BBDO created "Album Art" packs for M&M's that feature the brand's newly refreshed characters displayed on packaging that reimagines iconic album covers by artists including David Bowie, Kacey Musgraves, H.E.R. and Rosalia. The push includes special packaging sent to 15 fans of the featured music artists discovered on social media.

Colossus created a "Feel Good Greens" campaign for Bowery Farming with quirky artwork from Laurene Boglio in ads that highlight awkward or disappointing scenarios accompanied by the tagline "If nothing else, feel good about your greens." The campaign is targeted in select East Coast states, including subway ads in Manhattan, and agency co-founder Jon Balck says Bolio's art "is wonderfully offbeat -- just like the advertising concept, the brand and the way the company grows vegetables."

Mekanism's latest work for OKCupid's "Every Single Person" campaign features an out-of-home ad supporting reproductive rights with the copy "every single pro-choicer" and enables the platform's users to display a "pro-choice" badge on their dating profile. The brand also is giving $1 to GLAAD for each of the 10,900 likes received by a viral video showing people on a New York subway tear down the campaign's previous work and is donating $2, up to $25,000, to the nonprofit for every like of a new Instagram post.

Consumer brand preference is now driven primarily by emotional rather than rational considerations, Brand Keys reports, a reversal of the landscape in 1997. The study finds Discover, Avis, Domino's, AT&T Wireless and Dunkin' among the companies most strongly resonating with consumers.

Hybrid events are here to stay and marketers need to adopt a specialized approach to engage both virtual and in-person audiences, Ambreen Ali writes. Some of the strategies Ali recommends include incorporating interactive experiences for virtual attendees, using data to personalize certain aspects of the event and coaching presenters on how to engage with audiences virtually.

When facing difficulties at work, you can control how you respond when your "anchor belief," as author Brenda Bence calls it, is positive rather than negative. Alaina Love shares the story of a client who was struggling with work pressures and needed to shake his negative "inner defeatist" before he could work with his boss on solutions.

Seven in 10 Americans who have visited a 3D virtual store made a purchase and 33% would be keen to buy virtual or real items in branded environments in the metaverse, according to an Obsess study. In addition, almost 75% of Generation Z shoppers have purchased a digital item while playing a video game and 60% want to buy from brands in the metaverse.

Creating an inclusive industry and developing the next generation of advertising leaders for the industry has been a top priority of the American Advertising Federation by way of its Mosaic Center for more than two decades. The Mosaic Center serves as a resource and advocate for the value of diversity, equity and inclusion and is committed to helping advertising, marketing and media reflect our nation's evolving cultural makeup.

In an effort to expand, enhance and evolve the organization's current solid foundation of world class, industry-leading, diversity, equity & inclusion efforts -- the AAF is embarking on the largest expansion of Mosaic Center efforts in the history of the organization. 2020 was the busiest year for the AAF's Mosaic Center! Support of the Mosaic Center Expansion Fund will ensure that the AAF can continue to provide programming, content, technology and human resources for the advertising, media and marketing industries.

Learn more about the Expansion Fund and how your organization can commit its support of cultivating a more inclusive industry.