Adweek Acquires Social Media Week

In what makes for more than a natural fit, we’re joining forces with Social Media Week following Adweek’s acquisition of the 11-year-old events and content company. SMW founder Toby Daniels will also join Adweek as chief innovation officer, overseeing the SMW business. This new partnership will pave the way for us to massively build out our social media-focused content, programming and resources for brands and marketing professionals alike. Together, we’ll provide deeper insights and data so that both communities can more confidently navigate the future of social media. Under Adweek, SMW’s first show will happen, virtually, in early May.

Welcome, SMW: Read more about the details of the acquisition from both organizations’ leaders.

TurboTax is prepping for the 2021 tax season with an army of virtual experts—and these experts are featured in a new ad series that shows them arriving atop self-propelled computer desks. The company has to go all out during the critical 13-or-so weeks of the year when most people pay attention to TurboTax and its competitors, so the campaign, which will culminate with a Super Bowl ad, aims to make a big impact in a short amount of time.

Watch: This year, the company finds itself less embroiled in controversy than in 2020.

A heap of high-profile shows—including several long-running ones—have announced that they will conclude this year. And in some cases, due to pandemic-induced shutdowns, production has yet to resume, the final seasons’ actual release dates remain up in the air. 

Check out the lineup, which includes Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Shameless and Better Call Saul.

On Monday, 200 Google employees announced that they’re forming the company’s first union to combat workplace issues including alleged racial discrimination and profiting from ads of hate groups. These employees say that they live by Google’s original motto, “Don’t be evil,” which was dropped in 2018, and seek to push Alphabet to use its titanic power for the public good.

Inside the effort: It’s a nontraditional “minority union” that doesn’t represent the total workforce, but provides a voice to members.

To promote its new squeezable packaging, Jif (with the help of The J.M. Smucker Co.’s Publicis multi-agency team PSOne) released a new ad about a burly, peanut butter-eating gladiator as he is interrupted from his lunch and challenged to “a fight to the Jif.”

Rishad Tobaccowala, Author, Advisor, Speaker, Educator, Joanna O'Connell, Vice President, Principal Analyst at Forrester and Ariel Kelman, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Oracle join the lineup for Adweek's Outlook 2021 summit. Join Adweek for the inaugural Outlook summit, January 26-28, to hear from these leaders and many more on the state of the state, predictions for the road ahead, and tools and strategies that will supercharge growth and revenue in uncertain times. Save your virtual seat.

Anti-gun violence group delivers 1,700 cookies to gun group.

The publisher is adapting with a first-party data marketplace.

Here are 10 projects that represent the most supportive and innovative solutions to the disruptions of 2020.

Over 1.4 billion voice and video calls were made globally via WhatsApp Dec. 31.