Adweekly: ADWEEK's Hot List 2024
Welcome to Adweekly, the LinkedIn newsletter giving you an inside look at the advertising industry. Each edition will highlight some of Adweek's most important stories from the past week to help marketers, agency leaders, creatives and publishers better understand the industry they work in. By senior media reporter Mark Stenberg
Good morning, and welcome back to Adweekly.
This week, ADWEEK rolled out its 2024 Hot List awards, celebrating the most relevant people, brands and products of the last year.
The awards are split into three categories—television, technology and media—and feature a number of in-depth profiles for winners of key awards, including TV Executive of the Year, Digital & Tech Executive of the Year and Media Executive of the Year.
But if you only get the chance to read one story, check out the ADWEEK 2024 Media Visionary of the Year, Rob McElhenney. McElhenney, who became a household name thanks to his 16 seasons on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, has parlayed his fame into a budding media empire.
Alongside his hit Hulu series Welcome to Wrexham, investment in F1 and spirits company Four Walls Whiskey, McElhenney recently launched a full-service media and creative firm, More Better Industries.
Michael Kassan Out at MediaLink, Accuses Owner UTA of Fraud and Breach of Contract
The media industry was rocked Wednesday by the news that MediaLink founder Michael Kassan had been ousted from the company he founded by UTA, which acquired the firm in 2021.
Dueling accounts of what exactly transpired quickly emerged: One, from Kassan himself, alleged that UTA had reneged on core components of their contract. The other, from UTA, alleged that Kassan had misused company funds to pay personal debts, house his chauffeur and buy designer handbags for associates.
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The story is still developing, but the defenestration is bound to have ramifications for Cannes, over which Kassan presided as its unofficial ambassador, as well as the broader future of the kind of influence-peddling upon which Kassan built his empire.
Exclusive: How Jimmy Kimmel Pulled Off Surprise Tequila Shots at the Oscars
The biggest advertising event of the last week was the Oscars on Sunday night, and the most talked-about viral moment of the night was a pseudo-improvised brand integration involving host Jimmy Kimmel, tequila brand Don Julio and “surprised” Best Actor nominee Colman Domingo.
In the bit, which had Kimmel taking a tequila shot on stage, Rodriguez toasted the nominees, calling them by the wrong names and ending with a salute to his “beautiful wife,” a flabbergasted Charlize Theron.
But it turns out the surprise was not at all unplanned.
ADWEEK learned that Domingo was aware of the bit ahead of time, and following the moment, guests in the venue were treated to an exclusive first sip of the new Don Julio 1942 Tequila 50-milliliter offering, a new, seven-inch-tall bottle that is available for presale starting this weekend.
The integration was also accompanied by a 60-second spot from Diageo’s “Por Amor” campaign, with the Don Julio parent company showcasing the new bottles on a global stage.