Getting married can be quite a production. There’s the venue, food, drinks, dessert, flowers, decorations, and invitations to think about, not to mention the couple’s attire, officiant, photographer, videographer, entertainment, and a wedding party to choose as part of the perfect day.

So it’s no surprise that some couples are keen to have pros at managing massive productions take the reins. We’re not talking about wedding planners, though—we’re talking about brands.

Last month, the expense management platform Ramp held an experiential activation in New York City, during which the company conducted a wedding for a couple, with The Office star Brian Baumgartner serving as the officiant and Christian Joseph, aka The Rizzler, serving as the ring bearer. Ramp joins a growing list of brands to play host to a couple’s nuptials: In July, Hellmann’s mascot, Manny Mayo, married a couple in Vegas after they won a contest for a brand-sponsored wedding, and in February, Whataburger sponsored a “WhataWedding” for a couple in Las Vegas after first supporting six weddings at different locations across Texas on Valentine’s Day in 2020. Since 2017, Taco Bell enthusiasts have gotten married at the brand’s Las Vegas Cantina after the brand first held a contest offering couples the chance to tie the knot at the location.

That brands would want to be associated with weddings isn’t surprising to agency execs, who say that as companies look to associate with positive, breakthrough moments, it’s possible that sponsored weddings could see an even bigger surge.

“This is a peak emotional moment for people,” Heather Miller, managing director at McGarrah Jessee, the ad agency behind Whataburger’s wedding work, told Marketing Brew. “If you can associate a brand with love and happiness and commitment, it’s just creating this positive memory…that transcends transactional loyalty.”

Continue reading here.—KM

Bianca Fernandez, a former pre-law student turned digital marketer, never thought she’d be on a reality TV show—let alone win one.

Fernandez is the inaugural champion of On Brand with Jimmy Fallon, a competition reality series on NBC that pits 10 contestants against each other to pitch creative campaigns to national brands like Dunkin’, Southwest Airlines, and KitchenAid. In each episode, the group was presented with a brand client looking for bold campaign ideas, and after ideating and pitching everything from jingles and commercials to merchandise, one contestant won the account—while, often, another was sent home. The eight-episode season led to one final pitch with Therabody that named Fernandez the winner of a $100,000 cash prize, a feature in Adweek, a trip to Cannes Lions, and the title of Innovator of the Year.

The show cast an ensemble of characters with various backgrounds in marketing, ranging from graphic design and screenwriting experience to content creation and owning their own agencies. Fernandez came in with several years of experience in social marketing, including stints at TikTok and beauty brands Tarte and Personal Day. That experience, she said, is what made her feel like On Brand could be the reality TV show for her.

“It was like my daytime job was turned into a prime-time television show,” Fernandez told Marketing Brew. “So it’s kind of like, why not? Let’s do something different.”

Read more here.—JN

After an exciting World Series, sports fans are hyped about baseball, and with a World Cup coming up this summer, soccer is also a hot topic.

But neither holds a candle to basketball or football when it comes to player stardom, according to a new report from Kantar.

Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry topped the company’s Sports Monitor Athlete Reputation Tracker, a report meant to help “gauge athlete popularity and marketability” by ranking them based on familiarity, likability, and negative perceptions. Curry tied the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark for No. 3 on the list last year and made the top five in 2023. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes came in second this year and last year after topping the 2023 list.

Including Curry and Mahomes, 18 of the top 25 athletes on the tracker play football or basketball, while just three MLB players and two soccer players made Kantar’s list.

“As competition increases, these leagues are going to need to create stars,” Ryan McConnell, EVP at Kantar, told Marketing Brew. “You’ve got to give people a reason to tune in. I think the leagues are understanding this a lot more than they used to.”

Continue reading here.—AM

Real jobs shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

• Director, Social Digital Content & Creator Strategy at Henkel (in person)
• Social Media Creator Relations Manager at Posted (in person)
• Senior Manager, Social Channel & Creator Marketing, Meta & Pinterest MSDS at Henkel (in person)
• Social Media Manager at Brunch (in person)
• Social Content Manager, Meta & Pinterest, SexyHair at Henkel (in person)

Stories we’re jealous of.

• Business Insider spoke with the creator behind the Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest about her next venture: a “viral content and stunt marketing company.”
• Business Insider also wrote about the growth of offline connection brands as remaining offline becomes “the newest status symbol.”
• The New York Times wrote about why it seems like an increasing number of campaigns, including those of New York’s mayoral election, are leveraging “cool girl” or “hot girl” branding.