To hear it from David Cohen, the CEO of the IAB, whatever happens in the next one to two years could fundamentally alter the digital economy—be it regulatory scrutiny, consumer awareness of personal data and privacy, or loss of tracking attributed to the rewiring of the advertising ecosystem. Sounds like fun.

Cohen voiced these concerns in a hair-singeing speech delivered at the IAB’s annual leadership meeting in Marco Island, Florida, last week, calling out a laundry list of “extremists” and “political opportunists” who, in his view, “have made it their mission to cripple the advertising industry and eliminate it from the American economy and culture.”

He named everyone from Sen. Ted Cruz and FTC Chair Lina Khan to Apple, which has seismically altered the ad industry by letting users opt out of online tracking.

His comments spurred the ANA and 4A’s to release a joint statement in which they criticized the tone and content of Cohen’s speech and its “polarizing political rhetoric.” Marketing Brew chatted with Cohen about his speech (which can be read in full here) and what he was hoping to achieve.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

AdExchanger called the speech “unapologetic,” while Ebiquity’s chief product officer described the use of the word “extremist” as “quite possibly dangerous” on LinkedIn. I just want to fact-check a line here: “Extremists are winning the battle for the hearts and minds in Washington, DC, and beyond.” Are we reading the same speech?

We are. It goes without saying that this is my opinion…I do believe that we live in a world of sensationalism and extremism, and I do think that a more moderate approach—a strategic, sound approach—is probably warranted. Outside of the sensationalism of the speech itself, the hope is that we have a pragmatic and practical approach to data use. And we are at least a decade behind in terms of a national data privacy law. My hope, at the end of the day, is that we get Washington to move and we get all the large players to collaborate.

Almost like fighting fire with fire, in a sense?

If you have a knife fight, you want to have a knife. If you’re in a battle with bazookas, you want a bazooka. You want to be able to meet the conversation where it sits. And I do think there was an element of that.

Keep reading here.—RB

Netflix and GM are both returning to the Super Bowl this year—but this time, the brands are heading to the broadcast together.

In a 60-second spot that will run in the second quarter of the game, the companies have enlisted Will Ferrell to promote GM’s electric vehicles and Netflix hits like Squid Game, Bridgerton, Queer Eye, and Army of the Dead. Several 15-second teasers for the ad will air ahead of the game.

The ad, created by The Community and McCann, is part of an extended initiative from both brands to make electric vehicles ubiquitous onscreen and in real life. Beginning this year, Netflix has committed to place at least one electric vehicle from GM or another EV manufacturer in new Netflix-produced shows and movies, Netflix CMO Marian Lee said. (The way they appear will be at the discretion of the creative teams, Lee said, so don’t expect to see them in series or movies where it isn’t subject-matter appropriate, like in period pieces.)

Neither brand will run additional standalone ads in the Super Bowl this year, but Netflix will also run a different co-branded spot for its golf documentary series Full Swing alongside Michelob Ultra, Lee said.

Better together: The joint spot is one of several co-branded ads slated to air during this year’s game. Heineken is running a spot for its nonalcoholic beer in an ad featuring Paul Rudd’s character from Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which will hit theaters a few days after the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Molson Coors is asking people to guess the contents of its Super Bowl ad using DraftKings for a chance to win a cash prize.

TV tropes: While these are Netflix’s first co-branded Super Bowl ads since its 2014 game debut, GM has a history of leaning on entertainment to promote its vehicles. Last year, the brand enlisted Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers film franchise to promote electrification. It also previously worked with Ferrell in 2021 to promote its electric vehicles in a spot poking fun at Norway.—KS

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

Up to date: Nine trends for 2023 and the “key cultural shifts” behind them, according to Horizon Media.

Devil’s advocate: A blog post explaining why it may not always make sense to partner with an influencer or celebrity just because they share a name with your brand (like college football star Jalin Hyatt partnering with hotel chain Hyatt).

Grab a pen: How B2B marketers can write content that leads to results.

Today’s research comes courtesy of Retail Brew’s Katishi Maake.

On Tuesday, Dunnhumby released its sixth annual retailer preference index—a nationwide study examining 63 retailers in grocery that surveyed 10,000 consumers—and found that H-E-B was the most preferred grocer in 2022.

Costco came right after H-E-B, followed by Amazon, Wegmans, and Sam’s Club to round out the top five.

H-E-B retook the top spot from Amazon, which held it for the past two years.

“The surge to digital and e-commerce adoption by customers—a large chunk of it has stuck. [We] knew that also a large chunk might be temporary,” Erich Kahner, director of competitive strategy and insights at Dunnhumby, told Retail Brew. “H-E-B resuming its spot, pushing Amazon back down, reflects that more temporary nature of all of that shift.”

Read more here.—KM

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

• More movie trailers are coming back to the Super Bowl—but they might look different
• Responses from our Super Bowl reader survey
• About three-quarters of people who plan to watch the Super Bowl said they’re excited for the ads, research says