The Professional Women’s Hockey League, or PWHL, played its first season earlier this year in front of more than 450,000 fans, setting several attendance records for women’s hockey along the way. There was just one thing missing from the season: None of the teams had official names.

Instead, the teams simply went by the names of their home cities of Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league’s VP of brand and marketing, said fans were asking for their teams to be officially named from day one, but the league didn’t want to rush the process.

Finally, about three months after the inaugural championship game, the league rolled out new names, logos, and branding for its teams last month: the Toronto Sceptres, Montréal Victoire, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Ottawa Charge, and New York Sirens. The process was involved, complete with market research, spreadsheets, and plenty of criteria, but Bhatt-Shah said it was worth the wait.

“It was very, very important for us to ensure that…this team name, really an identity, inspired a pride of place for [fans], and they felt a connection to it,” Bhatt-Shah told Marketing Brew. “It was always really important to ensure that local relevance was not lost or compromised in the approach.”

Continue reading here.—AM

Imagine that it’s Thanksgiving Day. You’re back at your parents’ house for the holidays. That one relative is asking when you’re getting married, so you retire to the living room to watch some TV. But…you can’t find the darn remote.

That type of frustration is a central theme of Roku’s new ad campaign, “Less screaming. More streaming.” The campaign, which is slated to run on Roku’s owned social media channels and on The Roku Channel, includes three spots featuring families screaming at each other over issues with their TVs.

Lo and behold, they decide to switch to Roku—which calms them all down.

The campaign debuts ahead of the holiday shopping season, which Adobe Analytics has projected will reach $240.8 billion in domestic online retail sales between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. That’s a time when consumers may be looking for products like Roku’s, Colleen McGee, Roku’s director of marketing and devices, told Marketing Brew.

Stream queen: Why release the ad campaign now? According to McGee, the company’s consumer insights team found that consumers draft their shopping lists about three months in advance of the holidays, well before Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

“Q4 is a big shopping timeframe, but as you can tell, these [ads] are not really holiday-themed,” she told us. “It’s more about when we know people are going to be in the market looking for products that meet their streaming needs. We just want to make sure that Roku products are top of mind.”

Keep reading here.—JS

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

Christena Garduno is CEO of Media Culture, a performance marketing agency.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? One campaign that’s always resonated with me is Dove’s “Real Beauty.” It sparked a real conversation about how we see ourselves as women and how we’re portrayed in the media. The way they told those women’s stories, it felt so honest and relatable. It made me think about how brands can actually make a difference, challenge stereotypes, and support women and other underrepresented groups.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I am excited about the growth of customization enabled by AI-driven insights. Today’s consumers want bespoke experiences, and AI enables organizations to provide real-time alterations based on individual behaviors, preferences, and purchase history. This hyper-relevant material promotes stronger relationships and increases engagement, making interactions more customized and meaningful.

On the other hand, I’m concerned about the overreliance on interruptive ads in digital areas. Consumers increasingly seek authenticity, and pushy, invasive advertising approaches can destroy confidence and produce terrible experiences. In today’s world, businesses must focus on relevancy, not disruption, to develop long-term partnerships.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? The Marketing Over Coffee podcast is one of my preferred recommendations. The moderators offer practical insights that are both actionable and considerate, rendering it a valuable resource for individuals in the marketing industry, regardless of their experience level.

Read more here.

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Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• PepsiCo is acquiring Siete Foods, which makes products such as tortilla chips and vegan cashew queso, in a $1.2 billion deal.
• Vizio renewed its TV measurement deal with Comscore.
• WPP is working with chip manufacturer Nvidia on an AI-powered 3D tool for advertisers.