Twitter, amid all of its chaos, is in the holiday spirit.

The platform is offering advertisers what execs described as uncommonly generous deals in an apparent effort to boost advertising spend before the end of the year, according to emails shared with Marketing Brew by two advertising agency executives. Meanwhile, many major advertisers, including Jeep, Mars, Kellogg, and Verizon, have stopped running ads on the platform entirely, according to the Washington Post.

Globally, Twitter is offering something called a “value add” to advertisers that reach a certain incremental spend limit, according to the email. This means that Twitter will offer additional impressions on behalf of the advertiser, depending on how much they spend. In some cases, Twitter is offering to match advertising spend on the platform.

• Within the US, if an advertiser spends $200,000, they’ll get a 25% value add.
• If they spend $350,000, they’ll receive a 50% value add.
• If they spend $500,000, they’ll get a 100% value add, capped at $1 million per advertiser.

A 100% value add is “absurdly high,” one of the agency execs told Marketing Brew. “I’d never expect to see even a 20% value add from anyone unless I was spending millions in an upfront deal.”

Click here for the full story.—RB

The Federal Trade Commission has officially closed comments on a proposal that could lead to regulations of the ways companies collect, sell, and use data.

Rewind: In August, the agency announced that it was “exploring rules to crack down on harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security.” To start, it sought comments from experts, trade organizations, and the public to help determine whether new privacy regulations are needed and what they should look like.

• Specifically, it posed roughly 95 questions, which ranged from, “To what extent do commercial surveillance practices or lax security measures harm consumers?” to “Could new rules help ensure that firms’ automated decision-making practices better protect non-English speaking communities from fraud and abusive data practices?”
• Answers to those questions, as well as any general comments sent in response, will help guide the commission’s decision-making. More than 11,000 comments were received.

The comment period closed before Thanksgiving because even regulators need to make sure they don’t overcook their turkey. Here’s a roundup of some comments Marketing Brew found notable.—RB

The 2022 FIFA World Cup kicked off last month, and while ad sales are breaking records, the quadrennial event has also seen its fair share of controversy this year, mostly surrounding its host country, Qatar.

Taking a stance: A number of protests have formed around this year’s World Cup in response to practices and restrictions in the host country.

• Creative agency Mojo Supermarket unveiled a campaign declaring FIFA the “proud sponsors of The Slavery Cup,” in reference to the migrant workers who worked under inhumane conditions to build the World Cup stadiums.
• French soccer magazine So Foot and ad agency BETC opened a restaurant pop-up in Paris for those boycotting the game. Rather than watch the game, they’ll have the chance to make foods inspired by France’s opponents.
• Despite Qatar’s insistence that all are welcome during the World Cup, homosexuality is criminalized in the country. LGBTQ+ ad organization Outvertising released a statement to brands and agencies, calling on them to “use their platforms to meaningfully showcase what their true inclusive values mean to themselves, their employees, and their consumers.”
• Prior to kickoff, Scottish brewery BrewDog declared itself the “proud anti-sponsor” of the World Cup, citing the treatment of workers and the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar. Their OOH ads, created with Saatchi & Saatchi, said things like, “The beautiful game shame.”
• Energy drink Lucozade Sport, which sponsors England’s national soccer team, also pulled all branding from this year’s World Cup.

And yet, even with calls from the marketing industry, the New York Times noted that there has been “no detectable business boycott”; sponsorships from major brands like Coca-Cola and Adidas are still running.

Read the full story here.—KH

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

*Tyra voice* You wanna be on top?: Here are five habits that will help you stand out as a social media manager.

Timing is everything: The optimal time to post on TikTok, explained.

Non-GMO: How to boost your organic search traffic on social.

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

1. Melissa McCarthy revives ‘Bridesmaids’ character with Purina and eight tiny reindeer golden retrievers
2. McDonald’s gives away meals for life via McGold Card
3. Eos brings Mariah Carey to Roblox
4. Heinz wants you to add a tip to get restaurants to serve its ketchup

Keep scrolling for the answer.

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

• The biggest present for brands this time of year? Landing on a gift guide
• How advertisers are approaching YouTube Shorts
• For Uncommon Goods, podcast ads drive ‘high-quality’ customers