Audiences looking to be wowed by gravity-defying stunts usually turn on Mission: Impossible. This year, they could have just tuned into the Oscars.

No, the Academy hasn’t begun handing out best stunt performance awards yet—although there is hope that it could become a category, according to Variety. Instead, six stunt-focused spots aired during ABC’s broadcast, with L’Oréal, Carnival Cruise Line, Samsung Galaxy, Mntn, and Kiehl’s all shining the spotlight on stunt performers in their ads.

The entertainment industry has continued to push for and achieve more stunt performance recognition: the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America recently added a new stunt designer credit, and films like The Fall Guy have taken home stunt ensemble awards. So perhaps it’s no surprise that brands are getting in on the action, too. Marketers told us that stunt performances can lead to dynamic ads while showing brand support of the entertainment industry—all while showing off how those behind the scenes of brands are also, like stunt performers, crucial to the final result.

“We’re so centered around making extraordinary and memorable vacations centered around fun for our guests, and that’s really empowered by our team members who are the ones behind the scenes making that happen,” Amy Martin Ziegenfuss, CMO at Carnival, said. “That felt like the same kind of spirit of adventure and artistry that the stunt performers bring to what they do.”

Read more here about how brands’ odes to stuntpeople came together.—JN

The brand-safety industry is facing unprecedented challenges. One industry veteran says he can fix it—with the help of AI, naturally.

Brian O’Kelley, CEO and co-founder of the ad-tech platform Scope3 and a co-founder of AppNexus, said on Thursday that Scope3 will expand into the ad-verification and brand-safety business through the release of a tool called Brand Standards.

The tool, an AI model built to a brand’s specifications that can crawl publishers to pull text and images and evaluate brand suitability, aims to offer a nuanced approach to brand safety, as opposed to tools like keyword or category blocking, or avoiding news altogether.

“It’s about precision,” O’Kelley said. “I want to make sure I block only the things that I really don’t want my brand next to, because everything I block is costing me eyeballs, and, from the publisher’s perspective, costing them money.”

Advertisers can prompt the model with guidelines, like “sensitive to natural disasters,” and the tech will scan a page to determine whether it’s suitable.

“Every brand is going to have a different understanding of that page, because every brand actually has different needs from a suitability perspective,” he said.

The tool, which was borne out of Scope3’s acquisition of Adloox, a verification company, is already integrated within The Trade Desk and Google, and will be sold by the publisher Dotdash Meredith, O’Kelley said.

Continue reading here.—RB

Everyone watches women’s sports, as the T-shirt says, and brands are following the eyeballs.

In 2024, advertisers spent more than $244 million running TV campaigns against women’s sports, up 139% from 2023, according to a new report from TV measurement company EDO. Not only are brands spending more on those ads, but they’re also seeing results, with the average ad during a women’s sporting event generating 40% more engagement than the average ad on prime-time TV, per EDO.

Brands from categories including auto and insurance led the charge in terms of spend, and sectors like beverage and retail also saw high engagement with their ads that ran during women’s sporting events. And while basketball and gymnastics were popular to watch last year, some of the most effective ads ran against college lacrosse games, EDO found.

Big spenders: Brands from the auto industry spent the most last year, investing $27.2 million to make up 11% of total ad spend against women’s sports on national TV, according to the report.

• Pharma brands spent $26.2 million, another 11% of the total spend.
• Internet and telecom followed with $25.6 million, and financial services companies spent $24.5 million, representing 10% of total national TV ad spend on women’s sports each.
• Insurance and food and beverage accounted for 8% each, and retail for 6%.

Top individual spenders included plaque psoriasis medication Skyrizi, State Farm, AT&T, Allstate, and endemic sports brands like Nike and Gatorade.

While Skims wasn’t a top spender on ads, it was the most effective advertiser in women’s sports: The WNBA sponsor was 3,716% more effective than the average brand running women’s sports ads, EDO found. The company defines ad effectiveness as how likely the spot is to get people to engage with a brand online.

Continue reading about who’s spending in women’s sports and how it’s paying off.—AM

Join Radhika Duggal, Senior VP & CMO of Major League Soccer, as she reveals how MLS and Apple are revolutionizing sports media with MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Learn about innovative fan engagement, breaking geographic barriers, and the future of sports marketing in this exciting session. Join us on April 8, either in person or virtually, alongside 100+ marketing professionals!

Executive moves across the industry.

• Hinge CMO Jackie Jantos is now also president of the company.
• David’s Bridal promoted CMO Kelly Cook to the role of CEO.
• Netflix executive Mike Verdu, who headed up the streamer’s push into games, has departed the company.
• Versace Creative Director Donatella Versace is stepping down but will stay on at the company as chief brand ambassador.