The growth in the US electric vehicle market may be slowing, but that isn’t stopping Slate Auto, a startup backed by investors including LA Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter and Jeff Bezos, from coming out strong.

Marketing Brew chatted with Slate’s head of brand and marketing, Ben Whitla, about the company’s marketing, which it’s rolling out amid slowing growth in the domestic EV market. The startup’s marketing, Whitla said, is designed to emphasize Slate’s personalization options and its lower price point in an effort to appeal to more cost-conscious consumers.

While the company has often been compared to other EV outfits that sell pricey cars, like Tesla and Rivian, Whitla said Slate’s pricing is more on par with used cars: an uncustomized Slate EV can cost less than $20,000 with the federal EV tax credit; without it, the price is around $27,500. That could stand to change with the Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill,” which could gut those incentives and has already been passed by the House. (It’s now headed to the Senate.)

If incentives are indeed erased, Slate will still be “well-positioned in the US with a strong proposition of value, safety, and customization,” Whitla wrote in an email.

The company still plans to begin production in 2026 on the vehicles, which, when uncustomized, are relatively bare-bones: slate grey and with no radio. Customers can pay more to customize the vehicles with features like wraps and SUV kits.

“Being an electric vehicle is probably the least interesting thing about our car,” he said. “What makes us interesting is our personalization and our affordability.”

Continue reading here.—JS

Ever since the Netflix docuseries Drive to Survive helped skyrocket the popularity of Formula 1 in the US, other sports organizations have been trying to replicate the effect.

That now includes F1 Academy, the women’s F1 racing championship, which is getting the Netflix treatment with a docuseries that premiered late last month.

As part of its official sponsorship with F1 and F1 Academy, American Express is working with the organization, Netflix, and Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine, which produced the docuseries, to promote F1: The Academy while offering cardmembers access to content and experiences around the sport, as many American Express sponsorships aim to do.

Ideally, the growth of the show and the brand will go hand in hand, American Express VP of Global Media Jill Hamilton said.

“We hope for an amplifying effect in terms of our investment here [creating] more viewership and more interest in the show, more broadly fueling our mission to back F1A and the drivers,” she told Marketing Brew.

Read more here.—AM

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Paula Veale is chief marketing and communications officer at The Ad Council, where she has spent most of her career. She has also served on numerous boards, including The Ad Club of New York’s ANDY Committee, The American Cancer Society of New York’s Communications and Marketing Advisory Committee, and the Advisory Committee of The Strang Cancer Prevention Center’s Child Health Initiative.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? There are so many campaigns that I love. Our “Adoption from Foster Care” campaign uses heart and humor to inspire prospective parents to welcome children and teens into their families. The campaign has helped more than one million children find loving homes. We also just launched our “Agree to Agree” campaign that tackles youth gun violence by highlighting common ground and mutual understanding. And “Don’t Wait. Reach Out” encourages veterans to seek help and support when struggling with mental health, reminding them that reaching out is a sign of strength. The campaign has saved so many lives.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: My deep connection to New Hampshire—the best state in the country! With its tiny 13 miles of coastline, my home state has a special place in my heart. I love bringing a bit of New Hampshire’s free spirit into my work.

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Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Meta is in talks to invest in AI startup Scale AI in a deal that could be worth more than $10 billion, per Bloomberg.
• Venmo teamed up with White Lotus stars Aimee Lou Wood and Patrick Schwarzenegger for a new campaign.
• Invisalign released its first campaign with Patrick Mahomes after announcing a multiyear deal with the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback earlier this year.
• The Trade Desk is partnering with TV-measurement company EDO to integrate EDO’s measurement tech with The Trade Desk’s programmatic platform.