Together with
Viral footwear. Have you ever wanted to go to space but are too afraid of heights? Or just lack the proper bankroll to hop onto a Blue Origin spacecraft like a billionaire tourist? Yeah, us too. Luckily, MSCHF’s latest release (dropping on February 16) is bringing the stars and price to fly a little closer to Earth. Dubbed the “Big Red Boot,” these larger-than-life kicks look straight out of a cartoon and are taking the internet by storm. It must be all those Astro Boy vibes they’re giving off.
See ya in the checkout line, Future Party people.
In other news… US cities go full electric, Ivy Park hits the discount rack, and movie theaters get creative.
Top Trends
YouTube → The Boogeyman
Twitter → #Scream6
Google → Michael Jordan
Reddit → Michelle Yeoh
TikTok → #fullmoon
Spotify → “SAD B!TCH” - Anne-Marie
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TECHNOLOGY
US highways are electric // Illustration by Kate Walker
US cities power up the EV charger grid
The Future. Today, EVs make up only 6% of new car sales, but charging providers warn that the infrastructure the US needs now is the same as the infrastructure it’ll need when every car owner drives electric. This sense of urgency has led cities all over the country to tackle the charging station shortage with focused effort (despite overwhelming hurdles). If the US has to install a national EV charger network ASAP, it may have to hand the wheel over to local governments to roll out the charging stations efficiently.
The roadblocksFrom uncooperative landlords to outdated infrastructure to a shortage of driveways, curb space, and parking lots, the path to a national charger network is littered with roadblocks, per Axios.
While retrofits for EV wiring can be expensive, most structures don’t have EV-specific zoning regulations.
Many existing public charging stations are poorly maintained or don’t work, according to a 2022 study by J.D. Power.
The circumnavigationFrom passing new building codes and zoning laws to expediting the permitting process for station applicants, US cities are doing all they can to stay on track.
LA is attaching EV charging stations to streetlights, while Seattle is installing curbside chargers for renters.
Denver has partnered with Hertz to build out neighborhood charging stations, while Hoboken, NJ, has partnered with Volta to install charging stalls (at no cost to the city).
San Diego is experimenting with solar power to charge its EV fleet, and Tucson is requiring some new businesses and multi-family dwellings to provide charging stations in their parking lots.
The greenlightUnder Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, states are collecting $5 billion in federal incentives to build a national EV charger network. Cities can apply for $2.5 billion in competitive grants, which prioritize improving access to chargers in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.
“There’s a lot of money on the table right now, and ample opportunity to improve the quality of life for communities across the country,” Alexia Melendez Martineau of Plug In America tells Axios.
But if the cost of electric cars is still a barrier to EV ubiquity, will automakers lower their prices? If not, those brand-new chargers might sit unused...
BUSINESS
Ivy Park doesn't have sole // Illustration by Kate Walker
Ivy Park misses the retail mark
The Future. While the Beyhive is splurging on Renaissance World Tour tickets, they’re not buying Ivy Park merch. Sales for the clothing brand were projected to reach $250 million in 2022 but only hit $40 million, raising questions about its future with Adidas. If one of the world’s most successful artists can sell out of concert tickets but not exclusive drip, it’s possible that fans would rather invest in experiences than material things amid economic uncertainty.
Promising apparelThe WSJ examines the growth and decay of Queen B’s streetwear line.
Beyoncé debuted Ivy Park with Philip Green (the UK retailer who used to own Topshop) in 2016 and bought full brand ownership in 2018.
Adidas announced its collaboration with Beyoncé in 2019, as it tried to diversify its portfolio with women and replicate its success with Kanye West.
Poison ivy?As Adidas expected hundreds of millions of dollars in Ivy Park sales, it promised Beyoncé creative control of the line — and a guaranteed annual fee of around $20 million.
But Beyoncé and Adidas have clashed over how to label and market the line, with Adidas pushing for more of its own branding, according to sources familiar with the issue.
This friction might have hurt Ivy Park sales, as almost half the merch didn’t sell in five of the last six releases.
Ivy Park sales are projected to reach $65 million in 2023 — an improvement from last year but still a major drop from a previous target of $335 million.
So, what happens next? Will Beyoncé set up shop somewhere else? Or will she sunset Ivy Park?
TOGETHER WITH STRV
How a former NBA exec helped build the “F1 racing of the skies”
It’s not every day that tech heads and sports buffs find common ground, and yet…
Rachel Jacobson, president of the Drone Racing League, cracked the code.
Where sports meet technology: Picture the best pilots in the world racing drones at lightning-fast speeds in front of 320 million fans.
But how did Jacobson, amidst a saturated sports market, give this 21st-century fan base a league to call their own?
Find out on her interview with Next Level Show as she details her journey from NBA executive to championing one of the fastest-growing sports today. In it, she shares the reasons for her success with Lubo Smid, CEO of STRV.
Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And to experience the action IRL, mark your calendars for Drone Racing League LIVE in Miami on February 25.
ENTERTAINMENT
Movie theater concessions up their game // Unsplash
Movie theaters upgrade their menus
The Future. To offset debt and low attendance, theater chains are launching creative food initiatives to generate more revenue. The days of mere popcorn and soda are gone — now, moviegoers can indulge in flatbreads and cocktails. If theaters want to take back the power from streaming services, they might have to pull out all the stops to get people off the couch.
Build theaters to sell foodMovie theaters notoriously generate more profitability from concessions than ticket sales, reports CNBC.
Revenue from ticket sales exceeds concessions sales by only 33%, according to Eric Wold, an analyst at B. Riley Securities.
Almost half the revenue from ticket sales goes to studios, while theaters keep all concessions margins, which can amount to more than 80%.
Marcus Theatres earns 44% of its total revenue from concessions, compared with 39% at Cinemark and 36% at AMC.
Concessions are recession-proof“Throughout the pandemic, you’ve seen the average concessions per patron go up dramatically,” Wold tells CNBC. “That’s a combination of getting more out of each patron through increasing the basket size of what they order at the counter, but also getting more people to the counter who otherwise would’ve skipped it.”
Some theaters offer as many as 50 items on their menus and curate seasonal specials to pair with the movies they’re showing.
As long as studios continue to release their buzziest films in theaters, theaters will step up their food and drink game to retain customers.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
It’s a new day for search engines
Microsoft just announced it’ll use generative AI models developed by OpenAI to overhaul one of its core products: the Bing search engine. Bing will now leverage a new language model called Prometheus, which will offer a conversational search experience between bot and user rather than one that’s purely keyword-based. The search engine will generate a customized results package that might include custom text, images, video, and links in response to a user question. If consumers find this upgrade compelling, Microsoft could threaten Google’s search dominance for the first time in years.
Read More → fastcompany
UK Zoomers are already over their jobs
According to a report by LinkedIn, nearly 80% of 18- to-24-year-olds in the UK want to find new jobs with better pay in 2023. Apparently, they’re now more confident about seeking a promotion or a new opportunity than they were at the beginning of 2022. Their optimism contrasts with mass tech and banking layoffs, the arrival of the UK recession, and the Bank of England’s warning that low growth and double-digit inflation will result in higher unemployment this year. That’s not enough to convince Gen Z employees to stay in jobs they deem unfulfilling and “producing no greater contribution to society,” though. Oh well, it’s up to Gen Z to save the future of work anyway.
Read More → bloomberg
Zoom CEO takes accountability for mass layoffs
After letting go of 15% of Zoom’s workforce (13,000 employees), CEO Eric Yuan will take a 98% pay cut, bringing his salary down to $10,000 and putting his total annual compensation at $500,000. Like other tech leaders who’ve downsized recently, Yuan attributed the layoffs to over-hiring when Zoom’s user numbers skyrocketed during the pandemic. Other senior executives on his team will reduce their base salaries by 20% and forfeit their corporate bonuses in 2023. Fair enough.
Read More → insider
WBD will keep its lower-priced Discovery+ plan
Instead of paying more for the upcoming HBO Max/Discovery+ bundle (set to launch this spring), Discovery+ subscribers can hold onto their current plan. The network worried that subscribers would be reluctant to pay more for HBO Max content they may not have wanted anyway. With its gross debt load of $50.4 billion, Warner Bros. Discovery can’t afford to lose subscribers. Still, its recent move is a deviation from the larger streaming strategy across media companies that has leaned toward bundling and consolidation. What a rebel.
Read More → techcrunch
Bard messed up its very first demo
When Google asked Bard the question: “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old about?” Bard responded with three bullet points, including one that states the telescope “took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.” But several astronomers on Twitter called BS and pointed out that the first image of an exoplanet was actually taken in 2004, as stated on NASA’s website. Chatbots’ tendency to confidently state false information as fact has unfortunately earned them the title “bullshit generators” by one prominent AI professor. Maybe AI is more human than we thought…
Read More → theverge
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Today's email was brought to you by Kait Cunniff.Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.