Month: June 2024

In today’s competitive gaming industry, all eyes are on the Esports World Cup.

The event, which kicks off next month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, promises to be the FIFA World Cup of gaming — an international tournament that is looking to bring new attention and engagement to the esports industry, both from fans and from the sponsors whose marketing dollars keep the industry afloat. 

With an eye-popping $60 million-plus prize pool, the Esports World Cup has been met with both excitement and skepticism by longtime observers of the space. On one hand, it represents a potential lifeline for an industry that is still struggling to find its footing; on the other, the event has been targeted by accusations of “esportswashing,” or using esports fandom to distract gamers from Saudi Arabia’s human rights issues.

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While marketers across the spectrum focus on activation or ambush strategies at major sporting events, PepsiCo flavored water brand Propel is taking a different route.

According to PepsiCo senior director of fitness Emily Boido, urban running clubs are the brand’s path to its key audiences. Propel is investing cash and water into 16 sports clubs in cities across the United States, in an effort to align itself with the wider running community. 

Propel is working with community groups such as Newark’s Brick City Run Club in New Jersey, Atlanta Run Club and Houston’s BLK Beetles, in an expansion of a 2023 project that began in Los Angeles with brand ambassador Michael B. Jordan. This year, the brand will stage pop-up gyms offering free classes and free Propel products, as well as give away $100,000 worth of fitness memberships to U.S. consumers.

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What a difference a year makes. Last year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in the South of France, all TikTok had to worry about was a shaky ad economy. This year, while the entertainment platform is heavily focusing on business as usual, it still has to contend with whether or not it will exist in the U.S. for the long term.

It could be argued that since TikTok filed to sue the U.S. government over the “divest or ban” bill in May, there’s not much to tell. The platform’s legal battle is currently tied up in paperwork, and it probably will be for the foreseeable future. But instead of addressing this metaphorical elephant in the room, the TikTok team doesn’t seem to acknowledge it at all anymore.

In a TikTok presentation at Cannes on Monday, during which the company shared upcoming trends on the platform, neither Haley Paas (head of global marketing solutions) nor Dan Connor (global creative solutions lead) mentioned the fact that their product still faces a ban in the U.S.

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We’re on day three of Cannes, joined by Megan Ramm, global director and head of CPG partnerships at Uber, for this episode of the Digiday at Cannes podcast.

This is Uber Ads’ second year in business and, simultaneously, its second year at Cannes. Just a few days ago, the company announced that it was expanding its programmatic ad business to include partnerships with demand-side platforms like The Trade Desk, Yahoo’s DSP and Google’s Display & Video 360. As of late, programmatic has had a rough go with shrinking ad budgets, uproar around made-for-advertising sites and more.

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This week’s Future of TV Briefing features an interview with BET’s Louis Carr about how this year’s upfront market is progressing.

• ‘People are not taking it serious enough’
• TV, streaming watch time habits are getting stale
• Netflix’s ad prices, upfront ad rollbacks and more

‘People are not taking it serious enough’

Louis Carr didn’t need to go to the South of France to immerse himself in work this week.

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The growth of retail media — er, commerce media — is on full display at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this week.

With everything becoming an ad network, the burgeoning channel has expanded far beyond that of retailers like Target and Walmart. Brands like Chase and United, which both rolled out new ad networks in recent weeks, are on the ground with cabanas at Cannes for the first time to shake hands with and pitch advertisers on their ad networks. The new networks are not alone in making Cannes a priority this year. Established retail media networks like Kroger are also dedicating a footprint in Cannes for the first time with a cabana as well as dedicated programming in the hopes of gathering an audience of festival attendees and potential advertisers.

It’s easy to see why commerce media networks are making a bigger play at Cannes. The wheeling and dealing seems to have returned in full force. Pitches are happening. Client meetings to reinforce relationships are taking place. The rosé is flowing. Why not try to garner the attention of a CMO as they pass the Palais with QR codes where marketers can learn more about the new network (United) or roll out the pink carpet to plaster with branding that passerby are certain to see multiple times throughout the day (T-Mobile) or even just offer an oasis of air conditioning and shade amid the blazing sun of Cannes (all network Cabanas). 

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Omnicom kept up its raft of announcements and partnerships during Cannes Lions this week. The latest move has the holding company’s social commerce specialist Flywheel getting certification from TikTok Shop, Digiday has learned. 

The move is important because by doing so, Omnicom and Flywheel can connect creator content to sales, another example of the holding company striving to move beyond media metrics to reach sales metrics for its clients investments. In a way, when it comes to social commerce, it’s a way of finally answering the famous Wanamaker quote on which part of advertising works. 

Through the certification, Flywheel aims to help Omnicom clients leverage TikTok for its e-commerce benefits in much the same way it would Amazon, Walmart, or other e-marketplaces — namely to drive incremental sales. The holding company is combining a cross-network team that can incorporate Flywheel’s ability to manage and scale digital commerce executions with Omnicom’s influencer investment practice along with an AI-powered Q cultural  insights solution (from Omnicom Media Group’s Sparks & Honey) in a bid to connect commerce, content, and culture to drive sales on TikTok Shop. 

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Wedding invites created by girls (including one child bride) are “heart-touching reminders that childhood needs to be protected.”

The FTC has referred TikTok to the Department of Justice over alleged violations of the federal children’s privacy law and the FTC Act.

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest can proceed with a lawsuit against Meta Platforms over fraudulent cryptocurrency ads that used his name and image, a federal judge ruled on Monday.