Good morning. Today, podcast advertisers find themselves on camera; Costco’s $1.50 hot dogs overshadow another savvy strategy; and social causes in marketing seem headed for another test.

The “new media” phenomenon of podcasts (now more than 20 years old—check out the scare quotes in this 2005 headline) has changed as producers embraced YouTube simulcasts, creating new wrinkles for marketing friends of the pod.

That’s the takeaway from a study of podcasts that add a camera to the studio, The Wall Street Journal Leadership Institute’s Katie Deighton writes:

Google points out in response that marketers recognize the distinction between audio-only services and its video ad offerings. 

But the result is noteworthy because Google’s walled garden approach to metrics makes it hard for advertisers to track campaigns across video and audio-only, according to Giles Martin, executive vice president of strategy at Oxford Road, which used promo codes and surveys to gauge outcomes.

So what should marketers do?

The password manager 1Password says video improved its podcast results because visuals can convey its product more efficiently and effectively.

Patient outreach helped.

“It does take a moment of time to forge that personal relationship with the host,” CMO Melton Littlepage told Katie, “but when they deliver a message about a sponsored product authentically in the tone and style of the podcast, audiences don’t click off.”

You may have heard more about Costco’s eternally $1.50 hot dog deal than the warehouse retailer’s travel business, but the strategy is just as smart.

While bookings are growing, topping more than $100 million in the five days after Thanksgiving alone, that’s only part of the play, Journal travel columnist Dawn Gilbertson writes.

Memberships are Costco’s lifeblood: They bring in $5.3 billion of its $275 billion in annual revenue but the bulk of its profits. Costco says it mainly sells vacations because its members like to travel.

Satisfied members renew and upgrade their memberships, maybe even sign up for the Costco credit card.

Many Costco bookings also include a Costco gift card for use after the trip. Costco knows that money, and likely more, is going back into the store when travelers redeem the cards.

The battle over social causes and brand identity continues.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen is accusing new parent company Magnum Ice Cream of trying to dismantle the brand’s social mission.

Jochanan Senf, named CEO of Ben & Jerry’s by Magnum earlier this year, plans to set a nine-year term limit for board directors—a move that will push out three current members, Aimee Look reports.

Cohen said that strips the board of the legal authority agreed upon when Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, stipulating that the board would handle decisions about the brand’s mission and marketing.

Unilever and the board then clashed for years over Ben & Jerry’s stances on geopolitics, particularly the Israel-Gaza conflict. Magnum went public earlier this month following a spinoff from Unilever. 

“This is a calculated escalation,” Cohen said. “Magnum is hollowing out the very things that give Ben & Jerry’s its soul, credibility and worth.”

Senf said the changes will strengthen governance and help “drive progressive change for years to come.”

If events go the way Cohen predicts, we’ll soon find out a lot more about the role that social activism plays in the success of Ben & Jerry’s.

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Pacsun is the latest Y2K brand to mount a comeback, opening more stores than it closed for the first time in 18 years. [Modern Retail] 

BMW’s new, subtly flatter logo is generating complaints and shrugs. [Creative Bloq] 

Warner Bros. Discovery recommended shareholders reject Paramount’s unsolicited all-cash bid for the company, calling it “illusory” in a letter to shareholders. [WSJ]