You’ve probably heard your favorite podcasters endorsing products of all kinds (*cough* Athletic Greens *cough*). It’s less likely—though not impossible—that you’ve heard them mention political candidates or issues.

Political advertisers, including candidates and advocacy groups, have expressed interest in podcasts, according to several network execs, but not all networks want to play ball.

And because the FCC doesn’t regulate political ads in podcasting, the rules are left entirely up to platforms and networks.

• Companies including iHeartMedia, Wondery, and Vox declined to comment on their policies for political advertising.
• Among the networks that did speak with Marketing Brew, approaches to political advertising ranged from careful interest to all-out bans.

Open for business: Audacy-owned podcast studio Cadence13 has accepted political ads for as long as it’s been ad-supported, including during the 2020 election, Lizzy Roberti, head of partnership strategy, told Marketing Brew.

Cadence13 “definitely” sees a boost in ad revenue and listenership for shows that discuss political news during election seasons, Roberti said. The decision of whether to accept political ads is largely in the hands of the hosts, she explained.

Keep reading here.—AM

When she took the job in 2018, Soyoung Kang, CMO of beauty brand eos Products, didn’t know what kind of creative work awaited her.

“I never in my entire life thought that I would be giving campaign hindsights and reading out KPIs for things called the ‘cooch’ campaign, the ‘Vagnastics’ campaign, and the ‘pube’ campaign,” she told us.

Shaving grace: Kang said eos was still very “hero product-driven” when she joined, known for its orb-shaped lip balms that were all over Tumblr and celebrity social media accounts in the early 2010s.

• After settling a string of class-action lawsuits in 2016, which alleged that the lip balm caused blisters and rashes, the brand looked to some to be in a state of crisis.
• Since 2018, Kang said her job has been to “renovate and reboot the entire product portfolio,” including reformulating its first product, shaving cream; “expand[ing] into adjacent categories so that we can fuel future areas for growth,” like its hand and body skin-care collections, and “simultaneously reconnect with our core fan base.”

We spoke with Kang about shifting the brand’s focus from mostly lip balm to personal care, millennials to Gen Z, and Tumblr to TikTok—all while having a little fun with it.

Keep reading here.—KH

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

’Tis the szn: Five tips from Meta about advertising best practices this holiday season.

Info and Personality: How to tweet about product updates like Twitter does.

Ooh and ahh: We recently covered quite a bit on the ground at Advertising Week. Get the full roundup of new OOH trends in our latest article, sponsored by MNTN.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Marketing Brew is hosting a full-day affair of industry exploration and navigation on November 15 in NYC. Complete with brand leaders, industry connections, and your favorite editorial team, The Brief: A Summit Presented by Marketing Brew is an event that cannot be missed.

Incredible speakers from Thinx, HBO, BECA, and more will take to the stage to tackle the dizzying industry topics we love so dearly. Rebranding, attribution, omnichannel, CTV, social commerce, brand values—we promise to tackle all the buzzwords Brew-style with some of the most notable brands and individuals. Grab special pricing while it lasts. Register here.

Read: Advertisers like McDonald’s and Coke, who are sponsoring the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, will “have to align their carefully crafted, heavily promoted values against the backdrop of alleged human rights abuses, anti-LGBTQ+ laws, and serious concerns about the safety of women” in the country, per Adweek.

Quote: “If brands want to reach our audience, they’ll need to work directly with our world-class media team.”—Bloomberg Media CEO M. Scott Havens in an open letter explaining why the publisher is eschewing open-market programmatic advertising

Stat: The percentage of US adults who said they get their news from TikTok more than tripled, from 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022, according to the Pew Research Center.

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

• After a two-year wait, NBCUniversal brought its brand-tastic BravoCon back to New York
• Oatly says you can put oat milk in stroganoff
• Zola CMO Victoria Vaynberg on #WeddingTok, influencer marketing, and future audiences