Top Stories

  • Google said it is making it free for brands to sell products on Google Shopping by waiving sales commissions, which ranged from 5 percent to 15 percent, and permitting brands to use third-party payment services such as Shopify instead of Google’s services. The new initiative is aimed at luring more sellers and products onto Google’s shopping site in direct competition with Amazon.com Inc. (The New York Times
  • Hearst Magazines President Troy Young resigned one day after a New York Times report detailed his history of inappropriate and sexist remarks in the workplace. Young, who was promoted to president in 2018, apologized to staff in an email but described the news report as a falsehood of “the culture that we have built at Hearst Magazines.” (The New York Times)
  • The company Sparc LLC, which includes U.S. mall owner Simon Property Group and Authentic Brands Group, said in a court filing that it seeks to buy Brooks Brothers for $305 million to keep at least 125 of its stores open. The court will hold a hearing on Aug. 3 to review the bid, and competing bids must be submitted by Aug. 5, the filing said. (CNBC)
  • Pandora Media LLC said it is expanding its interactive voice ads, initially launched in December with brands such as Doritos, Ashley HomeStore and Unilever PLC, to a wider audience. The format, which involves a short audio message followed by a question that listeners can respond to, is meant to engage users who are not looking at their phone but listening to music. (TechCrunch)

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Adweek Readers’ Choice: Best of Tech Partner Awards
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New Report: Back-to-School Shopping Trends

The pandemic poses a range of new challenges for parents as the future of schooling is unknown and many are turning to at-home learning. A new report from Morning Consult looks at how this tumultuous period is likely to impact back-to-school shopping trends, and what brands need to understand to help meet parents’ needs.

Download the full report here.

Advertising

ANA Launches List of Diversity-Certified Agencies
Mary Emily O’Hara, Adweek

By the end of 2020, there will be no excuse for not being able to find a multicultural shop.

Unilever Overhauls Advertising And Innovation For Post-COVID World
James Hercher, AdExchanger

Unilever’s sales and marketing channels are shifting rapidly during the pandemic, and these changes will be a permanent part of the business, executives told investors on the company’s earnings report on Thursday.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Leans Into TikTok For Back-to-School Style Campaign
Adrianne Pasquarelli, Ad Age

Retailer is finding teens where they are spending their time.

Creating an Ad Jingle Is a Different Process When It’s for TikTok
David Cohen, Adweek

Going back to advertising’s roots, one creative agency has found success in developing jingles—for social media platforms.

Media and Entertainment

A&E Has Lost Half Its Viewers Since Dropping ‘Live PD’
Joe Flint, The Wall Street Journal

Network’s prime-time viewership was up 4% this year before it canceled its hit police reality show, Nielsen data show.

Washington NFL team to use ‘Washington Football Team’ for 2020 season
Adam Schefter, ESPN

Effective immediately, Washington will call itself the “Washington Football Team” pending the adoption of a new name, the franchise announced.

When The NBA Restarts In Orlando, Live Screens Of Fans Will Replace Empty Seats
E.J. Schultz, Ad Age

Michelob Ultra-sponsored remote courtside experience is among the programs the league is deploying to help re-create in-arena viewing.

With Always-On Channels, Streamers Are Looking More and More Like Traditional TV
Kelsey Sutton, Adweek

Live streaming channels, comfort food for cord-cutters, help beef up ad inventory.

‘Mulan’ Off The Calendar; Disney Also Delays ‘Avatar’ & ‘Star Wars’ Movies By One Year As Studio Adjusts To Pandemic
Anthony D’Alessandro, Deadline

Disney is no longer releasing Mulan on Aug. 21 and is unsetting the movie for the time being. Oy, just when AMC was looking to turn the lights back on with a big movie in pockets of the country.

Hollywood’s lost summer
Sara Fischer, Axios

Nearly five months after Hollywood first began to shutter, the prospect of a reopening of theaters and production sets still seems grim.

Social Media and Technology

Twitter Likely to Start Testing Ad-Free Subscriptions Later in 2020
Todd Spangler, Variety

Would you pay for a zero-ads version of Twitter? The social network will “likely” launch a test of a subscription version later this year, according to CEO Jack Dorsey.

Twitch’s Most Popular Category Has Nothing To Do With Video Games
George P. Slefo, Ad Age

Twitch overall saw a record 5 billion hours streamed in the second quarter, a 2,662 percent increase year-over-year.

TikTok Starts $200 Million Fund to Help U.S. Stars Make Careers
Sarah Frier, Bloomberg

Dollars give incentive to stay with app as Trump threatens ban.

“Facebook Is Hurting People At Scale”: Mark Zuckerberg’s Employees Reckon With The Social Network They’ve Built
Ryan Mac and Craig Silverman, BuzzFeed News

As the US heads towards a crucial and contentious presidential election, the world’s largest social network is facing an unprecedented cultural crisis.

‘The new mall’: Beauty flocks to Instagram’s still-expanding shopping feature
Liz Flora, Glossy

Instagram continues to roll out new ways to encourage users to shop on the platform, and a growing number of beauty brands are getting on board. 

How YouTube made Jeffree Star too big to fail
Alex Abad-Santos, Vox

Jeffree Star has a past full of racism and intimidation. So why is he still one of YouTube’s biggest stars?

Twitter CEO apologizes for hack, confirms some private messages were accessed
Rachel Lerman, The Washington Post

Twitter said the direct messages of 36 accounts were accessed in the security breach last week.

Black Instagram users were 50% more likely than white users to have their accounts automatically disabled, internal research reportedly showed
Aaron Holmes, Business Insider

Internal researchers at Facebook reportedly discovered in 2019 that an automatic moderation algorithm at Facebook-owned Instagram was 50% more likely to auto-ban Black users than white users.

PR and Marketing

Amazon Met With Startups About Investing, Then Launched Competing Products
Dana Mattioli and Cara Lombardo, The Wall Street Journal

Some companies regret sharing information with tech giant and its Alexa Fund; ‘we may have been naive.’

Hershey Braces for Halloween Hit From Coronavirus
Annie Gasparro, The Wall Street Journal

Candy maker says less trick-or-treating during pandemic could dent sales.

Tissues and Toilet Paper Cushion Kimberly-Clark’s Q2 Revenue
Paul Hiebert, Adweek

Quarantine and working from home have been good for business.

Wikipedia administrators caution editors about using Fox News as source on ‘contentious’ claims
Oliver Darcy, CNN

The Wikipedia community recently engaged in a spirited debate over whether Fox News is a reliable enough source to use as a citation in entries on the encyclopedia. 

Kids at Home Could Put the Economy in Detention
Justin Lahart, The Wall Street Journal

Schools adopting online or even hybrid models will make it impossible for millions of parents to work.

Maybe he’s born with it, maybe it helps with video calls: Makeup for men finds a niche
Hannah Denham, The Washington Post

How a new cosmetics brand is capitalizing on changing gender norms and the desire to look Zoom-ready.

Walmart to open at least six more health clinics in greater Atlanta area by end of 2020 as part of bigger health-care push
Melissa Repko and Christina Farr, CNBC

The big-box retailer announced this week that it will enter the Florida market next year.

Opinions, Editorials, Perspectives and Research

Is Corporate Change Really Possible?
Roxane Gay, The New York Times

On setting boundaries in an unpaid internship, navigating corporate bias and mandatory social check-ins.

The Advertising Industry Can’t Stay This White
Mae Rice, Built In

Agencies’ lack of diversity hurts Black professionals. It also hurts ad quality.

Morning Consult