2021 was a pivotal year for not just marketers, but all workers. Our friends at HR Brew have been covering the many headaches and changes the workforce has dealt with this year, from the rise of Zoom fatigue to the Great Resignation showing no signs of slowing down.

But there were some things to be grateful for in 2021. We asked marketers what they’ve been most thankful for at work throughout the year. Turns out, they’ve found a few reasons to raise their glasses over turkey and stuffing this Thanksgiving. We’ve posted some of their responses below, but you can read them all here.

• “I’m thankful for many things this year. I could get mushy here and talk about finally seeing my colleagues during those three weeks between vaccines and the Delta variant. The real hugs from new hires and old coworkers. But instead, I’d like to take the time to talk about…iChat. That powerful little tool that holds the hidden conversations for every single Zoom meeting. You see, iChat has taken the place of sliding a note across the conference-room table that might say, ‘Don’t say you hate the color blue!!!!!!’ Or, ‘Can you believe how cool X client’s kitchen is?!’ It has single-handedly made me appear 50 IQ points smarter during meetings—when my incredibly smart strategists say things like, ‘Nikki, make sure you mention that this works for X reasons.’ And what about the general sweet thoughts that get shared via iChat? Like when a coworker sends you a GIF of a man vomiting ferociously at the same time you’re introducing yourself on a call.”—Nikki Baker, co-chief creative officer at Fallon
• “Dear Mute button, thank you. On behalf of everyone still WFH in 2021, you’ve changed our life for the better. Silenced entire Zoom rooms full of crazies. And shut off all the questionable background noise from our coworkers’ homes. Now, as we return back to the office, how will we function without you? Taping someone’s mouth shut seems like a clear HR violation. Muting is not. Alas, let us relish every moment we still have left with you this holiday season, in silent appreciation.”—Bre Fern, senior copywriter at BBDO New York
• “I am thankful for Roy Kent. One of the mainstay conversations around the agency water cooler this year has been the rise of Ted Lasso, in general, and the boy Kent, in particular. The lad’s a breath of fresh air, albeit one full of expletives. Now that he has hung up his boots at Richmond FC, he’s free to take up a position as creative director at one of the many agencies in desperate need of his no-nonsense realism. ‘Brand purpose? Are you facking mad? Get out of my office, and don’t come back until you’ve got a facking idea.’ ‘Call that an ad? No one’s going to facking remember that!’ ‘If I see another influencer campaign, I’m going to facking kill someone.’ Maybe it’s just me, but I can see it working.”—Ian David, manager of advertising and creative strategy at C Spire

—MS, PB

Okay, hear us out. Taylor Swift’s re-recorded Red album came out November 12. Four days later, Cartier released an ad that could pass for a Red music video.

• Much of the ad is, in fact, red—but moreover, it’s pretty celeb-studded, featuring stars like Willow Smith, Maisie Williams, and Troye Sivan dancing to the 1974 song “Love Is All.” 
• But Antoine Bonodot, ECD at Publicis Luxe, the agency behind the ad, told Marketing Brew the similarity between the Red album and this warm ad is just a “happy coincidence.”

Bonodot also told us Publicis Luxe and Cartier usually start working on the brand’s holiday ad about a year in advance. And despite the pandemic, this ad was no different—the pair worked on this ad for roughly an entire year before it debuted on the 16th.

Why it matters: In November 2020, Covid vaccines weren’t even available yet, making it difficult for marketers to predict, well, anything about what society would be like in a year.

The mask ask: Last year, Bonodot couldn’t predict if masks would be the norm in ads by now. But he told us that his team “took the bet that masks wouldn’t be necessary in the ad.” Covid precautions like testing were taken during the shoot, but no masks appear in the actual spot.

According to Bonodot, that’s because Cartier’s brand identity has always been associated with dreams and idealization. This dreamy motif gave the Publicis Luxe team (which has worked with Cartier for almost 10 years) enough confidence to create an ad about togetherness in a year where being together wasn’t exactly the norm.—PB

This week, we looked up from our upteenth Mad Men rewatch for long enough to discover that streaming services are movin’ and shakin’ again.

Peacock might be getting a little jealous of all the attention its older cousin Hulu gets…so its parent company, NBCUniversal, is debating giving some of Hulu’s content to Peacock exclusively, the WSJ reported. NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, owns a third of Hulu, with Disney owning the rest.

CNN has found itself in the midst of a hiring spree…because it’s (you guessed it) prepping to roll out its own paid streaming service, CNN+. Set to appear on a living room TV near you in Q1 2022 with potential content such as Larry King’s archives, it will be subscriber-supported instead of ad-supported at launch.

Roku wants in on all the original content coming from networks like those mentioned above. But this time, it’s doubling down on that competitive spirit, announcing plans to develop more than 50 original shows over the next two years.

+1: Netflix is giving away limited-edition versions of props from shows like Squid Game and Stranger Things.—PB

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Partnerships: If you’re looking for some TikTok inspo, check out its first-ever Culture Drivers list, which highlights 2021’s best collabs between creators and brands on the app.

E-commerce: Black Friday and Cyber Monday are days away. This infographic has tips that will help set your brand up for success.

OOO: Before you head off to the bar where your high school friends are meeting tonight, try these Thanksgiving–themed out-of-office templates on for size.

Mobile is a must: Iterable’s Mobile Marketing e-book can help you identify how to make the most of mobile to stand out and build strong relationships with customers. Get your copy today.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Stat: In 2021, 63% of kids in the US between the ages of 12 and 17 used TikTok on a weekly basis, per research from Forrester, which proclaimed “Instagram is becoming cheugy for Gen Z youth.”

Quote: “The ‘Nike of sleep’ was a bold mission statement. In reality, the company was more like the Allbirds of sleep; big hype, big valuation, but, under the covers, little justification as to why.”—Stephen Moore on Casper for Medium

Read: Erin A. Cech’s piece in The Atlantic on why “loving your job is a capitalist trap.”

Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• How clean rooms became the buzziest tool in ad tech
• MTA has updated its advertising guidelines
• Recap of November’s CTA event with Delta