Month: April 2019

Thirty-five years ago, Chicago ad agency Dancer Fitzgerald Sample cast a retired manicurist named Clara Peller in a Wendy’s ad. In the spot, Peller inspected a competing chain’s oversized bun and bleated: “Where’s the beef?” The phrase saw Wendy’s sales jump 31 percent and fast became part of the American vernacular. (Alas, Wendy’s fired its…

Casting animals in TV spots is nothing new, but 32 years ago, computer giant Commodore showed just how effective it could be. In 1986, the computer mouse was still a newfangled device. Tasked with explaining how one worked, agency Ted Bates decided to hire the most logical demonstrator: a cat. As Adweek reported at the…

Several of the largest advertising trade groups are banding together to push for a federal data privacy law. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA), American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and others are creating a coalition called “Privacy For America,” which will work with Congress to draft and potentially pass legislation…

The burgeoning cannabis industry has had a fraught relationship with premium inventory across a bevy of publishers, as media companies often blacklist cannabis-related ads. Toasted Collective, a cannabis digital agency, wants to change that. The agency–which recently secured exclusive partnerships with several major publishers, including Hearst and USA Today–bills itself as the first agency to…

The NHL is recruiting a group of youth advisers–who will be known as the NHL’s Power Players–to help the league better connect with Gen Z and get them invested in the sport. This council will assist and provide insight and suggestions to the league on matters including marketing, community engagement, events, social content and understanding…

Harmon Brothers, the masterminds behind Squatty Potty’s pooping unicorn, have taken on a topic even more taboo than bathroom habits: porn addiction. But despite the lecture-from-a-youth-pastor vibe of the topic, the ad creatives manage to keep their cheeky sense of humor intact. Creating a superhero called Colossal Man, who can hoist an occupied car but…

Kyle Jackson is sitting down for a tough conversation with a seasoned employee who has ignored multiple warnings from his boss about bad office behavior. This is strike three. Indignant, the worker protests to Jackson–his numbers are strong, and he’s worked at the firm for decades. Finally, the employee sighs, and a thick silence fills…

It appears the no-call during the NFC Championship Game that may have kept the New Orleans Saints out of Super Bowl LIII has been on Drew Brees’ mind. In a new national broadcast ad for Untuckit from creative agency Amalgam and directed by Native Content’s Shaun Collins, the Saints quarterback jumps at the opportunity to…

A few years ago, Eric Eslao found himself checking out some dispensaries in California, where recreational marijuana has been legal since 2016. Eslao wasn’t looking to score some Bubba Kush; he was on a research mission to see what sorts of edibles–treats like cookies or candy infused with THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana–were on…

The new broadcast standard is scheduled to roll out in the top 40 U.S. TV markets by the end of 2020. Test markets already are rolling out in in Phoenix, Dallas, Baltimore, East Lansing, Michigan,
Raleigh, N.C., and Santa Barbara, California.