Everyone is playing games these days. No, we’re not talking about your dating life. We’re talking about major brands looking for ways to incorporate gaming into their advertising products.

Take Disney, which recently rolled out two new “advergames” on Hulu and ESPN called Quiz Show and Beat the Clock.

• Quiz Show offers brands the chance to give viewers a short trivia game on screen, while Beat the Clock incorporates a brand’s identity into rapid-fire games.
• Brands have already shown some interest. Topgolf was the first to take advantage of the Beat the Clock ad format in an experience where viewers were able to practice golf using their TV remotes.

The gamified ad formats, which are also being embraced by companies like Amazon and Discord, represent a bid to engage users while making the experience of watching ads potentially a little less tedious.

“Ads are very prominent now, so it’s really hard to break through and feel personalized to each customer,” Carli Jurczynski, associate VP and paid media client lead at the agency Kepler, said. “Something that feels new and interactive, especially in the TV space, is something that’s really appetizing to our clients.”

The possibility of inserting game-like experiences into ads has brought in some companies that have historically been resistant to advertising to try the format out.

Continue reading here.—JS

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This story is the first in a series about how marketers for sports teams and leagues around the world approach social media strategy.

Founded in 1966, the Chicago Bulls are one of the older teams in the NBA. But they’re young at heart—or at least online.

The Bulls have the highest TikTok engagement rate of any team across seven major North American pro leagues so far this year, at 13.87%, according to social media analytics company Rival IQ. The team’s TikTok audience has been growing, VP of content Luka Dukich said, but that’s not the platform on which the Bulls have the largest following: They have 16 million followers on Facebook and more than 10 million on Instagram, compared to 2.5 million on TikTok. So, alright, maybe the team does have a little bit of Gen X energy.

With a “uniquely huge social following” at more than 45 million followers across its social platforms, according to Dukich, the Bulls social media team has learned the importance of differentiating their content in order to stand out in the crowded sports landscape and continue building their fanbase online.

“We just really want to be present in our fans’ lives every day,” Dukich told Marketing Brew. “We want to be relevant. We want to be interesting. We want to be different.”

Inside basketball

The Bulls’ social media strategy is largely about storytelling, Dukich said. He’s been with the team for almost a decade and said that hasn’t always been the case.

“The content game has evolved,” he said. “You have to do stuff that’s not just covering the basketball team. People can go a million different places to get the score of the game last night, or to get the highlights, or to get photos from the game.”

Continue reading here.—AM

So far this year, Nike is being outperformed by competitor Adidas when it comes to national TV ads, according to data from measurement company EDO. While Nike has run more spots than Adidas and spent roughly four times the amount, Adidas is seeing higher engagement per dollar.

Going for gold: Adidas’s ads have outperformed Nike’s on TV by 23%, according to EDO. That means Adidas has seen more engagement per dollar spent, according to Laura Grover, EDO’s SVP and head of client solutions. For this research, EDO defined engagement as online searches for the brand that occurred in the minutes after their ads were seen.

• Adidas aired 488 national TV ads in the first half of 2024, per EDO, while Nike aired about 1,100.
• Though Nike took up more airtime, Grover said Adidas has been allocating a larger share of its ad spend toward live sports in particular—85% to Nike’s 65%—which could explain why Adidas is seeing higher engagement.

“We see time and time again that live sports is a fantastic environment to be airing,” she told Marketing Brew. “In general, people are more engaged, and more engaged with ads, in live sports…With that concentrated buy in live sports, Adidas is really driving up their per-impression impact, or engagement rate.”

Ballers: Both Nike and Adidas have been scoring in women’s basketball, but again, Adidas outperformed Nike on that front, EDO found.

Continue reading here.—AM

Social is the new search. So…is your brand popping up on search? Consider including social media and influencer campaigns in your holiday season prep. Start with this infographic from Bazaarvoice. They surveyed consumers from around the world to find out what they want to see from brands. See the full infographic.

Executive moves across the industry.

• Victoria’s Secret named Savage X Fenty alum Hillary Super as its new CEO.
• Starbucks has a new CEO: The coffee chain brought on board former Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol.
• Paramount+ and Nickelodeon’s head of global kids and family marketing, Sabrina Caluori, is leaving the company. Paramount Television Studios President Nicole Clemens is also out after the company closed the division.