#marketing

#marketing

"Any time you have to explain your name, you're essentially apologizing for it," says Alexandra Watkins, the founder of naming firm Eat My Words. Her deal-breakers for names include 'looks like a typo' and 'hard to pronounce.'

Climbing up was fairly natural and easy, simply because I just disregarded all the status quo and the rules and realized what's the right thing to do, and went all the way with it.

"I don't think we would have any customers in the farm shop without the power of social media. If I'd been waiting to be 'discovered' the old-fashioned way by a magazine, newspaper or radio show, I'd still be waiting."

"They start with something small, fun and aligned with your interests, but before you know it, you're betting on things you never thought you'd care about. It's dangerous."

The reality is more nuanced. And unfortunately, when it comes to how brands categorize and engage different generations, nuance is not generally welcome. That disconnect has led to some pretty tone-deaf brand moments.

So you could be like, 'I hate her because of the American Eagle,' or you love her because of the American Eagle, but no matter what, you're talking about her. For a brand launch, that's always a good thing. Controversy and craziness and all that kind of stuff is good for initial curiosity.

I grew up in a small town in Indiana, but my interest in Japan started early. I still remember watching a "Sesame Street" episode where Big Bird visits Japan. That image stuck with me. In college, that curiosity took shape: I studied Japanese at the University of Chicago and spent a summer in Hokkaido. After graduating, I moved to Japan in 2008 to teach English, though a career in teaching was never my goal.

The pastel-colored conversation hearts stay relevant year over year because their embossed messages can be easily and quickly updated, transforming a generic shape into a crunchy candy canvas that's adaptable to the moment. That makes the face of these tiny hearts some of the most valuable real estate in the Valentine's Day candy landscape, because the right quip could convert a passerby into a sale.

This year's Super Bowl highlighted a striking reality: companies are willing to spend record sums for cultural relevance they often lack the organizational capability to sustain. With viewership projected to rival last year's 127-plus million U.S. audience, yesterday's Super Bowl LX reinforced the event's unrivaled power to concentrate mass attention as the Seahawks and Patriots took the field and Bad Bunny delivered a halftime performance engineered to dominate global conversation.

But we in marketing also have a certain fixation on youth. Millennials (put roughly, those born between 1980 and 2000) are the prime suspect at the minute because from where we sit in London, it seems like they're reaching their prime consumption years. They value experiences over things. They want authentic connections to brands. They want to be marketed to via a social influencer instead of a traditional ad (ha! they want to be marketed to - insert laugh/cry emoji here).

On Tuesday, as spotted in a press release about Take-Two's Q3 2026 earnings results by IGN, the company confirmed that it plans to start marketing Grand Theft Auto 6 sometime in summer, which seems to indicate that the game, which has been delayed a few times now, is actually (for real) getting close to launching later this year. "I feel good about it. Very good about it," said Zelnick when asked by the outlet how he felt about GTA 6 's November 19 release. "Of course, because any time you're getting closer to marketing beats, you're obviously in a place where your confidence level is as high as it can be."

Prior to her role at Tumblr, Simonian was vice-president of branded music for Nielsen Entertainment and, earlier, inaugural head of Twitter Music. She has additionally held roles at Disney and Hot Topic, where she created multi-platform activations for music film and product initiatives.

Naivety is an important quality to have when you start out, dreaming big and aiming high. But there are some important realities you should know before you begin.

Strategy and creativity are celebrated in equal measures at The Drum Awards. Across the board, there are plenty of examples of fantastic and innovative work produced by agencies, brands and individuals each year. But what makes a winner? How do you shout from the rooftops that your campaigns are brilliant? At The Drum, there are 22 awards that celebrate the finest work produced globally. Following are seven examples of the best of the best of The Drum Awards 2017 winners.

Donald and Melania Trump were walking a charcoal-coloured carpet beneath a stark black-and-white MELANIA backdrop. Do you believe you'd be the man you are today if you hadn't met your wife? a reporter asked the US president. Trump smiled and said: He's asking me a very dangerous question! He went on to praise his wife without answering. When the reporter put the same question to Melania, she ventured: Well, we will all be in different places, I guess.

the founder and CEO of fitness technology company Whoop has found himself thrust into the center of a global controversy after his startup 's products became the unlikely breakout star of this year's Australian Open. It was not a typical viral moment. It happened after the top tennis players in the world across the women's and men's game, Aryna Sabalenka, Carlos Alcaraz, and Jannick Sinner, were all asked by umpires to remove their Whoop fitness devices from their wrists during the middle of their matches.

They also specifically asked not to have a TV script. Come the pitch, the agency brought in their chief strategist who acted out the viral script. Dean's reaction? "Scared shitless. We've got to do it." The campaign went on to create huge amounts of attention with the delight of people sharing it being one thing and the outrage of some adding to the high profile of the video.