The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup starts tomorrow, and some brands have been eager to get in on the action for months. It’s no wonder: Last year’s Men’s World Cup in Qatar commanded significant attention among US audiences, and less than a year later, the US Women’s National Team is going for its third straight World Cup trophy.

“Brands should be salivating over” women’s sports fans, according to Kerry Bradley, the director of analytics at fan intelligence company Sports Innovation Lab. If Fox Sports almost selling out of World Cup ad inventory by mid-June is any indication, many are.

“The women’s game deserves a lot of credit for the way that Americans and US-based fans, American or not, have started to engage with soccer more and more,” she told Marketing Brew. Still, “there are plenty of general sports fans who are still at a stage in their fandom where they’re only going to pay attention to soccer once every four years, or maybe once every two, during big flagship tournaments and international events.”

That makes this summer’s tournament valuable brand real estate, but not every brand did—or could—shell out for broadcast ads or FIFA deals. As a result, sports media companies have seen high advertiser demand in recent months, and individual athletes have been fielding plenty of requests for brand partnerships leading up to the World Cup, riding a wave of increasing advertiser interest in women’s sports.

Read the full story here.—AM

Despite what the internet may tell you, building a successful DTC empire doesn’t happen overnight. Once you’ve established a customer base, success can often boil down to two things: customer engagement and loyalty, two of the hardest things to earn as a new brand.

Retail Brew connected with top retailers—Mejuri, Casper, and Peloton—to talk about the marketing strategies they use to keep customers coming back and spreading the word. If you work in retail, this guide is for you. Download it now.

What was the last ad you saw? You might remember if you’re a marketer, but if not, it’s unlikely; most people only remember up to a tenth of the ads they’ve seen in the past 24 hours.

That’s one of the findings from market research firm Provoke Insights’s advertising trends report from this summer, a study it’s conducted several times since starting in 2020, according to its president, Carly Fink.

Thank u, next: More specifically, 41% of respondents to the survey, conducted earlier this year among 1,500 Americans ages 21–65, said they remembered 1%–10% of the ads they’d seen in the past 24 hours.

• Another 20% said they remembered 11%–25% of the ads they’d seen in that window, and 16% said they remembered 26%–50% of the ads.
• Others (18%) said they didn’t remember any ads they’d seen in the past day.
• A much smaller share—just 6%—said they remembered 51%–100% of the ads they saw over the last 24 hours.

“There’s so much content everywhere,” Fink told Marketing Brew. “It’s really hard to remember everything that’s out there, so as a brand…it’s much harder to stand out.”

Social and TV have relatively better ad recall than some other channels. Three-quarters of those who watch TV weekly said they remembered at least half of the ads, and 77% of those who use social media weekly said the same.

Helping hand: Despite the low ad recall, some respondents did agree that ads can be helpful, and they sometimes come to mind while shopping.

• According to the report, 44% said ads help them choose which products to buy, and 42% said they remember ads while shopping.
• Almost one-third (29%) said they rely on influencers for help choosing products.

“I actually think that’s quite a high percentage,” Fink said. “If 29% of the consumer population says social influencers are helping them out, that really shows that area is working.”—AM

Meta announced a series of changes to Facebook video features this week, in a move likely designed to help the platform better compete with TikTok and YouTube.

The Facebook Watch tab has been renamed “Video” and houses all of the platform’s video content, including Reels, live content, and long-form videos. Meta is also bringing more Reels editing capabilities to Facebook’s feed, meaning users will be able to speed up, reverse, or replace clips; add audio and record voiceovers; and upload HDR videos.

Additionally, users can now comment on Instagram Reels from Facebook. The Video tab will also include a revamped Explore page that recommends videos “related to relevant hashtags and topics.”

This is not the first time Facebook has sought to strengthen its video presence.

• It debuted Facebook Watch in 2018, and integrated Instagram Reels with Facebook in 2021.
• In subsequent years, however, Facebook has shuttered some of its video offerings, like Watch Party, which let users watch content together.
• A few months ago, Meta bid farewell to Watch’s original programming, which included shows like Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talk.

Besides its experimentation with video, Meta has also rolled out (and cut the cord on) a host of other services. Last year, it ended Neighborhoods, the Nextdoor-lookalike feature it introduced in 2021, as well as Tuned, an app for couples. Campus, Facebook’s social network for college students, and Sparked, its video speed-dating program, also bit the dust last year.

Video, however, is one space the company continues to invest in as it sees growth from Reels, which are “increasing overall app engagement,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during the company’s Q1 earnings call. As for further video improvements on Facebook, Meta hinted at more updates in the works.

“This is just the beginning,” the company’s blog post said.—JS

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

Paid vacation: Business of Fashion looked into “how brands get can influencer trips right.”

Delulu: Delusion can help you get your next job, at least according to Gen Z.

Nobody’s perfect: Even experienced social media managers mess up from time to time—here’s how to address those mistakes.

Stat: Cameo, the app that lets users buy personalized video messages from celebs and gained traction during the beginning of the pandemic, has lost or laid off almost 90% of its employees since last year, according to The Information.

Quote: “If the sell-side sells lemon impressions and the buy-side keeps buying them knowing they are lemons, then so be it.”—Tom Triscari, a programmatic advertising consultant, to Digiday about the prevalence of made-for-advertising websites

Read: Quiznos and its “creepy rat-like mascots” are aiming for a comeback. (Insider)