In business, it’s important to stay updated on the latest news each week. Our weekly must reads will catch you up on the top marketing and advertising stories you need to know.

Budweiser Rethinks Past Sexist Ads

In celebration of International Women’s Day last Friday, Budweiser reimagined three of their ads from the 1950’s and 60’s with more modern, feminist messages. Like many other beer brands, Budweiser’s advertising used to feature women in very traditional and objectified roles. The 50’s and 60’s versions of the ads picture women cooking dinner and serving beer for their hard-working husbands. In contrast, the new versions feature women eating takeout after work, hanging with friends and unpacking with their partner – all while enjoying a Budweiser.

Highlighting their less-than-positive past is a risk that the brand acknowledges. Their VP of marketing, Monica Rustgi, said, “For us, it’s all about using our past to really serve as a launch pad showing women in a more balanced fashion.” The updated ads ran as full-page color ads in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, just like their predecessors. Find out more here: https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/budweiser-modernized-sexist-ads/316915/

 Barstool Sports’ Copyright Controversy

Last week, comedian Miel Bredouw took to Twitter to publicize her recent interaction with the popular pop culture and sports blog Barstool Sports. According to Bredouw, Barstool Sports reposted one of her videos without crediting her, and when her request for credit was ignored, she filed a DMCA complaint with Twitter. The video was subsequently removed, sparking a series of messages from Barstool Sports offering Bredouw publicity and gift cards to their online store if she retracted the complaint. When she ignored their messages, the company filed a counter-notice.

In response, Barstool’s founder Dave Portnoy said they had to file the counter-notice to avoid Twitter shutting down their account. He also called the employees who sent the messages “idiots” and “moronic.” Do you think Portnoy’s response was effective? Do companies have a duty to research everything they re-post on social media, or is there room for error? Check out the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/05/barstool-sports-idiots/

Maxximizing the Pop-Up Experience

Following interactive and gamifying trends, retailer T.J. Maxx has launched a number of product installation pop-ups as part of a new customer-focused contest. Consumers can view the displays in person or on Instagram and submit a guess of the total price of all the items by commenting with the hashtag #Maxximizing. The user with the closest guess will win all the items in the pop-up, or a T.J. Maxx gift card for the same amount. The displays are installed in New York and Los Angeles, with each one curated by a celebrity or influencer.

This campaign follows a recent strong showing from TJX Companies, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshall’s, Home Goods and others. They’ve shown increasing loyalty leadership, and comp sales have risen 7% year-over-year. Will these pop-up displays continue to boost the brand’s success? Read on here and decide for yourself: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/tj-maxx-gamifies-pop-up-experiences-via-instagram-contest/549798/

Instagram Tests Branded Content Ads

In case you hadn’t heard, influencer marketing is here to stay. Instagram has been testing new branded ad formats for months now, and the updates will supposedly allow brands to turn influencer posts into paid ads. The platform recently announced they had received positive feedback from early testing, and that brands reported the ad formats helped with some “major limitations” they’ve experienced with organic branded content, including targeting and scale. Instagram plans to roll out the new branded content ads more broadly later this year.

These changes will affect many marketers, as two-thirds have said they will increase their influencer marketing budgets for 2019. Mediakix has also projected total influencer ad spend to increase to as much as $10 billion by 2020. See more about the ads here: https://marketingland.com/expect-more-instagram-branded-content-ad-opportunities-in-2019-258075