From your first vacation in months to the first sunburn of the season, summer comes with a lot of firsts.

This summer, influencer marketers received their very first organic measurement guidelines from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), just as the ocean became warm enough for people to actually swim in.

The guidelines represent a milestone of sorts: Measurement in influencer marketing, an industry that grew to $13.8 billion in 2021, is growing up. So much so, in fact, that it needs rules to follow.

• Out of more than 1,000 Marketing Brew readers surveyed last month, about one-third said they think measurement for influencer marketing has “evolved significantly” over the past two years.
• “As any channel starts to grow in popularity and investment, then you start to see a much more demand for rigorous measurement,” Evyenia Lyons, CMO of influencer marketing platform Traackr, explained.

Looking ahead: There are different ways to approach measurement depending on the objectives, but one of the biggest focuses across the board among experts we spoke to is optimizing brand-lift studies to make them more useful for influencer marketing specifically.

“Brand-lift studies were not part of the conversation in influencer marketing five years ago,” Tim Sovay, chief BD and partnerships officer and COO at influencer marketing software platform CreatorIQ, told us. Now, that seems to have changed.

Read the full story here.—PB

Last night, the Buffalo Bills and reigning Super Bowl champs, the Los Angeles Rams, kicked off this year’s NFL season. Even though it’s just begun, Super Bowl ad slots are already almost sold out and brands are planning for the game.

Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed (marketing-wise—we can’t help you with your fantasy lineup).

$$$: Earlier this week, Fox announced that it had sold out 95% of its Super Bowl ad inventory, despite the event still being five months away and the softening of the ad market over the summer.

• Mark Evans, EVP of ad sales for Fox Sports, told Adweek that the broadcaster “came out of the upfront marketplace with over 90% sellout in the Super Bowl, which has never happened before. It’s a record for us.”
• Some spots have sold for upward of $7 million.

Rewind: Last season, when NBCUniversal had the broadcast rights for the Super Bowl, the company had sold 85% of its commercial spots by July and had “only a few units left” as of Sept. 8, Dan Lovinger, NBC Sports Group’s EVP of advertising sales, said at the time.

Evans said almost the same thing to Variety this year, telling the outlet that Fox Sports probably had five 30-second spots left, maybe fewer.

Crypto Super Bowl: Yesterday, crypto exchange OKX started its first global ad campaign, and its global CMO, Haider Rafique, told Ad Age that the company will “of course be a part of the Super Bowl.”

Rafique didn’t share details, but this could be an indication that crypto brands will continue their love affair with the game in 2023. On the other hand, according to the Wall Street Journal, the industry has “backed away” from the Super Bowl this year.

Big picture: Ad revenue from the 2021–2022 season reached $4.3 billion, up 14% from the previous season, according to research from Standard Media Index (SMI). That’s the highest season of ad spending when considering national telecasts since SMI started tracking in 2017.—AM

Future Social is a weekly newsletter on social media, content, and creators from Jack Appleby, a Morning Brew creator who’s worked in social media for 10 years at companies like Beats by Dre, Microsoft, and Twitch. Check out an excerpt from one of his pieces below, and sign up for Future Social here.

No one tweets as tremendously as Twitter. The home team cleaned up at marketing awards shows this summer, winning Best Overall Social Presence, Brand, at the Webbys, a Gold Clio, and a handful of Lions at Cannes for ridiculousness like their hello literally everyone tweet.

That personality kept up when Twitter added “this is happening and you’ll be okay” to the end of its edit-button announcement tweet, earning over 368,000 likes thanks to laughs.

Not many Big Tech companies can get away with such sassy social. I wanted to hear how it approaches its own strategy and tone for big news, so I chatted with Ashley Tyra, Twitter’s head of editorial and voice, about the behind-the-scenes process for their product announcements.

Read about how Twitter balances info and personality, their writing process, and more. —JA

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Unstoppable: If you’re a content creator, here are some tips on how to boost your productivity and grow your social accounts along the way.

Back to school: Twitter is offering courses throughout the fall to help businesses establish themselves on the platform.

Spot the difference: This explainer breaks down why CX isn’t the same as UX.

Grow smarter: To drive profitable growth with digital advertising, you need to understand which metrics, KPIs, and signals matter most. See how Northbeam’s AI-driven analytics platform can help you make sense of your ad performance data. Request a demo.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

::drumroll:: Introducing The Brief: A Summit Presented by Marketing Brew

Marketing Brew has partnered with some of the world’s most recognized brands and influential marketers to bring you a premiere one-day marketing event in the heart of New York City.

You’ll hear from a powerhouse panel of speakers who will spotlight innovations, highlight strategies, and provide solutions to the modern marketer’s biggest challenges. Sounds good, right? Dust off your work pants and join us.

Special pricing ends soon, so don’t wait. Save yourself a seat (and some green) now!

Which headlines are real marketing news, and which one is fake?

1. Emirates’ new ad ambassador is a Canada goose
2. McDonald’s unveils meatless version of its McRib
3. Volvo hired a YouTube creator to make a song from car sounds
4. Starburst beams TikToks into space to engage Gen Z

Keep scrolling for the answer.

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Kendra Scott bet big on #BamaRushTok 2022, and it paid off
• How kids shows are boosting Paramount+
• A sociologist on what advertisers should know when they use health data