Back in February, marketers told us influencers could start showing up in Super Bowl ads more and more. TBD if influencers will appear in Super Bowl 2023, but they’re already making commercial debuts during another TV staple.

• On July 11, during the premiere of ABC’s reality dating show The Bachelorette, two former contestants-turned-influencers appeared in a Maybelline ad: Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt, an engaged couple who met on the franchise’s steamy summer spinoff Bachelor in Paradise.
• The spot shows Pitt talking into her phone camera, pretending to make a social media ad for a Maybelline foundation…which is ironic being that she’s actually making a TV ad for the same company. Another bit of irony: Amabile thinks she’s talking about how great he is, but the viewer knows she’s actually describing Maybelline, ostensibly her other great love.

Marketing Brew sat down with Andrea Muguerza, Maybelline’s VP of marketing, face makeup, to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on the ad, which the couple also posted on Instagram.

Seeing double: While Maybelline was the only brand that paid for the TV spot, it was kind of an ad for The Bachelorette, too. This Disney ad inventory type is called an “outegration,” Muguerza explained, meaning that the Maybelline team knew the ad would promote both its product and the show.

Act natural: Pitt ended up shooting influencer content in the ad because the Maybelline team wanted to show her doing something “natural to her,” or that she’d be comfortable doing in real life. “That is a very natural kind of behavior for her to be doing,” Muguerza said.

Joe loves a slogan: Muguerza joked that on set, Amabile kept singing the brand’s classic “Maybe it’s Maybelline” jingle, despite the tagline being retired in 2014. (Fun fact: The brand brought it back in 2020 as a TikTok challenge).

Read the full story here.—PB

Whether we’re in a recession seems to be…up for debate at the moment. Regardless, some are speculating that a recession could be the very thing that helps companies force workers back to the office.

Last week, we asked Marketing Brew readers who are already working from the office in some capacity to let us know what they like and don’t like. Responses were mixed, but a few themes bubbled up.

The good: Some said going to the office, even just for a few days a week, has its perks.

• “The downside of the office is always going to be the commute, but the increase in work-life balance being in the office creates for me is often worth it,” said a reader who’s going in three days a week. “When I leave the office to go home, I’ve been leaving my computer there and fully shutting off, which is something I rarely do on days when I’m working at home.”
• “In-person also just allows for more active and spontaneous problem-solving or creative thinking,” a marketer who’s going in two days per week told us. “It’s easier to talk through a problem with people at your table rather than stew on it alone or needing to set up a formal meeting when everyone is free, four days from now.”
• “It’s easier to train new employees as a manager, especially when the work is more creative and less autonomous,” a third said.

The bad: It’s not all free coffee and post-work happy hours. Several told us reasons why they aren’t loving office mandates, including “losing some of our best workers to fully remote or hybrid companies,” commuting, and not having as much time in the day to get other stuff done, like “taking your dog out for a walk.”—MS

Fashion influencer Dani Loftus shares her latest outfit on Instagram: It’s a shimmering pink evening gown with LED lights glowing on her bustier, she stands in front of a gate with a Great Dane wearing a similar fit, which makes it a real-life twin of Jeff Koons’s iconic sculpture of a balloon dog.

• Her futuristic outfit, more ideal for the Met Gala’s red carpet than walking a 100-pound dog, doesn’t even exist in the real world.
• It’s a virtual outfit designed and rendered in 3D and then superimposed on the photo. She has an impressive wardrobe of digital clothes, from a liquid dress with patterns that change in real time to a winged ball gown that resembles the famous sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike.
• Loftus calls her digital couture phy-gital, meaning digital clothes worn by humans, and she believes they’re the next frontier of fashion.

These garments are designed and manufactured in the digital world: They are virtual renderings of clothes that don’t exist in the physical realm. Using AR technology, people can wear virtual clothes in real time and move and pose with them on.

But it’s not yet highly accessible tech: Digital fashion blurs the boundaries between social media and the metaverse, shifting the concept of an immersive, imaginative space. Loftus’s fashions aren’t simply Photoshopped, but closer to the skins culture from games like Fortnite taken to another level.

It’s not just Loftus working in digital wearables—iconic fashion houses like Gucci and Balenciaga have started designing virtual clothes.

Read the full story on Morning Brew.—SQ

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Sosh meeds: If you’re a social media manager hunting for a new job, these are the most in-demand skill sets for your role right now.

SEO: If one of your three wishes on a magic lamp included a Google Business Profiles (GBP) expert telling you how to optimize your GBP posts, you’re in luck.

TikTok: Here’s how to set up the illustrious TikTok pixel.

Data-driven: Forecast, model, and visualize performance data so you grow that budget. The Brew’s Business Analytics Accelerator starts Sept. 6. Don’t miss your chance to run circles around the finance team!

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Catch up on a few Marketing Brew stories you might have missed.

• Podcasts are testing out-of-home ads to reach broader audiences
• Meta reveals earnings after a tough week for Instagram
• Small businesses are seeing organic success on TikTok