Also, Microsoft Copilot speaks.

Newsom vetoes SB 1047

California Gavin Newsom announced Sunday that he was vetoing SB 1047, a bill that would have imposed safety standards on some of the biggest AI models. The bill had been fiercely opposed by industry giants like OpenAI, while veteran researchers like Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio had voiced their support.

In his veto message, Newsom argued in part that SB 1047 unfairly targets only the most powerful AI models, which in some cases aren’t even being deployed towards purposes that most people would consider dangerous.

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Following more collabs and award wins than we can count, as part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus, we ask: How did marketers become so obsessed with online shoe fanatics? (And no, it’s not just because they spend loads on shoes.)

Take a look through the last few years of award-winning marketing work and you’ll see one word over and over: sneakerheads, sneakerheads, sneakerheads.

There’s no need for false mystery here: one reason is that these communities are big. On Reddit alone, sneaker communities total over 10 million members, but that’s the tip of an iceberg of blogs, websites, Instagram accounts and IRL groups so big that nobody’s ever bothered to try to measure it. And they spend big, too. Estimates of the global sneaker industry’s size go as high as $90bn, with a resale market of over $10bn.

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Move over, Clio; the algorithm is the new muse. Code and Theory’s Craig Elimeliah explores a world where machines shape human desires, as part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus.

At the center of fashion and culture, where artistry and design meet commerce, a quiet change is happening. The muse, long the ethereal figure of inspiration, is evolving.

Today, synthetic beauty, crafted not from nature, but from data, is shaping many of the trends we see in design, on runways, in storefronts and on screens around the world. But what does it mean when the source of our aesthetic desires is no longer the designer, the model, the artist, or even the culture, but rather algorithms and (synthetic) data?

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As part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus, we unpack Marc Jacobs’s TikTok strategy, which is winning over Gen Z and adland alike.

Search for most luxury fashion brands on TikTok and you will likely find behind-the-scenes videos, informal interviews with celebrities and influencers and even a video tapping into a meme or two. You’ll also likely find that these videos are shot on a high-quality camera, you’ll see beautiful clothing and accessories and you’ll certainly find a curated and consistent aesthetic.

Search for Marc Jacobs, however, and you will find absolutely none of that. For a luxury fashion label that debuts its collections on the runway and has dresses retailing for $2,000, its TikTok page stands in complete contrast, posting “unhinged” UGC videos from little-known content creators.

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Only food and drinks brands that adapt rapidly to change and create innovative strategies to grow brand loyalty, build engagement and drive sales will survive in the ‘new normal’ was the conclusion of marketers from Domino’s, Beavertown Brewery and Kantar at The Drum Live.

Joining The Drum for Savoring Success: The Secrets of Compelling Food and Drink Marketing were Louise Pilkington, the innovation director at pizza giant Domino’s, Tom Rainsford, who is marketing director at craft beer brand Beavertown, and Andrew Walker, senior commercial partner at Kantar’s World Panel, which researches the purchase habits of millions of consumers around the world to help brands create effective marketing and sales strategies.

From shifting food delivery habits to the impact of own-label products, food and drink brands and businesses face an unprecedented need for innovation and adaptability in order to continue reaching the consumers who helped them build successful businesses and brands in the first place.

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Microtrend ‘cores’ boost the resale economy but can still feed the fast-fashion beast, says Charity Swales of Connective3. Brands must be careful to avoid charges of greenwashing.

With a 275% increase in brand-owned resale platforms in the past few years – from companies including Nike, Levi’s, and Gucci – resale has become the fast-fashion equivalent of businesses planting trees.

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There’s also Six Flags’ spine-chilling clown scares and Peet’s Coffee’s bold stand against complicated coffee trends.

Every week, The Drum picks the top global campaigns from our Creative Works. You can submit your new work here.

This week, Sarah Michelle Gellar faced her skincare fears with Philosophy’s retinol, Adam DeVine sang his way through TurboTax’s dramatic tax break-up and Kate McKinnon surprised toothbrush users with some bathroom pop-ins for Philips Sonicare.

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The retailer has been trying to increase awareness among a broader, younger and more fashion-led consumer while continuing to appeal to its core customer base.

In the next phase of its ‘Big Autumn Energy’ campaign, M&S is showcasing its menswear range amid autumnal scenes.

With a nod to the social media trend that the colder months are for hunkering down and keeping cozy, the ad also leverages the popular TikTok song Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon.

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With a creative director unafraid to provoke, a commitment to craftsmanship and a skillful balance of cultural relevance and premium pricing, we explore all the factors that make Loewe a marketer’s dream.

It’s a brand that marketers rave about, influencers proudly showcase and fashion lovers admire, but how does Loewe successfully balance its heritage while resonating with such a wide audience in the modern era?

Founded in 1846 in Madrid, Spain, by a collective of leather craftsmen, Loewe has grown into a major player across 32 countries, with over 160 stores worldwide. In recent years, campaigns featuring stars including Maggie Smith, Aubrey Plaza and Daniel Craig have drawn attention for their blend of surprise, celebrity and luxury.

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Experiential is the gift that keeps on giving, connecting audiences to brands and creating reams of social output, says Bonnie O’Hara of Amplify for The Drum’s fashion and beauty focus.

When it comes to beauty, more of us than ever are being influenced by social media. Today, we can try products virtually before buying online. It can be easy to quickly become overwhelmed with the sheer amount of products available at our fingertips. And, while bricks-and-mortar beauty still has a place in the hearts of many, last year, last year e-commerce accounted for the largest chunk of all sales channels.

Among all that hubbub, brands can create appealing spaces where it’s possible to try products hands-on, maybe even employing a try-before-you-buy approach to allow brands to connect with consumers. Especially when it comes to younger demographics, focusing on experiences can allow brands to capture audience share and drive purchase intent.

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Younger consumers used to Zara, Shein and Boohoo now expect the same speed to market from Gucci, Burberry and Coach. As part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus, we explore whether these high-end brands risk losing their prestige by appeasing the next generation of shoppers.

Luxury fashion, once defined by its exclusivity, meticulous craftsmanship and deliberate production pace, is facing a significant transformation.

The rise of fast fashion giants such as Zara, Shein and Boohoo has conditioned consumers to expect constant newness. In response, luxury brands are feeling the pressure to keep up. According to Glossy, brands such as Gucci, Burberry and Coach have sped up their production processes to release collections more frequently.

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With the constant rotation and fleeting tenure of a chosen few creative directors, do the world’s leading fashion brands risk an insular decline? BETC’s Symonne Torpy walks us through it in style.

Another day, another creative director leaves a luxury house. But never fear, fashion fan, your favorite leader will soon be at the helm of another luxe brand.

In the world of mode, chaos is the only constant. And we love every second of it for the endless gossip, speculation, and critique it brings.

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For The Drum’s fashion and beauty focus we’ve cast our (discerning) eye over some of the biggest names in fashion. But what about the next generation of upstarts? We asked for some tips.

The mercuriality of what’s fashionable and what’s not means that a clothing brand’s star can rise or fall in a moment. Or that’s how it seems – there are signs to read for those with eyes to see them.

So: which brands are pushing forward creativity in fashion, brand partnerships, and advertising? Where are the smaller designers, ready now for early investment ahead of major success? We asked six fashion-forward marketers from The Drum Network for their top tips.

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Last year, the brand challenged two restaurants’ ownership claims to the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday,’ ultimately succeeding in its goal to bring the saying into the public domain.

Until last year, the phrase ‘Taco Tuesday’ was technically trademarked, and any restaurant that used it without permission faced the possibility of legal repercussions (though no doubt many of us can name a taqueria or two in our neighborhoods that have been routinely violating that law). Today, thanks to a legal dispute–turned–marketing campaign initiated by Taco Bell and ad agency Deutsch, the phrase is free to use for all restaurants across the US.

The campaign, ’Freeing Taco Tuesday,’ is one of the honorees at this year’s Brave Brands awards, held by the Advertising Club of New York in partnership with the International Andy Awards.

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The tech giant is advancing its mission to attract advertisers and expand user engagement opportunities through new AI-powered features – as the competition grows more intense.

Long before ‘generative AI’ was a marketing buzz phrase, Google was using AI to aggregate user data and deliver hyper-targeted ads. Now, the company is using its powerful generative and predictive algorithms to make it easier for brands to promote their products and sell to consumers in the moments when they’re most likely to make a purchase.

Today, the company announced that it’s launching ads within AI Overviews – the short, auto-generated summaries that often appear at the top of Google Search queries (a product debuted last year under the name Search Generative Experience). The new ad format will roll out to mobile users in the US beginning today.

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Longstanding industry execs Brian Jacobs and Nick Manning have started a movement called Advertising: Who Cares? Here, Jacobs explains not only why the industry needs to change, but what they intend to do about it.

In April, Nick Manning and I started something. We didn’t quite know what, but we agreed things aren’t great in ad land.

Advertising today has become more about the audiences delivered, and the ways we measure those audiences, than about the messages we put in front of them.

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Marketers and agencies love to talk about getting brands into culture, but what does ‘showing up in culture’ actually mean? PepsiCo’s Eric Melis tells The Drum Live what it involves for Lays, Pepsi and 7Up.

Pepsi has a long history of providing experiences in the worlds of music and sports, having collaborated with the likes of Madonna, Michael Jackson and Shakira, as well as sponsoring major football tournaments such as the Uefa Champions League.

In a fireside chat at The Drum Live 2024, Eric Melis, vice-president of global brand and marketing at PepsiCo, declares that, for Pepsi, the focus is not just on selling products but understanding how to “deliver experiences” that resonate with people’s interests and passions.

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As part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus, this week’s installment of Agency Advice asks agency leaders if they still enforce a dress code. Plus, we check out some of the latest looks from adland.

When this marketing journalist first began visiting agencies in 1998, pressed white shirts, yellow power ties and boring blue blazers with gold buttons were all the rage. Not so much in creative departments, where creatives were always afforded more latitude when it came to their attire, but in the office, from the MD down to the account executives, smart business suits, skirts, blouses and ties were very much de rigueur.

Not any more. When was the last time you encountered a yellow power tie in an agency? So, as The Drum focuses on fashion, we started asking – do dress codes still exist anywhere in agencyland? Do agency bosses still insist on smart casual for business meetings and pitches, or do they prefer that their people express themselves? Judge for yourself.

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After a fall from grace in 2019, Victoria’s Secret is rebounding with a more inclusive message and stronger, more local targeting tactics in the UK market. This story is part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus.

Victoria’s Secret was, for more than two decades, a mainstay of the Western fashion world. Its mall storefronts attracted women and girls in droves, and its annual fashion show – with stick-thin models strutting in feathery angel wings and glittering lingerie – represented a key cultural touchstone for many consumers.

But few can forget its fall from grace. It wasn’t all at once but rather a slow but assured undoing. The brand’s lack of diversity – with its focus on thin, predominantly white models – was seen by consumers in the mid-2010s as increasingly out of step with cultural norms.

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The five-minute horror flick, ‘Tick Tick Tick,’ hopes to entice people to its theme parks this spooky season.

As Halloween approaches, Six Flags is building on its annual ‘Fear is Waiting’ campaign with a spine-chilling spot. The film centers around a malevolent clown who instills fear in a group of unsuspecting housemates, haunting them as they move from their bedrooms to the living room, proving that no space is safe from this creepy character.

With an array of jump scares and unsettling vibes, the ad draws inspiration from popular horror films such as Smile and Scream and specifically targets teens and young adults. This demographic represents the heaviest visitors to theme parks during Halloween, making them a key audience for this spine-tingling marketing push.

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The dating app is growing its user numbers quarter after quarter while its competitors are failing to swoon daters. We catch up with chief marketer Jackie Jantos to find out what it is doing differently.

While most apps are designed to keep users engaged, the success of the dating app Hinge is measured by how many people delete the app because they’ve found someone worth deleting it for. It’s an unusual KPI for the chief marketer, Jackie Jantos, who says her brief is to get people out on great dates.

“Great dates is our core metric. Getting people off the app and out is really a huge point of differentiation for us in a category where engagement is often a metric that people care about – we don’t care about engagement.”

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In less than a month, the UK’s new chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will unveil her first budget and Green Square director Tony Walford says agency owners should brace themselves for tax changes that could hit them where it hurts.

It’s hard to overlook that Rachel Reeves, the UK’s new chancellor of the exchequer, is preparing the country for significant tax changes in the upcoming budget on October 30. And while Labour has committed to maintaining income tax, national insurance, VAT and corporation tax at current rates, capital gains tax (CGT) and inheritance tax remain in the spotlight.

As M&A advisers, at Green Square we are frequently asked about potential CGT changes and how they might affect business owners. While we can’t predict the future, here’s a simple guide to the current CGT situation and possible change – though remember, this is a general overview and specific tax advice is always recommended.

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With inflation still high and the cost of living crisis showing no sign of waning, Penny has taken a bold step to show it won’t increase prices. Marketing chief Jan Flemming tells The Drum why.

Discount supermarket chain Penny has some stiff competition in its home country of Germany, up against the likes of Aldi, Lidl and Edeka. In a bid to prove it is even more committed to low prices than the rest, however, Penny is now printing the prices of its products directly on to the packaging.

Jan Flemming, Penny’s chief marketing officer, worked with the retailer’s agency, Serviceplan, on the ‘Price Packs’ initiative, which highlights the price of own-brand products such as bread, salt, oats, chips and mayonnaise.

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Direct-to-consumer brands have shaken up the fashion industry with innovative, social-led marketing. For The Drum’s Fashion and Beauty Focus, Luke Jonas of Nest Commerce showcases the best examples.

The fashion industry is rightly famed for its innovative designs on the catwalk. However, it often falls short when it comes to digital marketing. Legacy retailers all too often adopt a rigid and defensive approach, relying on dated strategies that are seeing diminishing returns.

Or they did – until a new generation of direct-to-consumer (DTC) fashion brands came along and changed the game. These challengers have leveraged transformational digital strategies to outpace traditional retailers and build thriving businesses that are growing internationally. So, what can we learn from these brands’ disruptive approach?

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How do you explain how a medicine works or the superiority of one car’s engineering to a mass audience? Begin with an inspired idea, says Erica Wong of Radley Yeldar...

We see them everywhere – those playful, engaging ads for snacks, drinks, or gadgets that seem to effortlessly capture our attention. Consumer brands have mastered the art of creating communications that are instantly understandable and memorable.

But for more complex industries – from healthcare to engineering – communicating with the same clarity and impact can feel like an uphill battle. Here, the stakes are different: niche audiences, layered messages, and a mountain of technical detail.

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Five months into her new role, Bacon tells The Drum how she’s settling into running the world’s largest independent network, why agencies need to prize their originality and why she’s not impatient.

What is an agency in 2024? A short question, the answer to which gets longer every year as our ever-expanding industry becomes increasingly complex and powered by tech and data-driven martech and adtech platforms. What isn’t an agency in 2024 might be a simpler question to answer. It is for Jo Bacon, who has recently taken on the mantle of group CEO for M&C Saatchi UK. Global CEO Zaid Al-Qassab revealed M+C Saatchi Plus as an indication of the agency's direction of travel at Cannes.

“I do feel there is a danger that creative agencies will become little more than a collection of martech-led distribution vehicles,” she says. “That’s certainly not the reason that I got into the industry or why I get out of bed every morning. That’s not the reason I get excited to sit in reviews of our creative work. It’s because the ideas that we come up with differentiate our client’s brands and get them talked about. Agencies need to value what they do more and prize their originality of thought. That’s what agencies need to be all about in the future and will always need to have creativity at the very heart of them.”

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The plant-based food and beverage brand embraced the language used in a lawsuit against it to produce clever, subversive ads.

Each year, the International Andy Awards, in collaboration with the Advertising Club of New York, present the Brave Brands awards, recognizing companies that have pursued risk-taking initiatives in marketing.

This year, Chilean foodtech startup NotCo, which uses AI to develop innovative plant-based alternatives to animal products, is being honored at the awards for a bold campaign that used criticism against its products to the brand’s advantage.

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Cera’s the last person you’d expect to sell skincare products, and that’s exactly the point. We break down the strategic thinking that went into one of the most bizarre and memorable campaigns from this year’s Super Bowl.

For many of us, the most shocking moment of Super Bowl LVIII was finding out that none other than Michael Cera was the creative mastermind behind skincare brand CeraVe. (An on-field proposal from Travis Kelce to Taylor Swift would’ve paled in comparison.)

Well, that was at least the premise behind CeraVe’s gameday campaign – one of the winners of this year’s Brave Brands awards, presented by the Advertising Club of New York in partnership with the International Andy Awards.

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Featuring real-life testimonials and expert insights, the ‘For Her Journey’ campaign illustrates how the innovative SupportBelt alleviates discomfort for breast cancer patients, enabling them to drive safely post-op.

Ford Motor Company and its creative agency partner VML this week unveiled new creative work showcasing the real-world impact of the SupportBelt, an innovative seatbelt accessory designed for women recovering from mastectomies.

The campaign, titled ‘For Her Journey,’ includes a hero spot, interviews with women who have benefited from the product and insights from a physician who treats breast surgery patients.

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A recent global report from WE Communications highlights the critical gap between optimism and action in AI adoption, and how brands and agencies can be positioned for success.

AI usage is juggernauting its way through the industry, and leaders are eager to harness its capabilities. But are businesses translating that optimism into strategic planning to unleash its potential? A new survey of global decision makers from WE Communications suggests not yet. The research showed that, while AI optimism and expectations remain high, few are communicating about AI adoption within their organization.

Well over three quarters (83%) of leaders are optimistic about AI’s potential within their organization, but less than half have programs in place to amplify its impact, reveals the ‘Bridging the AI Expectation Gap’ report.

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High fashion is ditching pared-back logos or integrating them into characterful worlds in the search for something more individualistic. We explore as part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus.

The ‘blanding’ visual identity trend adopted by fashion houses in the 2010s was always going to be seen off by something more individual and compelling.

It was characterized as a sans-serif, uniform wordmark that sat at the heart of a brand’s identity.

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We ask leading marketers for their magic interview questions for spotting true talent.

Most companies are only and exactly as good as their people.

Marketing agencies are perhaps the perfect example of that phenomenon: groups of people with diverse skills who only get paid if someone wants to pay for access to those skills. The upshot? Getting the right people is a sink-or-swim matter.

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As part of The Drum’s Fashion & Beauty Focus, Zalando’s marketing and content chief sets out the retailer’s stall for the next five years and beyond.

Zalando wants to position itself as the largest fashion and lifestyle retailer in Europe. To achieve this, it has put a stake in the ground with a fresh positioning and a bold new campaign featuring the actor Willem Dafoe.

The Drum sat down with Anne Pascual, Zalando’s senior vice-president of design, marketing and content, at a pivotal moment in the retailer’s 16-year history. In March, Zalando underwent a major business strategy update, which resulted in brand repositioning, a redesign of its assets and packaging, improvements to its customer experience and the role out of a big-budget brand campaign.

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The Canadian Centre for Child Protection and ad agency No Fixed Address are back with another bone-chilling spot that brings to life many parents’ worst nightmares.

In a harrowing new film raising awareness about online child sexual exploitation, it is highlighted that while Canada is considered one of the safest places to raise kids, this safety disappears once they are online.

Titled ‘Safe Spaces,’ the latest annual campaign from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection features six courageous mothers who share their personal stories. Each tells their kid’s experiences from the same places they assumed their child would be safe, like a music room at school or their bedrooms.

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Are heritage brands turning off a younger audience in a quest to win them over? Creative director Livvy Moore shares the true path to Gen Z’s heart as part of The Drum’s focus on Fashion and Beauty.

I just want you to imagine for a minute that a heritage brand is a person. They’ve been through a lot, put in the work, paid their dues and rightfully know who they are. But, most importantly – they’re really really old.

Now, I want you to imagine that this senior citizen that we love and respect is desperately chasing the heart of someone in their late teens. All of a sudden, we don’t love and respect them all so much, do we?

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Leather, whether synthetic, vegan, or the real McCoy, has a marketing problem. Leather UK’s Dr Kerry Senior wonders whether there is enough policing of ‘green’ alternatives as part of the Fashion and Beauty focus.

What do you think when you see the word ‘leather’ on a product?

Chances are your views on leather are already set; either you see it as a desirable, high-value, high-performance material, or you associate it with claims of environmental and social harm and steer clear.

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