This is the start of a new Marketing Brew series called Mood Board, where we’ll highlight a nationwide campaign by diving into the countless touchpoints that ultimately inspired the final product. To kick off the series, we’re spotlighting some of 2021’s biggest campaigns.

In a spot with more vibes than a pool party, Axe’s summer campaign, called “The New Axe Effect,” is dense, built upon layers and layers of technicolor visual effects and ridiculous references (a suggestive eggplant makes an appearance), all tuned to the earworm “Crumbs” by Jordan Dennis.

We spoke with Mik Manulik, VP and creative director at The Martin Agency, about what inspired the spot.

Snapchat filters: As the protagonist (called Solo by the agency) walks through the bustling heart of his city, it comes to life. Butterflies soar, a fire hydrant becomes a spewing watermelon, and everything briefly becomes animated. The look was inspired by the augmented reality tools we use every day on platforms like Snapchat or Instagram, a visual layer above real life. “The surreal is best when you distort the real world, poke a hole in reality,” Manulik told us.

Retro cologne ads: A bus, plastered with a giant cologne ad, passes by—and is soon destroyed after the ad’s model comes to life and snatches Solo. It’s a reference to the perfume and cologne ads of the 80s that Axe was trying to disrupt when Axe came onto the scene. “We’re kind of referencing our culture a little bit,” said Manulik.

The song: It’s a bop. If you go to the track’s YouTube page, you’ll find that many viewers discovered the song from the Axe ad. Manulik was looking for a sound similar to that of Chance the Rapper, whose optimistic and nostalgic tunes would have fit perfectly. Though he doesn’t remember how he came across “Crumbs,” Manulik said he always keeps a Spotify playlist stacked with potential spot songs.

Why so busy: There’s a ton going on in the ad, much like your Twitter feed. “It’s online culture—if we reference a meme, it’s a reference to another meme and another meme,” Manulik said. “That density exists online, that’s what our culture is, that’s what we’re used to— things being layered on top of each other and meant to be rewatched and explored.”

Easter egg: At the five-second mark, you’ll see a squirrel hanging outside Solo’s window. That’s a nod to an Axe spot that ran in the UK last year (where the brand’s called Lynx), which showed a squirrel...um, engaging with a can of deodorant. Viewers complained, but the squirrel lives on.—RB

The days of Black Friday fights breaking out at malls and Walmarts are maybe (hopefully?) coming to an end.

Okay, that might be a stretch. But fewer people shopped over Thanksgiving weekend compared to 2020 and 2019, the National Retail Federation shared yesterday.

Not by much: The org said 179.8 million people made online and in-store purchases between Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year. That number was 186.4 million in 2020 and 189.6 million in 2019.

Sales took a hit, too: Cyber Monday sales fell 1.4% to $10.7 billion this year, according to Adobe Analytics data. And while US store traffic was up 34.2% year over year between Friday and Sunday, it was down 21.7% compared to 2019, per Sensormatic Solutions.

What’s this have to do with marketing? A few things. Marketers have shifted their advertising strategies this holiday season, in part because of supply-chain issues. And people started their holiday shopping earlier this year, too. David MacDonald, marketing agency Razorfish’s GVP of commerce strategy, told Digiday a “longer holiday season event could become normal. Black Friday used to be the kickoff of holiday shopping, but this year it was post–Halloween.”

+1: Doorbusters weren’t as big this year. The word “doorbuster” didn’t show up in Black Friday ads for Best Buy, Walmart, and popular retailers, according to an analysis by shopping site Brad’s Deals cited by the Wall Street Journal.—MS

Somehow, there’s only one month left of 2021. Per usual, there was no shortage of new marketing buzzwords, trends, and shiny new objects this year. Will Cameo stand the test of time? Do marketers actually know what the heck an NFT is? Are hybrid events here to stay?

These are questions we’ve been asking, but now we want to hear from you: Which marketing trends were overlooked this year? And which ones got a little too much attention?

Cast your vote here to let us know what you think.

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

E-commerce: The top four trends in e-commerce to expect next year include something called “conversational commerce,” so we’ll be reading right alongside you.

Budget: Here are eight ways to craft a campaign on a shoestring budget.

LinkedIn: Everything you need to know to get results on LinkedIn. No, it won’t stop uninvited messages.

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Stat: $984,000. That’s about how much Budweiser’s “Heritage” NFT collection netted the brand, selling out in less than an hour, according to Ad Age.

Quote: “Being at home, using avatars, having the ability to get everything delivered to your home—that changes the way people think about digital.”—Chipotle’s chief marketing officer, Chris Brandt, talking about the metaverse with the WSJ

Read: In his newsletter Stratechery, Ben Thompson details Twitter’s “advertising problem.”

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

• Once again, marketers navigate addressing the pandemic in holiday advertising
• How Cartier created a 2021 holiday commercial in 2020
• A recap of Marketing Brew’s sustainability stories