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Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of marketing intelligence where we break down the stories shaping the industry and dig into the details that matter. Today, we’re diving into Super Bowl ad winners and losers, Amazon’s pitch for streaming supremacy, ESPN’s clever March Madness campaign, a high-profile resignation at CBS News, and a masterclass in practical AI adoption for business. Let’s get into it.

First up, let’s talk about what really separates Super Bowl ad winners from the rest, courtesy of Adweek. Ipsos recently released its data on spontaneous brand recall the morning after the Super Bowl and a week later, revealing a stark divide. Budweiser’s “American Icons” spot—featuring a foal and a bald eagle growing up together to the tune of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”—was remembered by nearly 20 million viewers the next day, climbing to 23 million a week later. Pepsi’s polar bear taste test, which cheekily had Coca-Cola’s own mascot preferring Pepsi, landed them in second place with 12 million viewers recalling the ad. Dunkin’s Ben Affleck sitcom parody came in third, hitting 11 million. What do these three have in common? They extended long-running campaigns, leveraging decades of consistent branding and emotional resonance. Budweiser’s Clydesdales, for example, have appeared in Super Bowl ads for 48 years—making them not just a campaign, but a generational asset. On the flip side, brands like Michelob Ultra and Ring, which created bespoke, one-off Super Bowl ads, barely registered. Michelob Ultra’s star-studded spot ranked 44th out of 45, almost instantly forgotten despite its hefty price tag. The lesson? Consistency and distinctive assets win out over novelty, but the marketing industry’s bias for “newness” means this wisdom is often ignored. If you want your brand to stick, build on what you’ve already established and resist the urge to reinvent the wheel every year.

Shifting gears to the streaming world, Digiday has the inside scoop on Amazon’s latest pitch to advertisers. In 2025, Amazon quietly amassed a treasure trove of premium streaming inventory, and now it’s making the case that its ad-supported TV channels are worth every penny. According to a new pitch deck for Amazon DSP, advertisers can reach more than 55 million monthly viewers across 800+ free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channels via Prime Video and FireTV. Notably, 20% of these viewers exclusively watch free content, and 45% are Gen Z or millennials—prime targets for brands. Amazon claims it can reduce ad spend waste by targeting users with authenticated signals through its Ads authenticated graph, offering unmatched addressability across the open web. The deck boasts the ability to target 80 million deduplicated U.S. CTV households, with a 42% unique reach and a threefold increase in return on ad spend. Amazon’s partnerships with Netflix and Microsoft further bolster its offering: advertisers can now access Netflix’s 94 million global monthly active users through Amazon DSP, and Microsoft’s winding down of its own ad platform means Amazon inherits both inventory and advertisers. With programmatic guaranteed deals going for as low as 1% in fees, Amazon is positioning itself as a one-stop shop for premium streaming inventory and a formidable alternative to The Trade Desk. The bottom line: Amazon wants to be the backbone of your streaming ad buys, promising scale, efficiency, and targeting precision.

Now, let’s look at a clever campaign from ESPN, as reported by Adweek. With pharmaceutical ads now a mainstay on TV, ESPN decided to spoof the genre for its March Madness marketing push. The campaign’s 30-second spot mimics pharma ads down to the soft-focus visuals, side-effect disclaimers, and a reassuring doctor—except the “condition” is March Madness bracket obsession, or “Bracketbrain.” ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi prescribes the ESPN Tournament Challenge as the only remedy, inviting fans to fill out their brackets and get their “brains back in the game.” Developed with Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, the campaign is running across film, digital, social, courtside signage, email, and product placements, aiming to surpass last year’s record of 24.4 million brackets filled. ESPN is also putting extra focus on the women’s tournament, highlighting its growing storylines and potential for bracket-busting upsets. As Sinan Dagli, ECD at BSSP, puts it: “Bracketbrain is real, it’s contagious, and ESPN Tournament Challenge is the number one proven way to treat it.” With big sponsors like Allstate, Capital One, Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Chick-fil-A on board, ESPN is betting that a dose of humor and cultural relevance will keep fans—and advertisers—engaged.

Turning to the media world, Adweek reports that Dr. Peter Attia has stepped down from his newly established contributor role at CBS News after controversy erupted over his name appearing in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Attia, who joined CBS News in January as one of 19 new contributors, was linked to Epstein in over 1,700 documents detailing a close relationship. Though his role had not yet “meaningfully begun,” Attia’s spokesperson said he stepped back to avoid distracting from CBS’s work. CBS News has not commented, but the move comes as editor-in-chief Bari Weiss continues to shake up the newsroom. Attia is also the founder of Outlive, an app translating longevity science into daily practice, and Early Medical, a practice focused on proactive health using advanced diagnostics. The network’s contributor roster spans politics, national security, health, arts, and more, and Attia’s resignation follows Anderson Cooper’s recent announcement that he’s leaving 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years. It’s a reminder that reputational risk in the media world can have swift and significant consequences, especially amid ongoing leadership changes.

Finally, let’s get practical about AI in business with insights from Karin Timpone, CEO of ClearPrompt, as covered by Adweek. Speaking at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Timpone emphasized that CMOs are uniquely positioned to lead AI strategy—not by betting the farm on sweeping transformations, but by running focused, phased pilots tied directly to business outcomes. Her company, ClearPrompt, offers an AI-powered platform that helps unify C-suite strategy by generating collaborative drafts that finance, operations, creative, and marketing can all understand. The real value, she says, isn’t faster marketing plans, but a shared foundation for decision-making. Timpone warns against treating AI adoption as an end in itself; instead, every initiative should be anchored to growth, customer relationships, or brand reputation. She advises CMOs to pick one strategic priority—be it storytelling, data analysis, or customer insights—and go deep, rather than trying to master all of AI at once. This approach builds credibility, avoids analysis paralysis, and ensures that AI accelerates solutions to real business problems rather than becoming a costly distraction. The key takeaway: AI is a tool, not a goal, and its power is best realized when it amplifies a clear, unified business strategy.

That wraps up today’s Brief. Whether it’s the staying power of iconic campaigns, the evolving landscape of streaming ad buys, the power of cultural humor in sports marketing, the high stakes of media reputations, or the practical realities of AI adoption, the through-line is clear: marketing success comes from clarity, consistency, and a willingness to learn from both data and experience. Thanks for listening, and we’ll catch you tomorrow with more insights to keep you sharp.