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Theres a common story in the marketing and advertising industry, with many variations. Whenever a member of that industry is at a party or on a plane, inevitably someone will ask what they do for a living. And as soon as they say advertising, that person immediately begins to tell them how good theyd be at working in advertising, how they should make this or that ad campaign better, or why that ad they saw during an NFL game is terrible. This probably doesnt happen to engineers and doctors. The discipline of advertising, and the process behind it has always been up for debate and question. Well, starting on September 30th, NBCs new show On Brand with Jimmy Fallon is shining a bright, reality show light on that very process. Brands like KitchenAid, Marshalls, Pillsbury, Samsung, SONIC, Dunkin’, Southwest, Captain Morgan, and Therabody, all signed up to have their briefs or brand challenges taken on by 10 contestants, guided through the process by Fallon and and Bozoma Saint-John. Saint-John is a former chief marketing or brand officer at companies including Netflix, Uber, and Beats by Drewho also just happens to star on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. For this months episode of the Brand New World podcast, she joined me on stage at Fast Companys Innovation Festival, which was held in New York City in mid-September. On how she became a part of the show: Jimmy had the idea and sold it probably a year before we had a conversation. The challenge that he was facing was that, of course, he’s a genius at what he does, commenting about pop culture and making creative partnerships. But what he would say he doesn’t have is the résumé, the professional corporate chops to back it up. So he needed a partner to add legitimacy to the show. Then he saw me on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and his wife said, “What about Boz?” And he was like, “I dunno if a housewife is what I’m looking for.” But of course, we got on a call together, and we talked about the idea and what it could mean, how much I love the concept . . . I told him that the concept of marrying those two thingsadvertising and marketingas an entertainment platform can engage an audience. I was like, “Shoot, you better sign me up. Otherwise, I’m just coming to set anyway.” On the value for the brands: Some of the criticism that I’ve seen has been like, “Oh, it’s gonna be like one big infomercial.” And I guarantee you it’s not. I compare this to finding a new music star shows entered, whether it was American Idol or The Voice. All of us became experts. You sat on your couch, you watched somebody sing. All of a sudden you knew terms like “pitchy.” Nobody had ever said pitchy outside of the studio. This is similar, which is that the audience who’s going to watch this, and I believe are going to be as invested as the contestants.
Category:
E-Commerce
Taylor Swift sold 2.7 million copies of her new album The Life of a Showgirl on its release day Friday, and luckily for Swifties buying up multiple copies to help their idol on the chart, they didn’t have to pay any tariffs on their purchases. U.S. consumers now face a 18.6% overall average effective tariff rate, according to Yales Budget Lab, and one music professor estimated that if tariffs were applied to physical music, they could have hiked the price of a vinyl record to as much as $40 to $50 a pop. They’re not, though, thanks some recently relevant Reagan-era legislation. Instead, Swift fans have to cough up $35 for the Target-exclusive “Summertime Spritz Pink Shimmer Vinyl” version of the album, which is imported from Mexico, limited-edition, and comes with a poster (the standard version is $30). [Photo: Target] President Donald Trump tariffs were imposed under emergency economic powers that the Brennan Center for Justice say constitute a misuse of power, and they’ve faced legal challenges. The Supreme Court is planning to take up the case, but already, media like books, movies, and physical music are except from the extra cost because of the Berman Amendment. Named for Howard Berman, a California Democrat who represented a district in the Los Angeles area in the U.S. House from 1983 to 2013, the law revised the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the same law that Trump used as justification for his tariffs. Berman’s amendment prohibits the president from directly or indirectly regulating or prohibiting the importation of an “informational materials,” including publications, films, posters, photographs, and records. The Berman Amendment protects cross-border speech from presidential overreach, and it attracted new interest when Trump said in May he would impose 100% tariffs on movies and TV shows produced outside the U.S. Passed in 1988, the Berman Amendment is welcome relief for companies that sell physical media across national borders, like book and magazine publishers, as well as the music industry, which saw vinyl sales grow from 13.1 million in 2016 to 49.6 million in 2023, according to Luminate Music Consumption Data. Domestic vinyl record production in the U.S. is ramping up (in Tennessee, Nashville’s United Record Pressing, which is the nation’s oldest record maker, is busier than ever, and one local company that supplies vinyl makers announced a $10 million expansion in the state in January), but currently, supply can’t keep up with demand. For Swifties whose fandom would otherwise be caught up in Trump’s trade war with the rest of the economy, the law protects their imported vinyl purchases from an extra fee courtesy the president.
Category:
E-Commerce
Gap just released an animated ad to promote its collection with designer Sandy Liang, and we need it to become its own TV show ASAP. Created by animator Annie Choi, who has a history of illustrating campaigns for luxury fashion labels, the ad stars a young girl modeled after Liang herself. While dreaming up new clothing designs inside her childhood bedroom, the girl discovers that her closet has been imbued with magical powersand when she opens its doors, shes transformed, Sailor Moonstyle, into a new version of herself dressed head-to-toe in Gap x Sandy Liang. The Gap x Sandy Liang ad, titled Sandys Dream Closet, is part of the roll-out for Liangs biggest-ever collaboration with Gap, launching online and in select Gap stores October 10. The collection includes jackets emblazoned with Liangs iconic bow symbols, structured-yet-feminine denim, and even a line of baby clothes. Everything ranges from just $15 to $268. Chois fantastical animation embodies the sweet, youthful spirit of the collection, which, Liang told Fast Company, was made for your inner child. I love that we’re telling the story through animation, Liang says. I think it’s the perfect way to express the energy that I’m trying to convey with the collection. “Creating universes that invite people to imagine more Within Chois oeuvre, anything is possible. An ordinary loaf of bread can transform into a fashionable shoe; a Parisian office building can morph into a puzzle box; and the stars in the night sky are pretty enough to literally eat like candy. Over the past several years, her creative, surrealist animations have become a sought-after asset for fashion brands including Herms, Burberry, Dior, and Loewe. When I started collaborating with fashion brands, it felt like a natural extension of what I already loved doing: creating universes that invite people to imagine more, Choi says. Fashion gives me a language of texture, form, and transformation, and animation gives it motion and life. Together they create something that feels both tactile and surreal, which is exactly the space I love to work in. [Image: Annie Choi/Gap] Bringing Sandy Liang’s fashion world to life Before Liang even began designing the Gap collection, she says, she was already imagining an animation as a component of the campaigns rollout. Her initial moodboard included inspiration from favorite anime properties like Sailor Moon and the Studio Ghibli film Ponyo. When Gaps marketing team told her that an animated video would be possible, she says, it was like a dream come true. Chois penchant for imagining designer brands through a playful lens made her the perfect compliment to Liangs perspective on fashion as a means of embracing her own girlhood. Sandys Dream Closet is inspired by Liangs childhood in New York City. Its settingan apartment complex in the Lower East Side above a Cantonese restaurant called Congee Villageis pulled directly from Liangs own memories of her fathers restaurant of the same name. That backdrop is woven together with Liangs experience growing up wearing vintage Gap. [Image: Annie Choi/Gap] Growing up with a child’s sense of wonder So much of Sandys world centers around imagination, nostalgia, and a sense of wonder, Choi says. I wanted the animation to carry that same feeling. I thought back to the shows I loved as a kid, especially the ones where transformation felt exciting and full of possibility, and used that energy as a guide. Since I also spent part of my early childhood in New York, the project felt personal to me, almost like layering my own memories on top of Sandys. In the film, Liangs transformation represents, on a literal level, the idea of growing up. Symbolically, its also meant to capture the power fashion has to help us become who we are meant to be, Choi says. For her, bringing Sandys animated vision to life was an honor. It was so fun to see her reaction to the animated Sandy for the first time, Choi says. I think the final product truly captures her essence and the Sandy Liang world in a way that her customers, and Gaps customers, can experience in a totally new way.
Category:
E-Commerce
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