Only a true fan could dream up the singularly effective combination of watching Edward Cullen and Bella Swan’s love story unfold in Twilight with Charli xcx’s “Everything is romantic” as the soundtrack.

Thus goes one popular fan edit on TikTok, one of plenty dedicated to the film series, and part of a seemingly endless stream of movies and TV shows that have inspired such social media artistry.

Fan edits are typically marked by quick-cut scenes overlaid with a popular song, the two mediums coming together to invoke an emotional connection to a film or TV show’s characters. They can be made by just about anyone who considers themselves a fan, and they can promote everything from vampire movies released more than a decade ago to anticipated new releases like the upcoming final season of Stranger Things. With entire accounts dedicated to the format, many with millions of followers and views, fans-turned-editors have created a flourishing online community for fandom across genres and eras.

They also happen to often be excellent marketing materials, and studios have taken notice—both in appreciation and as inspiration. Lionsgate is just one of the entertainment houses that has leaned into fan edits as marketing on their TikTok accounts, and they’ve seen big engagement numbers as a result.

“[Fan edits] make your job as a marketer so much easier,” Briana McElroy, head of digital for the motion picture group at Lionsgate, told us. “The true dream of the team, and I think marketers who do the creative side of the business, is that you give people something that they can make their own.”

Continue reading here.—JN

As the holiday shopping season ramps up, Google is rolling out two AI ad agents.

The new tools, which the company announced on Wednesday, include Ads Advisor, which creates personalized suggestions for Performance Max campaigns, and Analytics Advisor, which is built into Google Analytics. Both agents are expected to roll out to English-language accounts in coming weeks.

Ads Advisor is designed to provide creative support by generating wider campaign ideas, headlines or descriptions for promotions, or relevant assets and keywords for Search and Performance Max, as well as recommending potential fixes for ads that are not approved. Advertisers can also view the metrics that caused the agent to make specific recommendations, Dan Taylor, global ads VP at Google, said during a press event last Tuesday, adding that advertisers who have been testing the tools are using it with campaigns already running on Google’s platform.

Analytics Advisor, meanwhile, can be prompted to give tailored reports on advertisers’ website performance. It can also provide guidance on how to optimize performance.

Taylor said that the tools are designed to help both small- and medium-sized businesses and larger marketing teams.

“The promise of agentic is that it can be for both resource-constrained SMBs but also an opportunity for large enterprises with dedicated marketing teams,” Taylor said.

Read more here.—JN

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Justine Melman is CMO at Optimum Retailing, a retail management software company. She has held senior leadership roles at brands including BMO, Clearco, Postmedia, and Flybits.

What’s your favorite project you’ve worked on? I’ve had the chance to work on a few rebrands. I love the process that goes into doing this because we have to be very specific about the needs in the market we are trying to address and the differentiated way in which we can solve them—and then wrapping that into new and exciting copy and design.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? My favorite is the Wrigley’s ad for Extra gum that celebrated the end of the pandemic. Watch the long-form version. There isn’t anyone who can’t relate!

What’s one thing we wouldn’t guess about your job from your LinkedIn profile? I’m a single mom with four amazing kids (ages 22, 20, eight, and six) and finding work-life balance so I can be great in both roles is one of the most important things in my life. I am happy to say that most of the time I have really good balance!

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Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Havas is reportedly exploring “a deal involving WPP,” which could result in Havas buying WPP or a stake in it, per The Times.
• Verizon partnered with Stranger Things and Molly Ringwald for a holiday campaign.
• Walmart tapped Walton Goggins to play the Grinch in its holiday campaign.
• Peloton became the official fitness partner of Formula 1’s Las Vegas Grand Prix ahead of the race this weekend.