April 5 2023 - Officially a Heinz Stan

🥫 Heinz ads have taken over my feed and I am here for it. But now everyone must endure a daily stream of Ketchup ads because they have been crushing. Okay! The news–

Amazon has announced layoffs of over 100 employees involved in game production across gaming divisions such as Prime Gaming, Game Growth, and Amazon Games' San Diego studio, while reassigning workers to projects that align with its strategic focus. The teams in Irvine and Montreal will continue to grow, and Amazon's publishing efforts will expand.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $8.9 billion to settle thousands of claims that the company's talcum powder products caused cancer. The settlement is proposed to be paid over 25 years through a subsidiary, which filed for bankruptcy to enable the trust. The proposal will resolve all current and future claims involving Johnson & Johnson products that contain talc.

Kevin Mayer, a former Disney executive and co-founder of investment firm Smash Capital, is seeking to double the size of the firm to $1 billion, by raising $500 million in fresh capital. The fund invests in consumer and technology startups and has stakes in companies such as Epic Games, Fever, and DraftKings. Despite the challenging fundraising environment , they are expected to reach or exceed their fundraising goal by June. The firm’s partners include many former Disney executives: Ed Catmull, a co-founder of Pixar and a former head of Disney Animation; Ben Sherwood, former co-chair of Disney’s media networks business; and Andy Mooney, former chair of Disney’s consumer products unit.

Walmart  plans to have automation in about two-thirds of its stores by the end of its fiscal year 2026. The moves follow 2022’s inventory fiasco, and the big-box chain says they will create cost savings and ‘roles that require less physical labor but have a higher rate of pay’. The company believes this will result in a higher-paying work environment with less physical labor and cost savings.

TikTok has been fined $15.9 million by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office for violating children's data protection and other personal information rules. The app allowed up to 1.4 million children under 13 in the UK to use its platform without adequate identity verification, and it also failed to get parents' consent for processing their children's data. TikTok has stated that it disagrees with the watchdog's decision and is reviewing the penalty.

• TBWA\Worldwide, has acquired Dark Horses, a UK sports creative agency that has worked with global brands such as Nissan and TikTok. The deal will add to TBWA’s expertise across the total brand experience, from brand creation to on-the-ground activation and influencer marketing. Dark Horses' CEO Melissa Robertson said the acquisition would provide the scale to turn the company into a truly global business.
• Danone is reportedly set to appoint Havas Group's BETC to a significant piece of global creative business after a review spanning its plant, dairy, and water brands. The review included key brands such as Silk and Activia yoghurt and Evian water. This move could potentially leave BETC with the lion's share of Danone's business, as its specialist nutrition brands were not included in the review. Wieden and Kennedy’s Amsterdam office has worked on Evian, but declined to pitch for the global account. WPP is also understood to have worked on Danone business.
• Raft Content is a production company with a creative and unique approach to production services, led by co-founder and director Arnaldo Iñigo. They pride themselves on being a "production partner that shapeshifts at a moment's notice" and are able to bring projects to life in their entirety or act as a sounding board for production teams who are looking to connect with Mexican creatives".  "The cost of shooting in Mexico is 40% cheaper than shooting in the US and 30% cheaper than Europe, making it an affordable option for production services. Additionally, all  productions shot in Mexico whose primary use will be outside Mexico are considered an “export product” and will be exempt from value-added tax"
• BBDO CEO Andrew Robertson recently shared his thoughts on the changing nature of brand communication in an interview with Campaign. He’s particularly keen on AI’s ability to generate visual tools as a means “free ourselves from the constraints of stock footage and stock photos” to create work that is more interesting in a more affordable way in terms of money, time and effort. He believes that the new definition of creativity lies in delivering what consumers expect from brands through seamless, effortless experiences that are ideally magical. Although AI can automate many aspects of the creative process, it can't provide magic, which is why the focus should still remain on creating value attachment and behavior that money can't buy.
• TBWA has appointed Deepthi Prakash to the newly created position of president international and chief product officer, as part of a shift towards specialism and consulting-like practices. Prakash joined TBWA as global director of product and marketing from Cognizant, where she was co-head of Cognizant Interactive and global head of strategy and design, and she has also worked as managing director at Accenture Interactive. She said TBWA's goal was to help marketing decision-makers create new ways for a brand to stick in consumers' minds across the full breadth of a brand's touchpoints, and the agency's approach was to aggregate a suite of specialisms around a single brand idea to deliver the total experience clients require.
• Louis Slotkin, the co-owner and managing partner of Highdive, passed away at the age of 51 from colon cancer. Known for his ability to build healthy client-agency relationships, Slotkin led Highdive to become a successful agency with clients such as Jeep, Rocket Mortgage, and Ram. His legacy will live on as a "role model" to everyone at the agency and the industry as a whole.
  

Fanta refresh - The new design was led by the Coca-Cola global design team in collaboration with Jones Knowles Ritchie, Everything is Relative and Gretel, and brought to life in global campaigns by OpenX, WPP’s dedicated Coca-Cola agency.

"Fanta’s identity, and particularly the logo, has evolved significantly from the 1940s to today," said Sue Murphy, senior director of design at The Coca-Cola Company. "With this refresh, we aimed to crystalize each element of the brand to be bold and iconic so that we could ensure it would stand the test of time and be recognised around the world."

• Piper Sandler's new AR survey has revealed that teens are not particularly interested in virtual reality (VR), with only 4% of the 29% who already own VR hardware using it daily, and only 14% using it weekly. Furthermore, only 7% of teens surveyed plan to purchase a headset in the future, while 52% are either unsure or uninterested in doing so. This could pose a challenge for companies like Apple and Meta, which are preparing to launch mixed reality headsets aimed at developers and professionals.
• Major League Soccer has become an attractive platform for major global brands to connect with sports fans on and off the pitch, thanks in part to the league's emphasis on community connection. According to recent studies, community feeling is a significant part of the MLS drawing card, as nearly 90% of MLS fans identify community as a key driver of their fandom. Additionally, half of MLS fans say their connection to their team feels like being part of a close-knit group or family, which is a higher proportion than fans of other major North American sports leagues.
• John Carmack, former Oculus CTO and founder of AI startup Keen Technologies, recently shared in a podcast that he believes virtual reality (VR) doesn't require better hardware to achieve mainstream success. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of improving the user experience, including aspects like instant accessibility, lack of latency, and the ability to replace other devices. Carmack remains optimistic about the future of VR, despite having previously left Meta due to frustration with their inefficiency in VR product development
• Microsoft has cancelled its plans for a new office complex in London due to the need to trim its workforce by 10,000 people and the changing demand for office real estate due to the rise of remote work. The company had been planning to replace its expiring leases in Reading with the new London office, but it said it would continue to regularly review its real estate portfolio to ensure it met the needs of its people and long-term business.
• Dentsu X has released the results of its Motivations Study, which aims to help brands better understand what drives consumer behaviour. The study analysed more than 400,000 people in 70 markets across the globe and identified six core motivations that drive people: accomplishment, affection, information, possession, power and protection. Each core motivation is comprised of 25 sub-motivations. The study is part of dentsu X's CCS consumer insight tool, which helps brands understand audiences on a deeper, human level. The insights can be used to develop more relevant marketing strategies, creative messaging and event planning.
• The Athletic, which was originally launched in 2016 as a subscription service, was acquired by The New York Times last January for a whopping $550 million and it's ad-free days officially ended in September of last year. Sebastian Tomich, The Athletic’s chief commercial officer believes that sports fans are more receptive to advertising than news readers. He also notes their future plans include more video and audio content, expanding into new global markets, and possibly launching a streaming service
• Tripadvisor has partnered with the San Diego Tourism Authority to launch "The Sunny Side of Things," a campaign that promotes San Diego tourism through hand-painted street murals in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Each mural features a QR code that unlocks an augmented reality experience on users' smart devices, complete with animated GIFs that users can add to their social media posts, as well as access to San Diego trip planning guides on Tripadvisor. The Sunny Side of Things campaign was created by Wanderlab, Tripadvisor's in-house creative and content studio, in collaboration with The Shipyard.
• General Motors has announced that its forthcoming electric vehicles (EVs) will not support Apple CarPlay and Android. Despite GM's efforts to develop its own software, the dependence on Apple and Google to solve its software interface problems has left many people skeptical. With the demand for CarPlay and Android Auto so high, industry experts have questioned why GM would move away from these systems for its EV products.
• Twitter has suspended API access to some of the largest Twitter-based apps, including some that wanted to pay the exorbitant new fees which start at $42,000 per month, even though they haven't received any response from the company on their Enterprise plan applications. Twitter's recent move to suspend the API access has taken many developers by surprise, and many of them are now voicing their frustration on social media. This comes after Twitter announced last week that it would "deprecate current access" to the old free Twitter API day plans over the next 30 days.
• Walmart is aiming to attract unhappy Amazon customers with its revamped website. The new design includes a checkerboard of eye-catching photos and more captivating names for categories, deals, and seasonal promotions, similar to Amazon's design. Walmart's chief e-commerce officer, Tom Ward, said the redesign is aimed at better mirroring the way customers love to shop, highlighting the items that matter most to them at any given moment. The website will now include "rich imagery," "live video," and "a new social-inspired scroll" that help "bring Walmart's massive assortment to life." Walmart has been expanding its offering, including introducing Walmart Plus in 2020, a competitor to Amazon Prime.
• Yellowstone's season five is facing uncertainty as the drama surrounding the show's production continues. There are currently no updates on Kevin Costner's involvement in the series, and with the second part of the fifth season still not in production, things are looking uncertain for the show's future. Paramount exec Keith Cox claims that everything is going well, but there has been much reported drama surrounding the show, with Costner reportedly looking to leave and pursue his own Western. Even if the show ends, creator Taylor Sheridan has other projects in the works, including spin-offs 1923, 1883, and 6666. However, the implosion of Yellowstone would still be a significant blow to Paramount's original programming, as it has been one of their most popular shows.

via Project Memager 🙌

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