Morning Consult Brands: Patagonia’s Billionaire Owner Is Giving the Company Away to Fight Climate Change
 

Brands

Essential marketing and PR news & intel to start your day.
September 15, 2022
Twitter Email
 

Today’s Top News

  • Patagonia Inc. founder Yvon Chouinard and his family are transferring ownership of the $3 billion outdoor apparel company to a nonprofit organization and trust in order to fight climate change. The trust, managed by members of the family and its advisers, owns 2% of Patagonia, while the other 98% is now owned by the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit that will receive all of the company’s profits. (The New York Times)  
  • Netflix Inc. projects it will have 4.4 million viewers of its upcoming ad-supported tier by the end of the year and 40 million by the third quarter of 2023, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that Netflix also shared with ad buyers ahead of the tier’s launch later this year. Advertiser demand for the service is reportedly expected to be strong after Netflix announced it was reversing its longstanding principle to remain ad-free. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Amazon.com Inc. will allow brands to email shoppers directly through a new “Tailored Audiences” tool in a bid to boost sales, the e-commerce giant announced on Wednesday. While the move risks alienating customers with spam, brands and merchants have long complained that Amazon makes it difficult for them to develop relationships with shoppers who buy their products through the platform. (Bloomberg)
 

Chart Review

 
 

What Else You Need to Know

Advertising
 

Publicis Groupe Forms New Leadership Structure as It Bets on Creative Commerce

Stephen Lepitak, Adweek

The new hierarchy will include COO Steve King becoming chairman for Europe.

 
Media and Entertainment
 

The NBA is looking for a new CMO

E.J. Schultz, Ad Age

Kate Jhaveri, the league’s top marketer since 2019, has departed.

 

Skydance Scraps Matthew McConaughey Soccer Movie ‘Dallas Sting’ Weeks Ahead of Production

Borys Kit and Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter

The studio received allegations about certain aspects of the true story of a famed girls soccer team’s 1984 trip to China.

 

Netflix Animation Lays Off 30 Employees

Ethan Shanfeld, Variety

The news comes after recent executive shake-ups, with Netflix earlier this year appointing Karen Toliver as vice president of animated film content and Traci Balthazor as vice president of animated film production.

 

Former MoviePass CEO Mitch Lowe Reflects on Company’s Spectacular Rise and Fall: ‘It Truly Was Embarrassing and Hurtful’

Brent Lang, Variety

The ticketing service, which had ambitions to become the Netflix of moviegoing, had languished for years until Lowe took the reins in 2017 as Helios and Matheson, an analytics firm, purchased a controlling stake.

 

The Streaming Wars Enters a Fresh Battleground: Loyalty Programs

Rebecca Stewart, Adweek

Looking beyond content could give streamers the edge in a competitive, cost-squeezed market.

 

Axel Springer boss was landlord to Adidas during campaign against sports brand

Olaf Storbeck, Financial Times

Mathias Döpfner orchestrated stories against company for pausing rents without disclosing his interest.

 
Social Media and Technology
 

Zoom Readies Email and Calendar Products to Defend Itself Against Microsoft, Google

Kevin McLaughlin, The Information

Hoping to stop its customers from jumping ship to those products, Zoom plans to debut its own email and calendar services, possibly as soon as its Zoomtopia conference for customers in November, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans. The company has spent the better part of two years quietly developing the new services, which some employees refer to as “Zmail and Zcal.”

 

Ex-Twitter, Facebook Executives Urge Lawmakers to Rein In Social-Media Platforms

Emily Birnbaum, Bloomberg

Brian Boland, a former vice president with Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook, and Alex Roetter, Twitter’s former senior vice president for engineering, warned the Senate’s homeland security committee that social media companies including YouTube, Twitter, Meta and TikTok have failed to address the harm their platforms can cause, including how their algorithms can amplify harmful content.

 

Google cancels half the projects at its internal R&D group Area 120

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

The company on Tuesday informed staff of a “reduction in force” which will see the incubator halved in size, as half the teams working on new product innovations heard their projects were being canceled.

 

California sues Amazon, accusing it of anticompetitive behavior

Rachel Lerman and Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington Post

Amazon penalizes sellers on its site if they offer products elsewhere for lower prices, the state alleged. That makes it harder for others to compete, therefore entrenching Amazon’s market power, the state said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.

 

Trump’s Social Media Company Is Trying to Hide Its Struggles From the Public

Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng, Rolling Stone

Truth Social isn’t giving users a full picture of its engagement metrics.

 

Gay dating app Grindr names new CEO ahead of its public listing

Zachary Schermele, NBC News

George Arison will take the reins in October, following years of controversy surrounding the popular app.

 

GameStop adding NFT trading cards to loyalty program perks as it deepens push into digital world

Jack Stebbins, CNBC

The partnership marks GameStop’s latest venture with cryptocurrency and non-fungible tokens, which are unique digital assets, as the struggling retailer works to transform its business.

 

Walmart introduces virtual try-on tech which uses customers’ own photos to model the clothing

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Walmart is expanding its support for AI-powered virtual try-on technology that allows online shoppers to better visualize clothing on models that look like themselves in both appearance and body type.

 

Amazon’s Live Audio App Launches Creator Fund

J. Clara Chan, The Hollywood Reporter

To be eligible for payments, creators must host at least one live show each month. According to a Wednesday blog post announcing the fund, Amp will then assess show performance based on factors like “listener engagement and show performance metrics, such as show popularity with new and recurring listeners.”

 
PR and Marketing
 

More Self-Checkout Is Coming, No Matter How Much You Hate It

Rachel Wolfe, The Wall Street Journal

Grocery stores short on labor are increasingly relying on customers to ring themselves up. The transition isn’t always seamless.

 

Ford unveils new gas-powered Mustang, while muscle car rivals go electric

Michael Wayland, CNBC

The Detroit automaker on Wednesday unveiled the redesigned 2024 Mustang hardtop and convertible with two gas-powered engines. Meanwhile, the Dodge Challenger and Chevrolet Camaro — the car’s largest rivals — are expected to go electric in the coming years.

 

​​Teens Love Old Rock Band T-Shirts. Just Don’t Ask Them to Name a Song.

Rebecca Picciotto, The Wall Street Journal

Rolling Stones and Iron Maiden T-shirts are in fashion among younger generations, even if they’ve never heard the music.

 

Walmart-backed fintech to test banking services in coming weeks

Lananh Nguyen and Siddharth Cavale, Reuters

One, a fintech company backed by Walmart Inc , will introduce checking accounts to thousands of Walmart employees and a small percentage of its online customers for beta testing in the coming weeks, two people familiar with the matter said.

 

Holiday Spending Pegged to Grow This Year

Arthur Zaczkiewicz, WWD

Mastercard SpendingPulse forecasts sales to show a 7.1 percent year-over-year gain.

 

United Airlines partners with one-time foe Emirates, will launch Dubai flights

Leslie Josephs, CNBC

The codeshare agreement, which the CEOs announced Wednesday, will give the airlines access to the other carrier’s destinations and is the latest sign of thawing in the relationship between U.S. and Gulf airlines, particularly as international air travel rebounds from more than two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

McDonald’s is closing all its UK restaurants Monday for the Queen’s funeral

Jordan Valinsky, CNN

September 19 has been declared a public holiday across the United Kingdom. A number of retailers and restaurants have announced they’re closing for the day, including Greggs, Harrods, John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Asda and Primark.

 

Shopify introduces new features to help businesses sell internationally

Vidhi Choudhary, Modern Retail

Shopify is doubling down on its efforts to expand globally, amid a sharp slowdown in gross merchandise volume (GMV) or the total amount of transactions hosted on Shopify for merchants.

 

Budweiser Will Promote Its Alcohol-Free Beer at World Cup in Qatar

Katie Deighton, The Wall Street Journal

Tournament sponsor will offer its alcoholic flagship only in a few designated areas.

 
Morning Consult