The marketing moves that defined the week

A million-dollar hunt, a billboard response, and an FTC lawsuit

03 Sep 2026

The marketing moves that defined the week

A million-dollar hunt, a billboard response, and an FTC lawsuit

Case Studied Brief
September 03, 2026

Case Studied Brief 💼

A million-dollar treasure hunt, a scripted rom-com, and Amazon's ad auction lawsuit

This week in marketing, a billboard got a cheeky reply, two major accounts changed agency hands, and a social platform tightened their policy on AI-generated content.

In today's edition:

The UPS Store gets its first brand character 📦
Publicis and Travis Kelce launch a joint venture for NIL marketing 🏈
ChatGPT's ad business crosses $1 billion in annualized revenue 💰

Campaigns of the week 📺

Dr. Squatch hides $1 million for IShowSpeed's fans to find.

Dr. Squatch and streamer IShowSpeed launched "SPEEDRUN: Million Dollar Mission," a nine-week event across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia featuring 25 real-world challenges tied to a $1 million prize pool. Developed with production company Applied MSCHF, the mission asks fans to compete, travel, and create content together in pursuit of the prize. The campaign ties Dr. Squatch's marketing directly to IShowSpeed's existing audience of fans who create and share content around his challenges. Source: Yahoo Finance

Chicago Cubs release a scripted rom-com on TikTok.

The Chicago Cubs' in-house creative arm, Cubs Productions, released a trailer for "Nine Innings to Love." The 17-episode scripted series follows two fictional fans who meet in the Wrigley Field bleachers. The series spans the nine innings of a single Cubs game and debuts September 4 exclusively on the team's TikTok account. Source: Variety

@cubs
For those who believe in a good love story. Nine Innings to Love: A 17-part vertical series, coming to your FYP this Friday. #booktok #ro... See more

The UPS Store gets its first brand character.

The UPS Store introduced Blu, a female brand character appearing in a national, multiyear campaign from Paramount Media Labs. Aimed at small business owners, the spots show Blu appearing through a portal to help franchisees with tasks like printing, shredding and setting up business mailboxes. The campaign also features NFL player and small business owner Aidan Hutchinson. It arrives as parent company UPS has cut tens of thousands of jobs amid a pullback from Amazon delivery volume. Source: Marketing Dive

Stella Artois answers a neighboring billboard with one of its own.

When Häagen-Dazs put up a Toronto billboard reading "Let's grab a pint"—referring to a pint of ice cream—Stella Artois booked an adjacent ad space. The beer company’s ad read, "Are you asking us out?" There was no coordination between the two brands. Stella's in-house creative shop, draftLine, spotted the opportunity and got the response live within a week. Source: LBBOnline

Industry news 🤝

🏈 Publicis and Travis Kelce launch a joint venture for NIL marketing.

Publicis Sports partnered with NFL player Travis Kelce and Lionsgate-owned 3 Arts Sports to launch Tekta. The new consulting venture is focused on Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals for college athletes. The NIL market is valued at roughly $4.5 billion, according to NIL platform Opendorse, and Tekta says it can offer 50-70% faster speed to market and unified measurement across 68 Power Four universities.

Source: Marketing Dive

⚖️ Amazon faces an FTC lawsuit over hidden ad-auction surcharges.

The FTC and 22 state attorneys general sued Amazon, alleging the company secretly inflated prices in its search ad auctions for more than seven years. The agency says Amazon did this through a hidden “soft reserve price” and the practice affected over 1 million advertisers. Amazon disputes the claims, pointing to flat inflation-adjusted cost-per-click and a 24% rise in conversion rates between 2019 and 2024.

Source: Marketing Dive

🔀 CVS Health wraps its agency review, adding Dentsu and retaining Omnicom.

CVS Health concluded its agency review, hiring Dentsu Creative as a new creative partner while retaining Omnicom as its media agency, a role Omnicom (via UM) has held since 2019. Publicis Groupe, which has handled CVS Health's U.S. creative and CRM since 2022, wasn't confirmed to retain any business going forward. CVS Health's full-year U.S. measured media spend fell to $369.8 million in 2025 from $380.1 million in 2024, per MediaRadar.

Source: Ad Age

🎬 BetMGM names CAPE its agency of record behind a new Jon Hamm campaign.

Independent agency CAPE was named BetMGM's agency of record, expanding a relationship that began in 2024. The appointment coincides with a new NFL-season campaign, "It Happens Here," starring Jon Hamm inside a fictional setting called "The Legends Lounge." BetMGM says it plans to extend the setting into future activations.

Source: AdWeek

MarTech moves 🤖

💰 ChatGPT's ad business crosses $1 billion in annualized revenue.

OpenAI said ChatGPT's advertising business reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate. The figure comes roughly 200 days after its February launch. The company is expanding self-serve ad buying to India, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, bringing ChatGPT Ads to more than 40 countries.

Source: Adweek

🎨 Google launches an AI design tool aimed at Canva's territory.

Google introduced Google Pics, an AI tool for creating posters, social posts and other visuals through text prompts. It will oll out first within Google Docs and Slides. Unlike Canva, which lets outside artists publish templates and earn royalties, Google Pics generates content using AI trained on existing artists' work.

Source: TechCrunch

🛒 Albertsons says AI-assisted shopping is lifting basket sizes.

Grocery chain Albertsons reported that customers using its AI-powered conversational search see a 10% lift in average order value. That figure rises to 26% for those using its more comprehensive shopping assistant to plan recipes or dietary needs, according to figures shared with the Wall Street Journal. The retailer's tools are built on Google Cloud's Conversational Commerce agent and OpenAI models.

Source: Marketing Tech News

🏷️ Instagram will limit reach for undisclosed AI-generated profiles.

Instagram is renaming its "AI creator" label to "AI-generated profile." It will also limit the reach of accounts that feature AI-generated people but don't disclose it. Creators who only use AI tools within their content-creation process don't need the label.

Source: Instagram For Creators

Editors Choice 👀

🍫 Hershey's taps Katseye for its Creme Bars launch aimed at “accessible premium” spending. Source: Ad Age

🎥 Chipotle’s latest national campaign is built entirely from creator footage. Source: Marketing Dive

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