Former Patriots and Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski will be back on the field this Super Bowl Sunday. The kicker? He’s not playing tight end.

Instead, the four-time Super Bowl champ will be trying his hand (foot?) as a kicker for FanDuel’s first Super Bowl ad. Sorry if we got your hopes up; he’s not coming out of retirement.

• The 30-second ad will be broadcast live during the third quarter, when Gronk will have one shot to kick a 25-yard field goal.
• If he makes it, anyone who places a bet of $5 or more on any aspect of the game using its platform will be eligible to win a share of $10 million in free bets on FanDuel, Andrew Sneyd, the sportsbook’s EVP of marketing, told us, adding that regulations mean the company cannot accept bets on Gronk’s kick.

Big picture: The company’s Super Bowl campaign comes months after its CEO, Amy Howe, said that she’s “incredibly confident” that FanDuel—which projected revenue of approximately $3 billion for 2022—will reach full-year profitability for the first time in 2023. Last summer, the Wall Street Journal reported that several online-gambling companies, including FanDuel, were “under pressure to rein in spending” in hopes of reaching profitability this year.

With about a month left until the game, Sneyd pulled back the curtain on FanDuel’s strategy for its Super Bowl ad debut. Read our conversation here.—AM

Podcast industry execs have big expectations for 2023. More programmatic inventory. Better measurement services. Continued crossover between podcasts and video content. The list goes on, but even if these predictions come to fruition, there’s no guarantee that they’ll have an impact on brands’ podcast ad budgets.

The industry is on track to do more than $4 billion in ad revenue in the US by 2024, but the IAB made that prediction before the summer brought talks of a recession and before a round of media layoffs from which audio companies were not spared. Still, companies like SiriusXM and iHeartMedia continued to report growth in podcast revenue for Q2 and Q3, and audio ad buyers remained optimistic about podcast advertising heading into Q4, even as the industry showed signs of slowing on the whole.

Looking ahead: Podcast execs were still bullish that more brands, potentially even larger ones, will find their way into the medium this year:

• “Listen for more household names aligning with brand-safe content to reach the ears of their key customers,” Jessica Cordova Kramer, CEO and co-founder of Lemonada Media, told us.
• “We’re going to continue to see large, global brands spend in audio,” Shira Atkins, co-founder and CRO of Wonder Media Network, said.
• “I think more brands will look to align with podcasts in order to reach a valuable and engaged audience who are light consumers of traditional media,” Gina Garrubbo, president and CEO of National Public Media, NPR’s exclusive sponsorship arm, said.

Data from podcast media planning platform Magellan AI shows that categories like retail and finance spent more money on podcast ads, even as several execs we spoke to said that some of the DTC brands historically associated with the space could be pulling back.

Continue reading here.—AM

Each Tuesday, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Muhammad Al-Kahlout is head of digital marketing at Cummings Creative Group, a marketing agency based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? The most rewarding project has to be working on a year-long campaign with a local nonprofit whose mission is to end homelessness among kids who have aged out of foster care. The entire experience was a great reminder of how impactful it can be to simply see a need and do something about it.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? Nike’s ad for the 1998 World Cup, “Brazil at the Airport.” I love how the commercial captures the childlike energy and passion for the game in an unlikely setting.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile? I love video games. I don’t have as much time to play anymore, but I still aim to play at least one per year.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? AI and ML on both counts. I believe there are countless applications and benefits to these technologies, which are improving everything from the marketer’s campaign to the user experience. On the flipside, I suspect it may be creating a generation of marketers that are losing the opportunity to think critically in order to develop actual strategy.

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? The Solutions 8 YouTube channel. Trust me, and you’re welcome.

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

Let’s link up: Here are 15 ways to get more followers on your LinkedIn page.

Cut it out: Read up on the Google Ads update involving its “remove redundant keywords” recommendation and how it may affect marketers.

Feeling generous: Here’s a pretty thorough guide to sprucing up a Facebook giveaway.

Unlimited stock downloads: Create attention-grabbing videos with Storyblocks. Plans include an unlimited selection of over 1M templates, clips, sound effects, and more—fully customizable with royalty-free licensing. Get started today.*

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From non-alcoholic beverage brands to brands like Tito’s, Dry January is so far serving as a popular moment during which to advertise. What percentage of Americans said that they’d participate in Dry January this year?

A. 10%

B. 15%

C. 20%

D. 25%

Keep scrolling for the answer.

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

• Dispatch from CES: Fear (and loathing) the metaverse in Las Vegas
• Brands take a ‘no year’s resolution’ approach to kick off 2023
• A conversation with American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers about NIL partnerships