• More than 20 popular personalities on ByteDance Ltd’s TikTok traveled to the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to warn Congress that a national ban of the social platform would be met with widespread opposition. It marked the final effort in what has been a week of Washington lobbying by TikTok ahead of CEO Shou Zi Chew’s appearance before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee later today. (The Wall Street Journal)
• Eight celebrities, including actress Lindsay Lohan, influencer Jake Paul and rapper Soulja Boy, were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for promoting cryptocurrencies “without disclosing that they were compensated for doing so.” The lawsuit follows a similar one levied last year by the SEC against Kim Kardashian, who agreed to a $1.2 million settlement. (The Hollywood Reporter) 
• Amazon.com Inc. is introducing a series of new TVs with an expanded set of sizes and features as it looks to fend off competition from Roku Inc.’s recently-launched smart TV lineup. The product expansion coincides with an announcement by the tech giant that it has now sold over 200 million Fire TV devices. (The Verge)

Fiji, Aquafina, Evian or Dasani? U.S. Consumers Pick Their Favorite Water Brands

Morning Consult

‘Greenwashing’ Targeted in Latest European Regulatory Push

Kim Mackrael, The Wall Street Journal

Proposed rules require companies to provide scientific evidence to back up eco-friendly labels.

Lego Prepping For Global Media Review 

Steve McClellan, MediaPost

Toy marketer Lego is conducting a global media agency review. Initiative has handled media duties for the company since winning its last major pitch in 2017. The firm spends an estimated $450 million on measured media globally according to agency research COMvergence.  

U.S. Supreme Court hears Jack Daniel’s trademark fight over dog toy

John Kruzel and Andrew Chung, Reuters

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday heard arguments in a closely watched trademark clash between Jack Daniel’s and a dog accessory company behind a parody chew toy resembling the distiller’s widely recognized black-label whiskey bottle.

Publishers Prepare for Showdown With Microsoft, Google Over AI Tools

Keach Hagey et al., The Wall Street Journal

Media executives want compensation for use of their content in ChatGPT, Bing and Bard.

Newsmax will return to DirecTV after the companies reach a new distribution agreement 

Meg James, The Los Angeles Times 

DirecTV’s dispute with conservative network Newsmax — which turned bitter when the small channel enlisted support from Republican politicians — is ending with Newsmax returning to programming lineups of satellite TV customers.

GameStop posted its first profitable quarter in two years

Clarisa Diaz, Quartz

Reported earnings per share beat expectations by 220%.

Apple’s Friday Night Baseball streams now require a subscription

Emma Roth, The Verge

Apple isn’t showing its Friday Night Baseball games for free this season.

Netflix Expands Finance Programming With ‘How to Get Rich’

Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter

Between rising interest rates, failing banks, a crypto winter and a stock market that is vacillating between bullish and bearish on a seemingly daily basis, money is top of mind for almost everyone these days.

On TikTok, USA Today Finds Traction Without News

Mark Stenberg, Adweek

Its franchises Humankind and Problem Solved have built video viewerships.

Apple Considers Bidding for English Football Streaming Rights

Giles Turner, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. is considering bidding for the streaming rights to a range of English football games, according to people familiar with the situation, a move that would step up its sports ambitions and increase competition with Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video.

NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks Will Not Wear Pride Jerseys, Citing Russian Law Fears

Bruce Haring, Deadline

The Chicago Blackhawks organization has decided that the team will not wear Pride warmup jerseys before Sunday’s Pride Night home game against the Vancouver Canucks.

‘The next level for us’: The New York Times eyes longer play sessions for games in subscription drive 

Seb Joseph, Digiday

Gaming can be a slippery slope to cost cuts and dashed dreams for news publishers nowadays. But it doesn’t have to be. Just ask The New York Times.  The more than one million dollars it reportedly paid for the Wordle game a little more than a year ago are looking like cash well spent, albeit from some far from objective numbers provided by the publisher.

Meta Rehires Partnerships Executive After Vowing to Shrink Management

Sahil Patel and Slyvia Varnham O’Regan, The Information 

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg’ effort to cut back on middle managers isn’t stopping the company hiring more middle managers.

Spotify Has Spent Less Than 10% of Its $100 Million Diversity Fund

Ashley Carman, Bloomberg 

Spotify Technology SA’s $100 million Creator Equity Fund, designed to promote diversity in music and podcasts following controversial comments by the company’s star podcaster Joe Rogan, spent less than 10% of the money on that work as it rounded out its first year.

Amazon’s palm-reading payment tech is coming to Panera Bread

Sarah Perez, TechCrunch

Amazon may be closing a number of its high-tech physical retail stores in recent days, but some of the technology it developed for those stores is finding a new home. The online retailer said today that Panera will now become the first restaurant to deploy Amazon’s palm reading payment and loyalty system, known as Amazon One, in its own stores, allowing its customers to both pay as well as access the chain’s loyalty program.

You can now try Microsoft Loop, a Notion competitor with futuristic Office documents

Tom Warren, The Verge

Microsoft is now letting anyone preview Microsoft Loop, a collaborative hub offering a new way of working across Office apps and managing tasks and projects.

TikTok Claims It’s Limiting Teen Screen Time. Teens Say It Isn’t.

Sapna Maheshwari, The New York Times

This month, the company announced a new 60-minute “daily screen time limit” for users under 18. But for most young users, staying on the app takes just a few taps.

Ford shifts toward purpose with ‘Euphoria’ star Sydney Sweeney

Jessica Deyo, Marketing Dive

The effort, meant to spotlight Ford drivers and their passions, includes partnerships with actor Sydney Sweeney, stunt driver Dee Bryant and surfer Kai Lenny, who each will appear in individual ad spots and launch separate initiatives connecting Ford to their interests.

Levi’s Will Begin Testing AI-Generated Models

Marc Bain, Business of Fashion 

The denim giant says it will experiment with supplementing its human models with AI-generated models later this year.

Heinz and Absolut Go Back to the 80s for Pasta Alla Vodka Sauce Launch

Rebecca Stewart, Adweek

Vintage recipe inspires nod to iconic Andy Warhol campaign

Starbucks is bringing olive oil-infused coffee to a few locations in the U.S. this week

Amelia Lucas, CNBC 

The line, which is the brainchild of former CEO Howard Schultz, debuted in roughly two dozen Italian cafes in February.

Brands are launching podcasts as owned marketing channels

Gabriela Barkho, Modern Retail

Podcasting is the latest effort by retail companies trying to think outside the box given the ever-changing marketing landscape. Digitally-native brands have been running podcast ads for years, partnering with popular hosts to promote their products through unique discount codes. 

Despite Office Bans, Some Workers Still Want to Use ChatGPT

Lindsay Ellis, The Wall Street Journal

As bosses fret over generative AI, some employees are using it to stand out.

Job Listings Giant Indeed Lays Off 2,200 People, Representing 15% of Staff

Theo Wayt, The Information

Job listings site Indeed.com told employees on Wednesday that it’s laying off 2,200 people, representing 15% of its headcount, according to a person with direct knowledge of the decision.

Remote work is starting to hit office rents

Matt Phillips, Axios

After a lag, the work-from-home revolution is finally starting to show up in the data for office building rental rates. Major markets like San Francisco and Manhattan — where long commute times seem to be driving the durability of the WFH lifestyle — have been hit the hardest.

Bill Gates predicts A.I. will change the world more and faster than his personal computing revolution

Christiaan Hetzner, Fortune

Bill Gates, long the world’s richest person, earned his fortune by predicting the advent of personal computing in the 1980s. Now the Microsoft co-founder believes A.I. will be a bigger and above all faster force for technological change.

It’s time to get intentional about what day of the week you hold meetings

Stephanie Vozza, Fast Company

After reviewing his calendar from 2022, the CEO of Owl Labs decided to get more strategic about why and when he held meetings. Here’s why it matters.

Execs are ignoring the dangers of ‘confidently incorrect’ AI and why it’s a massive problem

Oliver Pickup, Digiday

 In the race to embrace ChatGPT, companies, and individual users, are “blindly ignoring the dangers of confidently incorrect AI.”