Welcome to What We're Reading, a weekly rundown of news stories, marketing columns, and B2B industry news that caught our eye.

The lesson of Red Santa and inclusivity in ads

Did you know the classic image of Santa in a red-and-white suit was popularized by Coca-Cola? The Drum says it’s a great example of how advertising and marketing have the power to shift cultural narratives – and why that leaves creators with a responsibility to promote inclusivity in ads.

Video: 10 tips to maximize a smaller marketing budget

We can’t all have the infinite marketing spend of huge brands like Coca-Cola and Oracle, or “the big b*stards,” as Mark Ritson affectionately calls them in this video session for Marketing Week. He shares 10 tips for small businesses looking to make a big splash with a limited budget.

How Spotify designs its annual wrap-up

Have you seen a breakdown of your music-listening habits pop up on the Spotify app? One of their designers explains the thought processes behind the cool kaleidoscopic animations, gradient effects and other visuals they used in the 2020 Wrapped.

Slack hacks for better productivity

The Salesforce blog has some handy tricks to improve work productivity using Slack functions like Slack Clips, profile and availability updates, notification settings, channel sections and more.