The girlies are all in on Oura rings. Now, the wellness-tracking wearables brand is hoping Tom Cruise can help get the boys on board, too.

Ahead of Mission Impossible —The Final Reckoning’s Memorial Day weekend premiere, the fitness tech brand ran an adrenaline-filled campaign featuring exclusive stunt footage from the film in partnership with Paramount Studios. The spot shows main character Ethan Hunt, played by Cruise, climbing out of a biplane mid-flight as part of one of the most daring stunts out of the film, alongside messaging about the Oura ring’s ability to help track stress.

The ad appeared in 15- and 30-second versions that primarily aired on national broadcast TV with additional social support throughout the first three weeks of May leading up to the movie’s record-breaking release.

The partnership marked the first time Oura, a 12-year-old company, had waded into the movie marketing waters, Doug Sweeny, CMO, told us. But the partnership wasn’t just about tapping into an iconic franchise—it was aimed at helping Oura further resonate with men.

“We’ve had amazing growth on the women’s side of the business through our women’s health product,” Sweeny said. “Our men’s business is growing as well, but we wanted to put a finer point on that, and have a dedicated effort in this window of time in the spring to really focus on the male target overall.”

Continue reading here.—JN

You won’t see the New York Knicks or the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA Finals this year, but you will see ESPN’s new DTC streaming service.

During Game 1 on Thursday night, the Disney-owned company aired its first ad teasing the new product, which will be called, simply, ESPN. The spot, titled “Sports Forever,” is meant to spotlight the storied history of ESPN as a cable brand while raising awareness of the new service, particularly among younger viewers, SVP of Marketing Jo Fox said.

“When you think about media sports brands, there’s very few that can say that they have been with fans for over four decades,” Fox told Marketing Brew. “We’re in an increasingly competitive environment, and we thought, ‘Let’s look back, as we looked at our brand and our heritage.’”

Superfan: The ad opens on a scene of two people watching TV in a living room with overlay text that reads “Fall 1979, the first ESPN broadcast.” While some of the shots that follow include sports stars like Jalen Hurts, Rory McIlroy, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the spot is largely focused on fans, a decision that hinged on the insight that “sports fans are sports fans for life,” said Sinan Dagli, ECD of ESPN’s agency partner Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners.

“The most important thing for us was telling the story of sports fandom through ESPN, because it’s not just watching,” Dagli said. “It’s fantasy football, it’s notifications, and [it’s] being part of that full fandom, and not just being a passive spectator.”

Read more here.—AM

Shopify is expanding its AI ecosystem, moving beyond the basics like using AI for content generation, and is rolling out new AI tools and upgrades to better support merchants throughout their journey.

This new AI strategy begins with the launch of Horizon, Shopifyʼs new theme architecture that comes with built-in AI, and controls how an online Shopify store looks and feels. Plus, there is a new AI Store Builder that will take keyword prompts within Horizon to create a new store design for sellers quickly. Shopify is also releasing a new Knowledge Base App or Shopifyʼs version of a backend support box for sellers to use when they are working with agentic AI assistants. These tools launched for merchants last month as part of Shopifyʼs “Edition” release, a biannual showcase of product launches and improvements from the past six months.

Sidekick, Shopifyʼs AI-powered conversational consultant for merchants, also gets a big step up with voice chat and screen share functionality, enabling merchants to interact with the platform using voice commands.

Overall, Shopify’s new AI tools suggest the tech giant is aiming to reduce the overall cost of running an e-commerce store at a time when potential recession risks and tariffs are pressuring merchants to raise prices, Mark William Lewis, founder of e-commerce agency Netalico, which helps brands set up on Shopify, told Retail Brew. “The focus is on eliminating those cost barriers and making it simpler and easier to run your Shopify store,” Lewis said.

“We’re already in a post-AI version of Shopify,” Vanessa Lee, VP of product who oversees Shopifyʼs AI efforts, told Retail Brew.

Read more on Retail Brew.—VC

Before influencers and viral TikToks, Napoleon Dynamite rewrote the indie marketing playbook by turning free screenings into a nationwide event and building one of the earliest online fan communities. Discover how bold, unconventional tactics created a cult hit and forever changed how indie films find their audience.