At Advertising Week New York this week, major brands like Hershey, LinkedIn and e.l.f. Beauty discussed how to build and keep credibility with their audiences. “You can be loved but not chosen actively,” said Stacy Tappitt, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at The Hershey Company. The way to get chosen is to deliver value before asking for trust. Read how that plays out through partnerships that add something new, selective participation in trends and owning up to mistakes.

Ryde is giving college athletes something more lasting than an NIL check: an internship. The wellness shot brand paired that program with a Rob Gronkowski campaign that reached 20 million consumers and lifted sales of its Focus and Sleep shots. We break down Ryde’s athlete strategy and campaign results.

When Drake dropped “Ice Man,” fans opened Genius annotations 7.5 million times, and the music site is turning that kind of fan curiosity into brand campaigns. Its Prime Video series with emerging artist Julia Wolf pulled in 400,000 organic views, outperforming Genius’s content benchmarks by 4x, according to VP of Marketing and Creative Strategy Sara Kern. Read how Genius turns fan signals into brand content.

Eos’s five-person “chronically online” social team found a tennis influencer simply by spotting her using its body lotion, and that tactic has launched a deluge of creator partnerships. SVP Carley Caldas explains how the team turns social listening into in-person activations and why she says you can’t put a ROAS on them. Read how Eos measures its activations and builds its creator network.

Lastly, huge congratulations to our 2026 Campaigns of the Year award winners, recognized as some of the most innovative and impactful marketing campaigns industry-wide.

Until next week,