Fine-tune your media, marketing and technology strategies at the Convergent TV Summit on October 25 with expert insights and strategies from the pros. Register now to save 35% on your pass.
In its latest U.S. ad forecast for the fall, Magna found mostly good news for the ad sales market. After two quarters of stagnation, U.S. ad spending accelerated to a 4.4% year-over-year gain in the second quarter, and the overall market was up 2.9% in the first half of the year.
“Six months ago, the media industry was bracing for recession, but advertisers kept calm and continued to support their brands and sales through media investment,” Vincent Létang, evp, global market intelligence and author of the report, said in a statement. “As the U.S. economy and advertising spending were both stronger than expected so far this year, and digital media is finally recovering from its 2022 woes, Magna raises its full-year ad revenue growth forecast to 5.2% for 2023 to reach $337 billion.”
According to the report, digital media formats (search, commerce, social, pureplay short-form video) led the way in growth in the second quarter, up 8.7% year-over-year. However, the good news for ad sales doesn’t extend to traditional formats such as linear TV.
Magna found that traditional media (TV, radio, publishing, out-of-home, cinema) fell 4.1% in the second quarter after a 6% drop in Q1.
And though the digital uptick in the first half of the year extends to non-linear TV ad sales such as AVOD, CTV and FAST (up 7%), podcasting (up 14%) and DOOH (up 9%), those gains only mitigate the long-term decline of traditional formats in audience and ad sales. They don’t offset it.
Overall, Magna raised the 2023 revenue forecast for digital media owners, including Google, Meta, and Amazon, from 7.9% to 9.6%. The report notes that digital pure players will capture a record 69% of total ad spend in 2023.
Meanwhile, traditional media was downgraded from a 3.2% loss to 3.6%.
2024 and beyond
Heading into 2024, it’ll be more of the same, with digital on the rise and traditional continuing to stagnate. The report also noted that the writers strike could have a major effect in the first half of the year, with a lack of new content further accelerating the shift to digital.
Linear TV is also facing challenges of declining price and volume. Recently, buyers told Adweek that the 2023-2024 TV upfront saw CPM (cost per thousand viewers reached) rollbacks across the board, with only sports seeing growth.
Cyclical events, such as the upcoming Olympics and the 2024 election cycle, will mitigate revenue erosion for national TV and bring growth to local, with local ad revenues expected to grow by 28%. Overall, total cross-platform national TV ad revenues will shrink 0.7% next year to $46.4 billion.
Don’t miss Brandweek, Adweek’s ultimate experience for marketers, September 11-14 in Miami. Connect with peers and gain insights and inspiration from top brand marketers and industry icons at Glossier, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and more. Register.
Pernod Ricard has a vast selection of over 240 top-tier alcoholic brands, ranging from local to international icons such as Chivas Regal, Jameson, Absolut Vodka, Malibu and Ballantine’s. With unwavering dedication, the company continually refines its brand image, pioneers product innovations, and aims to establish the world’s most eco-friendly distillery. At the top of these initiatives in North America is Pamela Forbus, the company’s senior vice president and CMO.
Since taking on her role at Pernod Ricard in July 2020, Forbus has transformed the marketing landscape with cutting-edge media campaigns, creative outputs and fine-tuned omnichannel strategies that fast-track conversions. Before this, she served as the svp of consumer experience, data science and insights at The Walt Disney Studios.
In the latest episode of The Speed of Culture podcast, Forbus joins Suzy founder and CEO Matt Britton to discuss Pernod Ricard’s effort to reimagine its marketing strategy amidst the pandemic, the importance of leveraging data to understand the “what” and “why” of consumer behavior, and how they’re adapting to the consumer-activist and alcohol-conscientious Gen Z.
Explore Pernod Ricard’s new marketing initiatives in a post-pandemic era by exploring the key takeaways from the episode.
Key highlights:
07:31 – 12:54 – Navigating PepsiCo through digital evolution and market shifts – Forbus joined PepsiCo in 2000, during the rising days of the internet. The tech evolution significantly impacted her role in insights and analytics. But the 2008 financial crisis marked a turning point in her career. So Forbus initiated a deep dive into PepsiCo’s performance, the potential market downshift, and evolving consumer behaviors, which influenced the company’s manufacturing strategies.
12:54 – 16:47 – Reimagining marketing during crisis – In 2020, amidst the pandemic, Forbus joined Pernod Ricard. While working from home, she was tasked with reimagining the brand’s entire marketing strategy. The pandemic allowed Pernod Ricard to redirect funds from experiential marketing into media, leading to enhanced campaigns. Data revealed that consumers often decide on purchases well before reaching stores. Knowing this, the team increased its media spending to ensure the brand’s presence at these crucial decision-making moments.
16:48 – 19:46 – Integrative strategy and data-driven decisions – As the svp and president at Pernod Ricard North America, Forbus’ core role is integration. She aligns cross-functional teams with growth strategies and uses data to understand the “what” and “why” of consumer behavior. Performance marketing, while data-driven, often misses the “why” behind trends, so bridging this gap can unlock new opportunities and better cater to consumer needs. With this data in hand, the brand’s focus is now on operational efficiency. Pernod Ricard is leveraging state-specific datasets to ensure its sales teams offer the right products to each retail outlet and meet demand effectively.
19:59 – 22:50 – Crafting convenience – Pernod Ricard is investing heavily in ready-to-drink cocktails after noticing a significant, underserved demand in the market. After a taxing day at work, many consumers want their favorite cocktail but opt for simpler choices like a beer or glass of wine. Convenience is key for consumers and the brand solution is ready-to-serve cocktails in multi-serve bottles or cans.
25:48 – 28:38 – Adapting to Gen Z – Gen Z is known to consume less alcohol than previous generations, posing challenges for the alcohol industry. Recognizing this shift, Pernod Ricard has expanded into low and nonalcoholic brands. Furthermore, Zoomers are what Pamela likes the call “activist consumers”. They voice their opinions and hold companies accountable for every action. Whether it’s supporting the LGBTQ+ communities with Absolut Vodka or building the most sustainable distillery in the world, Pernod Ricard works hard to be authentic and stand true to their values.
Fine-tune your media, marketing and technology strategies at the Convergent TV Summit on October 25 with expert insights and strategies from the pros. Register now to save 35% on your pass.
It’s official. Mark Marshall is NBCUniversal’s next ad sales chief.
Top line
Today, NBCUniversal announced it was elevating Mark Marshall to chairman of NBCUniversal’s advertising and partnerships group, reporting to Mark Lazarus, chairman, NBCUniversal media group. Marshall had been serving as interim chairman since long-time ad sales chief Linda Yaccarino’s exit in May.
Between the lines
Marshall was already playing an important role in NBCU’s upfront prior to Yaccarino’s departure. However, the former ad sales chief’s exit came just three days before she was set to lead NBCUniversal’s upfront week presentation at Radio City Music Hall. The situation led to “some rewriting” for NBCU’s presentation, Marshall later admitted to Adweek.
In a statement, Lazarus praised Marshall for stepping “into this role on an interim basis at one of the most critical times of year for the ad sales business.”
“Over the past three months, he has more than proven himself to be the leader NBCU needs to guide this team into the future,” Lazarus said. “Mark’s relationships are second to none, and coupled with his transformative vision, I have no doubt that under his leadership we will continue to reinvent and innovate the sales business while super-serving our clients and partners.”
With Marshall as interim chairman, NBCU became the first major upfront week presenter close talks this year, announcing that commitments were “roughly in line with last year.” In the 2022-2023 upfront season, the company reached $7 billion in commitments, becoming NBCU’s highest-grossing upfront in its history.
Marshall previously served as NBCU’s, president of advertising sales and partnerships, taking the role in 2018 and leading strategic oversight of all advertising sales initiatives for NBCUniversal’s NBC Broadcast Entertainment, NBC Sports, advanced advertising sales and client partnerships.
Bottom line
Despite Yaccarino’s abrupt departure from NBCU, Marshall told Adweek the upfront was going to be business as usual.
“I think it will be the same as I’ve managed my teams over the years,” Marshall said about how he planned to lead the ad sales team. “This company has shown it’s not about one person. It’s about the talent that we have on all levels, and everyone is involved and all hands on deck to get through this upfront season.”
Don’t miss Brandweek, Adweek’s ultimate experience for marketers, September 11-14 in Miami. Connect with peers and gain insights and inspiration from top brand marketers and industry icons at Glossier, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and more. Register.
As Global CMO, with a background far from the heritage brand landscape, Amanda Tolleson has spearheaded a remarkable transformation that has taken WW, also known as WeightWatchers, from its 60-year-old workshop roots into a thriving digital community, all while preserving the brand’s core values and sense of community. While the startup landscape often involves building a brand from the ground up, WW has navigated a different path—one of evaluating the equity and greatness it has amassed over the decades and making it relevant for the modern era.
Having cut her teeth in the startup space, Tolleson brought a fresh perspective to the table when she joined WW. The challenge was not to create a brand from scratch but to breathe new life into a brand with decades of history. In a recent conversation, Tolleson highlights the delicate balance of preserving the equity built over the years while making it relevant for the modern era.
Listen to this episode of Marketing Vanguard to hear more about Tolleson’s journey as well as the brands approach transforming the intricacies of nutrition into accessible behavior change.
Stream the new episode below and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or find it on Spotify.
Reach the right audiences in the right moments with Amazon Ads. With a wide range of owned channels and creative ad formats, Amazon Ads helps brands seamlessly deliver innovative, immersive ad experiences for brand marketing, performance and everything in between. From streaming to shopping to gaming and beyond, connect with consumers in the places they love to be. Learn more.
Don’t miss Brandweek, Adweek’s ultimate experience for marketers, September 11-14 in Miami. Connect with peers and gain insights and inspiration from top brand marketers and industry icons at Glossier, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and more. Register.
For generations, the mutterings of fans who witnessed improbable on-field moments fueled the myth that National Football League Games were scripted. When former NFL player Arian Foster claimed earlier this year that he was handed such a script, that myth metastasized into memes.
Within about an hour of Foster’s statement, 72andSunny agency founder Glenn Cole and executive creative director Zach Hilder thought about turning those memes into a sports marketing campaign.
“He and I had a chat about it, like, ‘That would be an amazing mythology—building on the conspiracy theory would be really fantastic,’” Cole said. “But we didn’t know what our brief would or should be, so we just put it aside.”
By midsummer, however, 72andSunny began talking with their longtime partners at the NFL about framing the NFL not simply as a sports option for fans, but as an entertainment option for families. For casual fans less invested in the plays and players and diehards who knew the league inside and out, labeling far-fetched plays or feats “scripted” was a bit of fun, memeworthy common ground. If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell could joke about it in the offseason, there was no reason for 72andSunny not to pitch it to league marketers.
“If I’m being perfectly candid, it wasn’t exactly on brief,” said NFL CMO Tim Ellis. “When we saw it, my immediate feedback was like, ‘Alright, guys, we’re not on brief, but I frickin’ love this campaign, so we’re gonna do it anyway.’”
After being teased out on the NFL’s social media, the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” campaign launched on Amazon Prime Video during a Thursday Night Football game.
Featuring actor and comedian Keegan-Michael Key at a table read of the 2023 NFL season script—along with NFL players Travis and Jason Kelce, Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, DK Metcalf, Jalen Ramsey and Dexter Lawrence—the campaign will feature 16 different spots throughout the season.
The campaign hones in on key points of the NFL calendar—including international Thanksgiving, Christmas and the first Black Friday matchups—and sets the tone for the 2023 season. It also shows what marketers can achieve when they’ve spent years developing faith in one another.
“The brief was ‘Football brings people together, and we’re a stage of epic possibilities,’” said Marissa Solis, the NFL’s svp of global brand and consumer marketing. “Maybe it wasn’t 100% on brief, but at the end of the day, [the campaign] does bring people together.”
Making it work
The NFL has been working with 72andSunny since Ellis came aboard five years ago. Before then, Ellis had a seven-year relationship with the agency while serving as CMO of Activision.
According to Ellis, that’s established a foundation of trust in the NFL’s relationship with 72andSunny.
“We have a level of flexibility, we trust each other and we find ways to capitalize on the biggest ideas to deliver on our long-term objective of creating more fans, more avid fans, more avid multicultural fans and more younger fans,” Ellis said.
From the NFL’s side, that means trusting your creative partners with creative solutions to your issue. Cole noted that 72andSunny could’ve used a direct approach—showing families watching football and telling the world the NFL is an entertainment brand—or it could employ more abstract methods that trust the audience already knows what the NFL is suggesting. It requires both sides hearing each other out.
“[Tim] came to me and said, ‘O.K., I can see how this would work. However, the script then needs to be entertainment-grade writing’—which was his way of saying it’s not there yet,” Cole said. “And the script wasn’t there, but the idea was there, the platform was there.”
For this campaign, Ellis found himself on a red carpet in Los Angeles in mid-July, pitching Mahomes just before the premiere of his Netflix series The Quarterback. While he was there, he approached the Kelce brothers and Cousins about the project, even getting the Kelces’ mother, Donna, to make a cameo. While acknowledging that Mahomes’ multiple sponsorship commitments leave him little free time and make him “not an easy guy to even talk to, much less get him to come work with you,” Ellis said it was worth the effort for one of the spots’ better jokes (aimed at “the Mahomes character”) and the campaign’s overall health.
In a campaign filled with NFL stars, it was Key who proved one of the most crucial pickups. Key had hosted the NFL Honors in 2017 and 2022 and was featured during last year’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony, making him, in Ellis’ words, “a friend of the family.”
Key had discussions with both the NFL marketers and 72andSunny about how he envisioned his role and took part in the editing process, but also brought a lighter tone to the set that Cole said “permitted players to just kind of be silly.” He had a strong dialogue with players, made them feel comfortable and, along with his wife—actor and producer Elle Key—helped players find the right level of on-camera energy.
“Any idea that came from him, we were confident we wouldn’t have to explain why that’s not an NFL thing, and we never had to,” Cole said about Key, who also be at the league’s kickoff game in Kansas City on Sept. 7. “It sounds like a small detail, but that can be hours on set trying to correct somebody who’s not in the know.”
Director Aaron Stoller and production company Biscuit—who Cole had worked with on an improv-laden ad for Google featuring 2Chainz and Awkwafina—rounded out the group and gave the set its NFL Films-soundstage look and “Succession as a film” feel.
“I really appreciate the sophistication of it,” Cole said. “His approach was, ‘Well, if we’re gonna do this, we gotta treat it like it’s real and elevate it.’”
Part of the plan
This campaign represents one side of what Ellis calls the NFL’s two-pronged marketing strategy of the last five years.
Balanced by a marketing program that positions the NFL as a “force for good” that gives back to local communities, campaigns like the more game-focused “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” position the NFL as an escape. While the NFL has long been a dominant force in linear television, its marketers are aware that both loyal and casual fans face myriad competing entertainment options that aren’t necessarily sports.
The NFL’s marketers actually printed up a 300-page, 99%-redacted “script” for the upcoming season.
By focusing this campaign on prime NFL viewing dates Thanksgiving, the NFL’s marketers are seeking the same impact as league sponsors. According to data and analytics firm EDO, NFL games made up half of the Top 10 most effective broadcasts for advertisers. Of those games, three were played on Thanksgiving alone.
Even launching the campaign during a pregame Thursday Night Football game was a pretty good idea: EDO said those broadcasts on Amazon’s Prime Video last year were 116% more effective at driving consumer engagement than the broadcast prime-time average.
The NFL has a long-form spot running before kickoff game on NBC, but it’s also sneaking it out through other channels. Beyond the ads, the NFL’s marketing team has produced a 300-page season script that’s 99% redacted and has been delivered to a handful of fans and influencers.
“We’re really capitalizing on this folklore and the fact that this is epic—it’s better than fiction,” Solis said. “You’re just going to see it on social, on linear, in our games, through our creators.. so it’s just a great way to carry that buzz and excitement throughout the season.”
CREDITS:
Client: NFL Agency: 72andSunny Production Company: Biscuit Director: Aaron Stoller
Player talent: Dexter Lawrence — New York Giants Jalen Ramsey — Miami Dolphins Ja’mar Chase — Cincinnati Bengals Justin Fields — Chicago Bears DK Metcalf — Seattle Seahawks Jason Kelce — Philadelphia Eagles Travis Kelce — Kansas City Chiefs Patrick Mahomes — Kansas City Chiefs Kirk Cousins — Minnesota Vikings
Non-player talent Keegan-Michael Key Donna Kelce – (mother of Jason and Travis Kelce)
TV isn’t what it used to be. Join the Convergent TV Summit in LA this October 25 with media, technology and marketing leaders to prepare for new trends and make industry connections.
ABC is making last-minute changes to its Golden hour.
Today, Adweek learned that ABC is shaking up its fall lineup ahead of its September premieres, with the highly-anticipated The Golden Bachelor moving from Mondays to Thursdays.
The network had previously planned on a reality-heavy fall schedule, seemingly trying to get ahead of any delays caused by the ongoing writers and actors strikes. However, with the changes, the Bachelor franchise spinoff will now premiere on Thursday, Sept. 28, at 8 p.m., with two hours of Bachelor in Paradise airing after.
Elsewhere, ABC is now scheduling its game show night for Wednesdays. The network previously had its game show block scheduled for Thursday.
With the tweaks, Ken Jennings will host Celebrity Jeopardy! on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 8 p.m., with Celebrity Wheel of Fortune and The $100,000 Pyramid following it.
Monday’s and Tuesday’s fall lineups remain up in the air; however, announcements should follow shortly.
The changes come as the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes forge ahead, with around 11,500 writers and 160,000 actors striking as talks continue between the guilds and the AMPTP.
The writers strike has been affecting fall TV lineups since they were first announced in May during upfront week, an annual showcase for TV advertising. The actors then joined the fray in July.
In addition to ABC, NBC, CBS and The CW have all made adjustments to their fall schedules due to the strikes. Fox even held off on announcing a schedule in May, hoping to avoid any delays.
TV isn’t what it used to be. Join the Convergent TV Summit in LA this October 25 with media, technology and marketing leaders to prepare for new trends and make industry connections.
Paramount and Omnicom Media Group are fast-tracking the next phase of new currency.
The companies have announced that this quarter they are piloting the first fully standardized new currency and audience-based workflow using Mediaocean’s ad infrastructure. The pilot leverages VideoAmp data as an advanced currency, with the teams agreeing on the workflow, identifiers and overall data management to make the test work within existing systems so there are minimal changes to standard practices.
“What it means is we can transact in the exact same way against new currencies—non-Nielsen-based currencies—as well as audiences, so not just age, gender or demo,” Travis Scoles, svp of advanced advertising of Paramount, told Adweek, adding, “What does this mean for a marketer? Well, it means that they have a lot more flexibility now in how they can, in the datasets and the companies that they can work with, deploy their strategy broadly.”
With Nielsen sunsetting the current industry standard, C3 and C7, in the fall of 2024, every currency on the market is set to be new, making seamless workflow even more critical.
Adweek previously reported that Mediaocean was already working to streamline workflows and provide marketers with a unified and standardized currency, and Ramsey McGrory, chief development officer of Mediaocean, said in a statement that the company is investing significantly to support the future of measurement, adding that it’s “happy to support OMG and Paramount in making this a scalable reality.”
For Geoffrey Calabrese, chief investment officer of Omnicom Media Group North America, “validating the key operational pieces within Mediaocean to be transaction ready on new currencies, including custom audiences at scale,” was critical to the pilot process.
“The Paramount team worked diligently on behalf of the entire industry to test and enable an end-to-end workflow with Mediaocean, and it has proven successful,” Calabrese said. “Leveraging this outstanding work across partners and ingesting it into the unique workflows we have with them is the next step in this journey, and we’re eager to lean in on it.”
The overall goal of Paramount and OMG’s pilot partnership is to make the systems and automation that already existed for Nielsen’s age, gender and demo measurement also work for new currencies and audiences. And “so far, so good,” according to Scoles.
“We’re doing this pilot this quarter to essentially make sure that everything’s working as expected. We’ve connected all the pipes, and now we’re running water through it to see if there’s any leaks,” Scoles said.
Where it goes from here
Paramount has already been transacting on VideoAmp-based guarantees, but this project was about critical end-to-end workflow. And Ross McCray, founder and CEO of VideoAmp, noted that the company was excited to bring “seamless, interoperability” to the buy and sell side through Mediaocean.
“We want to ensure that making the transition to new, advanced currencies like VideoAmp is as easy and efficient for clients as possible,” McCray said. “This is a huge step forward for all parties and we look forward to the future of currency as we see accelerated adoption of our offering.”
And though the pilot is under a Paramount and OMG partnership, Scoles explained that this is a major step for the whole industry, with Mediaocean configuring its infrastructure to handle big data and bring in big currencies.
“I would expect this is a massive leap forward for all new currencies, and that includes the upcoming Nielsen One,” Scoles said.
The exec also emphasized the importance of advertisers now having the opportunity to utilize audience-based, first-party data at scale.
“That’s the dream of database advertising. And we are substantially closer to that because of this innovation,” Scoles added.
In this episode of Brave Commerce, Veeral Shah, chief digital and ecommerce officer at Nestlé, joins hosts Rachel Tipograph and Sarah Hofstetter to discuss strategies for optimizing ecommerce, integrating AI solutions and adapting to evolving consumer trends and retail dynamics.
In an era where online shopping transcends traditional retail boundaries, Shah addresses the challenge of harmonizing the digital and physical shopping experiences. He emphasizes that the key is not changing consumer mindsets but to meet them where they are, recognizing the shift towards online searches and personalized consumer journeys.
Shah highlights Nestlé’s ecommerce growth approach, discussing the impact of digital on traditional retail and collaborating with retailers to understand changing consumer behaviors. Furthermore, he explores the interplay between global and regional teams, refining strategies using insights from different markets. Shah also explains the importance of innovation beyond disruption, focusing on optimizing product offerings for online and offline sales.
An exciting highlight of the conversation revolves around Generative AI and its role in Nestlé’s digital transformation. Shah shares how Nestlé is exploring Generative AI with the aim of enhancing efficiency and driving innovation.
Key Takeaways:
Explore the potential of Generative AI to enhance decision-making processes across various functions, from marketing to sales.
Recognize the convergence of online and offline shopping behaviors and collaborate closely with retailers to cater to changing consumer preferences.
Tailor ecommerce strategies to align with distinct online search behaviors rather than altering consumer mindsets.
Focus on innovative product offerings, packaging, and assortments to effectively address market shifts and consumer preferences.
Don’t miss Brandweek, Adweek’s ultimate experience for marketers, September 11-14 in Miami. Connect with peers and gain insights and inspiration from top brand marketers and industry icons at Glossier, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and more. Register.
In the world of media, fandom and gaming, Stephanie Fried’s journey is nothing short of remarkable. With a career spanning prestigious names like NBC, VEVO, Discovery, and Conde Nast, Fried’s trajectory in the media landscape has been characterized by innovation, passion and a deep understanding of what makes fans tick. As the chief marketing officer of Fandom, she has continued to shape the way we engage with content, creating a bridge between creators, fans and brands.
Fried’s immersion in fandom culture stems not only from her professional endeavors, but also from her personal affinity for being a fan herself. “I’m a huge fan myself, and I’ve always loved working in this space,” she states. Her genuine enthusiasm for the content and experiences that fans cherish is a driving force behind her work at Fandom.
Listen to this episode to hear more about how Fried’s journey from media maven to Fandom advocate continues to inspire and shape the ever-evolving landscape of media and entertainment.
Stream the new episode below and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or find it on Spotify.
Reach the right audiences in the right moments with Amazon Ads. With a wide range of owned channels and creative ad formats, Amazon Ads helps brands seamlessly deliver innovative, immersive ad experiences for brand marketing, performance and everything in between. From streaming to shopping to gaming and beyond, connect with consumers in the places they love to be. Learn more.
Don’t miss Brandweek, Adweek’s ultimate experience for marketers, September 11-14 in Miami. Connect with peers and gain insights and inspiration from top brand marketers and industry icons at Glossier, Coca-Cola, Taco Bell and more. Register.
Last year, cat food brand Fancy Feast hosted a restaurant pop-up called Gatto Bianco, where people could eat like their feline companions. After garnering buzz among cat lovers, the brand’s marketing team faced a daunting challenge. “How are we gonna top that for 2023,” recalled senior brand manager Amanda Zaydman.
Its answer: in celebration of International Cat Day on Aug. 8, the Nestlé Purina brand hosted “Fête du Feline,” a two-day “feastival” in New York’s Madison Square Park. The event comprised a private tasting experience as well as a holiday celebration that was open to the public.
During both days, Fancy Feast invited feline-friendly guests to nibble on dishes and sip libations inspired by its range of cat food offerings. Diners enjoyed dishes such as “silky-saffron bisque with honey-peppered salmon” and “Tuscan panzanella with braised beef,” while drinking lemonade (with or without Prosecco) adorned with “everything shrimp” crusted in sesame seeds.
Following an introduction to the event’s foods and flavors by Fancy Feast’s in-house chef, Amanda Hassner, guests dined on a selection of patés created by Babish Culinary Universe YouTube channel founder, Andrew Rea. A dessert selection decorated with the brand’s logo in cocoa was also available.
Fancy Feast
“We were very inspired by what happened at Gatto Bianco,” Zaydman told Adweek. “Something we hadn’t expected was just the inspiration of getting to meet face-to-face with cat lovers—with cat people—and spend hours with them.”
Zaydman and her team spent those hours learning more about the brand’s fans, some of whom were either celebrating a birthday or a wedding anniversary. Fancy Feast already has an active subscriber community “several hundred thousand” strong, many of whom await updates such as the release of the brand’s annual holiday ornament, she added.
For this year’s event, “we wanted to bring back certain elements, but we wanted to do it in a way … that could be experienced by more people,” Zaydman explained.
Unlike last year’s two-day trattoria, whose eight tables were only available to a lucky few who snapped up reservations through OpenTable within minutes, this year’s celebration was open to the public and—because it was outdoors—their cats.
In addition to the cat food-inspired cuisine, the fancy feasters could also get hand-drawn pet portraits, onsite insights from a Purina pet behaviorist, a custom engraved spoon with a branded serving dish and have photos taken with props against a splashy backdrop made from real cans of the product. They were also invited to meet and greet the famous Fancy Feast cat in its trailer and connect with fellow members of the cat community with conversation-starting cards located at every table.
Fancy Feast
Zaydman told Adweek the team was especially excited to connect cat owners, who don’t have an opportunity to meet in parks as dog owners do since domestic cats mostly remain indoors.
Fans unable to attend Fête du Feline but curious to try the dishes can visit Fancy Feast’s website and recreate Hassner’s recipes at home. The brand previously released a downloadable cookbook in 2021, which spurred the tradition of humans eating like their cats.
The brand also launched a special AR filter for Instagram and Facebook, which Zaydman said was designed to be used beyond the holiday.
“We wanted to have some elements that are accessible to anyone,” she said. “The brand team has had a ton of fun going around New York and taking photos of the Fancy Feast cat through the filter all around New York. We hope people do the same and have a lot of fun taking the Fancy Feast cat wherever they want.”
