The American Girl brand is, well, all-American. The dolls all come with their own stories, some tied to pivotal moments in American history, and the brand aims to instill “confidence, character, and courage” in young girls, according to Jamie Cygielman, president of American Girl. Inspiring its target audience to learn and be the best version of themselves? Very wholesome!

But if its TikTok account is any indication, the beloved doll and book brand isn’t afraid to embrace some slightly less squeaky-clean internet humor—and its audience isn’t just young girls.

Take, for example, one of its most popular recent videos: The anthropomorphized dolls take part in a trend where participants share traumatic stories before dumping their candy of choice into a large salad bowl, with Kit, Josefina, Molly, and Kirsten cheerfully sharing their own trauma, like living through the Great Depression or having their house burned down by a pet raccoon.

While the video is careful not to make light of the dolls’ backstories, participating in the trend calls back to the ways some fans have discussed American Girl doll stories online. Older fans often joke about how brutal some of the dolls’ backgrounds are, which they only realized as they’ve grown up alongside the brand. The growing retrospection from older fans has even gone so far as to inspire an SNL sketch.

Keeping up with that grown-up sentiment is key to how American Girl shows up online. “The overall goal of anything that we do within social in general is really to use our organic social to drive brand relatability with our audience,” Cygielman told Marketing Brew.

Continue reading here.—JN

Media agencies are making a lot of noise about a controversial strategy to win new business.

The practice, called principal-based buying, is when a media agency buys media and then sells it back to agency clients at a higher rate, presenting a potential new income stream for the agency. While the strategy can take many different forms, it’s essentially a form of arbitrage.

The practice itself isn’t new: When Ad Age detailed the practice back in 2016, it noted that it was already commonly deployed in the digital media space. But this year, Madison Avenue firms like IPG have leaned in, prompting renewed concerns about a lack of transparency around the practice.

A study by K2 Intelligence on behalf of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) published in 2016 found “numerous nontransparent business practices” between agencies and clients, including offers of rebates and marked-up media. The revelations in the report were so controversial that they eventually led to a Department of Justice investigation and “a wave of audits of media agency contracts and performance,” Ad Age reported.

Nearly a decade later, though, principal-based buying is still not widely understood across the industry. A study from the ANA published in May found that only about half of advertisers surveyed were “very familiar” with the practice, though in an anonymized case study of the practice detailed in the report, an agency “guaranteed a cost savings of approximately 15%.”

Read more here.—RB

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

Jessica Serrano is CMO of Dig. She previously held marketing and brand roles at companies including Burger King and Taco Bell.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? One of my favorite projects was launching the Diablo Hot Sauce at Taco Bell. We noticed Americans were craving spicier flavors, so we decided to test a hotter sauce. Diablo was supposed to be a limited-time offer for three months, but people loved it so much that we made it permanent. This project was special because it was the first time I owned a marketing campaign from start to finish. It feels good to ask for Diablo in the drive-thru 10 years later and know that was my baby.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? I really loved e.l.f.’s “So Many Dicks” campaign. It touches on a genuine issue—the lack of representation on corporate boards—but it brings it to life in a lighthearted and hilarious way. It was cool to see it come from a beauty brand—it seemed unobvious, but from what I’ve read, they tie their business success to their board diversity.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: If I hadn’t gone into marketing, I think I would’ve been a reality TV producer in another life.

Continue reading here.

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Analysts forecast that over 80% of US browsers could be cookieless long-term. Despite Google’s decision to keep third-party cookies in Chrome for now, your preparations since the initial 2020 announcement will not have been wasted.

Discover the key considerations and next steps marketers should take to stay ahead of these changes. Stay informed and compliant.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• The NFL signed a deal with the media company Betches that aims to help the league better reach its younger, women fans.
• Duolingo partnered with Netflix to encourage users to learn Korean ahead of the premiere of Squid Game Season 2.
• Universal Music Group teamed up with WPP to give its clients access to the Universal music catalog.
• Virgin Music Group, a division of Universal Music Group, announced plans to acquire Downtown Music Holdings LLC for $775 million.