| What happened after Recess quadrupled its budget for IRL events. |
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It’s Tuesday, aka the perfect day for a reader survey. We’re working on an upcoming report about how the chief marketing officer role is transforming inside modern businesses, and we’d love your feedback. This survey should take about five minutes of your time, and participants will be entered to win a $500 AmEx gift card. We can’t wait to hear from you! In today’s edition:
—Kristina Monllos, Alyssa Meyers |
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BRAND STRATEGY Cans in hands  Morning Brew, Inc, Photos: Recess |
Making candles, reading tarot cards, arranging flowers. Those aren’t just hobbies that the kooky lead of an early aughts rom-com might have. In recent weeks, they’re some of the many, many events from Recess. Throughout May, the relaxation beverage brand, part of the burgeoning category of non-alcoholic drinks that pitch consumers on wellness over inebriation, produced six of its own events and partnered with almost 80 others in cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Austin. The company kicked things up another notch last month, with event totals nearing 120. It’s all part of a new events-focused marketing strategy from CMO Zech Francis, who joined the company in March. The goal is simple: “Get cans in hands,” he told us. So far, the company has distributed some 20,000 cans at these events, which include both the events Recess has produced or co-sponsored, as well as through gifted products in exchange for social posts. Recess “quadrupled our budget for community” this year, Francis said. Before this year, “we really didn’t have a robust budget for events in general,” he told us. “IRL events, it really wasn’t a line item on our budget, so I dedicated…[a] low single digit of our total marketing budget into events.” Throughout May, that budget went to bringing Recess to events, including a floating sound bath, a run club, golf outings, and an influencer night. “With the size that we’re at, we have meaningful budgets, but I’m trying to spread it as wide as we can,” he said of the strategy. “If you view any of these micro-events that we’re doing, the point of it is we’re entertaining our core consumer.” Continue reading here.—KM
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Sponsored By Webflow As far as AI can see  |
If you feel like you’ve been getting less eyes on your brand lately, it might be because you’re missing one very important set of eyes: AI assistants. AI is now becoming the first place many customers go to for recommendations, product advice, and answers. There’s just one problem—AI doesn’t know your brand very well, which is why 60% of AI answers cite the wrong source or misrepresent brand info. See how AI sees your site with Webflow’s free AEO assessment. You’ll get a score across four pillars (Content, Technical, Authority, and Measurement) and a personalized report in just a few minutes. Take the assessment to find out where your brand is strongest + what you need to focus on more. |
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SOCIAL & INFLUENCERS Red(dit) card  Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Coors, Reddit, Adobe Stock |
Not every brand can be an official FIFA sponsor this World Cup season, and not every fan has the opportunity to attend a match in person. But everyone can express their soccer fandom, opinions, and emotions—the good and the bad—on social. On Reddit, conversations about the World Cup have cropped up across subreddits, and not just sports-related ones; subreddits for host cities like r/KansasCity, r/Boston, and r/Dallas, for example, have been flooded with love for the visiting players and fans. It’s an unexpected twist of behavior when it comes to sports fans on social, according to Kris Kennedy, senior manager of creative strategy for Reddit’s in-house creative agency, KarmaLab. The KarmaLab team spent about a year in the lead-up to the World Cup trying to predict some of the general themes Reddit users might take to during the tournament in an effort to help advertisers engage with those conversations, he said. And while some of those expectations have lined up with trends from other major sporting events, the beauty of the game is that it’s impossible to guess exactly what storylines will emerge. For brands, that means “listening first, and…talking second,” Kennedy told Marketing Brew. That is usually easier said than done—but in a World Cup environment overrun with TV ads, billboards, and sponsored hydration breaks, the Reddit team is aiming to help brands to reap rewards from smaller, second-screen campaigns that take their cues from fan behaviors. Read more here.—AM
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SOCIAL & INFLUENCERS Something for someone  Tory Bartlett |
Tory Bartlett, CEO of PopUp Bagels, is set to speak at our upcoming Marketing Brew Summit on September 30. Ahead of the event, we caught up with him to hear his thoughts on the importance of brand loyalty and staying true to your product and experience. What do you think most marketers get wrong in their branding today? Trying to be everything to everyone. It’s easy to get distracted by the latest trend or the next shiny object, but if you don’t have a clear understanding of your brand’s DNA, you end up chasing relevance instead of building it. The brands that stand the test of time know exactly who they are. They evolve, but they don’t abandon the qualities that made people care in the first place. Five years from now, what’s the marketing “best practice” of today that you think we’ll all look back on and cringe at? Paying people to create advocacy for your brand. …Five years from now, I think the brands that win won’t necessarily be the ones with the biggest marketing budgets. They’ll be the ones that built real customer loyalty, because when people genuinely believe in what you’re building, they become your most effective marketers. Read more here.
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Sponsored By Claravine  |
Is your marketing data AI-ready? A Frankenstein spreadsheet that’s morphed into a mess of inconsistent naming conventions isn’t gonna cut it. Why? AI amplifies bad data fast. Claravine’s blueprint outlines what it takes to make your data AI-ready—before your next AI investment fails. Read on. |
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EVENTS Turns out, people like money  Morning Brew Inc. |
AI may be disrupting discovery, but some marketing fundamentals remain surprisingly resilient. Join Marketing Brew and Tremendous on July 15 to explore how referral programs, influencer partnerships, reviews, and targeted incentives are helping brands grow while everyone else is busy optimizing prompts. |
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french press  Morning Brew |
There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those. Heating up: Ad Age’s annual list of 20 of the hottest brands of the moment in the US. Test and learn: A marketer’s guide to “growth experimentation.” Fake out: Read up on TikTok’s new program meant to help users learn to better identify AI-generated content.
*A message from our sponsor. |
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PODCAST America 250's key marketing campaigns  |
In this episode, we’re taking a look at the way brands navigated celebrating America 250 in a variety of ways. From focusing on big national sports moments like this year’s Olympics and the World Cup, to celebrating their own company anniversaries, and most importantly, doing their best to unite Americans of all backgrounds via everything from action stars to apple pies. Listen to the episode |
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Jobs  |
Real jobs, shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board. |
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JOINING FORCES  Francis Scialabba |
Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.
- JPMorganChase inked its first NBA jersey-patch deal with the Dallas Mavericks.
- Liquid I.V. is leaning into the upcoming release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day for its latest content partnership.
- Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Genesis both individually partnered with Netflix for campaigns featuring actors from the streamer’s new golf comedy, The Hawk.
- Doritos is running a new global campaign tied to its Formula 1 sponsorship.
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