It’s not often that marketers look for people who don’t do brand deals or avoid anyone with too big of a following when sourcing for an influencer campaign. But that’s what People First did ahead of this month’s Wisconsin State Supreme Court election.

The marketing agency found local microinfluencers in the state to post about issues like abortion and gun control before the election on April 4. The posts were part of a campaign with A Better Wisconsin Together, an organization representing progressive interests in the state.

Ultimately, Democratic-backed judge Janet Protasiewicz won the election with a record campus turnout for a State Supreme Court election. While it’s too early to tell if People First’s youth-centered campaign made a difference in getting her elected, CEO Curtis Hougland told us his team’s work “lined up with the results pretty well.”

Go small or go home: According to Hougland, the biggest challenge facing campaigns today, whether they’re commercial or political, is “the collapse in trust of the American people,” who, he said, no longer trust the media, corporations, or the government. “In that vacuum, who do we trust? We trust each other—we trust members of our own communities.”

That means finding people who have local followings.

Continue reading here.—KH

You know that feeling when an ad seems like it was made just for you? A little spooky, maybe, but mostly amazing?

Well, bring on the feels, because personalized content is the name of the game these days. People want creative advertising to feel like conversations with old friends. But how to ace this new landscape?

One word: influencers. And Aspire’s here to help you get ’em on the line. Their Ultimate Guide to Influencer Content explains how to leverage influencers, fuel all performance channels, and drive ROI through real-life examples of successful campaigns.

Here’s the bottom line: Influencers outperform old-fashioned studio-shot creatives and offer marketers greater volume, speed, and agility. Oh, and they can supercharge old-fashioned ads into unforgettable marketing for your brand.

Time to get real.

The pitch clock isn’t the only thing new to baseball this season.

ESPN chooses a new anthem to use in its promotions of Sunday Night Baseball each year, and this time, it’s a spin on a classic: Flo Rida’s “What a Night,” a take on “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.

If the song sounds familiar (aside from its similarities to “Oh, What a Night”), that’s because it’s already running in live games as well as in weekly marketing content like TV and radio spots and social media posts promoting Sunday Night Baseball.

ESPN, which has exclusive rights to Sunday Night Baseball as part of a $4 billion deal with Major League Baseball, has selected a new anthem every year since 2020. The anthem serves as ESPN’s way to “give more access points for people to connect into the baseball story,” Emeka Ofodile, the company’s VP of sports marketing, told Marketing Brew.

Keep reading here.—AM

Un-check yourself: The legacy blue checkmarks have finally fallen, remaining mostly for those willing to fork over $8/month for Twitter Blue (and the select few Elon is paying for himself.) Now there is literally no difference between us and celebrities like Halle Berry. No difference at all.

Also Twitter-related, Microsoft dropped the platform from its Digital Marketing Center earlier this week, meaning users can no longer schedule, write, or manage tweets via Microsoft Advertising as of April 25. The announcement came a day after Musk told advertisers that “freedom of speech is paramount” on the platform, even if it means losing ad dollars; meanwhile, Twitter’s Hateful Conduct Policy no longer includes protections for transgender users.

In lighter news…Le Creuset brought out its inner theater kid when it announced its newest cookware no-color: shallot. The reveal, which featured people tearing down a wall of brown construction paper to reveal millennial pink-adjacent skillets and pans, was a hit on social, perhaps for being reminiscent of this Nathan For You clip.

Honorable mention: The Teletubbies TikTok account is blowing up for its videos like “bombastic side eye” and Dipsy being in his own world. When in doubt, nostalgia + absurdism seems to be a winning equation on the platform.—KH

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

The real Reel: How to make Instagram-friendly videos in four steps.

Mind your manners: How to avoid snafus and maintain etiquette on social media.

Timing is everything: The best time to post on the clock app.

The debate is settled: We’ve speculated. We’ve wondered. And finally, we answered the age-old question: What’s a better way to promote your brand, a skywriter or an email campaign? Peep this video to find out.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

We’re pumped! The Brief is getting closer and closer! Get ready to network and hear from top marketing leaders from across the industry.

Are you a marketing professional aspiring to reach the top? Come hear from Everette Taylor, CEO of Kickstarter, as we learn about his experience transitioning from CMO to CEO first-hand. Grab your ticket and get inspired to take your career to the next step.

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

1. H&H, Philadelphia Cream Cheese team up to create ‘tax-free’ bagel
2. Taco Bell and Coachella team up on a limited-edition, desert-inspired nopales taco
3. Tito’s pet-themed merch is here to make walking your dog a little boozier
4. Gucci, Vans team up for Roblox scavenger hunt

Keep scrolling for the answer.

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

• Yes we cannabis: How brands acknowledged 4/20 this year
• This week’s agency news, executive moves, and account changes
• Magnite follows The Trade Desk in looking for ad-tech circumvention