Marketing winners and losers of the week
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CBS recently took “The Price is Right” on the road for a 50th-anniversary nationwide tour, and plenty of people came on down. The tour rolled into eight cities—Nashville, St. Louis, Cleveland, New York City—with a branded bus that included the Big Wheel and classic games like Plinko. CBS touts it as a major success, saying the tour drew 2,700 people, and generated 2.4 million media impressions, equaling $4.6 million ad value.
The Unilever-owned brand that specializes in sustainable cleaning products topped this year’s “2022 Purpose Power Index” compiled by agency StrawberryFrog and data platform Dynata. The list, which measures the perception of brand purpose by both consumers and employees, also cited Pfizer, Google and Toyota, three brands that had never before been included.
The department store got a boost this week when it reported earnings ahead of analyst expectations and raised its guidance for the year. For its first quarter, Macy’s saw revenue grow 14% to $5.4 billion and generated a net income of $286 million. Nordstrom also raised its forecast. It was welcome news for the retail industry, which had seen disappointing recent reports from Targetand Walmartin recent weeks as shoppers battle economic uncertainty.
The peanut butter purveyor, which is owned by J.M. Smucker, said it is recalling 45 types of products due to salmonella concerns. Those affected items include crunch and smooth peanut butter and squeeze packs. In addition, many food companies are recalling their own products that are made with Jif, such as fudge and apple peanut butter cups.
The buy now, pay later giant got a little smaller this week when it laid off 10%of its global workforce, a cut that affects 700 employees. The news was delivered as a pre-recorded video message. The Swedish brand, which recently rolled out a virtual shopping feature, is one of many tech companies facing a slowdown.
The insurer stepped in it this week when it reversed course on a partnership with a nonprofit supporting a program for LGBTQ+ kids books after receiving backlash on the collaboration. Conservative complaints prompted State Farm to end its work with GenderCool, which promotes youth inclusivity, which resulted in even more backlash for the Bloomington, Illinois-based marketer. “After caving to this anti LGBTQ right wing campaign, I better not see@StateFarm brandishing rainbows for Pride next month,” one person wrote on Twitter.
In a textbook case of what brands should not do for Juneteenth, Walmart released a Great Value Celebration Edition Juneteenth ice cream from its private label line to the dismay of many who called the retailer “tone-deaf.” Walmart soon after pulled the product and is “continuing to review its Juneteenth product assortment,” a spokesman for the company said. Experts have repeatedly said that Juneteenth, the day that commemorates Blacks’ emancipation from centuries of slavery, is not a time to be hawking products.
Read more: How brands should approach Juneteenth
“We all want to be innovating as an industry—clients as well as agencies as well as the media companies. Eventually, we're all going to wind up coalescing around a couple of things that really work, but I think there's still a long way to go there.” —Rita Ferro, Disney’s president of advertising sales, speaking at Ad Age’s TV Pivot event about potential measurement tools beyond just Nielsen.
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The floor price for Bud Light Next’s NFTs, a drop from its original $399 price.
Read more: NFT uncertainty and what it means for brands
Chime, the fintech company, hired Vineet Mehra as chief marketing officer, effective May 31. A veteran marketer with stints as the CMO of Walgreens and Ancestry under his belt, Mehra was most recently chief growth and CX officer at Good Eggs.
Merkle, the Dentsu-owned agency, hired Robert Bushey as chief sales officer, EMEA. He had been a managing director and partner at Accenture.
Stitch Fix hired Debbie Rose Woloshinas chief marketing officer, replacing Deirdre Findlay, who left more than two years ago. Woloshin was most recently CMO at Marc Jacobs.
Calvin Klein named Jonathan Bottomley global CMO. A veteran marketer, Bottomley was most recently CMO at Boll & Branch, the bedding brand.
