When AJ Cartas and his boyfriend broke up, they had a lot to think about. Beyond the normal logistics, like who keeps the apartment or the cat, Cartas and his partner had to figure out something slightly more complicated: what to do about their upcoming brand deals.

“We had a few brand deals coming up. One was already in progress,” Cartas told Marketing Brew. “We were still getting inbounds after we broke up.”

It’s a problem that more than a few marketers have run into. After all, brands contract couples to double-team content rather than tapping individual influencers all the time—and they do it for a reason.

• “In general, brands love couples because their engagement rate and analytics tend to be much higher as fans love to follow their relationship,” Lori Krebs, who runs her own PR firm that works with many influencers, such as Bachelor Nation’s Hannah Godwin and Dylan Barbour, told us.

So what’s a marketer to do when cupid’s arrow shatters her influencer marketing plans? In the past, marketers and influencers have responded in a multitude of ways, from postponing the breakup post to get through brand deals to using an agency to swap couples.

Just keep swimming: Cartas told us that when he and his partner broke up, they finished the brand deals they’d already committed to, declining any new inbounds. Only then, when their existing contracts were fulfilled, did they announce their breakup to their thousands of combined followers.

• Apparently, it’s a common move. “They’ll fake that they’re still together to get through the deal,” Matt Zuvella, VP of marketing at influencer talent agency FamePick, explained. Krebs said she’d seen this happen before, too, where the couple waited “a week or two” to announce their breakup in order to finish out deals.

Others take a different approach. Keep reading here.—PB

Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown, already in the testing stage, is officially coming to more markets in 2023—at the exact same moment as the streamer’s anticipated ad-supported tier is set to arrive.

Coincidence? We think not.

Win-win: The company is pursuing its ad-supported tier and its password-sharing shift “independently” in an effort to better monetize subscribers, Netflix COO and CPO Greg Peters told investors during the company’s most recent earnings call.

• But applying economic pressure to households that share their log-in information far and wide may come with the added bonus of building out the service’s ad-supported audience.
• There are “a range of folks who may be borrowing Netflix because they didn’t quite see as much value from the entertainment and the viewing,” Peters told investors.
• One way or another, Netflix wants to convert those people into paid customers—and motivating people to sign up for their own accounts will likely be made easier if Netflix can direct them straight into an ad-supported tier that costs less.

“What’s great about ads is that obviously we get to give folks that are seeing a little bit less value a lower price and be able to convince more of them to sign up through that ads plan,” Peters said.

Looking ahead: That could make all the difference as the company builds out an ad-supported tier and looks to do it quickly and effectively.

“If you’re going to start to tighten things up, now you’ve given people choices,” Eric Schmitt, research director and analyst at Gartner, told Marketing Brew. “You can pay a few dollars more and get legit. If it’s too much money, you can dial back to the ad-supported version.”

Building an ad-supported tier comes with challenges, though. Keep reading here.—KS

Each Tuesday, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Kayla Quock is director of content marketing at Traackr, an influencer marketing platform.

How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in marketing? TBH, I just say I write stuff. In a little more detail, I identify hot trends among influencers and tell stories about successful collabs so brands can improve their marketing programs.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? Every quarter, we put together a report called the “State of Influence,” where we use data about influencer content from our platform to identify top influencer marketing programs and analyze strategies, trends, and influencer behaviors that other brands can learn from. I love working on this project because it’s such a clear value-add for our customers, prospects, and teammates, and it’s personally really interesting to do such a deep dive on our industry.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? This is a bit of an old one, but it really stuck with me: Hinge’s 2019 campaign, “Designed to Be Deleted,” where they showed their mascot getting killed off in a bunch of different ways. It was playful and funny while also showing a deep understanding of their audience’s desires (no one wants to have a dating app forever!).

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? Immersive marketing tactics—both physical and virtual. Physical: Target’s collab with Ulta Beauty and how they have created “discovery zones” in their beauty sections. It’s meant to echo the feeling you have when you go into Trader Joe’s and walk down every aisle so you can discover a new and interesting snack (and it works). Virtual: AR try-ons, metaverse, and livestreaming.

Least optimistic: hot take, but, NFTs in the beauty industry. I think they will work for other industries, but [I] don’t see them lasting in the beauty world. Makeup is tactile; folks like it because it helps them highlight features that they love or transform themselves into art. It’s not something that you buy to just put on a shelf—digital or otherwise.

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? I love this newsletter called Cut the Crap. They do a monthly write-up that details bullshit-versus-brilliant marketing strategies…I literally read the whole thing every time (and it’s not short).

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

Tag, you’re it: Twitter is adding hashtags to its Communities tab to help facilitate conversation discovery.

Handling it: If you’re making a new business social account, here are some best practices when it comes to creating the best handle you can.

Mark your cals: Google parent Alphabet is set to report quarterly earnings this afternoon, which may provide a glimpse into the broader digital ad market.

Stay connected: With Customer Link, you can build on existing customer data to improve targeting, increase engagement, and build better relationships with your customers. Find out how.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Still searching for that dream job? Go check out the Marketing Brew Job Board today!

Today’s featured openings:

• Associate Branded Content Writer, Finance + Crypto at Morning Brew
• Social Media Strategist at Caliber Corporate Advisers
• Account Executive at The Evoke Agency

We are looking to chat with hiring managers and job posters—let us know if we can contact you here! You can also see more jobs or post your job opportunities here.

With the iPod being phased out, let’s pour one out for the long-running marketing campaign for the product in which black silhouettes were displayed dancing and grooving using the portable MP3 players. Which song was the first to be featured in the long-running campaign?

1. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem
2. “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet
3. “Hey, Mama” by the Black Eyed Peas
4. “Walkie Talkie Man” by Steriogram

Keep scrolling for the answer.

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

• So you want to bring a product back?
• Hunting for uncluttered ad space? Some brands are looking up
• New buzzword: Fractional CMO