Ryan Reynolds’ Creepy Cookie Panda

Booze, budget mobile and now cookies: Ryan Reynolds is adding to his business pursuits. Earlier this week, his production studio Maximum Effort released an ad on social announcing that the company is now a minority owner of sugarless cookie brand HighKey. Yesterday it dropped another ad, this time with a Valentine’s Day theme. Both ads star an unsettling, sugar-addicted panda who sounds suspiciously like Reynolds. 

Watch the ads: They might creep you out enough to cut down your sugar intake.

Speaking of Valentine’s Day, romance can be tricky in the pandemic era. After nearly a year of navigating the dating scene in this altered reality, Tinder, Bumble and Hinge shared helpful insights that might inspire change in the future. 

Explore more stats and strategies from these apps.

Much like Peter Pan, Disney+ is flying high above many of its competitors, with its subscriber count at 94.9 million subscribers—a jump of more than 8 million since December, and double its subscriber count at this time last year. The count was announced in Disney’s quarterly earnings report, which also detailed the more modest growth of its platforms Hulu (which grew 20% year over year) and ESPN+ (which saw an 83% increase). 

The Baby Yoda Effect: Learn what factored into the streamer’s growth.

Also in TV and streaming news: 

Today at 1 p.m. ET, Adweek presents a live virtual forum for the East and Southeast Asian American community and allies, where marketing leaders from this community discuss the ongoing and recently heightened race-related incidents and what actions we can all take to overcome racism and violence. The Adweek DEI Community Town Halls serve as a place for connection, perspectives and sharing solutions we can all activate to drive real change. Learn about this event and RSVP.

More of Today’s Top News and Highlights:

You may be one of the many people who have dabbled in multilingualism with the popular app Duolingo, which now has its first, colorful campaign from Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam. The campaign’s animated spot focuses on how the app gamifies language learning to eliminate mental strain. Accompanying OOH ads also include a friendly political jab.

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Parent company Vogue International sees value in contactless experiential marketing.

Online prescriptions and on-demand vet advice cater to digitally savvy owners.

David Dobrik, 50 Cent, Amy Klobuchar, Demi Lovato, Desus Nice and the Kid Mero will also speak at the event.

His singular illustrations feature a range of celebrities.

Founding partners Carla Serrano and Neil Haymann offer a glimpse into the new 600-strong practice.

The freelance hiring platform wants to expand into higher-end job markets.