When it comes to the future of entertainment, brands are everything—Hollywood’s just Ken.

Greta Gerwig’s Mattel-derived 2023 blockbuster proved that millions of people would spend billions of dollars to live in a Barbie world for two hours. And as far as Oscar-winning manager-producer Michael Sugar is concerned, that movie is just the tip of the brand-enabled premium entertainment iceberg that’s poised to bring a sea change to the film and television industry.

“Our belief is that almost every brand is its own Barbie,” the founder and CEO of the Sugar23 production company observed on Tuesday at ADWEEK’s Brandweek conference. In fact, Sugar said that he sees a world in which Ted Lasso is an Adidas joint, while Goldman Sachs is the creative incubator for Billions or Succession.

“I believe that brands can communicate to an audience and to its consumers through entertainment in a different way,” emphasized Sugar, who was joined onstage by Ramon Soto, svp and chief marketing officer for Northwell Health, and Maurice Cooper, chief customer officer for Bath & Body Works. “There’s a consumer on the other side that wants to understand the brand, and they want to feel understood by the brand.”

Here are three test cases the trio cited for how companies can move beyond commercials and product integrations into producing entertainment that makes consumers feel as much passion for brands as Ken feels for beach:

1. A Bridgerton bonanza

One sweet-smelling fandom deserves another. According to Cooper, that’s why Bath & Body Works readily agreed to partner with the belle of the Netflix ball, Bridgerton, for a product collection that debuted ahead of the Season 3 premiere of the Shonda Rhimes-produced hit.

“The intent was to figure out how we could deepen fandom,” he explained, noting how both companies have their dedicated enthusiasts. Cooper indicated that the fan response would even have made the unflappable Eloise Bridgerton gape, with product flying off the shelves and generating over a billion online impressions.

Not surprisingly, the company has also rolled the dice on another Netflix fandom by launching a Stranger Things collection. “Now you can see what a Demogorgon smells like,” Cooper teases.

Both of those experiences provided Cooper with a better sense of the kind of non-traditional entertainment that Bath & Body Works might one day make. “We’re an experiential brand, so how do we help our customers experience what we’re offering in a new and powerful way?” he mused.

And he’s eager to find creative partners to assist in the journey towards what that “new and powerful way” might entail.

“There are production houses that would love a brand check to offset costs,” Cooper said. “But instead of viewing brands as a bank, we should be viewing them as creative partners.”

2. Health matters

If you’re looking for a movie studio to model yourself after, why not the Mouse House? When Soto stepped into his role at Northwell Health—a regional health network that operates in New York state—he ordered up a diagnostic on what’s arguably the most successful entertainment manufacturer in Hollywood history: the Walt Disney Company.

Specifically, he wanted to see how the studio creates the superfans that see Deadpool & Wolverine upwards of ten times in movie theaters or binge Star Wars shows on Disney+ into the wee hours of the morning. It was all part of an initiative to make the Northwell name mean something to the millions of New Yorkers who visit their hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Like Cooper, Soto found a strategic partner in Netflix. In 2020, the streamer debuted the nine-episode docuseries Lenox Hill, which was filmed at Northwell’s Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. That was followed three years later by Emergency NYC, which followed ER physicians and first responders all over New York. To date, Northwell has been involved in seven TV and film projects with plans for more.

“It’s really important for us to do two things with this new platform that we have,” Soto explained, citing “brand love” and driving a conversation around “social issues” like mental health and medicine.

Naturally, entertainment isn’t always what the doctor ordered, and Soto admitted that Northwell has had its occasional doses of failure.

“We’ve learned a lot from it,” he said. “We show up differently the next time, and we continue to push forward.”

3. When all else fails, get Keanu

For his part, Sugar characterized Sugar23 as standing at the nexus between the old and new versions of Hollywood. “We don’t do branded content—we do premium entertainment,” he said of the company, which has been behind such TV shows and films as Dickinson, Spotlight, and The Turning Point, a documentary series that brought together P&G Studios, Time Studios, and MSNBC Films.

With that experience top of mind, he’s come to recognize that what an entertainment-curious brand needs most is a highly motivated and highly creative partner … like, say, Keanu Reeves.

“Keanu called us with an idea for a show,” Sugar said of the John Wick star, who mostly avoids appearing in ads despite regularly receiving offers with beyond-lucrative paydays. “We said, ‘How about finding a brand partner?’ And he was all in.”

For Sugar, the Reeves anecdote provides a clear road map for where brands and Hollywood can travel together in the years ahead.

“Here’s a guy who will get on a plane for free to work with a brand who is going to enable his passion,” Sugar marveled. “But he won’t get out of bed for millions to do a commercial.”

All together now—whoa.

To fans’ dismay, Firehouse Subs shut down its hot sauce bars when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. in March 2020. Now the sandwich chain is celebrating the triumphant return of its hot sauce bars with a humorous campaign in which heat lovers expect to find the condiment everywhere.

The protagonists in the ads, by agency Orchard Creative, consider a hot sauce bar a must-have amenity.

In one spot, a woman touring her dream home declares, “this house is garbage,” and storms out after the real estate agent explains it doesn’t have a hot sauce bar.

Elsewhere, a man at a fancy restaurant throws a tantrum when he learns he doesn’t have his choice of 13 varieties of hot sauce like he would at Firehouse Subs.

In the third ad, guests start leaving a wedding after learning there’s no hot sauce bar at the reception. The band even sings about the unfortunate oversight.

Over the past few years, Firehouse Subs customers have asked for the hot sauce bar to return through social media, email, and even sending handwritten letters. Select restaurants will display custom “I Brought It Back” plaques to honor that enthusiasm.

Firehouse Subs teased the hot sauce bar’s return with social media posts counting down to Sept. 23. The relaunch campaign also features billboards and digital advertising.

According to a September study by Wired Research, 85% of Americans use hot sauce. Firehouse Subs’ sauce bar features 13 varieties ranked on a 1-10 heat scale ranging from Captain Sorensen’s Datil Pepper Hot Sauce — named for the chain’s firefighter founder — to Deep Canyon Co. Sizzlin Scorpion Hot Sauce.

Beyond spicing up their sandwiches in the restaurant, diners can also buy bottles to take home.

“The Hot Sauce Bar has always been a fan favorite, and we are beyond excited to celebrate guests and bring back this iconic piece of Firehouse Subs’ history,” chief marketing officer Dena vonWerssowetz said in a statement.

WWL anchor Eric Paulsen said he is taking time off after a recent cancer diagnosis.

Paulsen has worked at the New Orleans CBS affiliate for 47 years, making him the longest-tenured anchor in the region and one of the longest-serving in the country.

“To my colleagues at Channel 4 and our viewers, I will be on medical leave for the next few months battling cancer,” Paulsen told viewers. ” It’s fairly aggressive, but my doctors say it is treatable. And they are as confident as I am that I can and will beat this.  I’m not a person who worries about a lot in life, and I’ve always been a fighter.  This is a fight I don’t welcome, but I’m ready for this battle. My attitude is very positive, and I have a lot of support from family and friends, which means I will see you all soon.”

“Eric means so much to this station and this region,” said WWL news director Nicole Waivers. “He’s served his community for decades. Now it’s our turn to support him.”

Ikea understands the value of both creative advertising and a good night’s sleep. The brand combined the two aims in a novel campaign by Swedish agency Åkestam Holst NoA.

Earlier this year, the retailer held an open call for “sleepfluencers” who could apply to receive free roller blinds to darken their bedrooms while they dozed.

The blinds had a dual purpose, however. The outside of each one showcased a product in Ikea’s sleep range, such as its pillows, duvets, or mattresses, alongside the tagline: “Good nights make better days.”

“People could turn their windows into ads while they sleep, sharing Ikea’s message in a very real way,” Åkestam Holst NoA creative and partner Rickard Beskow told ADWEEK. “This mix of functionality and creativity felt like the perfect fit for Ikea and its belief in democratic design.”

The agency released an initial recruitment film through paid media to encourage people to participate and received an overwhelming number of responses, choosing the recipients of the rollers at random.

A film running across paid channels thanks the participants and shows some of the windows that were transformed during the campaign.

While the effort has focused on the Swedish market, Beskow said he sees the potential to expand it globally.

“This was a way for us to give back to our customers while also gaining visibility in a new and innovative way,” Ikea Sweden marketing communication leader Jonas Westberg said in a statement. “The campaign is a fun and unconventional way to help people sleep well while also promoting our affordable range to even more people.”

Åkestam Holst NoA also worked with Ikea for an unconventional out-of-home campaign this summer, when it installed a Nissedal mirror into a billboard that used GPS to reflect natural light onto outdoor cafe seats, granting extra sunlight in Sweden’s unpredictable weather.

CREDITS

Ikea
Marketing communication leader, Ikea Sweden: Jonas Westberg
Integrated media leader, Ikea Sweden: Sanna Green
Marketing communications manager, Ikea Sweden: Felicia Asklund

Åkestam Holst, NoA
Art director: Michal Sitkiewicz
Art director: Eva Wallmark
Copywriter: Rickard Beskow
Client director: Sophia Wattjersson
Account manager: Anna Nollendorfs
Creative director: Daniel Vaccino
Final art: Anna Forsberg
Production: John Müllendorfs
Planner: Sindra Liebe
Head of planning: Jerker Winther
Creative designer: Hugo Wallmo
DoP/Editor/Grade: Carlos Carrasco
Film producer: Joanna Nilsson

Consumers are often bombarded by ads and influencers offering wellness solutions. A new global campaign from Virgin Active encourages them to ignore the allure of quick fixes and seek out a healthier fitness plan.

Created by Amsterdam-based agency We Are Pi, the film opens ominously with a tower of TVs showing an infomercial for an electric ab sculptor. Flashing red letters on a black background encourage viewers to leave behind a variety of questionable fitness solutions, including a fad diet involving a giant raw steak and sneak oils represented by an actual reptile. 

The ad depicts the ways each of those trends can go wrong, such as when a gadget electrocutes a man’s torso.

As the triumphant section of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” plays, the film encourages viewers to “leave the cult, join the club” and stick to classic fitness activities like boxing, lifting weights, and sweating in a sauna.

After a competitive pitch, Virgin Active chose We Are Pi earlier this year to create a global campaign to refresh the gym’s brand identity.

The agency’s research found that people lacked knowledge about how to improve their health and wellness and were often confused by online experts and influencers.

“The very thing that was supposed to be making people better was actually making them worse,” We Are Pi co-founder Alex Bennett Grant told ADWEEK. “What people were looking for was real guidance, real progress, and real community, creating the perfect opportunity for Virgin Active to be the antidote to fake wellness.”

The initial effort featuring the hero film, shorter films, and stills that will run across TV, online, VOD, and out-of-home in the U.K., Italy, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, and Australia. A second chapter will kick off in January 2025.

Dayanna Monroy has joined Telemundo 48 (KSTS) in San Jose, California.

Monroy will co-anchor Noticiero Telemundo 48 alongside Miryam Villarreal and César Bayona. She is set to join the station on Wednesday, September 25.

“We are excited to welcome Dayanna to the Telemundo 48 family,” said Stacy Owen, president and general manager of Telemundo 48 and NBC Bay Area. “Her wealth of experience in investigative journalism, combined with her passion for supporting the community and telling impactful stories will be key in strengthening our commitment to serving and uplifting the Hispanic community, while deepening our connection with our audience and addressing the issues that matter most to them.”

Monroy comes from Univision 14 in San Francisco, where she served as a news anchor and reporter since June 2023. Before that, she worked at Teleamazonas in Ecuador from 2014 to 2022, specializing in investigative journalism on both national and international issues.

“Dayanna’s fearless reporting and dedication to uncovering critical stories earned her the prestigious International Women of Courage Award from the U.S. Department of State,” said Stephanie Adrouny, vice president of news for Telemundo 48 and NBC Bay Area. “Her expertise in investigative journalism makes her an essential addition to our team. We are confident that her unique perspective and passion for delivering culturally resonant stories will strengthen our commitment to providing the in-depth coverage that truly matters to our community.”

“Dayanna is an exceptional journalist whose investigative skills and commitment to truth are unmatched,” added Sandra Perez, news director for Telemundo 48. “Her global perspective, extensive experience, and deep connection to the Hispanic community will significantly enhance our newsroom. Her addition underscores our dedication to delivering high-quality, impactful journalism that resonates with and serves our diverse audience.”

Monroy served as a producer for RTVE Spanish Television in Madrid from 2016 to 2017. She later became the producer, director, and host of the political show Las Cosas Como Son on RTP Radio in Guayaquil, Ecuador, from 2020 to 2021. Earlier in her career, she worked as a news reporter for Telerama TV in Guayaquil from 2010 to 2013.

While St. Patrick’s Day brings many tourists to Ireland in springtime, Tourism Ireland aims to boost visits later in the year with a campaign venturing into unexpected territory: spooky season.

The ad, created by agency Publicis London, uncovers Halloween’s Celtic origins. The tourism body and agency worked with academics to trace the festival’s ancient history and bring it to life through evocative storytelling.

“If the world can flock to Rio for Carnival or Munich for Oktoberfest, why not come to Ireland for Halloween?” Publicis London chief creative officer Noel Bunting explained in a statement.

“Home of Halloween” tells the story of how the Gaelic festival of Samhain was first celebrated to mark the transition between the harvest season and winter, when the boundaries between worlds were believed to blur. Celts would don intimidating costumes and light bonfires to ward away frightening spirits.

Director Leonn Ward shot the ad on 16mm film to show off the island’s landscape and give it a sense of history. The ad begins in black and white, with shots of people in traditional costumes dancing, before transitioning to color in the modern day, when a couple puts on Halloween masks to watch a fireworks show.

The commercial will run across TV, cinema, and social media, supported by shorter films and stills shot on 35mm.

Tourism Ireland’s website encourages visitors to come for the Derry Halloween festival, the largest celebration of its type in Europe, and the Bram Stoker Festival in Dublin.

“Halloween is one of the world’s favorite festivals, but not everyone knows that it originated here in Celtic culture around 2,000 years ago,” Tourism Ireland chief executive Alice Mansergh said in a statement. “We’ve worked with academics and experts to trace the story back and then bring it to life through scenery, storytelling, and culture, with modern-day appeal given the fabulous festivals there are to enjoy across the island.”

CREDITS

Advertising agency: Publicis London
CCO: Noel Bunting
Creative directors: Rhys Hughes, Barret Helander and Steve Paskin
Designer: Skah Manchip
Strategy director: Adam Mcglashan
Senior strategist: Dalonie Graham
Strategist: Rosie Mahoney
Group business director: Josh Norris
Senior account director: Luke Perry
Account director: Guergana Stoytcheva
Account executive: Lucy Wood
Agency producer: Donna Baker
Media buying agency: OMD
Production company: TinyArk
Director: Leonn Ward
Dditor: Rob Hegarty
Producer: Donna Baker & Sid Daffran
Post-production company: No8
Photographer: Rich Gilligan

Happy Friday to all who celebrate.

In this week’s edition of stories we didn’t write up for one reason or another, we see that a Detroit station owner is selling everything and the crew of a Florida station were on a plane when it was hit by another on an Atlanta runway.

Let’s make the cheese!

The owner of WADL in Detroit, Kevin Adell, is retiring and putting all of his businesses up for sale. Click here for the story.

Having worked the crew for WCBS produce guy Tony Tantillo‘s first ever TV appearance when he started in San Jose, I often wonder how one gets to be the produce guy on local TV. Click here for the story about the produce guy at KOVR in Sacramento.

WFXT Boston 25 News viewers were introduced to new morning anchor Nicole Gabe. She joined the station from Fort Myers, Florida, where she was at WINK News for five years. Click here for more.

Jorge Ramos, a staple of Univision’s evening news since 1987, is leaving the Spanish-language network at the end of 2024, the network and anchor announced Monday, September 9. Ramos has been a co-anchor of Noticiero Univision since 1987 and has also served as host for the network’s Sunday public-affairs program Al Punto. Click here for more.

After two years of helping bring the latest news to the West Tennessee community, WBBJ reporter/anchor Garrett Evans is “signing off.” But first, we had a few parting questions for Garrett as he prepares for his next steps. Click here for more.

KEYC in North Mankato, Minnesota has hired Brooke Bickford as a new weekend anchor. Click here for the video.

Longtime television news anchor Rich Coppola was appointed East Haven, Connecticut’s director of administration and management and economic development, according to an announcement made by Mayor Joseph Carfora Tuesday. Click here for more.

Some members of the WFTS ABC Action News crew were on board a Delta flight (pictured) bound for Louisiana when the wing of another plane struck its tail. Click here for the story.

Lorin Richardson has joined WTNH in Hartford, Connecticut. She worked at WFSB from 2020 until March 2024. She posted the news on social media. “I’m back! I’m so excited to announce I have joined WTNH News 8 as a freelance meteorologist.. from growing up in Trumbull, interning here at WTNH (this throwback from 2008) and getting to work with this amazing team.. it feels like a full circle moment! I am very grateful for this opportunity. I’ll see you on TV soon!”

While Coca-Cola often touts its flagship soft drink as the perfect complement for various foods, Pepsi wants to take dominance of pizza night.

Its method? Chase down pizza delivery drivers.

“Pepsi Chase Cars,” created by agency BBDO Worldwide, begins with a pizza delivery driver ringing a doorbell – only to be startled by a man standing behind him holding a 12-pack of Pepsi. Drama ensues as Pepsi branded sports cars pursue delivery drivers to offer its drink as a flavor-enhancing pairing to pizza, often annoying couriers in the process.

The Pepsi drivers acknowledge the practice isn’t exactly legal, but insist that making people eat pizza without Pepsi is just wrong.

The film and additional cutdowns and bloopers will run across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and X.

Pepsi is encouraging trial of the pairing by partnering with delivery platform DoorDash on Sept. 13 to offer a free pizza to customers who spend $30-$45 at Little Caesars, Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, or Marco’s Pizza and order a two-liter or 20-ounce bottle of Pepsi.

“When you’re eating pizza, you deserve to enjoy it to its full potential, and that’s why we’re offering tens of thousands of free pizzas to prove that Pepsi, with its citrusy sweetness and carbonation, perfectly complements the deliciousness that is pizza,” Pepsi head of brand marketing Jenny Danzi said in a statement. “If your bites aren’t chased by sips of Pepsi, you’re leaving taste on the table.”

Pepsi Chase Cars is the latest activation of the “Better With Pepsi” brand platform, which launched in 2021.

The brand has argued it tastes better with burgers than Coke — even though Pepsi isn’t served at most major fast food chains — and suggested drinkers rethink their rum and Coke order in an out-of-home campaign that included a partnership with delivery platform Drizly.

The metaverse is more than just a concept for TV personality and Radio Hall of Fame inductee Lenard McKelvey, known professionally as “Charlamagne Tha God.”

MeetKai is an AI firm that has created metaverse experiences like one for the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) ahead of this year’s NBA All-Star Weekend. The company added Charlamagne as an investor and strategic advisor in August. In addition to backing the company, Charlamagne is also bringing his own programming to the platform, including content from his iHeartRadio program called The Breakfast Club as well as Black Effect Podcast Network.

MeetKai has two parts of its business. The first part includes large language models that perform complex tasks through AI agents on behalf of humans. The second part is an interactive metaverse platform that integrates AI across phones, tablets, and headsets by converting these agents into dynamic avatars. MeetKai works with 25 brands like The Wall Street Journal and Tripadvisor.

Charlamagne’s investment highlights a growing interest in the social and interactive potentials of AI for people.

“It’s about getting people into this new future of what social entertainment will look like,” Peter John Alexander, MeetKai’s chief business officer told ADWEEK.

ADWEEK spoke to Charlamagne and MeetKai’s Alexander about AI and the metaverse.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

ADWEEK: Why invest now and what made you get into the AI game?

Charlamagne: The next-level evolution of social media is virtual reality. My mind is always on how people consume conversations. I always thought it would be very cool to have a virtual reality—somebody sitting at home on their computer can interact with The Breakfast Club instead of watching on YouTube. It’s also a lot of those old interviews we did with President Obama or Vice President Kamala Harris, Mariah Carey… you can be in those conversation now.

How is this platform different than big players like Meta?

Charlamagne: You’ll be able to access this from your phone.

Alexander: Meta has done a great job focusing on hardware and the amount of billions of dollars they’ve invested into their headset. Apple has obviously done the same.

But an interesting way to think about it is democratizing access. Not everyone can go to the DNC, where Charlemagne gets to go. If you can create these unique spaces that anyone can access, whether that’s in a headset or phone, that’s the game changer to us.

Do users need to have access to a headset to be completely immersed?

Alexander: If you want to be fully immersed, where you see nothing but the world that we’ve created, yes, you will use a headset. If you want to have a fully explorable environment, your phone still works to accomplish that. So, if you’re on the subway on the way to work, you can still jump into these experiences. It works across devices.

Can you talk about your business model?

Alexander: We work with some very big brands, who pay for different types of experiences. There’re obviously revenue shares associated with a different world, advertisements and sponsorships, too.

Each of the worlds that we work with, such as the NBPA, there’ll be e-commerce or social elements, gated content, and gamification elements. In those, there’s pay-to-play opportunities—premium ways to interact with these worlds. The same thing can be said for Charlemagne. If you want to go to a private session of his interview and have exclusive access, we charge people an entrance fee.

As more people join, you’ll see a big switch to social experiences effectively fueled by advertising.

Charlamagne, has this benefited your business or increased viewership?

It will when we start rolling out a lot of these different initiatives. We have eight million monthly listeners on The Breakfast Club. We go live now on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. This is just a different way for them to interact with the show.

Our Nipsey Hussle (Los Angeles rapper and entrepreneur) interview on our YouTube page has millions of views. Imagine you’re a die-hard Nipsey Hussle fan, and Nipsey is no longer with us, but you can be sitting there in the studio feeling like you’re sitting there with him. I just think that’s a unique experience.

When the metaverse was all the rage, many people saw it as a far-fetched technology. What if people are not yet open to virtual reality?

Charlamagne: Sure, but that’s not why you invest in things. I’m already seeing people invested in the VR world, walking around with the headsets. And virtual reality video games are extremely big right now.

Alexander: Eventually we’re going to be opening up our tools so anyone can go build whatever experiences they want. The tools are no-code solutions and anyone who is extremely good at coding can use it.

Charlamagne: Remember when cell phones were huge, and then they scaled down to compact smartphones? I think we’ll see similar growth in the metaverse when headsets become more advanced. One thing that drew me to VR was the Creed boxing game. I love the Creed movie and boxing, and to be in that world just made so much sense. When you allow people to not only create their own world but be in worlds that they’re already familiar with, it’s going to make people want to be more involved.