Florida Man Wants to Save the World; TV Shows Media Buyers Love: Tuesday’s First Things First
Plus, does Amazon have an unfair advantage?
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Even the Infamous Florida Man Wants You to Fight Climate Change in a PSA
Florida Man looks out for himself? Shocker. Well, maybe it isn’t. This new PSA shows the infamous Florida Man, who dominates headlines, as a fighter of…climate change? A real-life Florida Man once arrested for bringing an alligator into a convenience story starred in a PSA from Joan urging viewers to cut emissions. Predictably, his reasoning isn’t altruistic. If Florida succumbs to sea level rise, the Florida Man might become extinct.
Read more: Watch the light-hearted PSA that co-founder and chief creative officer of Joan, Jaime Robinson, hopes will change the way people think about climate change.
How Wild Turkey Bourbon Got Its Name
It should probably come as no surprise that the story behind Wild Turkey’s name involves a grocery exec who loved to down whiskey as he hunted. It was the perfect elixir for those long hours in the woods. So perfect that it represented the state of Kentucky at 1893 world expo, beating out 400 competitors in the process.
Read more: Learn Wild Turkey’s origin story and how the brand has kept the whiskey relevant for over a century.
The Fall 2019 Broadcast Shows That Buyers Like Most—and Least
Media buyers generally found this year’s crop of new comedies to be on the weaker side, but pointed to a couple of new shows, Mixed-ish and The Unicorn, as potential breakouts. They also flagged CBS’ Prodigal Son, which features a serial killer (Michael Sheen) teaming up with his criminal psychologist son (Tom Payne) to help the NYPD solve crimes, as another potential hit.
Read more: Find out which show media buyers called “terrible,” “horrible” and “forced.” One even said, “Somehow, those things work on CBS, but oh, it’s a bad one!”
Is Amazon Giving Itself an Unfair Advantage?
While Amazon denied a WSJ story alleging its boosts its own products, experts told Adweek that it makes sense for the ecommerce giant to give its own brands an advantage in search and to seek profitability.
“If customers are happy and they’re profiting, how is this a bad thing? Should they provide poor results that result in people not buying? What kind of business model is that?” said Danny Goodwin, executive editor of Search Engine Journal.
Read more: Learn how Amazon’s practices start to get murky.
Just Briefly: The Rest of Today’s Top Insights
- DTC Brands Are Targeting Consumers Where Their Attention Is—Their Phones
- Hulu’s Pause Ads Move Out of Beta, With More New Formats in the Works
Ad of the Day: Ikea Canada, a Champion of Reusing Old Items, Creates Heartwarming ‘Stuff Monster’
Last year, Ikea Canada took the bold marketing move of creating a sequel to the global retailer’s most famous ad: Lamp. While the 2002 original encouraged you to cast off your emotional bonds with broken furniture and toss it to the curb, the 2018 spot instead celebrated to finding new life for a once-beloved item.
“Lamp 2” was Ikea Canada’s way of planting a flag about its belief in reuse as a key aspect of sustainable commerce. And now, proving the ad wasn’t a one-off message, the brand and creative agency Rethink are back with a new spot on the theme: “Stuff Monster.”
3 Pieces of Career Advice From Twilio CMO Sara Varni
What’s the one skill advertisers and marketers must have now that they didn’t really need three years ago?
Every marketer today needs to be a cross-channel marketer. The content you build for a LinkedIn post versus a tweet versus an Instagram story versus an email will be totally different and understanding what’s most engaging across each channel is key. To optimize your spend and campaigns, you need to make sure your message matches the brand and expectation of that forum.
What’s the best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t be afraid to hire your replacement. I see too many middle managers sell themselves short and assume that certain people won’t report to them or worse, assume that they might be out of a job if they hire someone too senior. Hiring the best people possible will only help elevate your company and elevate you as a leader.
How should you advocate for yourself for a promotion?
Don’t wait until promotion time to advocate. Build a strong feedback loop with your manager and make sure they always have a clear view of your roadmap and how you are progressing. Don’t be afraid to ask you manager what it takes to get to the next level and what you are missing in order to get there. Finally, build a network of advocates at your manager’s level that will promote your work.
