LeBron James’ son Bronny has an underwear deal—and other marketing winners (and losers) of the week

This week's winners, losers and newsmakers.

Winners

Planet Fitness: The health club chain is winning with Gen Z. People born between 1997 and 2012 were the fastest-growing demographic group for memberships, CNBC reported this week. Momentum started when Gen Zers “flocked to its fitness centers last year as school activities and sports leagues were temporarily paused,” CNBC reported, citing comments from CEO Chris Rondeau.

Bronny James: LeBron James’ son is showing the marketing instincts of his dad at an early age. The high school hooper signed a deal that will result in his own collection with underwear brand PSD. He will work with the brand’s design team on apparel sold this spring at outlets including Champs, Hibbett Sports, Snipes and online at psdunderwear.com. His pappa tweeted his approval.

Losers

L’Oreal Paris: The brand is the target of a federal lawsuit filed earlier this week claiming it misleads consumers into believing the products are made in Paris, when they’re really made in Arkansas. The complaint said the lead plaintiff “relied on the prominently placed ‘Paris’ label on the front of the package and did not notice or read the fine print” disclosing products were made in the U.S. or Canada. Should this force a name change to, say, L’Oreal North Little Rock, it probably would hurt sales. But it seems unlikely. Next thing you know, we’ll learn that Anastasia Beverly Hills products really aren’t made in Beverly Hills (actually, they’re made in China, Germany, etc.). A L’Oreal spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Estee Lauder: The cosmetics maker suspended a top executive, John Demsey, in response to an Instagram post he made that contained a racial slur. Bloomberg News has more.

CNN: Here’s one way to piss off an advertiser: Run a lighthearted spot adjacent to war coverage. That is the unforced error CNN made this week when it ran a picture-in-picture Applebee’s ad during coverage of Russia’s Ukraine invasion. Applebee’s reacted by pausing its ad buys on the news network.

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Tweet of the week

Number of the week

30,000: How many pieces of fruit and vegetables snack-bar company Kind gave away in a pop-up farmer’s market in New York on Feb. 23 and 24 as part of a promotion meant to remind consumers that its bars are “second best” to the fresh ingredients they are made from. The campaign will continue with the introduction of a fresh food box containing fruits, seeds and Kind bars to be sold over the company’s website. To encourage trial, the brand is suspending sales of all other items on the site on March 1 and 2.

Quote of the week

“Decision-makers within sports, not just in Europe, but across the world are engaging in partnerships without sufficient due diligence. But also without sufficient risk assessment. Call it naivety, and I would more rudely call this ignorance within sport. Or maybe it’s just blindness.”—Simon Chadwick, director of the Centre for Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business, told Sportico in a story about how major sporting events slated to be held in Russia are being canceled in reaction to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Some $500 million worth of deals could be at risk, Sportico reports.

On the move

Uber global CMO Thomas Ranese has left the company. He joined in 2019 from Google.  David Mogensen, previously head of marketing in EMEA, has taken over leadership of the global marketing team, the company confirmed.

Contributing: Jack Neff, Jon Springer

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