SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Adweek's list of the 10 best ads from 2016 runs the emotional gamut. There is comedy. There's drama. There's even a bit of spy intrigue. If that mix sounds a little like the box office for any given year, that's no surprise, says Henry C. Boyd III, marketing professor at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. "More and more we are seeing spots that are more than a commercial," he says.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Last week, Domino's Pizza delivered a pizza by reindeer in Japan.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Donald Trump has a problem that the opinion polls aren't capturing. It's his brand. If the polls hold and Hillary Clinton wins the presidential election on Nov. 8, the New York mogul will be surrounded not just by the tatters of a failed political campaign, but also by a business brand that's been tarnished beyond recognition. Restoring that brand to its former luster could be his toughest challenge yet.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – The NFL's biggest concern this season likely isn't Colin Kaepernick or concussion risks or even who's going to the Super Bowl. It's eyeballs. The television juggernaut National Football League has seen its faithful TV audience unexpectedly deflate by more than 10 percent through the first five weeks of the season, according to Nielsen ratings data, with deeper drops notched during the Sunday, Monday and Thursday evening games.   

SMITH BRAIN TRUST – Love, exciting and new – that’s what Carnival Cruise Lines is going for as its launches its new line of original television programming. Or at least fresh interest in vacations at sea. Carnival Cruise Line is looking to recreate some of the TV magic that helped boost the vacation cruise industry in the 1980s, when the popular hour-long sitcom, “The Love Boat,” was in its heyday and people were flocking to ports like never before in search of a dream getaway.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Retweets aren't necessarily endorsements, and they definitely aren’t votes. So what can Twitter tell us about the 2016 presidential election? Maybe more than you think, new research from the University of Maryland suggests. For starters, Republican nominee Donald Trump is winning — at Twitter anyway — over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Selling your house and needing help? You’re likely focused on finding a competent agent with a successful track record, and it’s unlikely you’ll make extra time to seek character references.

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Rio de Janeiro’s acting governor Francisco Dornelles recently warned that the Rio Olympic Games are headed to a “big failure.” He also called his state’s health care system “c

SMITH BRAIN TRUST — Video gaming, as eSports, is drawing a marketing bonanza thanks to Millennials, who also make any ‘Is it a legit sport?’ debate moot, says marketing professor Hank Boyd at the University of Maryland’s Robert H.

Wall Street could learn something from baseball, investment guru John W. Rogers Jr. said during Smith’s Diversity Fireside Chat on Oct. 9, 2015. “Major private equity firms have basically never had a Jackie Robinson moment,” he said. Government agencies and other progressive organizations sometimes make an effort to hire diverse vendors, but these contractors tend to work in construction, food preparation, janitorial services and similar sectors of the economy. “Today, that’s where we’re being pigeonholed,” Rogers said.