startup-brand

Columbia Dumped a Year of Rain on Two Hikers and Built an Ad AI Can't Fake

Columbia Sportswear emptied a year's worth of rain from a crane-suspended balloon onto two hikers in waterproof shells, then locked twin brothers in a desert sauna under a magnifying-glass ceiling with a flamethrower aimed at them. The campaign, made by adam&eve\TBWA and shot by Tim

Burger King Beat Nike at a Marathon Ad by Showing Runners Too Tired to Stand

Burger King's London Marathon out-of-home ad hit a 4.3 Star Rating on System1's effectiveness scale on April 22, 2026, placing it in the top 6.2% of all UK outdoor creatives. Nike's competing parkrun campaign got pulled the same week after parkrun UK

Marc Jacobs Adopted China's $9.4B Microdrama Format to Sell a Pre-Fall Bag

Marc Jacobs released The Scene on April 24, 2026: a three-minute scripted microdrama written by and starring Rachel Sennott, anchored to the new pre-fall Scene Bag launching April 30. The film opens Question Marc, a social-first storytelling platform run by CMO Kristin Patrick, and pulls a format that grossed $9.

The Tearquilizer Ran on a 2023 Study and Zero Media Budget

The Tearquilizer Ran on a 2023 Study and Zero Media Budget The Tearquilizer is a satirical perfume launched April 22, 2026 by two Amsterdam creatives, Carlota Real and Natalia Zapata. No agency, no product, no paid media. It went viral by repackaging a 2023 PLOS Biology study showing men became

Nike's 'Walkers Tolerated' Sign Cleared Every Approval and Lasted 24 Hours

Nike hung a red vinyl sign reading "Runners Welcome. Walkers Tolerated." at its Newbury Street flagship in Boston on Thursday, three days before the 2026 Boston Marathon. The sign came down within 24 hours after adaptive athletes and run coaches publicly called it pace-shaming. The copy was bad.

Hastings Exits Netflix. The $3B Ad Push Is the Only Growth Lever Left.

Netflix announced on April 16, 2026 that co-founder Reed Hastings will leave the board at the annual meeting on June 4, 2026, ending a 29-year run with the company he started. The same shareholder letter restated a $3 billion 2026 ad revenue target, double the $1.5 billion Netflix booked

Liquid Death's Pop-Tarts Carnage Is Nostalgia Arbitrage

Liquid Death and Pop-Tarts launched Pop-Tarts Carnage on April 16, 2026, a limited-edition Frosted Strawberry iced tea packaged in Liquid Death's death-metal tallboy can, first reported by Adweek. It is the fourth major Liquid Death collab in roughly eighteen months, after e.l.f. Corpse Paint, the Spotify