The Death of Cookies; Mediaweek Day 2: Thursday’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. Adweek Special Report: The Death of Cookies Adweek editors spent the last four months interviewing hundreds of today's leading marketers, creating an essential guide to help you navigate the upcoming cookieless world. Adweek’s exclusive “The Death of Cookies” report provides specific guidance for ad-tech companies, publishers, media buyers and brand marketers on the impact from looming (and current) government regulation, as well as Google’s 2022 deadline blocking third-party cookies. You can access the report two ways: If you're an Adweek+ subscriber, access the report here.If you are not a subscriber, you can receive a free executive summary of the report here or become an Adweek+ subscriber today. Google Shelves Fledge Trials Until Late 2021 A central tenet of the Privacy Sandbox is the ability to serve behaviorally targeted ads via an auction that takes place on a device. This proposal is known as Fledge, but during yesterday's Mediaweek summit, Dan Taylor managing director, global ads at Google, estimated that the first Fledge trials won't take place until “the end of the year." Industry insiders aren't as optimistic. Here's why. Today at Mediaweek: Erin Dress, director of retail marketing at Impossible Foods, on how marketers plan to adjust to a cookie-less future, at 10:00 a.m. ET.Saleel Sathe, vice president of performance marketing at Walmart, on how the nation's largest retailer reaches customers through organic channels, at 11:10 a.m. ET.Brian Norris, senior vice president of direct to scale at NBCUniversal, on how the industry can learn from the mistakes it made on desktop advertising to fine-tune its approach to connected TV, at 12:00 p.m. ET. Registration to access today's main stage talks is free. Professor Scott Galloway’s Mediaweek Talk Pulled No Punches—Especially When It Came to Big Tech As he has at previous Adweek events, Scott Galloway gave us a stunningly thorough, enlightening and rapid-fire overview of the state and future of the industry—and humanity—during the first day of Mediaweek yesterday. He described the coming months and years in terms of “dispersions,” as big tech, healthcare, education, power dynamics and more careen into a future that could prove both dark and dramatic. But things aren’t all bad—as long as we get vaccinated and meaningfully reconnect. Watch a clip from his powerful session. Also at Mediaweek: In an interview with Adweek’s David Cohen, Facebook's departing revenue chief David Fischer reflected on the job and how it has changed since he first started. Adnatomy: How Bud Light Seltzer Lemonade’s Citrus-Filled Super Bowl Ad Came to Be In the latest episode of Adweek’s behind-the-scenes series Adnatomy, Adweek sat down with creative leads at Anheuser-Busch and Wieden + Kennedy to discuss the ideation and development process for Bud Light Seltzer's Super Bowl lemons spot, what shooting looked like and exactly how many lemons were used during filming. Discover how they took a lemon of a year and made Super Bowl ad gold. How Three Texas Agencies Grew Out of The Richards Group Last year, The Richards Group was turned on its head after its founder made a racist comment that resulted in several huge client losses and ultimately his resignation. But out of the chaos rose three new creative shops in North Texas: Baker & Bonner Creative Emporium, Plot Twist Creativity and Trace Element. Partners at each agency shared their unique origin stories and shared why it was time for them to leave The Richards Group. Also in agency news: Publicis Groupe posted a better-than-expected first quarter with “solid” organic growth of 2.8%, though net revenue was still down 3.6%. Find out why CEO Arthur Sadoun is remaining “very cautious.” The Latest News in Job Moves ABC saw two big changes yesterday, confirming rumors that Kim Godwin will be the new president of ABC News, taking over for the recently departed James Goldston and becoming the first Black executive to lead a broadcast network news division. Meanwhile, Wendy McMahon, president of ABC Owned Television Stations, is leaving the company. Sean Brown, formerly a senior marketing director at Wasserman, has been named head of sports partnerships for social audio platform Clubhouse. Grey has hired Tim Jones as chief creative officer, pharma, leading the agency’s global pharmaceutical advertising practice. Briefly: Walmart Will Fill Vacated In-Store McDonald’s With Services, Other EateriesFrom Publishers to Lone Creators, Pico 2.0 Aims to Monetize Digital MediaTaco Bell Opens Its First Digital-Only Cantina in Times SquareWalmart Wants to Help Save the BeesWith Its Curated Affiliate Program, Vice Prioritizes Identity Over ProfitSamsung Doubles Down on Commitment to Foldable PhonesUK Fintech Bank Hires Fold7 In New Summer Campaign to Attract Small Businesses Here’s Why You Won’t Find Talking Animals or Irritating Jingles in NJM Insurance’s Advertising In these creative and funny ads, NJM Insurance Group pokes fun at rival insurance companies’ earworm jingles and piles of brand mascots with the tagline: “No Jingles or Mascots. Just great insurance.” Watch the ads. More of the Latest: Panera Is Giving Away Bread Bowl Bikes, Though They Aren’t Actually Made of CarbsBrazil’s Answer to Amazon Develops a Mobile Feature to Shop Inside SongsDroga5 Highlights Local Focus in First Work for US CellularDiageo Acquires Another Ready-to-Drink Alcohol Brand Loyal 9Flowcode Teams Up With Nascar to Put a QR Code on the Hood of a Race CarLifewtr and Issa Rae Announce a New Inclusion Initiative to Boost Life’s Unseen Artists