SPORTS MARKETING

Mondelēz International

Athletes move quickly, but Mondelēz International moves quicker—at least when it comes to sports marketing.

About a month after the conclusion of the World Cup, the food and beverage giant, which owns brands including Oreo, Ritz, and Clif Bar, announced a pair of new sports deals: one with the Kansas City Chiefs, the company’s first pro football team sponsorship, and another spanning five NCAA programs.

The deals signify something of a new era for Mondelēz’s broader sports strategy as the company pushes further into regional partnerships to beef up its already massive national and global presence in sports.

“Now, it’s about…making sure we’re meeting those expectations in how people are communicated to [based on] what kind of mood state they’re in when their teams are playing,” Nick Rogers, director of portfolio marketing and sponsorships at Mondelēz, told Marketing Brew. “We’re having that bespoke, at-scale approach, driving frequency with our national campaigns, but then really cutting through on a comms level from a regional perspective. That’s what retailers expect. That’s what fans expect.”

Continue reading here.—AM

      

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AD TECH & PROGRAMMATIC

Illustration: Shannon May, Photos: Adobe Stock

It’s no secret that agents are slowly taking over the internet. Automated traffic across the internet increased almost eight times faster than human activity last year, according to a March report from cybersecurity company Human Security.

But how is a brand to influence them?

As agentic infrastructure continues to develop and as some consumers begin deploying agents to shop or perform other tasks, companies across industries are not only grappling with optimizing their websites for agents but are trying to figure out how to advertise to them.

Many brands are thinking beyond just answer engine optimization (AEO) and are working on how to engage directly with agents to drive sales or impact how the agents perceive them, according to executives we spoke to.

“[Agents are] still emerging as a channel,” Fiona Tan, Wayfair’s chief technology officer, told Marketing Brew. “We want to just make sure we’re keeping very close to how consumers are changing their behavior and then reacting as quickly as possible, and in some cases, proactively providing that information.”

At the publisher Time magazine, the number of days where it sees more bot traffic than human traffic to its site is increasing, according to Mark Howard, the publication’s chief operating officer. He cited data from Ally Bank showing that consumers who came to the brand from AI referrals tended to have a higher conversion rate and were further down the funnel by the time they got to the brand, which he said makes them an attractive opportunity for its advertising partners.

Advertising to agents directly is one way brands can promote messaging about their products and potentially mitigate incorrect information that AI models may be propagating about them, Howard explained. To capitalize on those opportunities, Time is partnering with ad-tech platform Mobian to run Agent Ads, an ad format designed to be readable to agents.

Read more here.—Jasmine

      

Sponsored By Strava

Marketing on the move. Customers aren’t connecting with traditional ads anymore, and it takes out-of-the-box campaigns to cut through the noise. That’s where Strava for Business comes in. Strava for Business connects brands with Strava’s engaged audience, helping build campaigns that motivate customers to get out + move. Learn more.

DATA & TECH

Getty Images

We know consumers tend to change their minds often and relatively quickly, but are retailers keeping up? As it turns out, not always.

Per a survey from BCG’s Center for Customer Insight, 67% of shoppers said they wouldn’t purchase an item they could afford if it didn’t offer “strong value.”

However, a few factors drive the perception of value for consumers. Quality, for instance, remains the biggest such driver, accounting for 35% of value satisfaction overall, followed by price and promotions at 27%, though priorities vary by category, from brand connection in skin care and mobile (22%) to volume in prepared foods (16%).

More than a third (37%) of consumers identify as “longevity seekers,” with 81% regularly eating home-cooked meals, 44% enrolling in a gym or fitness class in the past year, and 39% using antiaging creams and beauty nutrition products.

And many shoppers noted an “information overload” that led 43% to say they felt mentally overwhelmed. Many of those turned to experts, family and friends, and of course AI for trusted information, as opposed to brands and advertisements.

Nearly a third of consumers said they already use AI while shopping, and 19% rely on it regularly. Among the frequent users, 70% ultimately purchase products AI recommends.

Read more on Retail Brew.—Jeena

      

Sponsored By Tatari

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french press

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

On the job: Tips on building credibility with Gen Z professionals, per LinkedIn research.

Hut, hut: Key themes marketers may want to keep in mind during NFL season.

Double screen: How the new iPhone Duo could affect content creation.

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Morning Brew Inc, Photos: @grillospickles/TikTok

Grillo’s Pickles is racking up millions of views with an irreverent, organic-feeling TikTok presence. Here’s a sharp look at how the brand built its online following without feeling like an ad.

METRICS AND MEDIA

Stat: 93%. That’s the percentage of American shoppers that have adopted at least one cost-saving measure and are making more careful buying decisions amid the current economic climate, according to Adtaxi’s 2026 Consumer & Economy survey.

Quote: “Because I’ve been a part of the creative conversations from the very beginning, I had built an amazing relationship with everyone involved, and I was really excited to get to set.”—actor Sydney Sweeney, speaking to Complex about her recent controversial ad for sports prediction market Novig

Read: “Inside fast food’s big bet on experimental restaurant concepts” (Ad Age)