Week in Review

Advertising

  • Facebook Inc. is considering banning political ads in the period right before the November election, although the decision has not been finalized, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking. 

TikTok 

  • ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok has officially rolled out its self-serve ad platform, offering small businesses $100 million in free ad credits, as the video-sharing social networking service looks to lure business away from other platforms.

Deals 

  • Uber Technologies Inc. has agreed to acquire Postmates Inc. in a $2.65 billion all-stock deal, bringing together the second- and fourth-largest U.S. food delivery services, trailing DoorDash Inc. in market share according to research reports.
  • Civil rights activist and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick signed a production deal with Walt Disney Co., allowing Disney first dibs on new projects from his Ra Vision Media company including “scripted and unscripted stories that explore race, social injustice and the quest for equity” for Disney platforms such as ESPN. 
  • Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is approaching a deal to buy Stitcher Inc., the podcast company owned by E.W. Scripps Co., for around $300 million, according to people familiar with the matter. In addition to its podcast platform and networks, Stitcher  has an advertising unit that sells ads for more than 250 podcasts, an important business segment as projections have U.S. podcast ad revenue reaching $863.4 million this year and more than $1 billion by 2021. 

Retail

  • Brooks Brothers Group Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, joining retailers including Neiman Marcus Group Inc. and J. Crew Group Inc. in the group of companies felled by the pandemic.

What’s Ahead

  • Companies reporting earnings this week include PepsiCo Inc. on Monday, Delta Air Lines Inc. on Tuesday, Omnicom Group Inc. on Wednesday and Domino’s Pizza Inc. and Netflix Inc. on Thursday.
  • Digiday’s Digiday+ Talks series continues with an event on how to reach consumers in Generation Z on July 14. 
  • The MozCon marketing conference will go on virtually July 14-15 this year.
  • Disneyland was slated to reopen on July 17 after being shut down since mid-March due to the pandemic, but the reopening will be delayed as Disney waits for state guidelines for theme parks.

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

07/14/2020
Digiday+ Talks: How To Reach Gen Z 10:00 am
Vogue Business Webinar: How do shoppers want to pay in 2020? 11:00 am
A Starting Point—Behind the Launch with Chris Evans, Mark Kassen, Joe Kiani, and Mia Charity 1:00 pm
MozCon
07/15/2020
MozCon
07/16/2020
Vogue Business Webinar: The shifting sands in US retail 12:00 pm
Customer Experience: New Goals for Brands amid the Pandemic 2:00 pm
View full calendar

New Report: How the Pandemic Has Altered Expectations of Remote Work

COVID-19 is reshaping the future of work more rapidly than employers could have planned for.

As balancing business and safety needs becomes more complex and talent expectations evolve, employee work preferences and habits are also changing. Download the full report to learn what employers can do and expect as the new norm takes place.

Morning Consult Brands Top Reads

Morning Consult