On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…Personalized promo codes, paid search keywords, and gift guides in a pear tree. Or something like that.

By early fall, affiliate marketers tell us that most holiday marketing plans should be set or nearly set given things like publisher inventory scarcity and influencer calendars filling up.

“[Affiliate’s] not like a social or email campaign that you can get out a couple days before Black Friday or Cyber Monday,” Marshall Nyman, founder and CEO of affiliate marketing consultancy NYMO & Co., told us. “The next two weeks are kind of the finish line before people have to have everything hashed out and decided for Q4.”

As brands finalize the details for their end-of-year campaigns, what are the best strategies to make the most of the season of giving?

Read the full story here.—KH

Generative AI is opening up all kinds of opportunities and concerns—and sometimes both at the same time.

Research shows that prioritizing brand safety and privacy also supports consumer loyalty and trust. In fact, 86% of consumers say they’re more loyal to ethical companies.

So how can your company showcase its ethics? With Salesforce’s Trends in Ethical Marketing Guide. It has step-by-step directions on how to execute these trust-building marketing practices, all backed by research-based consumer insights and industry trends. It walks you through:

• how to make sense of marketing’s role in AI
• how to invest in emerging tech while protecting your customers
• how to apply ethical marketing practices to your business today

Turn AI ethical concerns into a superpower. Download the Trends in Ethical Marketing Guide.

She loves the players, and he loves the game. Translation: 12-time Grammy Award–winner Taylor Swift is dating two-time Super Bowl champ Travis Kelce.

If we’ve learned anything from the athlete-celebrity couples who have come before them (think David and Victoria Beckham or Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union), it’s that when two well-liked celebrities with fans across demographics tie their reputations together, brands often come running to bask alongside their individual—or dual—star power.

In the case of Swift and Kelce, the opportunities seem to be coming, well, swiftly, especially following Swift’s attendance at a Kansas City Chiefs game this weekend appeared to confirm their tie-up. As of early Tuesday afternoon, the NFL Players Association had already received pitches from two of its partners to create new Kelce merch from the weekend’s excitement, Gina Scott, the association’s VP of partner services, told Marketing Brew. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles—who have both Kelce’s brother Jason Kelce and running back D’Andre Swift on the team’s roster—are also jumping in on a surging interest in the names on jerseys.

“You have the ability to capitalize upon this popularity, and that’s a huge value to partners,” Scott said.

But with Swift’s international reach and a high-stakes social media landscape, marketers need to calm down —or at least check their playbooks before hopping too fast on the Traylor bandwagon.

Keep reading here.—AM

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

Swift thinking: Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce appear to be an item after the singer appeared at his game on Sunday. Brands wasted no time jumping in on the discourse that followed:

• The NFL, which saw a significant boost in viewership among younger women on Sunday, changed its bio to “NFL (Taylor’s Version)” on X and “Taylor was here” on TikTok, where it’s also been posting videos around her appearance.
• Hidden Valley Ranch jumped in multiple times on a joke stemming from a Swift fan account, which posted a photo of the singer at the game eating chicken tenders with ketchup and “seemingly ranch!” So did Van Leeuwen, which made ranch-flavored ice cream earlier this year.
• Heinz also got in on the joke, as did Arby’s and the Empire State Building.
• New Balance sent out an email blast promoting its 550 sneakers in red and white, which Swift wore to the game.
• Pfizer is running its Covid shot ads featuring Travis Kelce all over TikTok. Could be a coincidence, could be a timely increase in paid social spend.

Oppor-tube-ity strikes (sorry): TikTok trend-starter Sabrina Bahsoon, known as “Tube Girl” for creating videos that show her dancing on the London Tube, is working with brands like Boss and MAC cosmetics. Big lesson for those of us who are afraid to film ourselves on public transit.

Grab your beret: Duolingo is hiring a marketer to broaden its French audience, a role that’s been compared to Emily in Paris.

SEO genius: Naming your restaurant Restaurant Near Me is one way to ensure people find it.—KH

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

*Schmidt voice* youths: Google is expanding its generative AI tools to younger users. Here’s what that means.

Not the moon landing, but close: Examples of some of the best brand landing pages this year.

In the running: Tips on conducting a competitor analysis.

Did somebody say free? Join us on Oct. 10 for a conversation with Dr. Michelle P. King, former director of inclusion at Netflix, who’ll be talking all things DE&I. Go here for all the details.

Ethics enters the chat: Got questions about AI and marketing? Check out Salesforce’s Trends in Ethical Marketing Guide. It outlines how to build consumer loyalty and trust through ethical practices. Download your copy.*

Pitch-perfect planning: Looking for a more harmonious marketing strategy? Contentful’s Marketer’s Guide to Composable Content helps you quickly create dynamic experiences across your digital channels. Get the report.*

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Stories we’re jealous of.

• Business Insider covered X CEO Linda Yaccarino’s “car-crash interview” at Code Conference, which attendees described as “surreal.”
• The Atlantic covered why shopping on Amazon feels different than before (hint: it has to do with ad revenue).
• The New York Times covered how AI could hurt artists’ livelihoods as a result of “data overgrazers.”