When hair-care brand Crown Affair officially debuted in January 2020, it had what seemed to be endless marketing opportunities ahead of it.

“We had this whole marketing calendar that was all about IRL,” Elaine Choi, president of Crown Affair, told Marketing Brew.

Then, as we all well know, Covid hit, bringing many of those opportunities to a halt. Founder and CEO Dianna Cohen asked how the brand could pivot, and Choi suggested she set up her tripod and get on camera—something Cohen says she had never done before.

Four years later, Cohen said her online following has grown from a few thousand to more than 60k followers across both TikTok and Instagram. She’s repeatedly gone viral for sharing “no-heat waves” hair-drying and styling techniques, while also getting traction on non-hair-related content about art, gua sha, fashion, and Kirkland cashmere. And, of course, she posts about Crown Affair.

“Not everybody is made for this, but I do love doing it,” Cohen told Marketing Brew, adding that it’s “one of those unique examples that has been a huge part of our strategy and channel, but didn’t start that way.”

Continue reading here.—KH

Is it okay to ask your co-worker how much they make? Is Gen Z set up for failure in the workplace? Should you really bring your whole self to work?

Each week on Per My Last Email, Morning Brew’s resident career experts, Kaila and Kyle—whose careers have collectively spanned the corporate, government, nonprofit, and startup sectors—debate the trickiest challenges in work life and share insightful (and sometimes hilarious) tactics on how to overcome them. Listen now.

We all scream for ice cream. But on April 16, no screaming was necessary for fans of Ben & Jerry’s. The ice cream juggernaut hosted Free Cone Day at participating locations in 36 countries with an ambitious goal: Dole out a million scoops of ice cream.

Free Cone Day has been an annual tradition since 1979, other than a three-year pandemic hiatus from 2020–’22. And while the occasion might generate buzz for the company, that’s not the explicit goal, Alexa Harrison, Ben & Jerry’s public relations manager, told Marketing Brew. Instead, the giveaway is a way to express gratitude for fans.

“We don’t do any of this for sales,” Harrison said. “Our main goal is just to provide the most fun and memorable experience with them for one day, just to say thank you.”

Beyond counting the number of scoops it gives away, Ben & Jerry’s doesn’t use any metrics to determine the brand impact of Free Cone Day, Harrison said, but it’s clear the annual tradition is a hit. As of 2019, the company was serving an average of about 182,000 pounds of ice cream annually on Free Cone Day, and last year, it served 970,000 free scoops, she said.

Some of the more popular flavors in 2023 were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Cherry Garcia, Phish Food, and Churray for Churros, Harrison said. No need to pick just one: On Free Cone Day, people were allowed to get back in line to try different flavors.

Read more here.—JN

If you’re a longtime country fan, or perhaps a recent convert thanks to Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter album, you may have tuned in to this month’s CMT Music Awards, and maybe even its red carpet pre-show. In addition to the fancy outfits and screaming fans, there were also QR codes that encouraged viewers to shop for the things they were seeing on screen.

The feature is part of a new shoppable TV partnership between Paramount and retail media company Shopsense AI, which lets viewers scan the codes and shop for clothing and other products, like home goods, that are similar to those featured in Paramount’s programs. The code directs users to an online store, where items populated by Shopsense’s AI are available for sale.

• Viewers can expect more onscreen shopping from Paramount properties in the future, and The Talk is already leveraging Shopsense technology, according to a press release from the two companies.

AI 101: The partnership between Paramount and Shopsense was born out of conversations at CES in January, Bryan Quinn, the president and co-founder of Shopsense, told Marketing Brew. Using the CMT Music Awards as a kick-off was an effort to showcase the tech during a tentpole event ahead of the upfronts.

Shopsense execs worked with Paramount to understand what CMT Awards attendees wore on the red carpet last year, as well as what might be in vogue this year, Quinn told us. They then took that information and fed it into Shopsense’s AI platform, which put together several similar looks at different price points that viewers could buy from the custom CMT online store.

Continue reading here.—JS

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Executive moves across the industry.

• SurveyMonkey elevated Priya Gill to the role of global head of marketing.
• The former CMO of Crocs, Terence Reilly, is returning to the company as president of its Heydude brand after a stint at Stanley, where he oversaw the drinkware brand’s recent resurgence.
• XR Extreme Reach, a tech company, hired Dish Media alum Kevin Arrix as chief growth officer.