Muse by Clio·
A Founder’s Story: The Unexpected Road to Ryval Studios
People & agencies
The Weekly Pitch: what's happening in marketing, right now.
What's happening in marketing, right now.
read the newsLive from the trade press
Latest headlines
All 244 stories →Muse by Clio·
Extra! Extra! Repositioning ‘The Cincinnati Enquirer’
People & agencies
Search Engine Journal·
Why The New York Times Puts Free Content First
Search & GEO
Muse by Clio·
Live From New York: It’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ via Netflix and Walmart
Campaigns
Muse by Clio·
This Statue of Ron DeSantis Melts Dead Away to Illustrate the Dangers of Climate Change
People & agencies
Muse by Clio·
How Quality Meats Created a Brand and Became Their Own Client
People & agencies
Retail Dive·
Halloween without candy? What shoppers are cutting from budgets this year
People & agencies
Muse by Clio·
Oslo Swears ‘It’s Totally Even a City.’ There’s Singing and Dancing, So It Must Be True
People & agencies
Retail Dive·
Bath & Body Works expands partnership to all Ulta stores for the holidays
People & agencies
Muse by Clio·
Orange Makes Scam Calls Sound Like Irritating Music
People & agencies
This week by topic
- Campaigns85
- Social & creators34
- AI & tech43
- Activations23
- Brand & design8
- Media & ad tech21
- Search & GEO25
- Awards11
- People & agencies85
GEO: generative engine optimisation · AI: artificial intelligence
Topics are tagged automatically from headline keywords, so counts are approximate.
Checked against sources
Campaign watch
Full campaign library →We only call a campaign successful when a source publishes evidence: results, awards or sales. Attention alone doesn't count. Where no figures exist, we say so.
Recently launchedCurrently running
Tech & telco
Boost Mobile · US
What's Your Plan?
Agency: In-house (Boost Mobile), with creative agency and production company Little Big Engine
Boost Mobile launched 'What's Your Plan?', built around former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson's line that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The creative follows everyday customers dealing with hidden fees and surprise price hikes before Tyson appears to deliver a 'wake-up call' and point them to Boost Mobile's $25-a-month unlimited, no-contract plan, which the brand says is available indefinitely (a brand pricing claim, not independently verified). Boost Mobile is also sponsoring the Mike Tyson Invitational on 24 October, with further events planned for 2027. The campaign runs across TV, connected TV, social, audio, digital, in-store and out-of-home in the US from mid-October through December.
No performance data published yet
No performance figures have been published by the sources we checked.
TVConnected TVSocial mediaAudioDigitalIn-storeOut-of-home
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Borrowing a boxer's already-famous catchphrase gives the brand a ready-made, widely recognised line to hang a plain message (watch out for price hikes) on, rather than inventing a new slogan from scratch. It's just launched, so there's nothing yet on whether the campaign actually shifts how people feel about surprise fee increases.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Sources · first reported 16 Oct 2026
Boost Mobile Enlists Mike Tyson To Knock Out Phone Bill Price HikesB&T · 16 Oct 2026 ↗
Recently launched
Property & construction
Zelora · Australia
Gary
Agency: Howatson+Company (directed by Rabbit's Al Morrow)
Zelora, a solar and battery company, launched its first brand campaign built around 'Gary', a character played by actor Michael Logo who represents ongoing after-installation support. The hero film follows Gary from a customer's first phone call through installation day to years of continued help, aiming to address doubts about who supports customers once solar and batteries are installed. The integrated campaign runs across BVOD, SVOD, YouTube, Meta, out-of-home, digital display, in-store at Bunnings and Zelora's website.
No performance data published yet
No performance figures have been published by the sources we checked.
BVODSVODYouTubeMetaOut-of-homeDigital displayIn-store (Bunnings)Website
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Giving ongoing customer support a face and a name turns an intangible promise ('we'll still be here after installation') into something as memorable as a mascot, which matters in a category where the sale happens once but the service relationship runs for years. The campaign has just launched, so there's no evidence yet on whether people actually recall or trust Gary more than a generic support line.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Recently launched
Health & care · Retail & fashion
Lovehoney · Australia
DND (Down N Dirty) getaways
Agency: CampaignLab, with Into The Wild Escapes
Sexual wellness retailer Lovehoney launched 'DND', a series of off-grid cabin stays with Into The Wild Escapes where couples screenshot their phone screen time on arrival and again on departure: the bigger the drop, the bigger the discount, and couples who halve their scrolling stay free. Each cabin swaps phones for a disposable camera and a journal, and every stay includes a Lovehoney 'Reconnect Kit' (valued by the brand at over $250) sent before arrival.
No performance data published yet
- Lovehoney cites its own research that Australians give their screens '12 times more attention' than their partner (brand-reported figure) [Campaign Brief]
PR (public relations)SocialCreatorsOwnedPaid
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Tying a discount directly to a measurable behaviour (screen time dropped) is a sharper mechanic than a generic 'unplug and reconnect' message, because the incentive only pays out if people actually do the thing. It's a small-scale cabin offer rather than mass media, and nothing has been reported yet on how many couples booked in or how much their screen time actually fell.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Sources · first reported 16 Oct 2026
Lovehoney's 'DND' getaways reward couples for scrolling less in new campaign via CampaignLabCampaign Brief · 16 Oct 2026 ↗
Recently launched
Health & care
Medibank · Australia
Untangle
Agency: Colenso BBDO
Medibank launched 'Untangle', a national brand platform via Colenso BBDO that reframes mental fitness as small, everyday actions rather than a crisis response, building on the 'Family Roast' conversation card game it launched the previous year. The work runs across TV, out-of-home and social, with content partnerships alongside news.com.au and Mamamia.
No performance data published yet
- Medibank says the platform sits inside a wider commitment to invest $100 million in mental health over the next five years (brand-reported figure: a planned spend, not a measured result) [Campaign Brief]
TVOut-of-homeSocialContent partnerships (news.com.au, Mamamia)
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Backing a campaign idea with a five-year, nine-figure spending commitment signals this is meant to be a long-running platform rather than a one-off ad burst, which fits a slow-building category like mental health where trust takes time. There's no measure yet of whether 'Untangle' changes how people act, only how much the brand plans to spend trying.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Recently launchedCurrently running
Food & restaurants
Pringles · US
Once You Drop
Agency: BBDO New York and Weber Shandwick
For Halloween, Pringles extended its 'Once You Pop, the Pop Don't Stop' platform with 'Once You Drop': fans sign an online 'Last Will and Taste-Ament' for the chance to be buried in a branded, can-shaped Pringles urn when they die, fronted by TikTok creator Dan the Funeral Man, a real funeral director. The winner, announced around Halloween, also receives what the brand calls a lifetime supply of Pringles. Entries run via onceyoudrop.com from 13 to 22 October.
No performance data published yet
No performance figures have been published by the sources we checked.
SocialOnline videoTikTok (creator partnership)Website (onceyoudrop.com)
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Turning a mock 'last wish' into a sign-up mechanic gives people something more specific to do than just watch an ad, and fronting it with a real funeral director lends the joke a straight-faced credibility a scripted actor couldn't. It's a limited-entry giveaway rather than mass media, so its reach depends entirely on how far the joke travels online; nothing has been reported yet.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Sources · first reported 13 Oct 2026
Pringles Offers One Die-Hard Fan a Final Resting Place in a Branded UrnAdweek · 13 Oct 2026 ↗
Recently launched
Sport & fitness
Powerade · US (New York)
Never Just Sports
Agency: Ogilvy
Powerade responded to backlash against Novig, a US sports trading platform whose early-September campaign used provocative imagery of actor Sydney Sweeney, with 'Never Just Sports' via Ogilvy: footage of real women athletes completing genuine sporting feats, screened on a Times Square billboard over a weekend.
No performance data published yet
No performance figures have been published by the sources we checked.
OOH (out-of-home advertising) (Times Square, New York)
✦ Our analysis: what to learn
Answering a rival's controversial ad with real athletes doing real sport, rather than a statement, is a cheap, fast way to claim the opposite position in the same conversation, borrowing the attention Novig's campaign had already generated. It ran for one weekend in one location, so there's nothing yet on whether it reached anyone beyond the trade press already covering the Novig backlash.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Sources · first reported 13 Oct 2026
Powerade Hits Back At Novig’s Sydney Sweeney AdB&T · 13 Oct 2026 ↗On the wire this week · automatically collected, not yet reviewed
Muse by Clio·
Live From New York: It’s ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ via Netflix and Walmart
Campaigns
Muse by Clio·
Gap Kicks Up Its Heels as Our Ad of the Week
Campaigns
Adweek·
Target Is Pitching an Ad Metric to Drive Sales, But Most Brands Aren’t Fully On Board, Exec Says
CampaignsMedia & ad tech
Marketing Dive·
Optimizing ad spend ahead of Black Friday: What the numbers say
Campaigns
Muse by Clio·
Let’s Watch Kim Kardashian Order Skims via DoorDash
Campaigns
AdExchanger·
VideoAmp Bets On AI To Connect Ad Planning And Measurement
AI: artificial intelligence
CampaignsAI & techMedia & ad tech
Adweek·
A Meta-Morphosis: Frontier Foray and TikTok Block
CampaignsSocial & creatorsAI & tech
Adweek·
Ads of the Week: 13 Campaigns That Caught Our Eye, From Chipotle to Pringles
Campaigns
Patterns across the week's reporting
Trends to know
All 9 trends →
01
Brands are becoming entertainment studios
The signals (reporting)
- KFC launches a 30-minute game show starring superfansAdweek ↗
- e.l.f. releases a second album via its e.l.f. Made armMarketing Dive ↗
- Cakes turns TikTok virality into an owned media companyDigiday ↗
✦ Our analysis: so what?
Attention is earned with formats people choose to watch or stream, not interruptions. Budgets are moving from spots to series.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
✦ Our suggestion: try this
Take your most-engaged social content and ask: what would the 20-minute version be? Pilot one episode before committing to a series.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
02
AI (artificial intelligence) agents move from making assets to running the plan
The signals (reporting)
- Amazon Ads merges formats into AI-optimised full-funnel campaignsMarketing Dive ↗
- Runway's agent creates, publishes and measures ads across platformsAdweek ↗
- Meta launches agentic Muse for small businessesSocial Media Today ↗
- 96% of surveyed marketers now use gen or agentic AIMarketing Week ↗
✦ Our analysis: so what?
Platforms increasingly ask for a goal, a budget and creative, then decide the rest. The competitive edge moves to the inputs: strategy, creative quality and clean data.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
✦ Our suggestion: try this
Run a controlled test: one campaign on the platform's AI-automated option, one on your manual setup, same budget. Compare cost per outcome, not clicks.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
03
The entry-level talent squeeze
The signals (reporting)
- Gartner: CMOs (chief marketing officers) must rethink entry-level talent as AI (artificial intelligence) alters needsMarketing Dive ↗
- AI could wipe out ‘traditional’ entry-level marketing jobs by 2030Marketing Week ↗
- Digiday: industry acknowledges a ‘runaway crisis’ in entry-level hiringDigiday ↗
✦ Our analysis: so what?
Junior tasks (resizing, first drafts, reporting) are being automated, so the pipeline that trains future leaders is at risk.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
✦ Our suggestion: try this
For students and juniors: build a portfolio that shows judgement (briefs, strategy, critique of AI outputs), not just production.
Read the breakdown + mini task →
Amazon Ads
Ads Agent, Full-Funnel Campaigns, DVA+
Announced at unBoxed: one AI (artificial intelligence) interface for planning through measurement, and campaigns that combine sponsored, display, video and streaming TV while Amazon's AI decides execution.
✦ Why it matters
Buying silos are collapsing into goal-and-budget inputs. Planners' value shifts to strategy, creative and testing.
Runway
Runway Ads
An AI (artificial intelligence) agent that makes ad variations, localises them, publishes human-approved versions to Meta, Google and TikTok, and feeds performance back into the next round.
✦ Why it matters
Creative production and optimisation in one loop. The generative-video players are moving into performance marketing.
Latest AI stories · live
AdExchanger·
Better Advertising On CTV Starts With Better Signals
CTV: connected TV
AI & techMedia & ad tech
Marketing Dive·
What marketers need to know from Advertising Week New York 2026
Social & creatorsAI & tech
Marketing Week·
AI scales content. People build trust
AI: artificial intelligence
AI & tech
AdExchanger·
VideoAmp Bets On AI To Connect Ad Planning And Measurement
AI: artificial intelligence
CampaignsAI & techMedia & ad tech
Success with evidence
Award-winning work
Recently announced winners from D&AD and the London International Awards (LIA). An award is public recognition by an industry jury. It isn't the same as commercial results.
| Work | Brand | Agency | Award | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Your Way Out | Coinbase | Isle of Any | D&AD (Design and Art Direction) Black Pencil ×2 (Visual Effects; Production Design) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| The Periodic Fable | The Ordinary | Uncommon Creative Studio | D&AD Black Pencil (Art Direction) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Three Words | AXA | Publicis Conseil | D&AD Black Pencil (Impact) | Creative Review · 25 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Unsponsored | Levi Strauss & Co. | BETC Paris, AKQA | Grand LIA (London International Awards): Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| The Pub That Refused To Die | Heineken | LePub Milan | Grand LIA: Creative Strategy | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Heinz Ketchup billboards (“Look Familiar?”) | Heinz | Rethink Toronto | Grand LIA: Billboard | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Sosegá | Cervezas Alhambra | LLYC Madrid | Grand LIA: Music & Sound | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Expensive Sh*t | Huggies | McCann New Zealand | LIA Gold: Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| Lump Lottery | Testicular Cancer NZ | Colenso BBDO | LIA Gold + Silver: Creative Strategy | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
| No Place to Grow | We Are Mobilise | Droga5 ANZ | LIA Silver: Ambient & Activation | Campaign Brief · 29 Sept 2026 ↗ |
Our own thinking · hypothetical
Ideas lab
Open the Ideas lab →These are not real campaigns. They are our own ideas, showing how this week's mechanics could be used by well-known brands. The brands named have no involvement.
Idea for Spotify · hypothetical
Wrapped: The Final
A live-streamed, long-form game show where the most obsessive fans of one artist compete using their listening data.
Mechanic: Fans opt in with their stats; top listeners qualify; the artist hosts the final.
Inspired by: KFC's superfan game show (Adweek)
Idea for Red Bull · hypothetical
City vs City Session Board
A month-long skate/run/ride challenge where each suburb's tracked activity lights up live DOOH (digital out-of-home) boards, ending in a street event in the winning suburb.
Mechanic: App or Strava tracking → live DOOH leaderboard → finale event.
Inspired by: Hoka's Strava-to-DOOH marathon build-up (Digiday)
Idea for IKEA · hypothetical
Secondhand Rooms
Players donate unused in-game furniture from home-building games; each donation unlocks a real-world contribution to a housing charity.
Mechanic: In-game donation → public tally → matched real donation.
Inspired by: Kirkens Korshær's Secondhand Skins (Creative Review)
✦ Try it yourself
Build an idea for any brand
Open the idea builder →