Who needs Paris when you can just shop online?

Today, Netflix announced it’s teaming up with Google for a first-of-its-kind Shop with Google partnership featuring Emily in Paris. The partnership will bring custom creative and give viewers a new way to shop for the season’s outfits through Google Lens.

Here’s how it works: Viewers on all Netflix plans can use Google Lens to scan Lilly Collins’/Emily’s looks throughout Season 4, finding similar items on their device to match the character’s style.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Netflix and Emily in Paris to bring the joy of shopping directly to your screen,” Stephanie Horton, Google’s senior director of global consumer marketing and commerce, said in a statement. “With Google Lens, you can turn your TV screen into your personal runway—effortlessly shopping the world’s fashion in one place.”

In addition, the partnership includes custom features within Netflix’s ad-supported plan, including shoppable pause ads and title sponsorships. Lily Collins even reprises her role as Emily in the ads, giving viewers even more Emily content.

Pause ads will encourage viewers to scan the screen with Google Lens and get directed to a shopping page showcasing items, which is the first time Netflix has partnered on co-branded pause ad creative. 

Meanwhile, Google and Netflix built custom 15-second spots that tie Emily in Paris with Shop with Google, and Google’s title sponsorship will extend to previous seasons, which is the first time Netflix has done this for existing library content.

The search giant also brought Emily out of Paris and into Los Angeles with a new pop-up experience that helped fans shop for looks with Google Lens and even gave people a chance to win a trip to Paris.

“This campaign has been incredibly fun and exciting to bring to life, with the seamless partnership between Netflix’s fan-favorite series Emily in Paris and Shop with Google,” Magno Herran, vp of marketing partnerships, Netflix, said. “By organically tapping into the fandom of the show, and leveraging engaging formats, it offers our members a creative and entertaining experience and showcases to our partners the breadth at which we can build these unique opportunities with them.”  

The partnership news comes as Netflix looks to wrap up its upfront talks in an increasingly competitive streaming market. Ahead of its upfront presentation in May, the company announced several improvements to its ad-supported plan, including the addition of pause ads, which Google utilizes in its new sponsorship.

The company is also looking to bring its adtech in-house as it continues to scale its ad-supported business, which now reaches 40 million global monthly active users.

Emily in Paris Season 4, Part 1, premieres on August 15, while Part 2 is out on September 12.

Ahead of the Paris 2024 Paralympics, Apple issues a timely call about the importance of equity and accessibility in sports. 

“The Relay,” created in-house, is the tech giant’s latest ad promoting its accessibility features. This film documents eight athletes from around the world competing in a four-stage, real-time relay race.

The group includes a cyclist with an upper limb difference, a wheelchair racer, a low-vision swimmer, and a blade runner. Some are contenders for the 2028 Paralympics in Los Angeles.

Apple’s film focuses on the grit, determination, and sacrifice of the competitors and highlights that these are qualities shared by all athletes, with or without disabilities. 

It also promotes accessibility features on its devices that can help athletes train, such as Point and Speak on iPhone for users with low vision, and AssistiveTouch, which allows people with upper-limb differences to use Apple Watch one-handed. 

Derek Cianfrance, the filmmaker behind movies including 2019’s Sound of Metal and 2010’s Blue Valentine, directed the spot. 

Apple’s previous commercials about accessibility have pushed the needle on disability representation in advertising. 

Last year, Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi directed the brand’s ad about speech accessibility, “The Lost Voice,” which took the form of a narrated children’s story with magical creatures. When a girl meets a rabbit who can’t speak, she goes on a journey to help him find his voice. 

And in 2022, Apple’s award-winning “The Greatest” depicted an inclusive, disabled cast demonstrating their various talents. 

Apple’s latest film is also notable as it reflects the changing narrative around the Paralympics. Other advertisers, such as U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 and the International Paralympic Committee, have challenged tropes by focusing on the elite side of Paralympic sports, rather than how the athletes overcame disabilities. 

CREDITS:

Agency: Apple
Production Company: Radical Media
Director: Derek Cianfrance

Amid a fashion comeback, Ugg showcases its place in the cultural zeitgeist in the first global campaign by its new creative agency AKQA.

“Feels Like Ugg,” launching on Thursday, reveals the brand’s Fall/Winter line and builds on the brand’s platform that debuted in 2022. AKQA’s Los Angeles office, which opened last year under the creative leadership of global CCO and fashion veteran Shu Hung, spearheaded the campaign. 

Ugg hired AKQA earlier this year to help define “a new spirit of the brand,” Carole Diarra, Ugg’s global vp of marketing, told ADWEEK. The resulting campaign represents the California-based label’s most globally diverse cast as it targets “culture creators and changemakers,” per Diarra. 

“This is a step forward for us to show we’re a global brand part of the zeitgeist. We’re shaping and moving culture,” Diarra said. 

The campaign features a cast of creative influencers from around the world, including models Alex Consani and Precious Lee; singer-songwriters Hanni and Leah Dou; artist and illustrator Karabo Poppy Moletsane; fashion photographer Phil Oh; and actor Young Mazino.

In an anthem film, the creators wear Ugg products while traversing the streets of Seoul, South Korea, playing music in a record store, making art, and holding impromptu photoshoots before meeting at a rooftop party.

The duo known as We Are From L.A. directed the film, while photographer Samuel Bradley captured the images. 

 “Feels Like Ugg” has a double meaning: as well as leaning into the shoe’s famous physical comfort, it is about how the brand inspires “inner comfort” through self-expression, Diarra explained.  

There is also a strong community element to the campaign, which explores “how self-expression connects us,” she added. 

The campaign’s concept was inspired by the Ugg signature twin seam stitch on the outside of its boots. This classic design feature informed the film’s narrative and will also be prominent in the Fall/Winter product line.

“We saw an opportunity to weave this brand heritage into a modern story, where the twin seam stitch metaphorically brings together diverse voices and styles, emphasizing Ugg’s role as a bridge between comfort and self-expression,” Hung told ADWEEK. 

Ads will appear across digital and social media, out-of-home sites, connected TV, ecommerce, and retail stores. 

In the spirit of bringing people together, Ugg will also host a series of activations and events, including the next rendition of its Feel House—a 10-day community retail space with artwork, live performances, and other activities that it first hosted in 2022 in Brooklyn, Seoul and Chengdu, China. 

A global ‘Uggaissance’

The campaign comes as Ugg, a brand once strongly associated with the Y2K era, surges back into fashion. 

Influencers, TikTokers, and celebrities including Bella Hadid and Kendall Jenner have been spotted in the shoe, which also appeared on numerous Fashion Week runways this year. Marie Claire called it the “Uggaissance.”

Ugg’s comeback is paying off with business results. Owner Deckers Brands reported a 22.1% increase to $825.3 million in net sales during its first quarter this year, driven partly by Ugg’s performance. Ugg’s sales were up by 14% in the quarter. 

Since Ugg’s early 2000s heyday, when Oprah Winfrey included it on her “Favorite Things” list and celebrities from Paris Hilton to Beyoncé flaunted the boot, the brand fell out of fashion around the 2010s. 

But recently—thanks in part to the rise of TikTok, where users have fueled a resurgence of nostalgic brands and culture from the 1990s and 2000s—subsequent generations have gone on to embrace the brand’s comfortable, everyday style. Underscoring its multigenerational appeal, in 2022 it signed Cher as the face of the brand.

Through social media, Ugg’s team has seen consumers of all backgrounds styling new, popular models, such as the mini and platform boots or the sandals, in various ways across different countries, Diarra observed.

“[Ugg] defies generations. When new people come into the brand, they are able to appropriate it and use it in a way that’s relevant to them,” Diarra said. “Influence is happening across borders.”

Warner Bros. Discovery has wrapped its TV upfront talks, the company confirmed during its second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday.

During the call, CEO David Zaslav said streaming service Max’s volume grew by almost 50% as clients saw value in its upscale and younger-skewing audience as well as sponsorship opportunities in Max’s programming like the third season of The White Lotus.

Zaslav said the company’s linear revenue also saw strong sports pricing and double-digit volume growth led by increased demand from their coverage of March Madness, Major League Baseball, NBA, the NHL, and the Stanley Cup finals. Newer sports programming like NASCAR and the French Open also drove growth.

The company did not address or share CPMs (or the cost to reach 1,000 viewers) during the earnings call.

Zaslav also noted that the studio business with films like Twisters is strong, which he said is still in the midst of what will be a “multi-year turnaround.”

Warner Bros. Discovery joins NBCU, Fox, Disney, and TelevisaUnivision in closing their upfronts.

Warner Bros. Discovery reported a $9.1 billion non-cash impairment charge, or write-down, on its TV linear networks division. However, the company’s streaming business saw some minor gains and ended the quarter with $240 million in streaming advertising revenue.

Additionally, WBD announced that it’s taking legal action against the NBA after the league chose to go with Amazon for its massive 11-year media rights deal, despite WBD saying it had matched the streamer’s offer.

The company also has a new sports offering coming in the fall with its joint venture for Venu Sports with Disney and Fox.

The upfront news comes at a tumultuous time for Warner Bros. Discovery. The company recently announced layoffs that affected nearly 1,000 people.

X is back to warring with advertisers, and advertisers are back to executing caution when engaging with the platform, buyers told ADWEEK.

Two buy-side sources who have advertised on X this year said X’s new lawsuit against the Global Alliance of Responsible Media (GARM), an advertising trade body, makes them reconsider future investment in the platform.

X today filed a lawsuit against GARM, the World Federation of Advertisers (of which GARM is a subsidiary), and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever for using their influence to inspire brands to boycott X and depriving the platform of ad revenue. GARM is an industry organization that was formed in 2019 offering standards and guidelines to help brands avoid monetizing illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms.

X owner Elon Musk said on the platform today, “We tried peace for 2 years, now it’s war,” as he reposted CEO Linda Yaccarino’s bizarre video about the lawsuit.

This is an about-face from Musk’s conciliatory presence at the Cannes Lions Festival earlier this summer, where he called brand safety “critical,” and said that “advertisers have a right to appear next to content that they think fits with their brand.”

One buy-side source, who is not authorized to speak with the media on the record, said a brand they work with had paused advertising on X last year after Musk made antisemitic comments in November but returned to the platform this year as the dust settled around that controversy.

“A lot of brands had slowly warmed back up,” to advertising on X, the source said, noting incentives X has given to advertisers.

Today’s lawsuit will likely change that calculus.

“Every advertiser needs to stop and think very hard right now and decide if Twitter just doesn’t fit a campaign, and [a brand is] not going to spend with them on this quarter or this initiative, is Elon going to just tell Linda Yaccarino to sue?” the buyer said. “Here’s a guy … who can fund any lawsuit forever.”

A large brand that advertised on X around the Olympics said the lawsuit would make the brand reconsider whether to even post organically on X. Their paid activation has ended.

“Why would I want to be in any way, shape or form, involved in a place that wants to sue individual advertisers and the bodies that authentically represent them for choosing to not advertise there?” the source said.

X currently takes the most time for VaynerMedia employees to monitor for their clients out of every other platform, given the myriad controversies and drama on X, said Anthony Scarola, vp of media and programmatic lead at VaynerMedia. He said today’s lawsuit is another example of the volatility of the platform, though noted the platform’s reporting on brand safety has become more granular, and thus has flagged more brand safety issues as a result.

“We’ve definitely had those conversations as to is the juice worth the squeeze?” Scarola said.

Leaving X isn’t all about brand safety

X’s lawsuit comes on the heels of a report from Republican members of the House of Representatives which found GARM limited choice for consumers by organizing to demonetize content it doesn’t favor, specifically pointing to X and conservative creators and outlets, like Fox News and The Daily Wire.

But sources said there were many reasons brands chose to stop advertising on X, starting with Musk’s takeover in 2022, that had nothing to do with politics or brand safety. Axios reported that X is supposed to make $2 billion in advertising revenue this year, compared to the $4.5 billion in revenue in 2021, the last full year X reported its earnings publicly.

First, the most successful digital media companies like Meta and Google typically attract performance budgets, which are focused on linking advertising with sales. X has never been good at this and still isn’t, the first buy-side source. “It’s never been about cost per acquisition,” they said.

Plus, at the time of Musk’s takeover, brands had concerns about X’s operational capacity that sparked a reconsideration of ad spend, said Arielle Garcia, director of intelligence at industry watchdog Check My Ads, who served as chief privacy officer at ad buying giant UM Worldwide at the time of the Musk takeover.

“You had agency reps that were just gone. You had no one to speak to about brand safety issues. The platform was in complete turmoil,” Garcia said. The first buyer source said there is more support from X reps than during Musk’s initial takeover.

“It’s interesting the way that they’re positioning all of this, when the reality is that brands were making decisions based on a whole host of different factors. Brand safety itself was only one of them,” Garcia said.

ADWEEK has requested comment from X and will update the story if the platform responds.

TelevisaUnivision is the latest broadcaster to finish upfront talks.

According to a source familiar with the matter, the Spanish-language media company saw more advertisers participate in this year’s Upfront than in the past, which drove “single-digit volume growth across its linear, streaming, social and digital properties” that increased TelevisaUnivision’s CPMs (or the cost to reach 1,000 viewers).

Sports in particular continued to be a significant driver for the company’s growth and CPM prices. Demand was strong across the company’s core properties including Liga MX, UEFA Champions League and the Gold Cup following the massive success of Copa America and UEFA Euro—especially as soccer continues to be popular in the U.S.

“We are proud of the historic number of advertisers committing to the Hispanic audience in this year’s Upfront marketplace, underscoring TelevisaUnivision’s distinguished leadership in serving this critical, diverse and dynamic consumer base across all platforms,” said Donna Speciale, president of U.S. advertising and marketing at TelevisaUnivision, in a statement. “From linear and streaming to social and digital, more brands than ever have leaned in to leverage our strengthened capabilities, embracing culture and language as drivers of their future relevance and success.” 

TelevisaUnivision also continues to see demand for ViX, its live and on-demand streaming platform, with commitments up double-digits from last year.

According to the source, 40% of the overall volume was transacted on alternative currencies, which reflects the progress toward the adoption of accurate and representative measurement of their audience beyond Nielsen.

Social revenue grew nearly 40% as the company’s creator business continues to advance at a fast pace. TelevisaUnivision saw immediate demand for Sistema Uforia, its always-on capability for brands to plug into the company’s music portfolio.

Meanwhile, its experiential event, Casa Creator, which was originally scheduled to launch in 2025, debuted a year earlier due to brand demand. Coca-Cola was featured as an inaugural sponsor at its Premios Juventud award show this year.

The company grew across several categories, including auto, alcohol beverages and finance.

With the news, TelevisaUnivision joins NBCUniversal, Fox and Disney in upfront closings.

In 2023, TelevisaUnivision reported its best upfront in a decade, with a source familiar with the Spanish-language media company saying it “bucked industry trends for both price and volume.”

Talking to ADWEEK in May, Speciale previewed negotiations, saying the company is in talks with marketers throughout the year.

“This is an ongoing process,” she said. “We have been talking to them for months. English-language is being commoditized. There are a lot of streaming services out there that are doing all the same old stuff. Content is crucial. But we are unique.”

The company brought that uniqueness to its upfront presentations this year, creating a non-traditional Casa Cultura event, complete with a surprise Broadway-like performance and Shakira.

Toilet paper advertising seems to be having a renaissance. 

The latest addition to the canon is a catchy song from a musical trio of women called the Quilted Queens. 

Dressed in matching white quilted jackets that read “Keep it quilted,” the queens have one mission behind their spirited performance: to share the gospel of comfortable Quilted Northern toilet paper. 

“We quilt this city,” they belt out in the aisles of a grocery store. “We quilt this city with a comfy roll.”

Both the track and the music video are a riff on American rock band Starship’s 1985 hit song “We Built This City.”

But instead of singing about rock and roll, the Quilted Queens’ lyrics convey why Quilted Northern toilet paper is better than other brands. 

“We are here to change your toilet paper game,” they croon. 

This is the first work for the Georgia Pacific-owned brand from the agency Orchard Creative, which won the business last year. Tajana Tokyo, a Sierra Leonean-British director with a background in dance and choreography, directed the spot. 

Entertaining women, too

Other toilet paper advertisers have recently injected more humor and creativity into the category.  

This week, Essity-owned U.K. brand Cushelle gave a voice to mascot Kenny the Koala. In March, Kimberly-Clark’s Andrex made light of awkward poo situations.  

Scott Paper, another Kimberly-Clark brand, last year released a horror movie spoof about a toilet nightmare. 

While the category is rife with creative opportunity, Quilted Northern’s ad is notable for the way it speaks to women. 

Toilet paper, like most CPG products, is largely bought by women, according to Orchard’s research. The agency also uncovered that when women find a product they love, they want to evangelize and tell others about it to help improve their lives, too.  

That insight led to the idea of the Quilted Queens and an ad that ultimately aims to entertain its target audience in a “category rife with baby talk and bathroom innuendo,” Orchard creative director Christine Taffe told ADWEEK. 

“Brands with overwhelmingly male audiences spend a lot of time and money trying to entertain. But when it comes to women, and especially with household products, the approach is to mirror women as ‘they are,’” Taffe said.  

Like the talent on screen, the creative and production teams behind the scenes were representative of a diversity of women, including Quilted Northern senior brand manager Priti Lokre, Orchard creative directors Taffe and Heather Larimer, and director Tokyo.

For the casting process, Tokyo and Orchard looked at more than 400 women aged between 25 and 70 of varying ethnicities and body types, to recruit their trio of Quilted Queens. 

“The production itself was one of the most stress-free, joyful shoots any of us had ever been on,” Taffe recalled. “Everyone had an open, trusting, happy spirit: no egos, just possibility.” 

Today, Disney laid off 140 members of its Disney Entertainment Television workforce. That represents roughly 2% of the division’s headcount, according to a person familiar with the matter.

National Geographic was particularly hard hit as that team will be reduced by approximately 13%.

A representative for the company declined to comment.

The layoffs represent an ongoing effort from the company to right-size its entertainment division as it contends with a dramatically reshaping media landscape. Disney, like other media companies, is in the midst of an ongoing transition as streaming continues overtaking linear TV.

The layoffs come ahead of the company’s third-quarter earnings call next Wednesday, in which the company expects to see softness in its streaming business, according to public filings. 

To bolster the division, the company has struck two bundling agreements. In February, it struck a joint sports venture called Venu alongside Fox and WBD. Later in May, it revealed a new bundle with Warner Bros. Discovery.

Its streaming services turned a profit for the first time in Q2 and are expected to reach profitability again in Q4. 

More recently, the reductions come on the heels of several wins for the company. 

Disney released Inside Out 2 in June, which generated over $1.5 billion at the box office. Last weekend, it premiered Deadpool & Wolverine, which became the first R-rated movie to gross over $200 million in its opening weekend.

Disney also secured one of three rights packages with the NBA last week, for which it will pay an average of $2.62 billion a year for the next 11 years. NBC and Amazon also secured rights deals.

Disney chief executive Bob Iger has faced challenges from activist investors Nelson Petz and Ike Perlmutter, whose efforts he successfully fended off. In late July, Perlmutter sold his stake in Disney for $2.9 billion.

The King in the North has returned.

Today, Zynga is rolling out the global launch of its new mobile game, Game of Thrones: Legends—complete with Kit Harington channeling his role as Jon Snow in the marketing campaign. This is the first time Harington has returned to the world of Game of Thrones since the series ended in 2019.

Gabrielle Heyman, vp of global brand sales and partnership at Zynga, said the company was excited to get Harington on board.

“This is the first time Kit has come back into the Game of Thrones universe since the show left the air, so we were honored that he wanted to participate with us,” Heyman told ADWEEK. “He was like, ‘This is about the fans. This is doing it for the fans.’ So it was a great fit.”

The new mobile RPG puzzle game, which is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of HBO, incorporates content and characters from the network’s Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon series. 

In the trailer for the mobile game, which is set in London, Harington is immersed in the game and stirring up Westeros-based fantasies while walking through a dimly-lit lounge before getting snapped back into reality for a silly interaction with a fan. 

For the trailer, Heyman said their team wanted to balance a tongue-in-cheek, lighthearted tone while still keeping a sense of an underlying mystery, which is prevalent throughout the franchise. She added that Harington was collaborative when it came to what he was comfortable doing or what felt authentic to the character.

“He walks into this bar wondering if what he just saw was a mirage or if it was real—like the necklace on a woman who enters, which are the icons from the game that morphs back into a real necklace,” Heyman said. “He’s seeing all these strange things as he walks in and sits at the bar and engages with fans who tease him about tropes from the show.”

In Game of Thrones: Legends, players can build and lead their own personalized Westeros houses and assemble their teams with characters like Jon Snow, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Arya Stark. They can also complete missions to claim the Iron Throne, showcase their skills in RPG puzzle battles and pair up different characters to defeat different game modes and enemies.

Heyman said that Zynga, which has a long history of partnering with Warner Bros. Discovery on many games for franchises such as Wizard of Oz, Wonka and Harry Potter, said she hopes casual fans of the franchise will get into the game.

“We’ve seen a huge synergy between gamers and general entertainment enthusiasts,” Heyman said. “People are playing games on the couch while they’re watching TV. We have a lot of our players subscribe to Max or have the Max app and the ad-supported tier so we’re communicating that to them.”

Heyman said she’s especially eager to bring this game to mobile since it bridges the gap between console and PC.

“It serves this in-between audience that has a desire for an authentic RPG experience, but they can play on-the-go,” Heyman said. “They can play on the subway to work. They can play when they’re at the airport, so we’re bringing Game of Thrones to gamers all day, every day.”