Ad Age

Welcome back to Agency Brief. 📰 This week, we’ve got the exclusive on an agency move as a dog food brand tries to catch up with rivals in fresh pet food. Plus, we look at how ad spend is trending. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/g3k4NsKi Want to be included in a future edition? Reach out to Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla for consideration.

Brands have a distinct advantage when they combine durable content with a creator-driven community and trust. #ad Read more from our Publishing Partner, YouTube https://lnkd.in/dBCrThF6

The New York City Economic Development Corporation has launched an agency RFP for one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s first major projects in office. It’s looking for a branding or design agency to shape the identity of “N.Y.C. Groceries,” an initiative intended to launch five city-supported grocery stores across the city, one in each borough. The city plans to open all five stores by the end of the current four-year mayoral term and has allocated $70 million in capital funding for the initiative. The city plans to waive rent and taxes for the five new grocery stores so they can offer residents discounted prices on food. “When you walk into a city-owned grocery store, we want you to feel the City’s commitment to you—a store that’s welcoming, unmistakably New York, and built around the goal of putting affordable, high-quality food on your family’s table,” Mamdani said in a statement. “The design firm we select through this RFP will help bring that vision of affordability and public excellence to life.” The program is in response to New York City grocery prices rising nearly 66% over the past decade, according to the city, significantly outpacing the national average. 🔗 Read the full story from Brian Bonilla: https://lnkd.in/g5dfsSZe

Chobani is marking the U.S. Men’s National Team’s run to this summer’s FIFA World Cup 2026™ - Canada, Mexico and the United States with a campaign built around the personal histories of three players: Weston McKennie, Christian Pulisic and Antonee Robinson. The work, under the umbrella theme of “Feed the Dream,” spans short films, fashion pieces and portrait art, all centered on the relatives, coaches and hometown supporters who helped shape the athletes long before they reached the international stage. The effort, led by Uncommon New York, includes three biographical short films directed by Hector Dockrill of magna studios. The spots trace the players’ paths from youth soccer to global competition, spotlighting the people who pushed them forward along the way. Uncommon campaign includes short films, custom jerseys and portrait collages tied to three players’ personal histories. 🔗 Read the full story from Tim Nudd to learn more about the unsung heroes, support from Heron Preston and Michael Mapes and more: https://lnkd.in/dTzgRcY2

OpenAI is splitting marketing duties between two CMO roles, a move that speaks to the AI company’s growing efforts to fend off encroaching competitors such as Anthropic. The dual strategy is also meant to help appeal to two distinct audiences—enterprises that need AI infrastructure and consumers who need a push to bring ChatGPT into their everyday lives. The CMO split will be along those business-to-business and business-to-consumer lines. Yesterday, Colin Fleming announced his appointment to the business-focused CMO role. Another CMO, still to be named, will oversee consumer audiences, an OpenAI spokesperson told Ad Age. 🔗 Read the full story from Asa Hiken to learn more about the IPO plans: https://lnkd.in/dwx3YYPy

Health consumers today want to take action, but few actually get there. Here’s how brands can drive momentum. #ad Read more from our Publishing Partner, Fullspan Health https://lnkd.in/dYnSBXcp

Enjoyed chatting with you Jeanine Poggi on the importance of Small Agencies and the power to move a community and how leaning into IRL builds from just an ad to a sincere, human experience. Thanks Ad Age and all the agencies, like Steve Rock at Good Kids , Frances Lumpkin Webster at Walrus, Jessy Magor The Variable, Kristian Bottini 270B , Kate O'Brien Powers of Reasoning and so many more, look forwardto collaborating!

In today’s creative news: 💈 Miracle-Gro replaces doomscrolling with “Bloomscrolling" 🍕 Papa Johns brings Pizza Planet from “Toy Story” into the real world 🍗 KFC Canada (Yum! Brands Subsidiary) installs original Montreal Forum seats in its stores to celebrate the Canadiens’ playoff run 🔗 Read the full list of today's 9️⃣ creative campaigns: https://lnkd.in/dNYtCzHi

Snickers recruited an army of Reeses for its latest peanut butter pitch. Acknowledging that rival Reese’s is the go-to in the peanut butter candy space, the Mars brand built its new campaign around a very specific casting call: people named Reese. Several groups of Reeses are seen sampling Snickers Peanut Butter products on camera, focus group style, in a series of social videos directed by comedian Eric André. The work, created by BBDO New York, is rolling out across YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok Pulse and NBCU platforms. 🍫 Read about the full campaign: https://lnkd.in/gjynZYsP

Readers voted. One campaign left the rest on the ground. Ad Age put May’s best campaigns to a reader vote—pulling from our weekly Top 5 roundups dated May 4 through May 25—and the winner cleared the competition by 30,000 feet. 🏆 More than 500 votes were received. See what made the podium: https://lnkd.in/gtTgREwH