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OpenAP Adds Buying; Netflix and 'The Office'; Juul Names Marketing Veteran CMO; Esports Fashion Rises
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PHOTO: EPA/JUSTIN LANE
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Eager to turn the page on last week’s defection by a founding member-turned-budding competitor, the alliance of TV networks called OpenAP says its platform will let ad buyers actually buy ads in time for the fall season.
That’s an improvement on the main offer so far, a means to simplify the targeting of precise audiences—like soda drinkers, for example—across TV networks. There’ll even be an API for agencies and some demand-side platforms to plug into. But the future isn’t all the way here yet, as illustrated by what happens after buyers place orders through the souped-up marketplace: Programmers will complete the transactions using their existing trafficking systems.
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PHOTO: JUSTIN LUBIN/NBC/GETTY IMAGES
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Netflix may soon have to contemplate life without one of its top shows—“The Office.”
NBCUniversal, which owns the show, licensed reruns of the comedy to the streaming-video giant years ago. Now NBCUniversal is launching its own streaming service, and has begun internal discussions about removing “The Office” from Netflix when the contract expires in 2021, The Journal reports.
That’s going to be a recurring headache for Netflix: Disney, AT&T and Comcast own movies and TV shows that Netflix subscribers love, but all three are starting new streaming services of their own. (And not every Netflix original is a “Stranger Things.”)
How important is “The Office” to Netflix? After the Journal story’s ran, the company tweeted to reassure subscribers that it has rights locked up through 2021.
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PHOTO: GABBY JONES/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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E-cig startup Juul Labs has been striving to put behind it a 2015 ad campaign that critics accused of appealing to teens: It shut down its Facebook and Instagram accounts, pledged to only use models over 35 years old, backed efforts to raise the legal age to buy tobacco and vaping products to 21, restricted sales of most flavors to its age-gated website, and changed the names of flavors like “Cool Cucumber” to just plain “Cucumber.”
So at least one current employee was surprised that Juul just chose marketing vet Craig Brommers as its first CMO. Mr. Brommers was most recently chief marketing officer at Gap stores and previously held senior marketing posts at Abercrombie & Fitch and Calvin Klein.
“It is literally a guy who used to market to teens,” the employee said. “Who thinks of these things?”
The company said Mr. Brommers will oversee marketing efforts such as public-affairs ads and testimonials by adult smokers who switched to Juul.
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“The professional players have probably spent $500 to $1,000 on what they’re wearing. They’ve got Gucci and Balenciaga. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
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— Matt “Nadeshot” Haag, CEO of a midprice fashion brand for competitive videogamers and their fans, on the rise of esports fashion
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Nike, continuing its digital push, has filed a trademark application for something called “cryptokicks.” [Puget Sound Business Journal]
Ad-blocking web browser Brave introduced “Brave Ads,” which let users who agree to see them keep 70 percent of the revenue. They can share it with websites if they want. [TechCrunch]
Aribnb wants to develop original TV shows to get viewers thinking about travel. [Reuters]
Facebook set aside $3 billion for an expected fine from the FTC over privacy issues, but can afford it: Revenue soared 26% in the latest quarter to $15.08 billion, and even after the set-aside, profit totaled $2.43 billion. [WSJ]
The company also plans to add new ways to let people products directly through its platforms. [Business Insider]
American Express and Anheuser-Busch InBev joined Verizon’s Adfellows program, an 8-month paid fellowship originally designed to give diverse recent graduates and entry-level workers experience within Verizon and its agencies. [Adweek]
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We bring you the most important (and intriguing) marketing news every day. Write me at nat.ives@wsj.com any time with feedback on the newsletter or comments on specific items. We want to hear from you.
And follow the CMO Today team on Twitter: @wsjCMO, @natives, @alexbruell.
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