With tariffs expected to make the prices of some new clothing and handbags skyrocket, many consumers may be opting to shop secondhand instead. That could help one new resale shopping tool take off.

Phia is an online shopping tool co-founded by Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of Bill Gates, and Sophia Kianni, who roomed with Gates while they both attended Stanford. The tool, called Phia, which went live in late April, is basically “what Google Flights and Kayak and Booking.com do”—but for fashion, Kianni said. And yes, the name is a portmanteau of “Phoebe” and “Sophia.”

What exactly does Phia do? It’s an app and browser extension that promises to help users shopping for clothes online locate similar options, both new and secondhand, that are often less expensive. To make money, the company partners with retailers to offer up inventory, and then may earn a commission when users buy through Phia, a common model in the affiliate marketing world. Retail partners so far include Reformation, Abercrombie, and Prada.

We spoke to Kianni and Gates about Phia’s mission, how it’ll show up in the market, and how entrepreneurship itself factors into Phia’s branding and marketing.

Continue reading here.—JS

Netflix’s message to advertisers last week was simple: we’re getting there.

At the company’s third upfront presentation to advertisers, execs highlighted the growth of its ad-supported tier, touted new programming, including live competition series and sports—with plenty of celebrity appearances, and a performance from the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, who are the subject of a new docuseries.

But even as it showed off new capabilities, including new brand lift measurement and additional ways for advertisers to incorporate first-party and third-party data into its ad platform, some new functionalities won’t be fully available until 2026, a reminder that in the TV world, Netflix is still very new to the advertising game.

“I know you all heard us use the ‘crawl, walk, run’ analogy a million times,” Netflix president of advertising Amy Reinhard said onstage at the Perelman Performing Arts Center. “So instead, I’ll borrow a page from Drive to Survive and say that we’re pulling out a pit lane lane and we’re getting up to speed.”

Netflix’s ads plan now has more than 94 million global monthly active users, Reinhard said onstage, more than double the 40 million it had a year ago. (That figure is based on Netflix profiles, so she estimated that the number of total viewers could be as high as 170 million monthly active viewers.) Beyond that, members of Netflix’s ad plan in the US spend an average of 41 hours every month on Netflix—“about the same amount of time we spend eating and drinking,” Reinhard noted.

Netflix’s in-house advertising platform, the Netflix Ads Suite, also continues its rollout. The platform, which is live in the US and Canada, will be available in additional markets this week; by June, it should be available across all of its 12 ad-supported countries.

“The foundation of our ad business is in place,” Reinhard said. “And going forward, the pace of progress is going to be even faster.”

Read more here.—KS

When the 29th season of the WNBA tipped off on Friday, it came with a warning.

The league’s latest brand campaign, slated to run throughout the 2025 season, is a riff on the classic “viewer discretion advised” message used on content like movies and shows rated for mature audiences.

The first spot in the campaign warns that “the following footage contains dominance” before showing Las Vegas Aces center and reigning MVP A’ja Wilson scoring and blocking opponents’ shots. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier, and New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu are also featured in the first iteration of the campaign.

The campaign, called “Viewer Discretion,” is meant to highlight the deep bench of talent playing in the league this season and help establish the W’s brand positioning in the crowded sports market while driving viewership coming off of a record-breaking 2024 season, WNBA CMO Phil Cook said.

“Each one of those athletes brings a very distinctive and very unique and very amazing set of skills to the WNBA, and we’re taking this opportunity to highlight those skills…with a bit of cheekiness to it,” he told Marketing Brew.

Continue reading here.—AM

Executive moves across the industry.

• Neon hired Ryan Werner to serve as global cinema president. He previously ran his own film marketing firm, Cinetic Marketing.
• Microsoft hired marketing executive Mark D’Arcy to serve as a creative director working on Copilot AI.
• Peloton Interactive tapped FleishmanHillard vet Dianna Kraus to serve as its first chief communications officer.