☕ Show business
Why brands are borrowing classic TV tropes for ads.
Marketing Brew <[email protected]>
The Morning Brew promotes its Marketing Brew Summit, which is almost sold out, and encourages readers to grab a ticket for the September 30 event in New York. The newsletter also features an article on recent ad campaigns from brands like Denny's, Johnston & Murphy, and JCPenney, which are inspired by traditional TV show formats. These campaigns aim to entertain audiences rather than interrupt them.
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579 words · about 2 min to read
September 22, 2026
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It’s Tuesday. Fun fact: the Marketing Brew Summit is almost sold out. Less fun fact: you’re currently not one of the 300+ marketers who already have a ticket. We’re not saying you’ll regret it—we’re just saying September 30 in New York is going to happen either way. Grab your ticket and be there for it.
In today’s edition:
Turn the TV on 📺
Making a mark 🖊️
—Kristina Monllos, Alyssa Meyers
BRAND STRATEGY
Show business
Still images from recent campaigns for Denny's, Johnston & Murphy, and JCPenney are featured in a collage.
Screenshots via @dennys/YouTube, @jcpenney/YouTube, @johnstonmurphy/YouTube
Is that an ad, or is it a TV show?
Recent ad campaigns from several different brands are trying to be a little bit of both. Denny’s and Skittles borrowed the feel of sitcoms, JCPenney riffed on a docu-drama/reality show, and Johnston & Murphy parodied SportsCenter.
As advertisers look to entertain audiences more than interrupt them, some are taking inspiration from more traditional forms of entertainment to do it. For some, the inspiration comes down to the look and feel. For others, it might also include the release schedule and episode structure: Skittles, for example, rolled out a sitcom series, “Ghost Roommate,” in six-second increments on TikTok around Halloween.
For Denny’s, the appeal of creating its sitcom-like ad campaign, “Welcome to Denny’s,” was borne out of the nostalgia associated with the long-standing TV format—and for potential diners to feel at home in the “third place” that a classic diner provides, Meredith Thornton, VP of brand strategy and communications at Denny’s, told Marketing Brew.
The resulting spots, by BarkleyOKRP, feature a horn soundtrack and a laugh track, as well as warm visual tones and a slight gauzy blur that add to the feel of a ’90s sitcom. One spot seems almost like the title sequence to a show where meal deals are the true stars—although there are still various characters featuring in the mock sitcom, including the “booth,” “night owls,” and influencer guest stars the McFarland family, who have 1.8 million followers on Instagram.
“[The campaign has] really stood out and felt ownable and breakthrough for the brand,” Thornton said. The ability to create “this sitcom feeling of characters and seeing yourself there and the entertainment overall,” she added, has been beneficial for the chain.
Continue reading here.—KM
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We’re not in digital-only land anymore
Sponsor: Roku Ads Manager
Hmm…for brand-new terrain, this place sure has a lot of good stuff to watch on the tube.
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Choose your own adventure to navigate Planet CTV, and see where the journey takes you.
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