Editor at large for Ad Age. Views here are my own, except for retweets and sarcasm. I have no NFTs to sell you. Also follow me on Threads @jack_neff
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Articles by Jack Neff
Progressive's chief marketing officer is leaving the insurer
After nearly four years helming marketing at Progressive, Remi Kent is leaving the insurance brand. The news was circulated in an internal memo from CEO Tricia Griffith on Tuesday, May 20, that noted Kent’s plans to focus on her family. Progressive confirmed her departure and said it is searching for her replacement. Kent joined Progressive as chief marketing officer in November 2021, replacing Jeff Charney, the insurer’s longtime marketing chief.
Comscore beats Nielsen to MRC accreditation for TV measurement using big data
Comscore local TV measurement also approved nationally, but jury still out on age-gender demos
TV trade group finds agency-marketer disconnects on key media topics
VAB CEO Sean Cunningham cites survey disconnect between marketers and agencies on fraud risk and responsibility.
Epsilon and Comscore aim to boost contextual targeting and brand safety in new deal
As contextual use grows with decline of cookies, Epsilon will apply Proximic across digital, including CTV and audio.
Dove and Ogilvy’s open relationship-inside the evolution of brand-agency conflict policies
Unilever’s Dove and L’Oréal’s CeraVe both used WPP’s Ogilvy for Super Bowl ads, and Dove tries a P&G shop, too.
Why S4 Capital is investing in CTV buying platform tvScientific
Sorrell and former X sales chief Chris Riedy, now part of tvScientific, back vision to bring self-service and outcomes-based buying to CTV and long tail of advertisers.
Google gives advertisers more visibility and control over search following scathing Adalytics report
Google will offer impression-level placement reporting of Search Partner Network sites for campaigns using its AI-driven Performance Max platform after report found search ads appear on porn and sanctioned sites.
Stagwell launches 200,000-person respondent pool to combat survey quality issues
The move by Stagwell comes as AI makes bot respondents harder to catch and studies show respondents often misreport purchases.
Newell hires Crossmedia for global media account
Newell, which spent $371 million globally on advertising last year, aims to unify strategy and data through consolidation.
What Walmart buying Vizio could mean for performance marketing and data
Walmart’s plan to buy Vizio could boost Walmart+ and grow advertiser base, but throttle valuable TV measurement data.
Top Nielsen competitors and where they stand in 2024
New contracts and legacy measures keep Nielsen on top, but rivals persist, particularly in advanced audiences.
Watch NYX’s full Cardi B ad that was ‘disapproved’ for Super Bowl
30-second version is set to air in the top 10 regional markets and Univision today.
Cetaphil’s Taylor Swift-inspired Super Bowl ad to run regionally in Texas
Heartwarming Cetaphil ad shows how a real father-daughter duo bonded over this NFL season.
Hellmann’s Super Bowl commercial stars Kate McKinnon, cat, Pete Davidson
Hellmann’s will return to the Super Bowl with a talking cat of sorts—as well as a couple of human celebrity appearances. The Unilever brand’s 30-second spot in the second quarter of the Feb. 11 game on CBS revolves around “Mayo Cat,” who gets at least 15 minutes of fame after Kate McKinnon discovers she can talk and suggest an ingredient that makes leftovers come together.
Watch e.l.f.’s Super Bowl teaser, which tees up courtroom drama
Preview for brand’s first national buy enlists “Suits” stars, Meghan Trainor and Kooper the Gen Z Intern.
Watch Hellmann’s Super Bowl ad, with a talking cat taking on food waste
Fourth year of Hellmann’s Super Bowl campaign enlists Kate McKinnon, Pete Davidson and Mayo Cat to hype the Unilever brand’s leftover success.
Nielsen plans offshoring and layoffs as new network deals pressure revenue
Nielsen will ramp up offshoring to India, Mexico, Poland and elsewhere in a move likely to result in more layoffs as new contracts with U.S. TV networks lower revenue for the heavily indebted measurement giant.
Watch Hellmann’s Super Bowl teaser starring Kate McKinnon and ‘Mayo Cat’
Ferrera Candy's gum was famed for what some what some describe as the "best two seconds of flavor you've ever had."
E.l.f. buys its first Super Bowl ad after last year’s regional success
E.l.f. will air its first national Super Bowl ad with a 30-second spot directed by actor, writer and director Zach Woods.
Extreme Reach rebrands as XR and hires new unit president
Jo Kinsella brought in to lead Source, the company’s new platform for powering and analyzing creative and media globally.
Samba TV to launch Nielsen-rival panel with HyphaMetrics
Partnership jumpstarts industry effort dogged by delays and controversy, making combined panel available to other firms.
Most publishers share consumer data before getting consent, Compliant study finds
Research covering 150,000 publishers and billions of impressions finds data usually flows before consent windows pop up.
Dove returns to Super Bowl to back Nike collaboration
First-quarter spot is built on research showing teen girls drop out of sports due to low body confidence.
Hellmann’s to air Super Bowl commercial fourth straight year
Unilever’s Hellmann’s will return to the Super Bowl for the fourth consecutive year, with a 30-second spot in the second quarter, the company announced on Tuesday.The ad will appear on CBS, as well as TelevisaUnivision for the Spanish-language bro...
Marketers could cut $22 billion in programmatic spend through efficiency measures, ANA finds
Google, Amazon and The Trade Desk did not participate in the study, which finds as much as $22 billion in open web savings.
Hellmann’s returns to Super Bowl for fourth straight year
Brand will continue “Make Taste, Not Waste” theme in swan song from Wunderman Thompson as agency prepares for merger into VML.
How Listerine is challenging racial inequities in dentistry
Joahne Carter on the brand’s Whoa Collection battling under-representation of Black dentists and more.
Google served brand search ads through porn sites and other problematic partners, Adalytics finds
Ads from big brands, FBI, military and political campaigns showed up on Google partner sites that included sanctioned Iranian and Russian companies, Adalytics found.
Dove backs effort to bring Black hair styles to gaming with free code library
Code My Crown with Open Source Afro Hair Library aims to address underrepresentation of natural hair styles in video games.
Empower parts with Newell, adds a piece of Freshpet media business
Freshpet provides vote of confidence for Empower, but Newell adds to client instability following the agency’s sale and staff exodus.
How e.l.f. is using Roblox to train Gen Z and Alpha to learn capitalism
Fast-growing beauty brand wasn’t a first mover in Roblox, but plans to stick around long term.
Walmart turns to ‘Mean Girls’ for Black Friday ad
Campaign from Publicis shops backs weeks of pre-Black Friday deals, as Walmart once again mines a classic film for the holidays.
Gorilla Glue moves media account from Empower to Curiosity
Gorilla Glue’s move follows Empower’s Brooks and Bush Bros. losses, Zaxby’s review and an employee exodus from the agency.
6 takeaways from the largest CMO event of the year
ANA meeting shows growing power of data, retail media and big digital platforms, as purpose finds love despite doubters.
Nielsen won’t sunset legacy ratings in 2024 as planned
Decision to continue using C3 and C7 ratings could mean three flavors of Nielsen currency will be used in the next TV upfront.
Procter & Gamble ad spend increases by $445 million as it beats expectations
Second consecutive quarter of big spending hikes comes against prior-year cuts, but comparisons get tougher later in year.
Attention’s role in driving sales at center of DoubleVerify-Attain partnership
Deal links DoubleVerify’s attention metrics with purchase data from 6 million Attain consumers to fill the cookie void and show whether attention to digital ads drives sales.
Paramount picks iSpot.tv as TV ad currency alternative to Nielsen
ISpot joins Comscore and VideoAmp as alternatives, throwing Nielsen’s future at Paramount into question.
Nearly half the data used for ad targeting is wrong
Truthset study spanning 15 data brokers finds email and postal address matches that underpin ad targeting and audience measurement are only right 51% of the time.
Inside Empower’s staff exodus to P&G amid culture clash after ownership change
Agency issues cease-and-desist letter to Procter & Gamble after 14 defections, loss of two top accounts and principals taking early buyouts.
Comscore, iSpot and VideoAmp get JIC’s conditional certification for currency measurement
JIC’s move comes as Nielsen nears key Media Rating Council vote on its own new measurement system.
Yahoo only big SSP free of made-for-advertising inventory, according to audit
As industry scrutiny mounts, finding and defining made-for-advertising sites gets tricky, according to Jounce report.
VideoAmp laying off 10% of workforce in the latest measurement shakeup
The move follows Nielsen laying off 9% of its own staff and comes a day after VideoAmp announced a $150 million funding round.
Nielsen names Karthik Rao as CEO, replacing David Kenny
Nielsen has named Karthik Rao, who headed Nielsen Audience Measurement, as CEO of the company, succeeding David Kenny, who will become executive chairman. Rao has been CEO of Nielsen Audience Measurement, the company’s biggest and most strategically important unit, since earlier this year, following a restructuring in the wake of the company being taken private. Prior to that, he was chief operating officer under Kenny when Nielsen was a public company.
Nielsen replaces CEO amid measurement turbulence
Nielsen named Karthik Rao, who headed Nielsen Audience Measurement, as CEO of the entire company, succeeding David Kenny, who will become executive chairman.
Behind Unilever’s ‘Black Men Love’ campaign for SheaMoisture that challenges stereotypes
Campaign battles misconceptions, recognizes shift toward self-care and mental health, and gives men flowers.
Nielsen rival iSpot buys 605 as it bets on measurement outcomes driving TV currency
ISpot has been strong with marketers and audience measurement while 605 has history with networks and outcomes deals.
Nielsen won’t force Amazon’s data into ‘Thursday Night Football’ ad deals this year
Following a contentious meeting last week, Nielsen won’t change panel currency used to write deals but will make Amazon first-party data part of offering.
Nielsen laying off 9% of its global workforce
Measurement giant cites need to bring costs in line with revenue; others cite private-equity debt burden.
YouTube data and partner sites need more scrutiny, MRC says
Industry quality arbiter seeks audits of YouTube viewer counts and platform partners beyond Google.
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