March 31 2023 - brandtrackers to close: "Thank You for an incredible 5 days"

I'm sorry. It's been a tough decision from our leadership team, but I need everyone to understand this was out of my control. I wanted to send a personal video, thanking everyone who supported me this past year:

🎥Weekly Round-Up Video

Alright! Giving a shot at our first ever weekly round-up video. I go through some of the top stories from this week with some of that Joe Nash spice. As always, feedback is welcomed!

📰Top Stories

The Entertainment Software Association has canceled the E3 gaming industry trade event for 2023, citing a lack of  interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of the industry. Major players such as Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Nintendo had already announced they would not be attending the event, in person or virtually.

Apple has launched Apple Pay Later, a buy now, pay later service integrated into the existing Apple Pay setup, allowing users to split purchases between $50 to $1,000 into four payments over six weeks. The company charges no interest and no fees, and the loans can be tracked, managed, and applied for through Apple Wallet on users' phones. While the buy now, pay later industry has been accused of being predatory to borrowers, Apple claims that the service was designed with users' financial health in mind, keeping their safety in consideration.

Meta is expanding its AI-powered brand safety tool, offering "brand suitability" filters to more advertisers to create safer in-feed environments for advertising. Meta has been testing this tool with more than 25 advertisers since last year, and it relies on artificial intelligence to apply filters that correspond to industry standards. The filters prevent ads from appearing in placements deemed risky in feeds, and reports to brands will show what content appeared above and below each ad, its risk category, and its level of suitability.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged the limitations of the AI chatbot Bard and promised upgrades using the more capable PaLM models. Pichai attributed Bard's limited capabilities to Google's caution in releasing more capable models before ensuring they can be handled well. He also addressed concerns about the rapid development of AI and its potential threat to society, agreeing on the need for regulation and emphasizing AI safety.

Apple is reportedly delaying the release of its mixed reality headset due to decreased optimism in achieving the "iPhone moment" it was hoping for, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo also noted that the device's delay in mass production means that the shipment forecast for this year is lower than market consensus at 200,000 to 300,000 units.

Digiday+ Research surveyed over 100 agency professionals, revealing that 86% of clients spend at least a small portion of their marketing budgets on secondary social platforms like Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Confidence in these platforms' ability to drive marketing success has increased, with 86% of agency professionals expressing confidence in Q1 2023, up from 79% in Q1 2022.

Roku plans to lay off 200 employees or 6% of its workforce as part of a restructuring plan to lower expenses and prioritize high-return investment projects. The plan will result in non-recurring charges of approximately $30 to $35 million, including severance payments, notice pay, and employee benefits contributions

💡Spotlight

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ricardo Boffil's iconic Muralla Roja apartment building, Canadian duo Doublespace Photography has released new images of the structure. Bofill was a Spanish architect who completed the apartment building in Alicante, Spain in 1973. The building is one of Bofill's most noteworthy works, known for its playful geometries, bright coloration, and dramatic perch above the Mediterranean Sea. Even after his death in 2022, people from all over the world still visit the site.

⏬ Link Rundown

• Autodesk has launched Maya Creative, a budget version of its 3D modelling and animation rendering software Maya, that is accessible and cheaper. However, Maya Creative lacks many of the dynamics and effects tools found in the full version, and is only available through Autodesk’s token-based purchasing system, which could put many artists off, despite the daily cost of under £3.
• Deep dive into into the first and second wave of generative AI applications in B2B settings, where the focus will shift from creating new content to synthesizing existing information for better decision-making.
• OpenAI is piloting plugins that allows third-party brands to offer services through its AI language model, ChatGPT. Several big names including Kayak, Klarna, and OpenTable are already involved, which could see a move towards a ChatGPT app store where brands offer a wide range of services to its millions of users.
• Watch the round up video and I'll explain why this article gives me life
• Google's top AI researcher, Jacob Devlin, reportedly resigned after warning executives that the company's ChatGPT competitor, Bard, was being trained on data from OpenAI's chatbot. Devlin believed that the Bard team was using information from ShareGPT, a platform where users publish exchanges they've had with ChatGPT, which would lead Bard to sound similar to OpenAI's chatbot. However, a spokesperson for Google denied the report, saying that Bard was not trained on any data from ShareGPT or ChatGPT.
• The U.S. Army's "Be All You Can Be" ad campaign will continue during the NCAA final four, but without its star player, Jonathan Majors, who was arrested on allegations of domestic violence. Majors and his team deny any wrongdoing, and the Army is trying to keep their image clean by staying out of the conflict altogether. The $117 million ad campaign will be going forward in a retooled fashion without Majors, who was initially selected for the campaign for his rising star. Original spot below.
• Small businesses and startups are turning to digital out-of-home advertising (DOOH) to improve their brand awareness amid oversaturation and data privacy concerns in digital ad marketplaces. DOOH provides flexibility in media buying, advanced targeting, measurement, and programmatic marketing tools, and has seen significant revenue growth in recent years.
• Netflix is restructuring its film group to make fewer movies, centralize decision-making, and ensure higher quality output. As a result, the company will combine units that produce small and midsize pictures, resulting in a handful of layoffs and the departure of two executives, and chief Scott Stuber will oversee more decision-making, with the aim of improving collaboration among executives.

Meme

🎬Watch This

Duolingo x Peacock

Let's not forget this gem from last year

W+K x MLB – This is why you hire Wieden and Kennedy

It's A Numbers Game

Hot Dogs (ft 2.Chainz & Humphrey Bogart)

Baseball Is Something Else

HAPPY FRIDAY!

-Joe

As always, send us feedback at: thebrandtrackers@gmail.com