It happened, as many sweet things do, thanks to a post.

“Reese’s pieces where yall at?????” Angel Reese, one of the brightest rookie stars in the WNBA, wrote on X in June, a reference to both the candy and what Reese’s own fans have begun calling themselves. Last week, Reese’s announced an official partnership with the Chicago Sky forward for…clear reasons.

“We had definitely been keeping our eyes on Angel for a while, given the obvious name connection,” Melissa Blette, senior brand manager of Reese’s, told Marketing Brew. “But once we learned Angel’s fans had started to call themselves the Reese’s Pieces, and she was calling them the Reese’s Pieces, we felt naturally invited to be a part of the fandom.”

Reese’s name isn’t the only reason why the brand wanted to work with her, Blette said. The agreement, which so far centers around a line of merch, is also about good timing, personality alignment, and audience fit.

Fan cam: Like many others, Blette said Reese first caught her eye during March Madness in 2023, when Reese’s team, Louisiana State University, won the championship. At the time, the game broke viewership records, but that milestone was handily surpassed by this year’s women’s college tournament.

Reese recently said on X that she’d wanted to work with the brand for several years, but it wasn’t until this summer that the team at Reese’s felt the time was right to connect, according to Blette. After Reese posted “Reese’s pieces where yall at?????,” the Reese’s brand account replied to the post, calling Reese its favorite player. She reposted, fans started to engage, media caught wind of a potential collab, and days later, Reese’s and Reese’s team connected, Blette said.

“This time, we were invited into the conversation,” she said. “That doesn’t happen to a brand every day, for people to be saying, ‘Please do this collaboration.’”

Keep reading here.—AM

It’s not every day you get a peek behind the curtain of an iconic, global brand. But that day is *checks watch* today.

In monday.com’s on-demand webinar, Greg Hoffman—aka Nike’s former CMO—will share inspo, insights, and lessons from his 28-year tenure at the company.

But the good stuff doesn’t stop there. You can also access a custom (and free) monday.com workspace that was co-created alongside Hoffman.

With these powerhouse resources, you can expect to learn:

• how to fuel campaign creation with creativity (using Hoffman’s real-life learnings from Nike)
• how to foster a culture of operational excellence through effective teamwork
• how to strategize, execute, and iterate on marketing campaigns with Hoffman’s approach

Lace up your sneakers and get ready for a marathon of learning. Take a look at the webinar and the workspace.

Roku could soon have some new tech up its sleeve to help it stand out in the connected TV landscape.

After inking partnerships with iSpot and The Trade Desk and bringing cars to Roku City for brands to advertise on earlier this year, the company has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on a new ad-tech patent application. A Notice of Allowance is generally the last step before the USPTO issues a patent.

The application in question is for “HDMI customized ad insertion.” According to the filing, which was first reported on by the tech and entertainment newsletter Lowpass, the tech would be able to, through a display device’s HDMI connection to a media device, pick up when any kind of content is paused on a media device and proceed to display an ad.

The tech is also able to detect the context and the content of the media that has been paused and display customized ads in some instances, per the filing.

If Roku wants the USPTO to issue the patent, it has three months from the Notice of Allowance to pay an Issue Fee, according to a document published by the agency. The issuance of a patent does not necessarily reflect Roku’s intent to use the tech in its products.

Roku declined to comment on the record.

Continue reading here.—JS

For one night, the WNBA was living in a Barbie world.

At Friday night’s matchup between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever, the Barbie brand debuted its latest campaign and slogan, “Give Limitless Possibilities.” The campaign centers around a short film introduced at the game, which shows children playing with Barbie dolls while adults reflect on the traits and opportunities they wish they could give in kids, like curiosity, imagination, confidence, and heart.

The work is meant to leverage the growing momentum behind women’s sports, and basketball in particular, to reinforce Barbie’s brand messaging ahead of the holiday shopping season, Krista Berger, SVP of Barbie and global head of dolls at parent company Mattel, told Marketing Brew.

“We know that the world is paying attention to women’s sports in general like never before,” Berger said. “The WNBA has such exciting momentum and energy behind it, and I would argue that this is one of the most anticipated sporting games, post-Olympics, of the year.”

Sky’s the limit: The full cut of the short film is running on YouTube and Barbie’s social channels, with shorter versions set to run across linear, CTV, and other digital media platforms in the coming months, Berger told us. While the Barbie brand tends to appeal to a wide range of audiences, this campaign is meant to resonate with “parents, caregivers, gift givers, and anyone who wants to inspire and empower the next generation,” especially as they start to think about shopping for holiday gifts, she said.

“It’s really grounded in this idea of, when you look at your friends, or the children in your life…you want to give them the world,” Berger said. “You want to give them limitless possibilities. You want them to know that they can be anything. By showcasing that gifting a Barbie doll can help unlock these limitless possibilities, it doubles down on the brand purpose and messaging of inspiring the next generation.”

Keep reading here.—AM