• The Farmer’s Dog, a boutique dog food brand founded less than a decade ago, topped USA Today’s Super Bowl Ad Meter ranking for its emotional 60-second spot depicting a girl and her chocolate lab’s journey through life. The NFL’s ad celebrating women in football and Amazon.com Inc.’s commercial featuring a mail-order puppy took home second and third place, respectively, in the annual competition. (USA Today) 
• Mars Inc.’s M&M’s “spokescandies” made their official return in a 15-second post-game Super Bowl ad, concluding a weekslong campaign that initially replaced the characters with comedian Maya Rudolph. The clarifying spot followed an ad run by the candymaker earlier in the big game, which featured Rudolph declaring that the chocolate treats were now filled with clams. (Yahoo Entertainment) 
• The Florida state legislature passed a bill on Friday that, if signed into law, will allow Gov. Ron DeSantis to appoint a five-member board to oversee The Walt Disney Co.’s self-governing district in the state. The action is part of a broader effort by Florida’s supermajority of conservative lawmakers to punish Disney over its public opposition to the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. (The Associated Press) 
• Meta Platforms Inc. is delaying budget approvals for teams across the company as it prepares for another round of job cuts, according to several employees. The report comes after Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg deemed 2023 the “year of efficiency” during an earnings call earlier this month. (Financial Times)

Value retailers ruled the US shopping app rankings in 2022

eMarketer

Here are all of the Super Bowl 57 ads

Adweek

Watch all of the ads from Super Bowl 57 in one place. 

Super Bowl ads use celebs, humor, lots of dogs

Mae Anderson, The Associated Press

Advertisers bet big that viewers were turning to the Super Bowl for a comforting escape, and delivered a series of advertisements that relied on familiar celebrity faces, light humor, and plenty of cuddly dogs.

Nielsen Sports Measurement Concerns Prompted Meeting With Disney, Amazon and Other Key Players

Jack Neff, Ad Age 

There have been questions around Nielsen’s measurement of ‘Thursday Night Football’ amid other discrepancies.

Amazon is the latest threat to Facebook as ad targeting suffers

Jonathan Vanian, CNBC

Facebook’s more limited targeted capabilities coupled with Amazon’s investment in ads products is leading a growing number of brands to shift their ad budgets.

Sports gambling sites cash in on Super Bowl betting mania

Paul R. La Monica, CNN

With more states legalizing gambling on sports, Super Bowl LVII will probably be the biggest event for the industry ever. The American Gaming Association is predicting that more than 50 million people will bet about $16 billion on the National Football League championship game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Rihanna Is Officially Pregnant, Rep Confirms After Super Bowl Performance

William Earl, Variety

A representative for Rihanna has confirmed that the singer is pregnant after her explosive Super Bowl performance that had social media talking.

Investor ValueAct Takes Spotify Stake to Back Cost Cuts at the Music Streaming Leader

Liana Baker and Ed Hammond, Bloomberg

Investment firm ValueAct Capital Management has built a position in Spotify Technology SA, in a move that supports the music-streaming company’s strategy led by Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek to tighten its spending and become more efficient.

NFL considers a cheaper Sunday Ticket offering on YouTube with fewer games

Lauren Forristal, TechCrunch

YouTube recently became the exclusive streaming rights holder of the NFL Sunday Ticket, a sports package that was reportedly bid on by other tech giants, Apple and Amazon. While YouTube will likely charge a high price for the NFL Sunday Ticket, there may be a more affordable YouTube offering for viewers that want access to fewer games.

Influencer marketing costs keep rising with demand despite long-term challenges

Antoinette Siu, Digiday

With the influencer and content creator business growing to an estimated $16.4 billion in 2022, marketers are increasingly prioritizing influencer marketing. However, as the popularity of influencers rises, the long-term challenges in compensation discussions and producing metrics are coming along for the ride.

TikTok’s Parent Takes On Meta in Battle for Virtual-Reality Market

Meghan Bobrowsky and Stu Woo, The Wall Street Journal

Pico, owned by ByteDance, has increased shipments of VR headsets as it attempts to compete with Meta’s Quest 2.

Apple’s Push Into Next-Generation Financial Services Hits Delays

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Expanding into financial services is one of Apple Inc.’s biggest growth opportunities. But it’s also one of the most challenging. The company’s new initiatives have suffered engineering and technical setbacks that have led to slow progress and missed deadlines.

Reddit Experiences Data Breach, Limited Advertiser Information Taken

Laurie Sullivan, MediaPost

Information stolen includes limited contact information for hundreds of current company contacts and current and former employees, as well as limited advertiser information. The company did not provide details on what “limited” means.

Schumer Says Banning TikTok in the US ‘Should Be Looked At’

Tony Czuczka, Bloomberg

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said a US ban on TikTok is worth looking at, citing Chinese ownership of the company behind the video-sharing platform.

Chinese e-commerce giant PDD splashes on Super Bowl ad for its Temu U.S. shopping site

Arjun Kharpal, CNBC

Temu, the U.S. shopping app owned by Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, aired a commercial during the Super Bowl.

Ben Affleck Created Dunkin’s Super Bowl Debut With the Help of Jennifer Lopez

Patrick Coffee, The Wall Street Journal

Restaurant chain hadn’t planned to buy an ad until seeing the actor’s hidden-camera stunt.

Electric Ram pickup debuts in Super Bowl ad that pokes fun at rivals, sex-drug commercials

Michael Wayland, CNBC

The commercial, called “Premature Electrification,” or “PE,” spoofs ads for male sex-enhancement drugs. It features electric vehicle owners discussing problems they’ve had with their trucks – from insufficient range and power to problems charging and other potential issues associated with EVs.

How Blockbuster is turning its last ever video shop into a brand

Amy Houston, The Drum

Despite having ceased trading in 2014, the movie rental chain screened its biggest ad in over a decade during the Super Bowl. 

Ikea addresses inflation in new print and poster campaign

Eliza Williams, Creative Review

The campaign arrives as brands across the globe wrestle with how to address inflation, and how much of their rising costs they can pass onto customers.

Adidas Tumbles as Losses From Its Kanye West Venture Pile Up

Bernhard Warner, The New York Times

Shares in the German sportswear brand fell sharply on Friday as the company grapples with a mountain of unsold Yeezy merchandise.

Vita Coco wants its coconut water to be your cocktail mixer — and your hangover cure

Amelia Lucas, CNBC

The beverage company is pushing its namesake brand into new use cases and occasions, partnering with Diageo on a canned cocktail and marketing the drink as a hangover aid.

Shein Marketplace Is Coming to the U.S.

Marketplace Pulse

Shein will likely launch a marketplace in the U.S. after testing the model in Brazil and Mexico. The number one most-downloaded shopping app in the world is expanding beyond fashion and local manufacturers in China.

‘MetaBirkin’ NFT creator to appeal Hermès trademark verdict

Daphne Howland, Retail Dive

A jury ruled against Mason Rothschild and his drawings of fur-covered luxury bags. His attorneys say the new technology doesn’t cancel the First Amendment’s protection of artwork.

Zappos joins M&M’s in Super Bowl campaign mocking Tucker Carlson’s ‘sexy boots’ tirade

Liz Flora, Glossy

Now, Zappos has joined the conversation with a campaign showcasing the green M&M’s character as a “shoefluencer” doing a takeover of the brand’s Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Tech Layoffs Hit H1B Visa Workers Hard

Te-Ping Chen, The Wall Street Journal

Given the pullback in tech, laid-off foreign workers seeking new jobs are in especially bad straits, says Leena Sujan, who runs a tech-focused recruiting firm. Many tech companies she works with are telling her they are reluctant to move ahead with hires, whether candidates have H1B visas or not.

Google Miscalculates Stock Severance, Apologizes to Laid-Off Workers

Jon Victor and Amir Efrati, The Information

The severance package Google gave to 12,000 employees it laid off on Jan. 20 was among the best in the tech industry, but it wasn’t as good as many of the affected employees were initially told.

Court Orders Nestlé to Pay $2.2 Million to Bullied Ex-Employee

Andy Hoffman, Bloomberg

Nestlé SA must pay a former executive 2 million Swiss francs ($2.16 million) after she was bullied and forced out of the company, the newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported, citing a local appeals court ruling.

From Apple to VW, CEOs Gradually Returning to China After Its Reopening

Dan Strumpf and Yoko Kubota, The Wall Street Journal

Despite growing geopolitical tensions, companies pursue business opportunities.