The Really Brief — Week of December 9
Wax shares some politically corrected Christmas carols, ZAK’s “cash mob” makes news, Pound & Grain is sharing spiked coffee, and Hershey’s donates part of its ad budget to GoFundMe reunion campaigns for the holidays.
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Popeyes Chicken Sandwich—now available in sweater form; and TikTok’s top 100
Plus Nike employees protest its treatment of women, and Maurice Saatchi abruptly leaves his namesake agency.
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Via and Touché make the case for advertising with local media
This summer Via increased its spend on local digital media by 25% and revenue was up 5.5%. The move reflects Touché’s ‘responsible media buying’ approach.
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The Great One gives Tim Hortons a marketing assist
New spot started with a coffee meeting between Wayne Gretzky and Tims CMO Paloma Azulay.
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Marketers mock viral art phenomenon with a bunch of bananas
David’s Tea and Dairy Queen among Canadian marketers creating banana-themed social posts.
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Canadian ad spend sluggish in 2020, though digital to grow 10%
Interpublic, GroupM and Zenith all see a down year in 2020, despite big-ticket events like the Olympics and a U.S. election.
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New ADCC podcast shares making-of stories about great Canadian ad campaigns
‘Created’ takes listeners behind the scenes of much-loved campaigns for brands like Nike, TSN and Subaru.
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WestJet Christmas video asks if it’s better to give or receive
Santa is back, though in holographic form, and this time he’s joined by “Ebinza Scrooge.”
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Aviation Gin rescues Peloton woman
While everyone was talking about what’s wrong with the Pelton ad, Ryan Reynolds was thinking about what the pop culture moment could do for his gin brand.
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MDC creates new Doner network with Union, Veritas, 6Degrees and KWT
Each of the Canadian agency heads stay in their posts, while Veritas CEO Krista Webster becomes vice-chair of the new Doner network.
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Going out on a limb here, but there’s nothing wrong with Canadian Tire’s Christmas tree ad
Christmas tree farmers’ claim that ad is an ‘attack’ on their industry.
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Canada Goose takes customers on a journey to the Arctic
New retail concept includes -12 degrees temperature, 4K video, and real snow.
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P&G has stripped out $1 billion in agency costs, and it’s not done yet
Marc Pritchard on P&G’s ongoing efforts to disrupt the industry stretches across all aspects of the marketing enterprise (and occasionally includes brand managers as creative directors).
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What to do about the effectiveness crisis: lessons from EffWeek
Sid Lee’s MATT FOULK on the ‘worrying’ shortfall in brand understanding, data seduction, and fostering an effectiveness culture.
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Cassels new brand is legal counsel with a cup of coffee
How a 130-year old corporate law firm rebranded to seem less like a 130-year-old corporate law firm.
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Canada Post picks The&Partnership for advertising, Touché for media
Junction59 and Tank will work with The&Partnership on direct and French work.
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Apple has a (snow)ball with its new ad; did Peleton’s holiday ad cause a stock tumble?
Plus, Unilever has a new global chief marketer, and a street level bacon sandwich dispenser in London.
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Rights groups pushing for greater media representation of people with disabilities
New campaign by Wax includes fake ads featuring people with disabilities, and the unfortunate reactions of viewers.
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Freedom Mobile takes aim at big telco in new holiday advertising
New holiday campaign from Rain is the fifth starring Canadian sitcom actor Will Arnett.
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From fake news to fake views: connecting the dots on ad fraud
How, and why, BuzzFeed News media editor Craig Silverman keeps digging up must-read stories about ad fraud
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