10 min read

June 13 2023 - Long Live Clippy

June 13 2023 - Long Live Clippy

👋Happy Tuesday all. Well, we're back into the swing of things, so let's get into it–

Quick Take

  • Layoffs hit The Athletic and Grubhub
  • FTC's turn to take shots at the Activision x Blizzard deal
  • Lots of agency news the last few days, M&A is alive and well (and AI + Tech is top of mind)
📰

Top Stories

The Athletic, a sports news outlet owned by The New York Times, laid off almost 4% of its newsroom and moved more than 20 reporters to new assignments as part of a significant reorganization. The publication is shifting away from having one beat reporter per sports team to broader coverage, drawing on both local and national reporting expertise. The changes come after The Athletic had operating losses of about $55 million in 2021 after The New York Times bought it for $550 million in January 2022.

The Federal Trade Commission plans to sue Microsoft in order to prevent its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard from closing. The FTC had previously sued to block the deal through an in-house court, but now intends to file a separate lawsuit in federal court, which has the power to issue a restraining order to halt the acquisition. Regulatory obstacles have been mounting against the deal, with the British Competition and Markets Authority attempting to stop it, although the European Union regulators have allowed it to proceed. Microsoft has appealed the British ruling and is prepared to fight the FTC in court, but the legal challenges could significantly delay the deal's closure.

Apple is reportedly working on a cheaper variant of its first-ever augmented reality headset, the $3,499 Apple Vision Pro, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The cheaper variant would potentially launch in 2025 and feature a simplified design with lower-quality displays, a less powerful chip, and fewer cameras, but would retain key features such as the external "EyeSight" display and eye- and hand-tracking systems. Apple is also said to be working on a follow-up to the Vision Pro with a faster processor.

Linda Yaccarino, the new CEO of Twitter, has sent her first memo to employees titled "Building Twitter 2.0 Together." In the memo, Yaccarino shares Elon Musk's vision for Twitter to become the "global town square" and emphasizes the need for transformation in the exchange of information and open dialogue. Yaccarino's main focus will be rebuilding Twitter's ads business and highlighted the opportunity to create partnerships, celebrate new voices, and make a positive impact on the world.

Grubhub, the food-delivery company, plans to lay off around 15% of its workforce, cutting around 400 jobs. CEO Howard Migdal says the move is necessary for the company to remain competitive.

✏️

Rundown

  • Netflix is in talks to live-stream its first sports event, a celebrity golf tournament featuring professional golfers and Formula One drivers. The tournament would include celebrities from the Formula One docuseries "Drive to Survive" and the golf program "Full Swing." This move would mark Netflix's entry into live sports streaming, as the company has primarily focused on documentary programming. By testing the waters with a golf tournament, Netflix aims to assess the viability of live sports programming without committing to major sports-rights packages. This cautious approach is likely influenced by past technical difficulties experienced during a live stream of a "Love is Blind" reunion episode.
  • Clean Creatives plans to disrupt the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity by launching in-person activations and sharing social media content from the event. The campaign group aims to raise awareness of fossil-fuel clients and work with not-for-profit network Creatives for Climate, which plans to issue a ‘Greenwash Swatch’ booklet to help identify examples of greenwashing. It will also host a Change Agent Happy Hour to issue toolkits to promote collective action.
  • Americans are spending less on services such as hotels, flights, and restaurants, indicating a consumer slowdown that may bring down service sector inflation, according to the US Census Bureau. Federal data shows that spending on various services, including international travel, child care, and taxi rides, decreased in April, and an emerging pullback could be welcome news for the Federal Reserve, which aims to control inflation in the services sector. The central bank is poised to hold interest rates steady for the first time in over a year, in part due to the slowdown in consumer spending.  
  • Known, an agency that has experienced significant growth since its launch, has hired Todd Triplett as its first global executive creative director. Triplett brings extensive experience from his previous roles at agencies such as TikTok's Creative Lab, Apple's Beats by Dre, and Ikea. Known has seen success in acquiring new clients, including Ubisoft and Build-A-Bear, and plans to expand its presence in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Triplett will lead consumer brand creative and contribute to Known's other ventures, including Known Originals, the agency's entertainment studio. The agency has also made new hires, including Jordan Schultz as head of social and Aya Baeshean as head of design.
  • Netflix is increasing its presence at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, taking over the JW Marriott hotel to engage with brands and showcase its shows and movies. The streaming giant aims to provide better clarity about its advertising roadmap and address concerns around pricing and ad tech infrastructure. While Netflix launched its ad-supported tier last year, it is still considered to be slightly behind other media players in the competition for advertising dollars. At Cannes, Netflix will be up against Apple, which will be stationed at the Carlton hotel, and Amazon, which is returning with its installation. Netflix plans to focus on targeting and measurement advancements in its discussions with advertisers.
  • Hyper, a startup that simplifies the development and use of avatars for VTubers (online personalities using motion-capture avatars), has raised $3.6 million in a seed funding round led by Two Sigma Ventures. The funding also includes participation from MakersFund, Amazon's Alexa Fund, and individual investors. Hyper's technology replaces complex motion capture setups with just an iPhone and an app, making it more accessible and cost-effective for VTubers to create and use avatars. The company aims to become the largest avatar company in the world and plans to expand into avatar AI assistants. Hyper's newest feature, Hyper AI, allows for the creation of AI-based characters that can interact with users.
  • TikTok is testing a new feature in its Shop tab that allows users to take a photo and search for related products based on the image. The visual search tool is being tested in select markets outside the United States. While platforms like Pinterest, Google, and Bing already have visual search tools, adoption in the US is still relatively low. Early trials of TikTok Shop have shown mixed results compared to other TikTok ad formats, with some sales but lower-than-expected conversion rates. TikTok has cited research showing that users make immediate purchases and spend more when TikTok is part of the retail journey.
  • GroupM's latest ad forecast shows that retail media growth is contributing to the overall industry growth, with a shift in spending away from Amazon within retail media. Retail media is expected to grow by nearly 10% globally in 2023, reaching $125.7 billion, and is projected to account for 15.4% of total revenue by 2028. Global advertising growth remains steady at an expected 5.9% growth, with China's quick recovery being a significant factor. The U.S. market, however, is projected to grow at a slower rate of 5.7% due to various factors such as the U.S. debt ceiling, challenges faced by regional banks, and consumer price inflation. Digital continues to dominate as the largest advertising medium, with a predicted 74.4% share of all media spend by 2028.
  • Cava has increased its IPO price range from $17-$19 per share to $19-$20 per share, indicating strong appetite for growth stories. The company's new valuation ranges from $2.12 billion to $2.27 billion.
  • Instagram Notes, a feature that allows users to leave status messages for their Close Friends or mutuals, is receiving an update. Users can now share a 30-second clip of a song in their Notes, along with a caption, to express their mood or favorite songs. This feature is available globally in markets where Instagram has music licensing rights. Additionally, Notes Translations allows users to translate notes written in different languages. The new features are rolling out gradually to Instagram's user base worldwide.
  • Meta has released an open-source AI-powered music generator called MusicGen. The tool can transform a text description into short audio clips of about 12 seconds. MusicGen was trained on 20,000 hours of music, including licensed tracks and instrument-only tracks from Shutterstock and Pond5. Meta's MusicGen outperformed Google's AI music generator, MusicLM, in terms of musical coherence for certain prompts.
  • On the first day of a sitewide protest against Reddit's new API pricing terms, the platform experienced a major outage. The blackout, initiated by thousands of subreddits, caused stability issues and led to the site's downtime. Reddit confirmed that the problems were related to the protest and stated that the issue was fully resolved. During the outage, some subreddits were accessible while others were not. The protest is in response to the new API pricing terms, which have prompted over 7,000 subreddits to go private or read-only. Developers of apps like Apollo for Reddit have announced their closure due to the potential high costs of the new pricing. While some subreddits are participating in the protest for 48 hours, others have chosen to remain private indefinitely until Reddit makes changes. Despite user dissatisfaction and protests, Reddit's CEO, Steve Huffman, indicated that the company had no plans to alter the announced API pricing.
  • Twitch has reversed its decision to implement controversial and restrictive advertising guidelines after facing backlash from its creators. The initial rules would have banned popular forms of advertising and limited users' ability to monetize sponsorships. However, following community outcry, Twitch issued a statement acknowledging the negative impact of the proposed changes and announced the immediate removal of the guidelines. Creators can now continue advertising as usual and maintain direct relationships with sponsors.
  • Serviceplan Group, Europe's largest independent agency network, has announced the appointment of Andrew O'Dell and PJ Pereira, founders of Pereira O'Dell, as leaders of the newly-established Serviceplan Americas. As part of its US expansion plans, Serviceplan has also acquired a minority stake in up-and-coming creative agency L&C. The launch of Serviceplan Americas aims to offer fully integrated services to clients, with the network aiming to provide creative, technology, media, and more.
  • Warner Bros. has relaunched its feature animation division as Warner Bros. Pictures Animation (WBPA) for a fresh start under the leadership of Bill Damaschke. The company plans to release two theatrical features per year with a focus on filmmaker-driven films using both original concepts and library IP. The new unit has already signed a first-look deal with Locksmith Animation, a U.K. company that has two projects in development.
  • Noah Horowitz, Art Basel's new CEO, is focused on promoting Art Basel as an experience, not just a place to buy art. Despite economic uncertainties in the art world, Art Basel is still expanding, focusing on East Asia with boutique events such as the S.E.A. Focus and Art SG fairs in Singapore.
  • Salesforce Ventures is growing its Generative AI Fund, which supports startups developing “responsible generative AI,” from $250 million to $500 million. The move follows a string of investments in firms working on generative technology from the fund, including Cohere, Anthropic, You.com, Hearth.AI, Humane and Tribble. The Generative AI Fund focuses on "ethical" AI technologies, with a diverse range of technologies being financed.
  • TikTok has emerged as a dominant force among Gen Z shoppers, sharing the top spot with Instagram as the most influential social platform for ecommerce. However, TikTok's focus on livestream shopping, has been unsuccessful in the US. While recent data indicates TikTok's impact on younger consumers' shopping decisions, its own e-commerce efforts have not achieved the same level of success. Livestream shopping, which has been successful in Southeast Asia, has failed to gain traction in the US, despite attempts by major social platforms. Even Instagram discontinued its live shopping feature.
🖥️

Quick Links

💡
Cool Thing
Subscribe here
Once submitted, check your inbox and click the link.

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

Published by:

Joe Nash

Member discussion