Welcome to Chronically Online, your weekly roundup of the boldest brand moves and the trends taking over your feed. This week, the Grinch is everywhere, Liquid Death sneaks into a blockbuster, Amazon unveils its AI ad hub, and Unilever rewrites the sports-marketing playbook. Let’s dive into what the internet talked about this week.
🎄 McDonald’s Lets the Grinch Take Over
McDonald’s is rewriting holiday chaos with its Grinch-led takeover: A Grinch-themed meal with strategic paid placements on Hulu and Roku holiday hubs, Spotify playlists, and during NFL and NBA games. The campaign leans into mischief, disruption and festive frenzy. The Grinch isn’t just crashing the holidays; he’s running the show.
🎯 Unilever Levels Up Sports Marketing
Unilever is nearly doubling its U.S. sports-marketing spend and shifting its approach from one-to-many broadcast to “many-to-many” social playbooks. From a mock training camp with Marshawn Lynch and Trinity Rodman, to viral activations for brands like Dove Men+Care, the CPG giant is activating on meta-moments where sports, culture and commerce collide.
🥃 Johnnie Walker Reboots Keep Walking
Johnnie Walker is giving its iconic “Keep Walking” platform a fresh spin, shifting from communal progress to personal expression. The new 30-second spot celebrates individual journeys: “Keep dreaming, keep searching, keep trusting,” after sifting through 97 million social mentions to find what today’s drinker really values.
💚 Another Brand, Another Grinch: WhoKnewVille?
Walmart is joining the Grinch-verse with its “WhoKnewVille” holiday campaign, the second major brand to go green this season. Actor Walton Goggins stars as the mischievous Grinch, taking over Times Square billboards, popping up in NFL broadcasts, and fronting Black Friday deals in a full Dr. Seuss–inspired world.
💥 Liquid Death Breaks Into the Big Screen
Water brand Liquid Death just landed a spot inside The Running Man, think product placement meets cinematic cameo in this thrill-ride reboot. It’s another example of how the brand uses unexpected channels to avoid the marketing noise and punch straight into culture.
🧠 Amazon Builds the Ad Hub of the Future
Amazon is unveiling an AI-powered, unified advertising platform that integrates sponsored ads, its DSP, CTV and full-funnel campaigns into a single hub. With its “Ads Agent” and “Creative Agent,” Amazon aims to automate media planning, creative production and optimization, promising a streamlined buy for marketers and agencies.
💫 More Trends, Less FOMO
Want the tea before it hits the timeline? Subscribe to our newsletter for monthly drops of trend forecasts, viral campaigns, and the digital moments our team can’t stop talking about.