This back-to-school season, brands are getting back into the marketing groove with new creative campaigns. Catch up on all the news you need to know in our Weekly Must Reads.

You Have to See This Pepsi Campaign

After pledging last year to spend more than $400 million to support Black businesses, PepsiCo is launching a new docuseries spotlighting Black-owned restaurants. The series, called “You Have to Taste This,” includes videos that are just a few minutes long and focus on inspiring restaurant owners based throughout the country. New episodes will be released weekly on Twitter and Instagram under the handle @pepsidigin, as well as host Marcus Sauelsson’s YouTube channel.

The series has already produced four episodes, with plans to continue creating more videos in the future. Each show will highlight one restaurant, showing their signature menu item and interviewing the owner about the restaurant’s story. Find out more details on the docuseries here: https://www.mashed.com/486662/you-have-to-taste-this-release-date-episodes-and-more/

Pop-Tarts Partners with Lyrical Lemonade

In a new partnership with Lyrical Lemonade, Pop-Tarts is helping students turn their basic school supplies into branded merchandise at their Pop-Tarts x Lyrical Lemonade Experience. Using paint, patches, stickers and more, the two brands are hoping to “make that first day back amazing,” after more than a year of virtual learning, according to the founder of Lyrical Lemonade, a multimedia music company. Kids could bring in their backpacks, notebooks and folders, skateboards or even sneakers to work with artists and make creative, custom designs.

In addition to the one-day-only merchandise experience, Pop-Tarts has also released a limited-edition Lyrical Lemonade flavor of their popular toaster pastry. The packages were available at the Experience and can also be purchased on Lyrical Lemonade’s website. Check out all the details about the partnership here: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pop-tarts-is-partnering-with-lyrical-lemonade-to-transform-back-to-school-basics-into-crazy-good-gear-301342769.html

Reese’s Puffs Launches New AR Campaign

Cereal brands have used product packaging to engage with consumers for years, but Reese’s Puffs is taking the strategy to new heights – or should we say notes? The brand has created three limited-edition cereal boxes that mimic a synthesizer and connect with a web-based augmented reality platform to make music via smartphone. The three different designs can be used together to create layered tracks, and users can even create Reese’s brand-inspired music videos to share their musical creations on social media. In addition, Reese’s Puffs is releasing a real branded synthesizer that they plan to send to notable musicians and top fans.

Reese’s Puffs developed the campaign to bridge physical and digital worlds without using experiential marketing tactics that are still slow to return due to the pandemic. Reese’s Puffs also hopes to inspire repeat purchases for customers looking to collect all three “instruments” and create more complete songs. See the cereal box synthesizers for yourself here: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/reeses-puffs-turns-cereal-boxes-into-ar-synthesizers/604676/

P&G Becomes World’s Biggest Advertiser (Again)

According to recent data from Ad Age, Procter & Gamble will likely reclaim their throne as the biggest advertiser in the world. P&G had previously held the title for decades before being dethroned by Samsung in 2017 and Amazon in 2019. However, Amazon’s ad spend dropped by 1 percent between 2019 and 2020, while P&G’s rose by 7 percent for a total of $11.5 billion spent in 2020. The report from Ad Age will be finalized over the next couple months before being officially published this December.

While Amazon will remain in second place for now, experts expect them to make a comeback in 2021 and beyond. 2020 was only the fourth year on record that Amazon reported a decline in annual ad spending, and the online retailer has seen skyrocketing sales over the last year. Get more information on Ad Age’s research and the upcoming rankings here: https://adage.com/article/datacenter-top-line-stats/were-calling-it-procter-gamble-dethrones-amazon-worlds-biggest-advertiser/2357166