Welcome to First Things First, Adweek's New Daily Resource

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek's first written daily newsletter. First Things First won't just be a roundup of the latest advertising, marketing and media news—we'll provide context around that news, as well as highlight the in-depth analysis pieces we publish daily. Additionally, we'll share the best piece of creative each day, because, after all, we're Adweek, and what's an Adweek newsletter if we're not highlighting what makes advertising great?

In each newsletter, we'll also include a section designed to help you do your job better. We're sharing tips on career development and workplace strategy from everyone from CCOs to junior copywriters. If you're interested in participating in this section, drop me an email at jameson.fleming@adweek.com. Today, you'll hear from execs at multicultural agencies Alma and Orcí about having tough conversations with clients about diversity and inclusion.

We'll also use First Things First to highlight distinctive parts of your businesses to showcase the diverse opportunities across the brand marketing ecosystem. In today's edition, we're spotlighting the in-house creative unit for the Miami Heat, which is a unique offering in the NBA.

Each newsletter will end with a list of top stories from Adweek.com.

To celebrate the first week of First Things First, we have a special offer for readers: Subscribe to Adweek for just $6 for 12 weeks. (The membership contains perks like access to all of our content and archives, exclusive industry reports and admission to invite-only events.) Click here to take advantage of the deal and check out all of the benefits of becoming a member.

Meet the authors of First Things First:
Jameson Fleming is Adweek's chief of staff; he oversees the day-to-day execution of Adweek's editorial strategy. Previously Jameson oversaw Adweek's Trending section in the magazine and served as a web editor of Adweek's online content. He's known around the Adweek office as the guy who wears meat sweats.

Kimeko McCoy is the meme-obsessed social media editor at Adweek, where she works across verticals and platforms to reach the social masses. In addition to sending the occasional viral tweet, Kimeko writes for Adweek print and digital, co-hosts the podcast Yeah, That's Probably an Ad with David Griner, and moderates Adweek's Twitter chat every Wednesday at 2 pm. She's also the proud parent of a senior citizen lab-dachshund mix named Luxy.

Amazon is reportedly developing clean room technology to help its advertisers better understand the impact of their spend on consumer behavior—and shine a light on previously undisclosed performance metrics. A clean room enables platforms and brands to combine, analyze and attribute aggregated first-party data and platform-side audience data in a privacy-centric way. For advertisers using Amazon, this could be a game-changer and allow the ecommerce giant to better compete with Google's and Facebook's ad businesses. Reporter Lisa Lacy explains what advertisers need to know about the new technology.

In the latest issue of Adweek magazine, reporters Patrick Kulp and Minda Smiley wrote stories about how agencies are leaning into artificial intelligence. Kulp's piece explains how agencies are opening up AI divisions to do everything from improving their workflows to creating chatbots and voice apps. Smiley's story looks at copywriting and why creatives should view AI as a tool to make the practice more efficient instead of as technology that will replace copywriters.

After a gunman killed 22 people at Walmart last month, the retailer has decided to stop selling certain types of ammunition, handguns in Alaska and banned open carry of firearms in states where it is legal. The retailer previously banned video game displays, which drew the ire of protesters and teacher unions for targeting the wrong cause of mass shootings.

Previously, Dick's Sporting Goods made sweeping changes to its gun policies and saw lifts in brand perception (Walmart also saw gains in brand perception at the same time after raising the minimum age to purchase a firearm).

One couple. Two very different dreams.

In its newest campaign for Britain's Barclaycard, agency Droga5 London tells charmingly parallel tales of a scenario that might sound familiar: patiently enduring a loved one's favorite activity while thinking of where you'd rather be.

So are you more of a music festival twirler or a no-holds-barred wrestling superfan? Either way, this campaign's got you covered.

Join Burger King, Vans, jetBlue, and more as we gather to transform the way brands influence the world. Join the Movement at Brandweek, Nov. 3-6 in Palm Springs, CA.

When the NBA rolled out a “City Edition” uniform for each franchise in 2017-18, only one team didn’t rely on Nike to create it. The Miami Heat’s in-house creative team, which informally goes by name Miami HEAT Creative, designed its Vice uniforms, with its Sunset version (pictured above) being the first pink threads in NBA history. For two consecutive seasons, the Heat ranked as the top-selling franchise for its “City Edition” uniforms, breaking sales records for the team and winning awards for the design.

About 20 people make up the Miami Heat’s in-house team, which Lorenzo Butler, the Heat’s director, business communications, describes as the architects of the Heat’s “visual identity.” It features a variety of different roles, including copywriting, design, animation, video and project managers. The in-house team handles everything from designing uniforms to creating fully integrated marketing campaigns and building out the merchandise collection for the in-house apparel brand, Court Culture. He added that no other NBA franchise currently as an in-house design team with as much responsibility as the Heat’s.

Marina Filippelli, chief operating officer and director of client services, Orcí

Marketing is full of uncomfortable conversations. As a Latinx and a woman, I’m all too familiar with these and have actually learned to enjoy them. Uncomfortable conversations can sometimes be where you learn the most, and I hope that, as an industry, we continue to face them, head on. Here are a few tips:

1. Come armed with facts, not feelings. Uncomfortable conversations tend to bring out our passionate sides, and, while standing up for what you believe in can be an asset, defending your point of view without the necessary research and factual backup is not.

2. Listen to the response. All too often when we are faced with an uncomfortable conversation, we focus on convincing and not on listening to the other point of view. Even if you don’t agree with the perspective, listening to it will enable you to do a better job addressing objections.

3. Take your time. If it’s a truly uncomfortable conversation, it must be important, and important things take time to resolve. Look for small wins and push on from there.

Luis Miguel Messianu, creative chairman, CEO, Alma

1. Make them comfortable with the fact that there are a few unknowns and misconceived ideas around this topic.

2. Make sure clients understand that ultimately they and their brands are the ones who benefit from a business standpoint from a more inclusive employee base and from a more effective approach towards multicultural marketing. It must go beyond efficiencies and synergies and truly leverage the power of emotion and culture, creating more relevancy for their brands. It’s important for companies and brands to “walk the talk!”

As media orgs diversify revenue, what does that mean for staff?

The spot comes from Richmond indie agency Arts & Letters Creative Co.

Brands need to know about the consumers in their stores.

And strike fear into the hearts of CPG giants.