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Welcome back to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily dose of sharp marketing updates and industry insights. Today we’re diving into some fascinating moves in creative strategy, agency shakeups, and how media is prepping for the year ahead. Whether you’re tuning in on your commute or catching up between meetings, let’s get you up to speed with the stories that matter most.
First up, let’s talk about a bold move from Amazon that’s challenging how we think about holiday advertising. According to Adweek, Amazon is bringing back its much-loved “Joy Ride” holiday ad for another season. If you remember, this spot features three lifelong friends sitting on a snowy bench, watching kids sledding, before one of them orders seat cushions from Amazon so they can join in the fun. The ad’s emotional resonance, with its tender Beatles cover and nostalgic transformation of the friends into children again, made it Amazon’s most effective holiday campaign ever. Developed in-house, “Joy Ride” marked a shift away from outside agencies and scored off-the-charts for emotional impact and brand building, according to System1. What’s really interesting is Amazon’s decision to rerun this ad in 2025, rather than creating something new. Data from Kantar and other research firms show that audiences don’t tire of ads nearly as quickly as marketers do—often, classic campaigns like Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming” only get more effective over time. Amazon’s VP of brand and marketing, Claudine Cheever, has doubled down on this evidence, reallocating production budgets to media spend and freeing up her team to focus on product-driven ads. The lesson here? Sometimes, running a proven winner for multiple years is smarter than chasing novelty. It’s a call for marketers to slow down, invest in great creative, and let compound creativity work its magic.
Next, a major agency shakeup in the world of FMCG. Adweek reports that Publicis Groupe has been named the media agency of record for The Magnum Ice Cream Co., the new Unilever spinoff that includes blockbuster brands like Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, Cornetto, and Wall’s. This is a significant win for Publicis, which went head-to-head with WPP—whose Mindshare previously held most of the business. The ice cream division, which also covers Breyers and Klondike, spent about $34 million on media in 2024, according to COMvergence. Omnicom, another big player, had also handled some of the buying and planning. With Publicis now in the driver’s seat, expect to see some fresh thinking and possibly new approaches to media strategy for these iconic brands as they carve out their own path post-Unilever.
Shifting gears to the world of news media, Adweek’s TVNewser has a detailed look at how networks are gearing up to cover the 2025 elections—an off-year, but one packed with pivotal gubernatorial and mayoral races that could set the stage for 2026 and beyond. ABC News will have Linsey Davis leading special coverage on their streaming channel, with a deep bench of correspondents and bureau chiefs. Bloomberg will simulcast an extended “Balance of Power,” while CBS News brings in Major Garrett and team for their 24/7 coverage. CNN is rolling out a multi-city approach, with Jake Tapper in Washington and Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett in New York, plus a subscriber-only livecast featuring real-time reactions from personalities like Charlamagne Tha God and Ben Shapiro. C-SPAN is offering commercial-free analysis with input from The Wall Street Journal and Cook Political Report, and Fox News is deploying Bret Baier, Martha MacCallum, and Bill Hemmer for data-driven coverage. MSNBC, soon to rebrand as MS Now, will have Rachel Maddow and a star-studded panel, with Ali Velshi breaking down results at the Big Board. The key takeaway: even in an off-year, the networks are investing heavily in comprehensive, multi-platform coverage, reflecting just how high the stakes are for both news organizations and advertisers looking to reach engaged audiences.
That’s all for today’s edition of The Brief. Whether you’re rethinking your creative strategy, tracking agency moves, or planning your next media buy, remember: the best marketers are the ones who keep learning, questioning, and adapting. Thanks for listening, and we’ll catch you tomorrow with more stories to keep you ahead of the curve.
