Category: In the News

To launch a new sparkling water in the U.S., Nestlé Waters turned to the country’s most well-known “love affair” with Italy (as the brand’s global CMO puts it): The Sopranos.

The campaign — featuring Sopranos stars Michael Imperioli (Christopher) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby) — highlighted “the craft” of creating the new beverage, Sanpellegrino CIAO!, from harvested citrus in Sicily, said Elisa Gregori, who was promoted six months ago to global CMO Nestlé Waters and Premium Beverages. The ad, in partnership with Ogilvy, won a Bronze Lion at Cannes for Film Craft (Script), and was shortlisted for Film (Microfilm) this year.

TikTok — this f****n’ guy

While TikTok still faces a pending ban in the U.S., Gregori said building content for the short-form video platform flexes “a new muscle” that the brand hasn’t quite figured out. And the team is hesitating to do so because of the pending ban and because the channel creates the need for a specific type of content to be successful — “the way TikTok should be done,” Gregori said. And though TikTok is reportedly building a standalone app for the U.S., there’s still too much up in the air to make the channel a must for Nestlé Waters content.

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Between the TikTok ban and the tariffs eating into marketing budgets, the first half of the year was full of growing pains in the creator economy. As the second half of 2025 shifts into focus, trends in how brands spend and creators monetize are coming into full view.

Amid the so-called cultural wars, marketers are pulling back on diversity, equity and inclusivity-driven campaigns, disproportionately impacting multicultural creators. Meanwhile, lifestyle and mid-sized influencers are feeling the squeeze as brands prioritize micro and niche content creators. Simultaneously, the creator lifespan has increasingly been a talking point on the heels of the TikTok ban, forcing creators to think about building businesses off-platform.

The creator economy is taking in more ad spend than ever — as U.S. brands are expected to shell out $13.7 billion on influencer marketing by 2027, according to eMarketer. But as it continues to mature, the emphasis is less on virality and more on strategy for survival. 

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