Ethan Allen (EA) announced during its fiscal 2021 Q3 earnings report that it is working to improve its marketing strategy. It will still invest in traditional channels like TV and direct mail, but it is shifting more and more towards digital. This includes its website, email marketing and its 2021 style book, that is now offered digitally. It is also building its interior design business and opened seven new design centers in 2020. These centers allow EA to provide personalized services, whic...

Due Date: June 22, 2021 (questions due June 8) Scope of Work: The Wyoming Department of Health is accepting proposals from experts in providing state-level media campaigns. This campaign shall include account management, campaign planning and creative production, media buying and placement, and evaluation for federal reporting and quality improvement. The campaign shall address mental health concerns exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic through various messages that normalize distress, des...

Due Date: June 1, 2021 (questions due May 21) Scope of Work: The COTC Office of Marketing & Public Relations is seeking to acquire an annual contract with an experienced digital strategy and advertising vendor. COTC is looking for proposals for an annual digital advertising strategy from digital strategy and advertising agencies in order to select one vendor with whom Central Ohio Technical College can consolidate these services. The RFP will include a proposed annual digital advertising s...

Each week, Edge is bringing you a quick round-up of the emerging brands from the previous week. It will live on the homepage & will be updated every week. You can access this week's chart here or simply use the info below. Full 2021 List here (broken out by month + includes the full 2021 list) <!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->   Company/Brand Date Published News Edge Article Ha...

J & J Snack Foods (JJ) named Lynwood Mallard CMO, effective March 2021. Mallard comes from The Coca-Cola Company, where he most recently served as VP of category strategy and innovation. The company also promoted president Dan Fachner to CEO, effective May 2021. These changes will likely affect the marketing strategy and could lead to agency reviews.  According to Pathmatics, J&J earned 20.8m impressions through desktop display ads (78%) and mobile display ads (22%). It placed the majority...

Sub-Zero concluded a six-month review by appointing Huge as its AOR to handle brand strategy, creative and digital marketing. This shift replaces The Richards Group, which had a notable scandal at the end of 2020. Since the scandal happened the same month this review kicked off (November), it seems safe to assume the former inspired the latter. Joanne Davis Consulting aided the review process. Huge will work closely with Crossmedia, which handles media buying and planning, with the goal of...

Casey's General Stores lost its CMO Chris Jones in May 2021. Jones spent about three years with Casey's and served as marketing SVP of Kum & Go prior to that. We will update you once Casey's finds a new CMO because that could lead to spend shifts and agency reviews. In other news, Casey's acquired Buchanan Energy for approximately $580m. Buchanan Energy operates a networks of stores called Bucky's Convenience Stores. This brings Casey's number of locations to over 2.3k.  According to Pathm...

Vice Media will hopefully take some pretty good ad-Vice; it is reportedly considering going public by merging with blank-check firm 7CG Holdings and Co. This move would value Vice at $3v, down around 50% from the company's valuation after a funding round in 2017. If it does merge, Vice will have a larger budget at its disposal, which could result in higher spend and/or agency reviews. In March 2021, Vice hired Chris Garbutt as its chief creative officer. Before his most recent position as ...

NerdWallet, which helps consumers find credit cards, select mortgage rates and refinance their student loans, submitted paperwork for an IPO. The company reportedly hopes to go public by the end of 2021 and could seek a valuation of as much as $5b. Its details are confidential, but we will let you know what else we learn. Up until now, NerdWallet has relied heavily on acquisitions to expand; over the years, it has acquired UK-based Know Your Money and NYC-based Fundera. Know Your Money is ...

Azazie, the online, female-oriented clothing company that doesn't only make clothing for Madame Razz(azie), is expanding its product portfolio with size-inclusive shapewear. Sellers should get in touch soon to determine Azazie's plans to promote this new product line. This D2C company is known for the wedding dresses it makes for all women involved in weddings: brides, bridesmaids, mothers-of-the-fiances, flower girls, you name it. Shapewear will probably prove a good partner for these dre...