Adweek’s NexTech conference takes place Monday through Wednesday. Why it’s worth watching: Adweek’s third annual event, which will be virtual this year, features speakers such as The New York Times’ senior director of ad products and platforms, Sasha Heroy; Epsilon’s senior vice president of product strategy and insights, Jon Beebe; and many more. After a year that found nearly all businesses thinking about how to best utilize the latest technology to grow their brands, it’ll be interesting to hear the latest outlooks of these companies and if concerns over COVID-19’s delta variant are affecting their plans at all.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. and The Hershey Co. report earnings on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. Why it’s worth watching: Amusement parks were poised for a busy summer, according to a recent story from Morning Consult entertainment reporter Sarah Shevenock. And per our latest tracking data, half of U.S. adults said they feel comfortable attending an amusement park. If that’s the case, are these theme-park owners anticipating a faster recovery than initially expected? Any adjusted estimates for the near future will offer clues.

EMarketer’s interview with Shopkick’s Dave Fisch is Thursday. Why it’s worth watching: As part of eMarketer’s “Future of Retail” series, Fisch, general manager of the shopping rewards app Shopkick, will discuss how data and location technology affects consumer purchasing and why he believes pandemic shopping habits won’t end once things are back to normal, among other related topics.

View Full Calendar

• MLB’s Cleveland Indians changed their name and logo to the Cleveland Guardians following decades of criticism from Native Americans over the team’s name and associated imagery. The new moniker, which takes effect at the conclusion of this season, was announced in an online video narrated by Tom Hanks.
• WPP PLC’s GroupM has exited Facebook Inc.’s agency review, which means that the media investment company, which has worked with Facebook’s brands since 2014, will likely no longer be handling the bulk of the social media giant’s media planning and buying business.
• AT&T Inc. is in talks to sell ad unit Xandr to Indian ad tech company InMobi, according to sources, who said the telecommunications giant mismanaged the unit and is losing tens of millions of dollars annually.
• Facebook publicly pushed back against the Biden administration’s assertion that the social media giant “played a major role” in the spreading of COVID-19 misinformation, highlighting its efforts to convince users to get vaccinated and telling the administration to stop “finger-pointing.”

28%

This is the share of Gen Zers who said they agreed with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s classification of THC, marijuana’s psychoactive component, as a banned substance for Olympic athletes.

1) Bezos donates $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés

Oliver Darcy, CNN

2) Opening ceremony director fired on Tokyo Games eve over Holocaust joke

Kiyoshi Takenaka and Mari Saito, Reuters

3) Why marketers love mashups, from mac ‘n’ cheese ice cream to baked bean smoothies

Jeff Beer, Fast Company

4) Outrage As A Business Model: How Ben Shapiro Is Using Facebook To Build An Empire

Miles Parks, NPR

5) Comcast and ViacomCBS face prisoner’s dilemma as they consider ways to work together

Alex Sherman, CNBC

6) Apple Delays Office Return by At Least a Month as Covid Spikes

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg 

7) What to Do When Haters Come Gunning for Your Brand

Ben Schott, Bloomberg 

8) My Farewell to Zenia Mucha, Disney’s Scorched-Earth (But Effective) PR Chief

Kim Masters, The Hollywood Reporter

9) See Nike’s totally rad uniforms for skateboarding’s Olympics debut

Elizabeth Segran, Fast Company

10) The NFL is taking a big chunk of its advertising in-house in a loss for ad giant Omnicom

Patrick Coffee, Insider Premium

• Carla Hassan Is JPMorgan Chase’s New CMO (Adweek)
• Twitter posts fastest revenue growth since 2014 in pandemic rebound (CNBC)
• Snap Beats Expectations on User Growth, Revenue; Shares Rise (Ad Age)
• With the N.B.A. Finals Complete, Maria Taylor Leaves ESPN (The New York Times)
• Publicis Groupe Reports 17.1% Organic Growth, Expects Pre-Pandemic Levels by End of Year (Ad Age)
• Netflix Growth Sputters in Q2, Streamer Plans to Launch Video Games for No Extra Charge (Variety)
• Omnicom Returns to Positive Organic Growth, Wren Speaks on Delta Variant (Ad Age)
• Toyota Cancels Tokyo Olympics TV Ads in Japan, CEO Won’t Attend Opening Ceremony (The Hollywood Reporter)
• More Companies Pull Out of Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony (Bloomberg)
• Inside CNN Plus: A First Look at the New Streaming Service (Variety)