Marketing winners and losers of the week
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The retail king of Halloween will expand its reach into film this spooky season. During its annual flagship store opening in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, last weekend, Spirit Halloween debuted the trailer for its upcoming foray into entertainment, creatively titled “Spirit Halloween: The Movie.” Starring Christopher Lloyd and Rachael Leigh Cook, the movie follows a group of young troublemakers that sneak into one of the holiday retailer’s stores, where its stock of terrifying props and costumes come to life. “Spirit Halloween: The Movie” will haunt VOD on Oct. 11, 2022.
The big-box retailer came out on top in a recent report about private label brands from market research firm Numerator. Walmart owns four of the top five private label brands, including Great Value, which is purchased by 73% of U.S. consumers; Equate, purchased by 51%; Marketside, purchased by 44% and Freshness Guaranteed, purchased by 40% according to Numerator. The fifth brand is Dollar Tree, which 33% of U.S. consumers bought. Walmart also was in the news this week for a series of job cuts—the retailer is planning to lay off about 200 corporate workers in merchandising and technology, though it may make hires in e-commerce, health and wellness, ad sales and supply chain.
Austria's capital citytopped an annual list of the best places to live in the world from Condé Nast Traveler. The honor is due to perfect scores in categories such as the arts, culture and education. Vienna, which has an opera scene and beautiful gardens, also has a cost of living that is lower than many of its European rivals, a difference that could come in handy amid record U.S. inflation. Cool–or, as they say in Austrian: Krass!
As they return to the office, women are abandoning the pinchy pumps. Since such formal footwear causes an increase in foot injuries, many are opting out of high heels in favor of white sneakers, for example, according to stylists interviewed by Bloomberg. Pumps are reserved for special events or meetings.
It's a textbook case of “what were they thinking?” Spain’s Equality Ministry is under fire for doctoring images of women in a body positivity campaign. Many of the models used in the campaign say they did not give permission for their images to be used; others claim their images were edited without their approval. Some of the photos have been removed as a result. The campaign was meant to promote women’s visits to the beach. (Spain was not on Condé Nast Traveler's Top 10 list, by the way.)
Warner Bros. Discovery shocked the film community and fans alike this week when it announced it would no longer be releasing the super-hero movie about Batman’s female sidekick played by Leslie Grace. Shooting had already wrapped up for the film, which reportedly cost $90 million to create. Consumers were not pleased with the decision.
The percentage of U.S. marketers that will use influencers this year as spending on the category rises by 27.8% to $4.99 billion, according to a report from Insider Intelligence.
“We always aim to evoke a ‘that’s so me’ reaction from our followers—if we get that and our fans feel seen, it’s a win in our book.” –Kemma Kefalas, brand engagement manager at Dunkin’, on when brands should join in on a meme.
ThredUp appointed Noelle Sadler chief marketing officer. She had been CMO at Lulus.
FanDuel Group expanded the responsibilities of Chief Compliance Officer Carolyn Renzin to include chief legal officer. In addition, FanDuel promoted Andrew Sneyd to executive VP of marketing from senior VP of brand.
Qraft Technologies, an artificial intelligence tech firm, hired Gregory Yates as chief marketing officer. He had been global CMO at Institutional Investor.
