Hello and welcome to the Advertising & Media Insider newsletter, where we spotlight the week's top ad and media stories.
First, I'm excited to announce our newest team member, Sean Czarnecki, who will help build out our coverage of the PR industry. He joins us from PR Week so he's a seasoned reporter on the beat and is already off to the races - working from the safety of home, of course. Send him tips here.
Coronavirus is rocking advertising, PR, and media buying
So here we are in Week 2 of being homebound and I'm grudgingly accepting that it's going to be like this for the foreseeable future. Coronavirus is now everyone's beat, and our stories this week show how the media and marketing worlds continue to scramble to adjust to the immediate effects of the pandemic.
- Marketers are rushing to pull campaigns and adjusting messaging to make sure it fits the times. At the same time, they're pondering when and how they'll be able to restart their marketing machines - and how the world they're marketing to will have changed by then.
- An internal memo from public relations giant Weber Shandwick shows how the PR industry is rewriting its playbook for how to pitch reporters. Patrick Coffee reported the company is warning against sending "tone deaf" pitches to avoid public shaming on social media, and encouraging employees to appeal to reporters' humanity, and cautioning clients to avoid appearing like they're capitalizing on the pandemic.
- Advertisers are yanking ads that didn't fit the times. One was Toyota, which replaced an offer-driven spot with one that emphasized people helping each other. As the Toyota example shows, one of marketers' biggest challenges is keeping up with the varying responses and impact of the crisis state by state.
- Meantime, the ad execs tasked with carrying out such changes are rushing to keep up with the disruptions to their business while worrying about implications for their jobs, since most agencies are paid at least in part based on a percentage of spend.
Read the full stories here:
Sports reset
Another playbook that's being rewritten is sports betting. This was supposed to be the year it would take off, but that industry is grinding to a halt like so many industries amid the coronavirus. Insiders say it'll be catastrophic for the US sports-betting industry if the fall NFL and college football seasons are delayed.
Ashley Rodriguez spoke with equity analysts, industry advisors, and investors to learn what businesses are most at risk.
Read more here:
The sports-betting companies threatened most and least by the coronavirus pandemic, according the industry insiders
There's a lot more about how the coronavirus is impacting media and marketing. See more of our stories here:
NBA poached a top Spotify marketer as it scrambles to keep the league connected with its fans amid a coronavirus shutdown
An Amazon-focused agency shares tips for sellers facing turbulent sales under coronavirus
If you're looking for something else, here's what else is happening:
That's all for this week. Stay safe, and as always, if you're new to this email, sign up for your own here.
- Lucia
