What’s been on our minds this week? Gen Z has broken the marketing funnel, Spotify has a new creative agency, HBO’s marketing continues to impress and the U.S. government is suing Adobe.
- 📑Gen Z has broken the marketing consumer funnel. For decades, marketers have obsessed over the funnel mindset, where shopping was linear and the goal was to get a consumer from beginning to end of their purchasing journey. Now, though, marketing is no longer a step-by-step process when targeting Gen Z. Instead, it’s a complex process that needs to be curated according to individuals’ buying habits.
- 🎵In the music and tech space, Spotify has announced the creation of its own in-house creative agency, which will help brands create their own custom marketing campaigns. In even more intriguing news, though, Spotify announced a new tool called “Quick Audio”, which will be used to test new generative AI-voiced ads. The tool will enable brands to create quick scripts and voice overs using generative AI, and will be available soon in Spotify Ads Manager.
- 🐉 Last week, we talked House of the Dragon, and this week, we’re doing it again. HBO’s marketing for the Game of Thrones spinoff continues to impress, as this week, a giant inflatable dragon appeared atop New York City’s Empire State Building. The dragon is part of an immersive experience from HBO and the Empire State Building to promote the show, and includes a photo op with the show’s "Iron Throne," as well as other features. (Shoutout to Giant Spoon for pulling that one off!)
- 🇺🇲This past Monday, the United States government announced a lawsuit against software developer Adobe, the creator of popular applications like Photoshop and Acrobat. The lawsuit alleges that Adobe harms consumers by enrolling them in its most lucrative subscription plans without clearly disclosing important terms. The government also said Adobe hides important terms in fine print and behind text boxes and only discloses fees when subscribers attempt to cancel. All of that combines to make canceling memberships an overly complicated process.
🤝 Influencer x Brand Collaborations:
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the comedy movie American Pie, Jason Biggs and Edwards Desserts teamed up for a special giveaway. The company announced they’re giving away a limited edition anniversary apple pie, as well as exclusive movie memorabilia and authentic ticket stubs from the original movie release.
Toilet paper brand Charmin and the NFL’s Tight End University partnered up for TEU’s fourth annual camp. In a video captioned “Bear Hugs Are For The Bros”, Travis Kelce is featured with fellow superstar George Kittle and now-retired Greg Olsen.
