Case Studied Brief 💼

175 years of NYT ads, two bent Lexuses, and one Hard Button

This week spans creative launches, changing media inventory, and new questions about how people discover and buy products.

In today's edition:

• 🌀 MSCHF bends two Lexus vehicles into sculptures

• 🍔 McDonald's tests other brands' ads on its menu boards

• 🛒 Amazon blocks Meta's new Muse AI agent

Campaigns of the week 📺

Beats fills a café with Kendall Jenners.

Beats says the new Beats 360 is its first over-ear headphone with swappable ear and headband cushions. In the launch spot from Uncommon Creative Studio, Jenner plays the customers, the barista, and the people in the photos at a café named Kendalls. Each version wears a different color combination under the tagline “One headphone. Every version of you”. CMO Chris Thorne said the team chose multiple Kendalls over casting other actors. The headphones are scheduled to reach stores September 24. Source: Verge

The New York Times turns 175 years of ads into a campaign.

New York Times Advertising launched "175 Years of Advertising," built around a nine-page print spread of seven archive ads from 1851 to 2026. Featured brands include Tiffany & Co., Ford, Heinz, IBM, Delta Air Lines, E*TRADE, and L'Oréal. The earliest is a Tiffany & Co. holiday ad that ran three months after the paper's first issue. Tusar Barik, SVP of marketing at NYTA, said the archive showed that advertising "often foreshadows significant cultural moments." None of the featured brands paid to be included. The in-house campaign also includes a digital timeline and audio spots, with media running through Sept. 30. Source: The New York Times Advertising

Lexus lets MSCHF bend two cars into sculptures.

Lexus commissioned the Brooklyn art collective to create "MOTOMORPHOSIS," on view Sept. 24-26 at Chelsea Industrial during New York's Armory Week. The electric RZ 450e was looped nose-to-tail into "Circle Car." The plug-in hybrid RX 450h+ was twisted into a spiral for “Twisted Car.” Each sculpture is displayed next to the unaltered production model it came from. Lexus marketing senior manager Lisa McQueen framed the project as asking what electricity can power “in our imagination”. Source: Lexus Newsroom

Ben Stiller crashes Katz's in a catsuit.

Katz's Delicatessen is adding Stiller's Soda, the brand Stiller co-founded with Alex Doman, to its menu. It's the deli's first new soda in decades and the first Shirley Temple in its history. In a video directed by New York creator Nicolas Heller, Stiller arrives in a “Cats” costume believing he's there to film the musical. “Severance” costume designer Sarah Edwards created the outfit and helped source a wig from the original Broadway production. Stiller's launched in New York about a year ago, with 30 calories and 7 grams of sugar per can. Source: Roastbrief

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Industry news 🤝

MarTech moves 🤖

Editors Choice 👀

🔴 Staples launches a "Hard Button" to sell its B2B services. Source: Marketing Dive

📺 Trade Desk study finds CTV spans every stage of sports fandom. Source: The Current

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