How the Portland Fire marketed a basketball team with no players

Marketing 6 Min Read

How do you market a sports team without any players?It’s an age-old question for expansion teams, and one that Kimberly Veale, SVP of marketing and communications for the WNBA’s Portland Fire, has had to answer twice in the past couple of years—she joined the Fire from 2025 expansion team the Golden State Valkyries.This year’s expansion teams, the Fire and Toronto

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Marketing 4 Min Read

Google rolls out new tools to automate even more marketing

Google’s annual product event, Google Marketing Live, is less than a month away, and ahead of the event, it’s debuting several new capabilities within AI Max, its creative and targeting tool suite that first debuted

Marketing 7 Min Read

How Dallas’ WNBA team is spreading its sponsorship wings this season

In many pro sports leagues, missing out on the postseason comes with at least one perk: a high draft pick for the next season.The WNBA’s Dallas Wings have capitalized on that opportunity. Although the team

Marketing 6 Min Read

A’ja Wilson and Jalen Brunson star in Lowe’s debut basketball campaign

Lowe’s has a long history in sports sponsorships, including almost two decades of prior involvement with Nascar and an active relationship with the NFL. But the home improvement retailer has never taken a shot at

Marketing 5 Min Read

Inside Expedia’s partnership with IShowSpeed

Travel marketing is full of aspirational content. A beautiful destination. A happy family. A picture-perfect sunset somewhere in the background. It looks so serene, so relaxing. How could you not want to go there?That’s not

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Special Features

How marketers are making experiences worth clipping

You might not watch an entire 72-hour live stream. But you might watch clips of it.That’s something TBWAChiatDay Chicago’s Skittles

Ad spend on YouTube, Google Search, Amazon Sponsored Products is growing: report

Meta’s push into vertical video continues to seem like it’s paying off. Reels now account for a third of all

Advertisers are optimistic about Netflix’s dynamic ad options

World Cup season hasn’t started yet, but Netflix is already looking ahead to 2027. The streamer is offering advertisers the

‘Marketing Brew Weekly’ won a Webby!

Last year, my colleagues Jennimai Nguyen, Katie Hicks, and I embarked on a major challenge: hosting a weekly marketing podcast

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Marketing 7 Min Read

Inside the making of Peloton’s viral Hudson Williams ad

Jumping on a Peloton for a workout is a great way to get the heart pumping. But you can get the same effect from watching its newest ad campaign.The brand’s latest ad, which dropped last Tuesday, a continuation of its “Let Yourself Go” marketing platform, stars Heated Rivalry actor Hudson

Marketing 6 Min Read

Axe asks soccer fans to go out on a limb for World Cup tickets

What would you do for a pair of World Cup tickets? Put on a ridiculous outfit and ask someone out on a date, the marketing team at Axe is hoping.The men’s grooming brand, owned by FIFA sponsor Unilever, is activating against the tournament with a campaign encouraging soccer fans to

Marketing 7 Min Read

How Gen Alpha is changing the in-store experience

For years, malls have been on the verge of death. Could online fatigue change that?Older generations grew up watching many facets of life shift from IRL to online, including shopping. But as younger generations search for places outside of home and school to hang out and watch as creators encourage

Marketing 6 Min Read

What’s up with those Museum of Sex bus ads?

If you’ve walked down any street in New York City recently, chances are high that you’ve seen an MTA bus and, with it, an ad for the Museum of Sex.Across the city, more than 3,000 buses are running with the museum’s logo plastered across the front, which has led to

Marketing 7 Min Read

How New York City FC got its pigeon mascot

On a Sunday in late March, MLS fans packed into Yankee Stadium—the temporary home of New York City FC—to watch Thiago Martins, Aiden O’Neill, and the rest of the home team take on Inter Miami FC and Leo Messi.Before the players took the pitch, though, all eyes were on the

Marketing 5 Min Read

Mondelēz taps soccer stars to get people snacking during World Cup

Sports and snacks go hand in hand, and Mondelēz International has a wealth of experience with both. For the World Cup this summer, the food and beverage giant is leveraging its portfolio of products and its athlete partners to get people snacking.Sports fans are no stranger to Mondelēz snacks: It

Marketing 8 Min Read

Why brands are adopting video game aesthetics

When crafting Coinbase’s 60-second ad for last month’s Academy Awards, the team behind it looked back. Approximately 26 years back.The ad follows a non-player character (NPC) in a video game world where he realizes he’s a cog in a machine and, ultimately, decides to break out and enter the human

Marketing 7 Min Read

Meet the newest ‘Running Point’ character: Jake from State Farm

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there—“there” being the Netflix show Running Point.Today, the insurance company announced a collaboration with the streamer, which includes a co-branded ad featuring characters from Running Point, the basketball-centric comedy starring Kate Hudson. As part of the deal, Jake from State Farm is set

Marketing 7 Min Read

Merrell’s pitch to non-outdoorsy consumers: Go outside instead

Touching grass is good for you, and it’s actually not that hard. At least, not according to Merrell.The 45-year-old hiking footwear brand, which is owned by Wolverine Worldwide, recently debuted a spot titled “It Starts Outside” as part of a new brand platform encouraging exploration of the world outside. The

Marketing 5 Min Read

All things creator marketing with Tiffany Rivers

Tiffany Rivers is VP of emerging media and influencer marketing at Media Cause. She’s set to speak at Marketing Brew’s upcoming event, The Next Phase of Social and Creator Marketing, on May 12.Ahead of the event, we caught up with her to hear how she is advising her nonprofit clients,

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How soccer orgs and sponsors are putting local spins on World Cup campaigns

With 16 host cities across three countries, it’s safe to say there’s no one-size-fits-all marketing

How The Trade Desk is aiming to remain ‘king of the open web’

It’s been more than 10 years since The Trade Desk was named to Forbes’s list

‘This famous butt’: How Verizon created that ad with Connor Storrie

Great glutes never killed anybody…Except, perhaps, in Verizon’s latest ad campaign.The spot, a four-and-a-half minute

Social platforms are facing increased scrutiny. How long will advertisers stick around?

It’s all fines and games for the social media platforms recently.Last month, a New Mexico

Coworking with Fintan Gillespie

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to