Marketers had some high highs and some low lows in 2023. The NFL won big when Taylor Swift’s budding romance with Travis Kelce drew millions of Swiftie eyeballs to Kansas City Chiefs games. Others had tougher years (and we can’t help but wonder if X CEO Linda Yaccarino misses her old job at NBCU).

Marketing Brew talked to several marketers for their takes on some of the campaigns that stood out in the past 12 months, and which ones didn’t quite stick the landing.

Big hits: Barbie, Tubi, and Sphere

“Barbie took over the world this year. I don’t think it was so much the advertising; I think it was all of the places that Barbie wound up as a broader campaign that influenced the social zeitgeist. I think it did so in a way that only a really beloved, iconic brand and product could. I look at that, and I think it really took a lot of oxygen from brand and marketing and advertising out of the room, because it just consumed so much. It appealed to me as a 50-something man. It appealed to my wife, a 40-something millennial. Then I have a 9-year-old daughter that was just consumed by it, and even my 11-year-old son was, too.”—Jason Cieslak, president, Pacific Rim at Siegel+Gale

“The Tubi campaign for Mischief…I really liked the headlines and the out-of-home stuff; I almost thought those were stronger than the actual film executions…The campaign that they launched after that is pretty great. It seems like they’ve put a flag in the ground for all of these freebie channels.”—Gordy Sang, co-founder, co-CCO at Quality Meats

“It felt like [Sphere] just dropped down out of outer space. [You] thought you understood out-of-home, and then they make this thing. At first, you almost thought it was a joke, but it was real. Everyone was talking about it. Everyone was connecting about it. It was inspiring new ways of thinking about your brand. When you think about all the brands that have done interesting things on that space, who wouldn’t want to try and advertise there?”—Jeff Benjamin, CCO at Tombras

Read more here.—JS

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This week, we’re sharing with you some of our favorite stories we’ve published in the past year. This feature on Nissan’s effort to make its own Lofi Girl was originally published on April 17.

At any given moment, thousands of people are listening to Lofi Girl on YouTube. The account, which features livestreams of instrumental music often listened to while sleeping or studying, has more than 12 million subscribers and has become a brand of its own, in part because of its signature animation.

In an effort to capitalize on the cultural phenomenon, Nissan developed its own four-hour video, which it’s running as a six-minute ad before Lofi Girl videos. The look and sound are similar enough that some listeners may not realize that they’re vibing to an ad at first—but many don’t seem to mind.

• In two months, Nissan’s video has gotten more than 12 million views, with one commenter saying it’s the only ad they’ve listened to all the way through.

“You don’t see that very often,” Allyson Witherspoon, global CMO of Nissan, told Marketing Brew. By making an ad that doesn’t feel like an ad, she said her team has been “blown away by the results.”

Lo risk, high reward: Nissan’s lofi video was created as part of a broader release plan for the Ariya electric vehicle, which also includes a pronunciation campaign on TikTok featuring celebs and influencers.

After seeing data that indicated people interested in lofi music were more likely to be interested in electric vehicles, Witherspoon said the company wanted to home in on that insight.

“I wouldn’t say that we set out to be the first brand to do [a lofi video],” she said. “This is where we found the audience that we thought that we could reach.”

Nissan has exclusive advertising rights to Lofi Girl content right now, Witherspoon said. She confirmed it’s also running ad units on YouTube, but would not share budget numbers.

Continue reading here.—KH

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

Sara Brooks is the chief marketing officer of Yardzen, an online landscaping design service. Prior to that, she worked in senior marketing roles at The RealReal and at shopping site The Hunt, which was acquired by Pinterest.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? My all-time favorite project was probably launching the first loyalty program at The RealReal in the early days. We had a robust repeat business, and the loyalty program drove wallet share on both sides of the marketplace. Tactically, building the program took creative, analytical, and technical skills, plus a tremendous cross-functional effort to take the program live. It gave us a foundation to build customer loyalty for years to come.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? I’d be remiss not to say Barbie the movie. Not only were the promotional campaigns and collaborations extensive, effective, and culture-creating, but the movie itself was thought-provoking and culture-shifting. From the moment the first stills were released in 2022 through the summer 2023 marketing blitz, everyone wanted to be a part of the Barbie halo. Not in recent history do I remember a film holding the internet and consumers’ attention for such a sustained period of time.

A campaign that’s firing on all cylinders like that can feel overdone, but they managed to do it in a way that felt fresh, fun, and zeitgeist. It’s also built on the backs of some of my all-time favorite ad campaigns and initiatives that call out and challenge American society’s gender inequity: Always’s #LikeAGirl, Fearless Girl and the Wall Street bull, and Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I’m an avid yogi at my local studio. I love the community, the music, the heat, the quick hour to myself, and pushing my body to master new things.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? I’m a voracious content consumer, so it’s truly so challenging to pick one. I love the team at Reforge for growth leaders. The team is made up of some of the best original growth leaders in the industry, and they publish tactical guides for success, and their courses help those getting started to accelerate their skills and build a growth mindset.

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

Plan ahead: Your new 2024 planner could probably use some dates from this social media marketing calendar.

Now trending: Social media trends to keep an eye on in 2024.

Graphic design is my passion: Beginner-friendly design tips and tricks.

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