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“Between the polycrisis and the pandemic, the current state of the world has everything to do with the uptick in nostalgia marketing,” said Brendan Brown, senior VP of strategy at George P. Johnson. “Everything from the products we buy and stories we stream, to the sounds and styles of our time, contain echoes and iterations of the past. The ‘Stranger Things’ franchise is a standout example of ‘deep nostalgia,’ building on the retro mood and aesthetic of the show to create a rich world of nostalgic yearning.”

Ad Age interviewed top advertisers about their favorite Women's History Month campaigns and included insights from George P. Johnson. OS Studios and Wondersauce. “It’s encouraging to see brands wanting to celebrate and advocate for equality, especially in a climate where execs are understandably cautious of the backlash that anything controversial could cause,” said Sheila Srinivasan, creative director at Wondersauce. “This year, it felt particularly important to see campaigns successfully highlighting trans women, like that of Hershey Canada.” Srinivasan also pointed to Lottie London, Strava and Miller Lite as brands that met the challenge for Women’s History Month.

Praytell’s Naria Frazer shares how companies can better support employee resource groups which includes connecting ERG efforts to broader DE&I goals.

Clairol, a brand with roots in the 1950s, is pairing with a fictional band from the 1970s in a new Amazon Prime series, which is part of its strategy to revive the brand. Clairol is the latest brand to lean into the power of nostalgia to drive sales. The Wella Co. brand is launching a paid and organic digital and social campaign linked with “Daisy Jones & The Six.” It’s a partly documentary-style treatment that follows the lives and loves and explosive breakup of the fictional band. Communications agency Praytell and Publicis Groupe media shop Zenith are handling the effort.

The Drum asks marketers, including Laura Fell, head of graphic production for George P. Johnson, for substantive examples of how marketing is changing or has changed the world, particularly in relation to the environment.

Cricket Wireless is inviting people to destress at their desks with its first ever playable ad created in collaboration with ARGONAUT, featuring two members of Cricket’s crew of lovable characters.

Zara Kerwood, creative technology director, George P. Johnson UK: "From a creative technology perspective, these technologies are a springboard to creativity. All great experiences have an idea at the heart of them. We use these tools to unlock experiences. Those experiences can be richer, deeper, and better shared with groups of people. That’s what will lead to value in the experiential space."

A Brooklyn-based public relations firm recently began experimenting with a four-day workweek, and so far company officials say the switch has yielded positive results. Praytell employees, who last year started working Monday through Thursday with an on-call shift on Friday, have shown an outpouring of support and productivity since the switch, said Sanji Moore, company vice president of people and operations. “We’ve been super surprised about not only the employees’ response to it – which has been obviously very positive – but we haven’t seen any change in the quality of the work being done, our efficiency in meeting deadlines and clients have been very supportive of it as well,” Moore said during an interview on “Mornings On 1” Friday. Praytell's findings mirrors that of British companies who participated in a recent pilot four-day workweek program. A majority of the 61 businesses that were part of the pilot have chosen to implement the change permanently after reporting a slew of positive results, including increased revenue and employee satisfaction, according to the Associated Press.

A year ago, PRWeek reported on the agencies experimenting with a four-day workweek in the U.S. They included Praytell, which has offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and is owned by independent agency network Project Worldwide. “We have removed ‘pilot’ from ‘four-day workweek,’” says Andy Pray, CEO and founder of Praytell. “We have adopted it as the way we work, to the point that we alert clients to it in the first 10 slides of new-business pitches.” The agency’s staff work Monday through Thursday, though a staffer may work the occasional Friday based on client need, and in addition there is no expectation that this work take place in an office. In fact, he says such a mandate makes little sense under a four-day workweek. He points to Praytell staff in New York, some of whom have commutes of an hour to and from the agency’s office in Chelsea. “If you cut off Friday, are you really going to ask them to donate eight hours of commuting time, because the reality is there is only so much time in a week,” asks Pray.