Last month, Netflix released the trailer for its live-action adaptation of “One Piece.” The trailer, based off of a popular anime series of the same name, has just short of 10 million views on YouTube.

Netflix isn’t the only streamer investing in the Japanese genre. In July, Hulu debuted a hub called “Animayhem” dedicated to anime and adult animation.

The global rise of anime is tied to its popularity among Gen Z, Hannah Hickman, partner and head of youth culture practice at cultural intelligence consultancy sparks & honey, told Marketing Brew.

“They’ve grown up with the level of access to global cultures that previous generations didn’t necessarily have. They’re listening to K-pop, buying French drugstore beauty products, watching Bollywood movies,” she said. “That also coincides with just this mass availability on streaming. Hulu and Netflix have really impressive anime libraries. You can watch on YouTube. There are apps and platforms like Crunchyroll. So it’s sort of this perfect storm of forces that create this explosion.”

Brands have taken note of its rise, with companies ranging from Ikea to Acura creating anime content to grab Gen Z’s attention.

Read the full story here.—JS

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If you’ve ever found yourself Googling “SATC Samantha purple dress where to buy” after binging a few too many episodes of Sex and the City, you’re not alone.

Three-quarters of US consumers said they’ve searched for a product or a brand online after seeing it in a TV show or in a film, according to new research from BenLabs, an agency that specializes in product placement, influencer marketing, and licensing. Nearly 60% of those customers who searched for something said they ended up making a purchase—either of the same product or of a different product from the same brand.

The data, which was collected through a survey of more than 650 US adults in April 2023, underscores some of the ways product placement on TV may drive purchasing decisions, something that is of increasing interest among advertisers as consumers continue to migrate to streaming services, many of them with ad-free tiers.

“Anecdotally, we’ve always known that there is this inherent power of product placement to drive purchase,” said Erin Schmidt, chief product placement officer at BenLabs, which has placed brands like KFC, Cheetos, and Absolut vodka in shows like Stranger Things, Never Have I Ever, and Dead to Me. The survey data, she said, just “confirms what we've always believed to be true.”

Continue reading here.—KS

Tinned fish, once typically tucked between the melba toast and canned beets in retirees’ pantries, has become a hot item with Gen Z, thanks to viral social media videos that have sung the praises of sardines and smoked trout from trendy new brands like Fishwife.

Now cottage cheese, whose popularity peaked when it was a dieting staple back when the Bee Gees topped the charts, is enjoying a similar resurgence with younger consumers, driven by some unlikely recipes that blew up on TikTok.

Keep reading on Retail Brew.—AAN

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

Tech tie-ups: A look at how holding companies are investing in AI.

Bad blood: How franchisees and CMOs can work through conflict.

Back to basics: TikTok put together a beginner’s guide for advertising on the platform.

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Starring role: Ever wonder how brands select and approach their ambassadors? Learn the ropes of reaching A-listers, influencers, and everyday personas in the latest Marketing Brew article, sponsored by Listrak.*

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Executive moves across the industry.

• Elina Vilk, a PayPal, Meta, and Visa alum, has joined Hootsuite as CMO.
• Michael Kotick has left Chipotle to become Sweetgreen’s head of marketing.
• Neelam Sandhu, who has been with BlackBerry since 2009, was elevated to CMO.