Good morning. A consortium of wind and solar power companies has begun a comedic consumer ad campaign starring John Cena to increase support for renewable energy.
"People may underestimate wind and solar power," Cena says in one ad, describing industry job creation as he calmly defeats several grizzly bears in a tug-of-war. "Clean energy is big power, zero drama."
Other spots show the former (WWE) champion delivering similar messages while hang gliding with a raccoon and pummeling a large rock into a sculpture of his face.
The sector historically relied on business-to-business marketing and lobbying instead of consumer advertising, but the campaign's backers say rising electricity prices and surging demand from AI data centers have made energy a more immediate issue for U.S. households.
"This is highly unusual for us," Laura Beane, chairman of Our Energy, whose funders include Vestas North America, Pattern Energy and HASI, told me.
The ads don't invoke climate concerns or hint at hard choices.
Focus groups showed consumers "responded well to the concept of addition: more energy, more abundance, more energy independence, more jobs," said Beane, who is also president of Vestas North America.
Brunswick Group, the global advisory firm that says it specializes in high-stakes issues, created the push. It will run on streaming TV and online in eight markets including Phoenix, Denver, Pittsburgh and Baton Rouge, La., aimed at consumer segments such as "energy-security conservatives" and "steady-growth moderates" that Our Energy thinks could be receptive.
Whether the no-tradeoffs, no-turmoil theme resonates remains to be seen. The Trump administration has slowed or halted a range of renewable-energy projects and incentives, arguing in part that wind and solar are less reliable than fossil fuels, while some local governments and residents have also opposed wind farms and solar panels.
The effort also arrives during the final stretch before next month's midterm elections.
The ads don't ask Americans to "take a side or make a choice," according to Beane. "We're asking people to just reconsider what they think they already know about clean energy."
The ads will run for 45 days in what Our Energy calls a test to inform further Cena ads next year. The initial flight has a media budget of roughly $3 million, according to a person familiar with the investment.
An Influencer Reset
Danielle Bernstein, a pioneer in the business now called content creation and a serial target of online ire, is ready for a reset, Chavie Lieber writes for The Wall Street Journal.
The page she'd like to turn includes accusations that her clothing brand stole designs. Some also said her engagement party last fall functioned more as a commercial endeavor than a personal celebration, citing in part the affiliate links she posted beforehand for suggested guest attire.
The 34-year-old, who says she earned $2.8 million in 2025 from brand deals and shopping commissions, has now concluded that not everything in her personal life "needs to be a content moment." And her fashion label, WeWoreWhat, is being "mindful about not taking inspiration from other small designers."
As part of a brand overhaul this month, WeWoreWhat has teamed up with a new licensing partner. The strategy involves price hikes, higher-quality fabrics and explicit messaging about how it draws instead from luxury and vintage fashion.
"I know I made mistakes," Bernstein said. "It's part of my story. I'm not a victim of it. I was responsible for a lot of it. And I'd love to move past it."
The Magic Number
$100 million
Value of the deals between creators and brands that Dhar Mann, Advertising Week New York's first chief creator officer, wants to broker during the event currently underway.
When Less Is More
Marketers make calculations every day about which customers to pursue. Some cost more to win but promise a greater lifetime value, while others are quick to get and just as easy to lose.
It's far rarer for companies to realize they need their biggest customer to buy less.
That's the potentially awkward situation UPS CEO Carol Tomé faced when she examined the company's business with (Amazon), she recalled on the latest episode of WSJ Leadership Institute Presents: Leaders.
"We were not making money on that revenue," Tomé told Alan Murray, president of the WSJ Leadership Institute.
UPS launched a "pretty big transformation of our company" that involved halving Amazon's volume, she said.
"That's a hard thing to do," Tomé said. "It was hard for them too because they had been relying on us for this service, but we reached agreement together on the packages that made sense for our network, like returns, and the packages [that] made sense for their network."
The initiative was a "very big, scary deal" that drew a "massive amount of blowback," but UPS returned to revenue, profit and operating margin growth in the second quarter, she said.
You can watch the full conversation with Tomé on wsj.com or listen on Apple or Spotify.
Quotable
"I'm not sure it's in their brand promise to do it. It is in ours." Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol to Adweek on pledges by chains like McDonald's to reinvest in face-to-face customer service after emphasizing digital kiosks
The WSJ CMO Council Summit
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Together, they'll explore the power of participation in cultural events, social platforms, professional communities and anywhere that passionate consumers gather.
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Keep Reading
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S4 Capital's Monks says it's letting some AI agents work for 36 to 48 hours straight without anybody watching. [Digiday]