Tequila sunrise: Inside Patron’s renaissance

Tequila has successfully shunned its lick-shoot-suck frat-boy image. Evolving consumer palettes and a shift toward more premium, 100 percent agave varieties have put tequila on a sustained upswing, with total tequila volumes increasing by 4.5 percent to nearly 14.7 million cases in 2015, according to the Shanken News Daily’s Impact Databank. But significant marketing pushes have also helped tequila reinvent itself. Leading that charge is Patrón, responding to increased competition in the category from brands by investing in new product lines and emphasizing “substance over style” in its marketing.

Editor’s note: Video killed the internet star

Jonah Peretti's move to Los Angeles is a symbol of how digital media is moving toward video. With that in mind, we themed this issue of Pulse, Digiday's quarterly magazine, around this medium.

Joey Marburger is The Washington Post’s (punk) rock star

Product heads are becoming key people at news organizations as they adapt to a distributed-media world. With his punk rock-inspired style, Washington Post product head Joey Marburger may not look the part of the conventional newspaper exec, but he's become part of Post owner Jeff Bezos' inner circle, with his ability to bridge the gap between news and tech. For Marburger, whether he's working on a project for the newsroom or sales side, the end goal is the same: "I want to help fix the journalism model," he says.

‘A conspiracy, not fraud’: The media system is a mess and everyone’s in on it

While much of the focus around the Association of National Advertisers’ report on transparency has centered on agencies, it takes two to tango. Clients might act scandalized by the findings of the report, but the truth comes on page 50, when an ANA investigator highlights “client pricing pressure” as a major tributary to the media cesspool. Indeed, years ago, during a confidential meeting in which agency double-dealing came up, a source summed it up for me: “This is a conspiracy, not fraud.” Everybody was in on it. Clients need to re-establish a collaborative relationship with agencies in order to make sure these agencies truly act as agents.

Meet the candy whisperer: Mondelēz’s Farrah Bezner

Farrah Bezner, head of new business ventures at Mondelez, has a soft spot for lower-profile, well-loved brands and has made her mark with campaigns for companies including Sour Patch Kids and Trident gum. She makes it her mission to take on small-time brands that have what marketers call “brand equity” but are otherwise neglected and grow them without taking on too many resources of the $23 billion company.

Sam Reich: College Humor’s head of video shares his big break

College Humor's head of video, Sam Reich, dropped out of high school, and was fired as a waiter at the age of 16. Now, he spends his days creating original video for College Humor, and crafting content for different platforms, which he says is key to making successful video.

Vox Pop: Vox Media chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff on platforms and ad blocking

Jim Bankoff doesn't care where you read Vox Media's stories, as long as you read them.

Day in the Life: Walk a mile in Shingy’s shoes

David Shing flies around the world on behalf of AOL to translate internet trends for brands and agencies. He walks us through a recent typical day.