Holiday Ads Have Started; Learn About Influencer Marketing: Friday's First Things First

Welcome to First Things First, Adweek’s new daily resource for marketers. We’ll be publishing the content to First Things First on Adweek.com each morning (like this post), but if you prefer that it come straight to your inbox, you can sign up for the email here. Cost Plus Kicks Off the Holiday Season Early While Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes, jack-o'-lantern carving and apple picking are ushering in the fall season, Cost Plus is getting a jump on holiday advertising. What's next? Christmas in July? Well the home specialty store used just the right amount of sappiness to make it alright. Read more: BarrettSF creates a tearjerker with Cost Plus ahead of the holiday season. How to Effectively Use Influencers We've covered influencer marketing in an endless amount of ways, from what brands should consider ahead of partnering with an influencer to what influencers can teach brands about community management. Now, Adweek, in partnership with IBM Watson Advertising, has created a complimentary course on emerging marketing technology called the Institute of Brand Marketing. The latest lesson covers everything marketers need to know about influencer marketing. Read more: Each lesson takes 10-15 minutes to complete, and so far we've covered topics like machine learning, location-based marketing, influencers and so much more. Rothy's Won't Chase Trends—It's Making Them There are shoes and then there are Rothy's shoes. With less than a decade in the game, the direct-to-consumer, sustainable footwear brand has already rolled out a national television campaign and launched (and un-launched) a new silhouette. Now armed with new collections, the brand is setting itself up for long-term success. Read more: How Rothy's is moving beyond the flat that made it famous. Apple, Google and Amazon Remain Top Brands While Facebook Falls Global consultancy Interbrand has unveiled its annual list of best global brands and it's no surprise that Apple took the top spot. But after a year of bad press, maybe it's also no surprise that Facebook fell out of the top 10. What you may find surprising is the brand that took its place. Read more: The annual list of who's who in the 100 best global brands. Just Briefly: The Rest of Today’s Top Insights and News How Will Airlines Handle the Return of Boeing’s 737 Max 8? Arnold Splits With CEO Kiran Smith After 15 Months AT&T’s Xandr Prepares to Buy Clypd from RTL Ad of the Day: The ‘Quietest Library on Earth’ Faces a Noisy Coup in Design Army’s Stylish New Spot [kickout id="1"] There will be no chitter chatter in this sanctuary of silence. No clicking pens or clacking heels or, god forbid, coughing fits. This is, after all, the Quietest Library on Earth. Adweek Executive Mentor Program Interested in learning from some of the brightest minds in marketing like Adobe evp and CMO Anne Lewnes, General Mills CBO, North America, Brad Hiranaga and EA CMO Chris Bruzzo? Apply to be a mentee today. How does your company set up mentorships? Lisa Rodriguez, chief talent officer, Havas Media US We have both 1:1 mentorship as well a group mentorship programs. We call it SAGE, which is an acronym for: S - Supporting Others A - Accelerating your skills G- Growing personally and professionally E- Excelling in your career SAGE mentorship is a group mentorship program that drives rich learning & development for both mentors and mentees. We support both 1:1 mentoring and a group mentorship environment where several mentees are paired with a leader. The mentees not only gain mentorship advice from the leader, they also learn from other mentees who may bring forth different questions. Marc S. Strachan, chairman, Adcolor The ADCOLOR Futures program: Each year, as Chairman, I take on at least one Adcolor Futures participant as a mentor for a one year period. I ask each of my fellow Board members to do the same. We also have an Adcolor Advisory Board which serves as a development ground for potential future board members. It also provides a space for up and coming managers to showcase their leadership talents and fine-tune their marketing chops.