Domino's Pizza Italy RIP, Pay-to-Play Podcasts & Cringe TikTok.
The latest links are here: Context Collapse #148
The weekend is almost here. As I write this from the portable office in the mighty metropolis of Chicago, there’s plenty of work to do. Ungerleider Works is shipping out a SOW to one client. Another client is preparing for a revision round. Yet another client is preparing their internal feedback. And there are the countless business development, vendor and contractor calls and emails to catch up on.
But the weekend is almost here.
For this weekend, a humble request: Don’t work this weekend if you aren't scheduled to work this weekend.
Go out for a walk. Watch a movie. Play with the kids. Read a book. Barbecue something. Go hiking. Fix stuff around the house. Do things that matter to you.
I promise you your work will still be waiting for you when you're back at the computer. Do something for yourself and put the work on pause. Your work will still be there. Promise.
New Futures:
Why beer and soft drink companies are all-in on slim cans. A plan to turn Amazon into a dumb pipe. Remember: Digital purchases can be taken back from you at any time. “SARS-CoV-2 emerged into humans via the live animal trade at the Huanan Seafood Market.” How drug stores decide which items to lock up behind glass. For some strange reason, Domino’s Pizza couldn’t make it in Italy. Lawsuit: OnlyFans bribed Meta to put p@rn stars on terror watchlist. Why Elon Musk is doing Republican fundraisers. The always quotable John Bolton.
Advertising/Marketing/PR:
The eternal lament: Agencies Desperately Desire Better Feedback From Brands After New Business Pitches. TikTok and the coming fall of the Kardashians. Why clients forbid creatives from using their projects for portfolios. Apple going all in on App Store advertising. The evolution of HBO’s sonic IDs. How early US propaganda grew out of the Society of Illustrators. Podcast guests are paying up to $50,000 to appear on popular shows. McDonalds and Burger King want your sweet, sweet loyalty club data. Less than 1% of Netflix subscribers are playing their mobile games. Lyft launching in-house media division. Dark Brandon explained. Saudi ArabiaXEdelman. John Fetterman, Snooki and the ethics of political influencers.
Media:
Brian Stelter’s out at CNN. The new Kremlinology: Reading the New York Times. Schizoposting and the Highland Park massacre. “The guy who just became editor-in-chief of a dying magazine gets a look at historic P&Ls and realizes, adjusted for inflation, he’s making about half of what his predecessors made in the ‘80s.” TikTok’s Latest Cringe Trend: Gen Z Critiques Their Former Selves. “In Sri Lanka, Instagram has become a shop front for goods and services, including live seafood delivered fresh from the coast.” The rise of fashion’s Tumblr generation. RIP MEL Magazine. WTF is going on with Ev Williams and Medium. Galloway on TikTok. Warren Ellis on TikTok. Hocus focus: How magicians make a fortune on Facebook. Margaret Sullivan leaving WaPo. “Free speech bastion Substack fires editor for editing a blog critical of Substack.” Walmart bundling Paramount+ subscription with Walmart+ memberships. How many subscribers does Disney+ have, anyway? Andrew Rea takes us behind the scenes on the Babish Culinary Universe. Tips for starting a YouTube channel in 2022.
Tech:
It sure looks like the US government is going to shut down PredictIt, where participants can legally gamble on the outcome of political races. Exortionists using Google Maps to target businesses. Miami’s fintech business boom. The Apple-Jony Ive divorce. Why search sucks in 2022. Inside the Amazon-Grubhub partnership. Amazon’s healthcare strategy post-One Medical. Amazon buys iRobot. RIP Spotify Car Thing, too beautiful for this world. How to build your own ISP. Apple to suppliers: Don’t say “Made in Taiwan.” Apple sets September 5 return-to-office deadline. How AI copywriters are changing SEO. Oracle auditing TikTok’s algorithms kinda sorta on the US government’s behalf. Pinterest streamlining in-app purchases for Shopify merchants. WhatsApp launches Windows desktop app. How Apple Pay got good.
Misc.:
Tessa Thompson on Hot Ones. 14 haikus about New York City Hardcore. How Yiddish made it on Duolingo. All hail Central Camera. How to meet 1000 people in a year.