joy to Hospitalized Children To close out what some in the ad world have dubbed "the year of Ryan Reynolds," the marketing genius helped raise more than $300,000 for The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto by turning last year's infamous festive meme into something completely different: a playful symbol of hope for kids with serious illnesses. An animated short shows the sweater's humble beginnings, enduring endless price cuts as shoppers pass it by, laughing at its ugliness. The shopkeeper then gifts it to a man looking for fun attire to wear to a party, but the sweater just endures more laughs at said party. That's when Reynolds truly throws his lot in with the sweater, it seems, because photos of him wearing the sweater, caressing the sweater and generally appreciating the sweater lead us to the moral of this garment's journey: "Every holiday story deserves a magical ending." Cue the image of a bunch of adorable kids and a few hospital staff in that same ridiculous sweater. The link at the end of the video leads to a page pledging $100,000 in matching funds from Reynolds, which they met twice over. Read more: Reynolds has been supporting SickKids for several years. The Most Captivating Brand Campaigns We Saw on Social Media in 2019 Social media analytics company Unmetric looked at brand posts to determine which campaigns garnered the best results throughout 2019—and one of the top prizes went to the dogs. Literally. In addition to data that showed video and strong narrative make for winning social media campaigns, the company also found that anything to do with dogs (and other animals) also plays extremely well with social media audiences. Other themes identified by Unmetric that resonated with audiences were things like social responsibility, satire, music industry partnerships and holiday themes. Read more: Shoutout to SparkNotes, which tweeted a mashup of Shakespeare and Britney Spears for a high rating from Unmetric. The UK Is Investing in Influencer Marketing—and Learning From US Successes Adweek's Diana Pearl spoke with three content creators working in the UK about the opportunities and challenges of the influencer market across the pond. While US bloggers and content producers have been partnering with brands for years, the industry in the UK is younger—providing a different set of complications, especially when working with brands who are new to influencer marketing and hesitant to pay rates comparable to those earned by US influencers. But easier access to Europe can be especially useful for many content creators who focus on fashion or travel. Read more: As in any business, influencers working in the both US and the UK stress the importance of diversifying revenue streams. The TV Shows That Will Air Their Final Episodes in 2020 Some pretty big names in TV took their farewell tours in 2019 (Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, and Veep, to name a few), and more fan favorites will be sending their last installments into the world in 2020. Netflix's Bojack Horseman, the animated adult comedy about an alcoholic, washed up horse actor will drop it the final episodes of its sixth and last season at the end of the month. Fox's Empire, which tells the story of a hip hop mogul family, finishes up in the Spring. And The Good Place, NBC's forking fantastic afterlife comedy starring Kristen Bell and Ted Danson wraps on Jan. 30. Read more: Marvel's Agents of Shield, Schitt's Creek, 13 Reasons Why and Supernatural will also finish this year. Best of the Rest: Today's Top News and Insights WPP Hires Adrianne Smith as First Global Director of Inclusion and Diversity Despite Uptick in Holiday Sales, Don’t Expect Retail Bankruptcies to Subside Twitter Permanently Suspends 88,000+ Accounts in Saudi Arabia Ad Tech’s Consolidation Continues as Cadent Acquires 4INFO 4 Tips to Help Challenger Brands Live Up to Their Full Potential Ad of the Day: This KFC Ad Shockingly Reveals How Santa Spends the Rest of His Year As Christmas trees are kicked to the curb (or stuffed back in their boxes) and holiday decor is packed away once again, Santa Claus is likely up north somewhere settling in for a long year of rest and relaxation until next year's flurry of activity. Right? Or does he have a day job for the rest of the year? According to Agency Circus Grey Peru, he does have a day job, but he certainly isn't lying low—in fact, you can expect to see him all year long... at KFC. Because the Santa you know and love is ALSO the Colonel. [kickout id="1"] Candid Career Advice from 30 Trailblazing Women Adweek spoke with a lot of impressive people last year on its Inside the Brand podcast. Below are some of the most insightful, practical pieces of advice from conversations with 30 different women who are pushing the boundaries in the field. "By now, we’re all well-versed in the studies and reports that show that companies with more diverse teams, across race, ethnicity, gender, religion and other dimensions deliver stronger business results. Business leaders need to set an intention to have representation at the executive and board level. They have to be comfortable shifting the power and giving “others” a seat at the table. It is really that simple." —Danielle Lee, Global VP of Partner Solutions at Spotify "The advice I always share is to pick people and environments where you can learn and stretch. It sounds simple but it’s actually hard to find both of these; consistently. If you are around smart, accomplished, generous, secure, innovative, kind, determined people – you will have a better shot at becoming these things yourself." —Jacki Kelley, President and Chief Client Officer of Dentsu "Whether you’re the minority or one of many women in the room, it’s crucial to do your homework and come to the table with a strong point of view. Early on in my career, I made sure I knew my facts forward and backward so that I had the conviction to make my voice heard." —Melanie Whelan, former CEO of SoulCycle More of the Latest: How to Reach Gen Z in 2020—Beyond Authenticity Pepsi Kicks Off 2020 With a New U.S. Tagline Watching the Dismissive Nature That Helps Spread Disinformation Firsthand People Signing Up for Messenger Must Now Have Facebook Accounts Sharing Data Could Save Lives as Healthcare Tech Booms in 2020

First Things First

Ryan Reynolds' Sweater; 2019's Best Brand Social Campaigns: Friday's First Things First

Plus, TV shows ending in 2020

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Kathryn Lundstrom