Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2023 i Adweek

Elon Musk’s pick of NBCU ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino to lead Twitter—her first day on the job was June 5—has left marketers on the edge of their seats. “I have an unbelievable level of confidence in Linda’s ability to turn Twitter around,” said Lou Paskalis of Ad Fontes Media. Since Musk’s tumultuous takeover last October, the platform has hemorrhaged advertisers. Experts Adweek spoke with outlined a long road to win them back. Fix brand safety: Yaccarino’s priority should be restoring Twitter’s content moderation tech team that Musk fired, Paskalis suggested. She should also consider reinstating Twitter’s “influence council,” a group of four dozen marketing execs from former major advertisers. Reversing the purging of legacy verified blue check marks could be another peace offering to marketers, said Amy Gilbert of…

Lucky 13: A multiple winner at Cannes Lions, D&AD, Adstars and the Andys, Boonyanate has spent 13 years in advertising. Since 2022, he has been creative leader at BBDO Bangkok—the youngest CCO in the agency’s history. Something to sing about: Last year, the agency launched 15 campaigns. A standout was a long-form, user-generated ad for restaurant chain Five Star Chicken, “The Movies That Made (From) Us,” which saw members of the public offer ideas for ads that the brand would then re-create in its own film. Meanwhile, Listerine’s “The Cleft Choir” allowed him to explore his love of songwriting. A choir of children who had cleft surgery sang an adaptation of Thai composer Boyd Kosiyabong’s hit song “You’re My Breath” to raise funds for 50 other kids to also have…

From the kitchen to the creative cooker: Davis-Lyons was raised in the U.K. but struggled until he landed in New Zealand. He used to be a chef but ultimately decided to swap the long hours in a kitchen for equally long hours in a creative department, eventually moving to the U.S. He joined Mother New York last December after working at Spotify, where he was head of creative. Training the next generation: In 2020, Davis-Lyons founded The One School—the first free, online portfolio school for aspiring Black creatives. To date, The One School has graduated 160-plus creatives who are now working in some of the industry’s top creative departments. As the school’s head, he mentors current and former students, oversees growth and writes the curriculum, ensuring that all graduates represent…

Centering “otherness”: After building Mented, a cosmetics brand that centers women of color, Morrison connected with other founders in the beauty space on identifying and addressing “otherness.” “[We] wanted to apply these learnings to women’s health … to create a product and community for those that have historically felt forgotten or left out of the conversation,” she said. Thus, emergency contraceptive brand Julie was born last year. The big sister everyone needs: “The voice and tone of Julie that we created is this cool, welcoming big sister who has some experience in medicine, but she’s still a mess, she’s clearing out her life. By using this persona, we’ve been able to have these grounded and relatable conversations with women in a way that they’ve never had before,” said Morrison. Navigating…

Guarding Rocky’s legacy: Not long ago, few may have guessed that Michael B. Jordan would become the creative force he is now. After making his directorial debut with Creed III—the highest-grossing Creed film yet—he has cemented himself as the man to take the Rocky legacy into a post-Sylvester Stallone future. Next up: a remake of The Thomas Crown Affair and an adaptation of Tom Clancy’s novel Rainbow Six. Plus, this summer he will serve as an instructor alongside Harvard professor Michael Sandel on its new virtual learning platform Varsity, offering the course “Tech Ethics: Critical Thinking in the Age of Apps, Algorithms and AI.” A growing advertising force: In 2021, Jordan appeared as Amazon Alexa’s human form in a Super Bowl ad. He has since also starred in campaigns for…

These talents are forging new pathways to elevate diverse voices and conversations Isles seat: Mai previously led marketing at Potato Head Family, Boiler Room, LadBible Group and Vice Media. While at LadBible, he notably oversaw the media brand’s Cannes-winning “Trash Isles” campaign, which addressed the ocean’s plastic pollution crisis. Innovating for Gen Z: Woo describes itself as a “new-generation media brand and marketplace redefining wellness for Gen Z.” Since its launch in 2022, Woo now reaches an average of 78 million people a month, has featured 4,500 products in its marketplace, and introduced content formats such as “higher frequencies,” which merges pop stars and DJs with sound frequencies curated by neuroscientists to help people feel calm. Besides revenue from its marketplace, Woo also set up an in-house creative agency and…

New Year, newsletter: After launching its pop-up newsletter, the 7-Day Happiness Challenge, on Jan. 1, The New York Times’ Well desk generated 110,000 email subscribers in just over a week. Leibovich, who leads the vertical, plans to incorporate more capsule newsletters into Well’s editorial strategy, as they enable the team to capitalize on key moments in the health and wellness calendar. Fact-checking TikTok: “In health journalism, in particular, we are battling misinformation on social platforms like TikTok and Instagram,” Leibovich said. “At Well, we combat this every day by providing readers with science-backed service journalism and news coverage that can help them make informed decisions about their health.” Health matters: Health has long been an object of intense focus for a certain subset of the population, but the Covid-19 pandemic…

Afrofuturism artist: Deener was a producer for hip-hop and R&B artists such as Timbaland, Missy Elliott and Lil Wayne before becoming a visual artist and musician. He calls himself an artist of Afrofuturism—a genre exploring the intersection of African diaspora culture with science fiction—who focuses on painting the Black community. Earlier this year, he held his third solo exhibition, titled “In Unison,” in New York. Art meets music: An only child raised by a single mother, he was part of a musical family, including an uncle who is a bishop and plays drums, and cousins who sing. Music still influences Deener’s work, and the artist said he listens to 1960s improvisational jazz during his creative process. Describing the portraits shown in “In Unison,” he said, “There is music in the…

WHEN I WORKED at People magazine earlier in my career, the staff would regularly host meet-and-greets with up-and-coming performers, who would try to charm their way into being offered a magazine profile that, their respective teams hoped, would help them become the next big thing. However, many of those encounters were instantly forgettable, and more often than not, that person would never break through in a meaningful way. But every once in a long while, our guest would make an instant, indelible impact—which was definitely the case when I met Keke Palmer some 15 years ago. At that time, Palmer was wrapping up her run on Nickelodeon’s True Jackson, VP, and was preparing to navigate the near-impossible feat of transitioning from kids TV star into a more substantive acting career.…

Though warnings about the death of creativity are nothing new in an age of rapid technological innovation, this year the threat has felt more acute amid economic turmoil and the rise of generative AI. However, for proof that human creativity continues to be a powerful and sustaining force, look no further than the honorees of Adweek’s 2023 Creative 100. Now in its ninth year, the Creative 100 celebrates the most innovative and visionary talent across advertising, marketing, social media, TV and streaming, visual art, literature, filmmaking and more. These figures are helping to shape culture while breaking new ground in their fields. Congratulations to this year’s winners—the future of creativity looks bright.…

A twisty career: The Omelet CEO stepped into the C-suite in 2015 as CSO. That led to an expanded CSO/managing director role and, eventually, to the top job. “My career path has twisted and turned,” she said of a résumé that includes a long-ago stint at an ice rink in a San Diego food court, an MBA program and training at renowned legacy agencies Chiat Day, BBH and Deutsch. Google’s “big love letter”: Omelet’s “Heroes of Small Business” campaign for Google, in which people were asked to nominate their favorite independent enterprises to win a prize, “felt like a big love letter to small businesses and the communities that they rally and inspire,” Naseemuddeen said. Emmy-winning Karin Fong directed the spot, which resulted in 10 times as many nominations as…

Kids of the internet: “During our formative teenage years, [we] started to see social media amplify the voice of youth culture. We began working with brands and musicians on digital campaigns that authentically connected with younger audiences,” said the duo. Founded in 2017, MGX has produced every piece of content for DJ and musician Marshmello to help him grow from 25,000 to 50 million YouTube subscribers in four years. Making, and marketing, movies: In 2022, their feature documentary, Untrapped: The Story of Lil Baby—written and directed by Gill and produced by both of them—debuted at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival and was acquired by Amazon Prime Video. “Because of the integrated nature of how MGX works, Amazon also commissioned us to handle aspects of the marketing campaign, which included cutting…

Jason Burke and Erin Evon Associate creative directors, Saatchi & Saatchi New York Mary Buzbee and Lauren Meadows Senior copywriter and senior art director, Barkley, founders, The Workshop André De Castro and Eliza Florendo Creative director and associate creative director, social, Gale Hemal Dhanjee and Steve Ierullo Associate creative directors, Courage Julian Gamboa-Ramos Senior social media director, Maximum Effort Monica Herman Vice president, group creative director, Giant Spoon Trevor Joplin and Eleanor Rask Associate creative directors, Mischief @ No Fixed Address Chrystel Jung Creative director, BETC Paris Clara Malley and Eli Williams Senior creative strategist and director, creative strategy, Day One Agency Hope Nardini Creative director, Droga5 New York Sara Singh Strategy director, Deutsch LA Christopher Chance and Kelechi Mpamaugo Copywriter and art director, Johannes Leonardo…

These brand leaders are cultivating communities and telling long-lasting stories Slick start: Mohammadian wanted to work in fashion for as long as she can remember, founding accessible underwear brand Slick Chicks in 2014. “I worked for Carolina Herrera, Cynthia Rowley and Bergdorf Goodman, to name a few. But I was never fulfilled until I started my company and created a product that impacted someone’s quality of life,” she said. Marketing debut: In January, for the brand’s first-ever marketing campaign, “Slick Chicks teamed up with Angel City Sports for ‘Any Other Day,’ a campaign that celebrates accomplished writer and champion adaptive athlete Jamey Perry,” said Mohammadian. “With the help of Slick Chicks’ adaptive clothing, Jamey balances life as a mother, writer and athlete, exploring what it means to celebrate disability, an…

“Chief dot-connector”: Though he recently spearheaded a multiyear sponsorship between Oatly and Minor League Baseball, Turco doesn’t take credit for the quirky elements of the deal that are unfolding at stadiums across America this summer, among them a half-a-halftime show, an oat field, a Sixth Inning Shrug and an Eighth Inning Eye Roll. In fact, even after working in branding and advertising for 20-plus years, Turco says he feels less like a “classically trained creative” and more like a “chief dot-connector.” “It’s my job to make sure that the riskiest ideas get the oxygen and resources they need to become a reality,” said Turco, an alum of ad agencies McCann and BBH and Vox Media’s branded content division, who joined Oatly last year. Going against the grain: The industry’s ongoing…

Chronicling transition: When creator Mulvaney started chronicling her gender transition with the video diary “Days of Girlhood,” TikTok users stuck around. Through clips about the physical changes that accompany hormone replacement therapy to her new makeup routines, fans grew to appreciate the intimacy and candidness of Mulvaney’s content. She has garnered 10.7 million followers on TikTok, and while her popularity has long attracted the attention of big brands including Instacart and Nike, a small partnership with Bud Light exposed Mulvaney to a new audience. Silencing hate: The brand, which sent her personalized beer cans to celebrate “365 days of womanhood,” faced backlash for refusing to protect Mulvaney while she received widespread hate from its consumer base. In her highly anticipated video response, which started with “It’s day 9,610 of being…

These artistic talents are expanding the limits of their craft Her music journey: Zauner was born in Seoul before moving to Eugene, Ore., when she was less than a year old. Now based in New York, she is best known as the front woman behind the indie-pop band Japanese Breakfast. She studied creative writing at Bryn Mawr College, then spent her early 20s waiting tables and trying to get her music hustle off the ground, eventually finding her feet in Philadelphia-based rock band Little Big League. In 2016, she started to gain a following online after releasing Psychopomp, her first record under her current moniker, which received critical acclaim. Writing and Crying: In 2021, the same year she released her third studio album, Jubilee, Zauner also published her first book,…

Sharing her Manifesto: Nigerian American writer and culture critic Kent is committed to telling inclusive stories. In her debut memoir, Fat Off, Fat On: A Big Bitch Manifesto, Kent recounts her journey as a “fat, Black and disabled queer woman,” and reveals how she overcame an abusive childhood home, racialized fatphobia and ableism. “It has been in the works since 2020 after a house fire almost cut my life short. I am so proud of the finished product and the reception it has received,” she said. An avid journalism supporter: “In digital media, the shuttering of so many media outlets and newsrooms is not only depressing but a dark omen of what is to come as we head into the misinformation age. To combat this, I’ve started to subscribe directly…

Davide Grasso has been CMO of Nike, CEO of Converse, and now heads up Maserati, taking the carmarker from deep red into the black in less than four years. He shared his marketing wisdom exclusively with Adweek. Here’s the first tip; find the rest at adweek.com. 1. Trends in other categories will affect your category. SUVs have transformed from practical vehicles into status objects. Grasso saw this coming because of jeans. “Twenty years ago, I was in the U.S. and there were two or three types of denim over $100—now, there’s like a thousand,” he said. So look out for ways that seemingly distant brands are changing right now, because that change can easily leapfrog into another segment.…

These senior execs are shaping advertising’s future An empathetic entrepreneur: As founder and CEO of Utendahl Creative, a hot agency founded in 2019, Utendahl’s got a blue-chip entrepreneurial résumé. She sat on the founding team for Last Week Tonight With John Oliver, Refinery 29’s 29Rooms and the Museum of Ice Cream. But the success burned her out. She talks openly about it, using her own experience to lead the agency from a place of empathy. The Burnout Burner: “I’ve discovered the power of authenticity and self-worth within the workplace on an individual level and have made it my mission to fundamentally change the way we work via leadership and policy at my agency,” she said. This year, the agency launched The Burnout Burner: a guide to managing work-related burnout and…

Upside Down, and all around: In her leadership role at Observatory, Knight is a pioneer in the intersection of entertainment, culture and advertising. Recent successes have included “Live From the Upside Down,” a partnership between Netflix and Doritos for Stranger Things that took viewers back to 1986 for the greatest concert that never happened; a Snoop Dogg action figure for wine brand 19 Crimes; and a “Lil Interns” campaign with Kenan Thompson for Old Navy. From Australia to LA: Knight started her career at McCann Erickson Sydney. She was one of the first international hires at Wieden+Kennedy, spending nearly a decade in the Portland and Amsterdam offices, predominantly on Nike. After moving to Los Angeles, Knight freelanced for more than 25 agencies before becoming ecd at TBWA\Chiat\Day LA, leading the…

Jason Campbell Chief creative officer, Translation Ignacio Flotta and Nicolás Vara Chief creative officers, David Buenos Aires Garrett Garcia President, PPK Greg Hahn Co-founder, chief creative officer, Mischief @ No Fixed Address David Kolbusz Chief creative officer, Orchard Josh Loebner Global head of inclusive design, Wunderman Thompson Madison Long Co-founder, CEO, Clutch Alex Wilson Executive creative director, Amplify Rob Baird Founder, chief creative officer, Preacher Emily Bibb Co-founder, Breef…

A historic point of pride: Laque-Almond served as a lead art director for Planned Parenthood’s response to last summer’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. The project was helmed by women and people of color and became “possibly the most important work” Laque-Almond had ever done, she said. “The metaphor was simple: We the disenfranchised, the previously unheard, are a great storm that will come together and surpass this moment in time.” Maintaining one’s agency: Virtue’s breadth and diversity of clients keep Laque-Almond’s schedule varied. “The main thread throughout all of the work we do is partnering with brands and businesses that have a true love of culture, and a genuine curiosity for stories that haven’t been told before,” she said. Speak plainly: “[The advertising industry] separates itself from the rest…

Katie Beal Brown Founder, CEO, Lone River Beverage Co. Clint Founder, Corteiz Elizabeth Gascoigne Founder, CEO, Absence of Proof Laurel Stark Co-Creative director, The Sims Tina Maher SVP, brand and franchise management, Hartbeat Kayla Sutton-Meyer Senior social marketing manager, Amazon Studios Alice Tonge Group creative director, Apple (London) Emma Tully Chief brand officer, Savage X Fenty Pinky Cole Executive director of brand and creative, Founder, Slutty Vegan Angelic Vendette VP, head of global marketing, Alo Yoga…

With television at a crossroads, these talents are captivating audiences From chicken shops to global fame: Dimoldenberg founded her production company, Dimz Inc., in 2021, but has spent nearly a decade building her YouTube channel and Chicken Shop Date web series, in which she goes on dates in local chicken restaurants with stars like Ed Sheeran, Keke Palmer, Burna Boy, Jack Harlow, Daniel Kaluuya and Phoebe Bridgers. The series won a Streamy Award in 2021 and has elevated her to an international spotlight. Dimoldenberg’s YouTube channel now has 1.9 million subscribers, 287 million views and 16 million hours of content watched. She has also worked with brands including Coach, Olay, Google and Candy Crush. Golden moment: After presenting at shows such as The BRITs, The NME Awards and The Mercurys,…

These celebs and online creators are challenging norms April grows up: Plaza may have gotten her start as TV’s favorite nihilistic, deadpan intern-turned-assistant in Parks and Recreation, but the last year has solidified her stardom as much more than April Ludgate. In 2022, she played award-winning roles in HBO’s The White Lotus and indie film Emily the Criminal, which she also produced. In April, Plaza fronted the national milk processor organization MilkPep’s “Wood Milk” campaign, poking fun at the burgeoning plant-based milk market. Fulfilling a family dream: “I feel very much like there’s some kind of ancestral, generational thing going on, just in my DNA,” Plaza told Vanity Fair in May. “There are a lot of people in my family that are just so creative. It makes me wanna cry.…

An unexpected path: When a classmate told Hsu in high school that she should consider pursuing acting in college, “I had no idea that was even a path that a person could choose,” said Hsu, who received a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination this year for Everything Everywhere All At Once. “I ended up going to NYU Tisch School of the Arts, studying at the Atlantic Theater Company and Experimental Theater Wing. Along the way, I worked at Pinkberry, cafes, bars [and] a woodshop, and side hustled by reselling secondhand clothing.” Year of change: “Everything Everywhere All at Once premiered at SXSW March of 2022 and one year later, the week after [the movie won Best Picture at] the Oscars, I headed back to SXSW to premiere my next movie,…

Jessica DeFino Journalist, beauty culture critic, The Unpublishable Glennon Doyle Author, activist, podcaster Fuhad Dawodu and James Duncan Hosts, ShxtsNGigs podcast Brad Haugen President, Westbrook Media Steve Jones Founder, CEO, Pocstock Kiana Moore VP of content production and Epic Stories, Vox Creative, Vox Media Jonathan Nunn Founding editor, Vittles Jayde Powell Founder, head of creative, The Em Dash Co Ronnie Singh Digital marketing director, 2K Games…

Writing her truth: McCurdy, who first rose to fame opposite Miranda Cosgrove as Carly’s funny best friend, Sam, on the hit Nickelodeon show iCarly, made her publishing debut this year with I’m Glad My Mom Died, her bestselling memoir about her difficult upbringing as a child star with an abusive, now-deceased mother. She’s now working on her first novel and developing a feature film. Taco Bell time: “I also did not come from wealth, and I think you can feel that in my voice,” said McCurdy. “There’s something about the way I write that just screams ‘she knows her way around a Taco Bell dollar menu.’” In her free time: “I’m a full-fledged, no-shame Disney adult,” McCurdy said. “Fourteen pairs of ears and counting.”…

These filmmakers have birthed the year’s most compelling stories The path to filmmaking: Allen-Miller, who was born in Manchester and grew up in south London, began her career as an art buyer, then worked in creative at an ad agency before breaking into directing. She started by directing commercials for brands including Squarespace, Nike, Pepsi, TurboTax, Virgin Media and ASOS, before moving to her first feature film: 2023’s Rye Lane, a romantic comedy set in south London. One of the biggest industry challenges is “trying to make sure there are more interesting voices—not just the same people on set and in the creative process,” she said. Advice for aspiring directors: “Get a job where you can be creative and make money, then hustle your way into what you want to…

For the last two decades, London’s iconic Phonica Records has been the place for vintage vinyl fans who’ve devoted their weekends to bin diving. But in November 2018, shop visitors had an experience that went well beyond LPs on markdown. A door at the back of the store opened into a tunnel lit with purple neon and, beyond that, a low-lit gallery with limited-edition boots sitting inside acrylic cabinets: Timberland boots. What did a New Hampshire-based hiking boot brand have to do with a hipster London record store? Well, only everything. Phonica Records’ 2018 exhibition was an homage not just to Timberland, but also to the hip-hop artists who adopted it, influenced it and saved it from mediocrity. As marketing vp Ezra Martin encapsulates it: “The Original Yellow Boot became…

Nearly a decade ago, agency vet Ian Sohn began transitioning into leadership roles, a career shift that also ushered in increased stress and anxiety. So he started running as a way to unwind. What began as small-distance running five days a week soon turned into half marathons of 13 miles, and eventually full marathons covering 26 miles. Since then, Sohn has run seven full marathons, including the Chicago Marathon and Minnesota’s Grandma’s Marathon in 2022. Today, Sohn—now CEO of North America at creative agency Iris—is preparing for his first 40-mile ultramarathon in June over mountain trails in West Virginia, covering the Monongahela National Forest, Timberline Mountain ski resort and Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, finishing at Canaan Valley Resort State Park. “If you don’t have an outlet—could be [even] watching…