Welcome to the latest edition of Marketer's Brief, a quick take on marketing news, moves and trends from Ad Age's reporters and editors. Send tips/suggestions to eschultz@adage.com.
It’s gonna be May…tag
“It’s gonna be May” is one of spring’s favorite memes and Maytag wants in. The appliance brand, which is owned by Whirlpool, has been talking about ‘N Sync’s May 1 humor for a while, but only took the plunge this year with a campaign that tailors the “It’s Gonna Be May” meme to the iconic Maytag man.
“We wanted to go big,” says Robert Sundy, senior director of brand marketing at Maytag, noting that in addition to posting its video on Twitter and Instagram, Maytag also partnered with band members Joey Fatone and Lance Bass to promote it on their own social channels. Maytag runs an annual May promotion with rebates on select purchases. The company tapped Ketchum and Digitas for the new work.
Get a whiff of this
It’s not just perfumeries. Brands have a history of using certain smells to promote their products--Abercrombie & Fitch infuses its stores with heavy musk cologne, while Johnson & Johnson has run baby powder-scented print ads. Yet few marketers have tapped into new car smell--until now.
Over the weekend, Liberty Mutual ran a print ad in the Chicago Sun-Times that encouraged consumers to lift a tab and breathe in that fresh car smell. “If you’re thinking about a new car, think about Liberty Mutual,” reads the yellow ad, created with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.
The insurer is hoping that car shoppers will sniff new vehicles and remember the Liberty Mutual ads they saw--and smelled--and buy their insurance from the brand.
The weight of gold
Grayscale Investments, a cryptocurrency investment firm, has a new campaign designed to encourage investors to abandon gold for bitcoin. The new #DropGold campaign showcases the heaviness of gold weighing down investors. In a statement, Michael Sonnenshein, managing director at Grayscale, mentioned the “absurdity of gold in our modern world.” Ads will run in digital media and on TV. The company worked with Honor Society on the commercial.
See you at Denny’s
A new campaign from Denny’s attempts to send a strong message of inclusivity while touting its updated restaurants and menu. “See you at Denny’s” comes after the mostly franchised chain remodeled roughly 83 percent of its restaurants and added items such as crepes and “premium” chicken tenders to its menu. The push includes spots for African-American and Hispanic audiences (the tagline in the mostly Spanish spot is “Nos Vemos en Denny’s”). Denny’s says the work comes from EP+Co, Conill and Fluent360. The campaign is rolling out as Denny’s reported a better-than-expected 1.3 percent increase in first-quarter same-store sales.
Would you buy this?
Basepaws sells at-home DNA tests for cats for $95. The company recently received $250,000 in funding from ABC’s “Shark Tank.”
Tweet of the week
From soap boxes to packing up 35 years of life in boxes. Thanks @Unilever it's been a blast! pic.twitter.com/oHpX9xoRzM
— Keith Weed (@keithweed) May 1, 2019
Number of the week
59 percent: the percentage of consumers aged 18 to 34 that aren’t sure about or don’t have an interest in self-driving vehicles, according to The Future of Vehicle Ownership report from ThinkNow.
Comings and goings
Murli Buluswar is joining Citi as head of analytics and information management for U.S. consumer banking. He was formerly senior advisor to the Boston Consulting Group and two startups, and had spent time at AIG as chief science officer.
Deanie Elsner was named CEO of Charlotte’s Web Holdings, a maker of hemp-derived CBD extract products, effective May 15. Elsner was most recently president of Kellogg’s U.S. snack business until September. She previously spent more than two decades at Kraft, where she held various positions including CMO.
Contributing: Adrianne Pasquarelli, Jessica Wohl
