Together with
Paws up, Future Party people. Today is #NationalPetDay! Whether you're a dog, cat, or even a lizard person (no judgment), take a moment to appreciate the furry or scaly friends in your life. We all deserve to be treated a little extra sometimes. Emphasis on “treat.”
In other news… Companies tap employees as influencers, Mario levels up at the box office, and tech workers press reset.
Top Trends
YouTube → Ahsoka
Twitter → Al Jaffee
Google → Succession
Reddit → Michael Lerner
Spotify → “More the Victim” - Linkin Park
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe
WORK
Influencing on the clock // Illustration by Kate Walker
Becoming an influencer is now part of job training
The Future. After pushing back on the phenomenon for years, companies now want their employees to become influencers… and they’re actually helping out with training and support. The hope is that employees can become authentic pitchmen for the company. Although, the companies may run the risk of creating influencers with enough popularity that they just drop the day job to become creators full-time.
People marketingProfessional influencer may soon be a job you can apply for at some companies.
Cisco is offering training to all of its 83,000 employees to act as talent influencers — it even lets employees take over the company’s corporate socials for a day.
United Airlines has a team of 50 in-house influencers, ranging from flight attendants to bag handlers.
Ericsson trains employees on how to gain more followers and how to make videos.
“Gen Z’s LinkedIn”…is what Forbes calls TikTok, so it’s easy to understand why companies want their employees to get involved (with plenty of corporate oversight to stay on message).
Job search platform Zippia found that 57% of job seekers use social media when scoping out companies.
#corporatetiktok, a hashtag on videos about career advice and jobs, has 3 billion views, while #worktok has 1.5 billion views.
That means there’s a lot of potential to put job opportunities at the center of the cultural conversation… as long as the company has a “strong culture,” says University of Florida professor Rita Men. No one wants to be on the receiving end of an employee drubbing.
ENTERTAINMENT
The Super Mario Bros. Movie leaps over box office records
The Future. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a massive win for Universal and Nintendo (who split the production costs), raking in $377 million between last Wednesday and Sunday. The success shows that when family movies are actually available in theaters, families will show up… so expect some execs at studios other than Universal and Disney to restart greenlighting projects that their kids can watch.
MushroomingThe Super Mario Bros. Movie collected more accolades than gold coins this past weekend.
It’s the highest-grossing debut of 2023 so far, squishing Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania’s $106.1 million.
That makes it the biggest five-day debut ever, beating 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’s $200 million.
It’s also the biggest animated debut of all time, freezing out Frozen 2’s $358.4 million.
The movie did so well that every major theater chain’s stock price jumped.
Winning with no competitionWhile the launch of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is no doubt impressive, its outsized success shows how starved the marketplace is for true four-quadrant films that the whole family is interested in seeing together. Kids were ultimately the main draw, but adults who were raised on Mario also came out in droves.
The last movie aimed squarely at families was December’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (another Universal title), which was also a hit in theaters, rentals, and on streaming.
TOGETHER WITH THE JUICE
Get Juiced
The Juice is home to the best marketing and sales content on the internet.
Their sleek and easy-to-navigate platform shows you the top articles and podcasts resonating with marketing and sales professionals right now.
Not sure where to start? They’ve got articles bundled into topic-driven playlists like :
The Ultimate Playlist for Creative Agencies (heycollab)
2023 Employee Advocacy Agency Playlist (PostBeyond)
Transform Content into Revenue (Siteimprove)
We recommend checking out all of the above and keeping an eye on their new virtual event series, Content Distribution Live.
Get inspired with modern resources from trusted brands. Sign up for The Juice — it’s free!
WORK
All the jobs // Illustration by Kate Walker
Tech workers program a post-layoff career
The Future. After suffering through layoffs, rescinded offers, and applying for jobs that suddenly no longer existed, tech workers are choosing companies that provide more stability than street cred. With so much talent out the door, don’t be surprised if some veterans of Meta or Google create their new competition… or new acquisition targets.
New work, more rolesWith Big Tech firms like Meta, Google, and Amazon tightening their belts, laid-off workers are finding a second act in the 2nd tier.
Recruiters say that workers are gravitating to smaller firms in areas like cybersecurity, software development, hospitality, and logistics.
They’re also taking pay cuts to work at startups in fields they’re more passionate about, including AI and green energy.
And some are just leaving tech behind, bringing their skills to companies like Heinz and Walmart — the biggest migration of tech workers to non-tech industries in years.
But others aren’t even bothering to look for a full-time job in this atmosphere, instead turning to consulting, advising, and “fractional executive positions.” We guess there’s no better job security than having multiple jobs.
TOGETHER WITH THE SKIMM
Good text vibes
Our partners at theSkimm want to text you once in a while to nudge you to do something nice for yourself (or your friends and family). You dig? We do.
Their texts are built around their values: BE HUMBLE. WORK SMARTER. ELEVATE VOICES. GO BIG. HAVE PERSPECTIVE. SKIMM TOGETHER.
So, yeah, sign up!
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Amazon grows AI competition
Amazon Web Services recently announced a new accelerator program to platform generative AI startups. The 10 week program will give founders “access to AI models and tools as well as machine learning stack optimization and custom go-to-market advice,” as well as $300,000 in credits from AWS (because AI takes some major computing power). They’ll also be able to show off their products during a Demo Day at the end of the program. Applications are already open, and 10 startups will ultimately be chosen.
Read more → techcrunch
Airlines could get fancy again
Gone are the days of the hotel-like luxury of airlines like Pan Am, but a crop of concepts that were shortlisted by the industry’s Crystal Cabin Awards could bring a reclined-seat renaissance. Boeing and Adient Aerospace imagine life-flat beds, a minibar, and a library. Meanwhile, Spanish design company T36 thinks taking out the middle seat and having a mixture of real and virtual windows could open up cramped cabins in narrow-body planes. No matter what, its clear comfort at 30,000 feet needs a lift.
Read more → insider
VR enters its enterprise stage
Mainstream adoption of VR may still be years off, but companies are adopting the tech to make their behind-the-scenes work a little more engaging. Walmart, Fidelity, and UPS are using it for employee training. Accenture has moved into a proprietary virtual world, Nth Floor, to take meetings and create networking events (many of the company’s real-world offices are recreated in Nth Floor). Call it another layer to hybrid work.
Read more → fastcompany
Parents break the bank caring for their adult children
Millennials and Gen Z have it so rough that their parents are having to step in to help cover the bills. The phenomenon is happening so much that, according to Bankrate, 70% of parents with kids 18 and older are sacrificing their finances to help them out. Half say they’ve emptied their emergency funds or put off paying down debt to do so, while 43% say they’ve dipped into their retirement savings. Ouch.
Read more → bloomberg
Fyre Festival is back to sell you empty hype
Somehow, someway, professional fraudster Billy McFarland is back from prison and relaunching the island debacle known as Fyre Festival. He tweeted with signature bravado, “Fyre Festival II is finally happening. Tell me why you should be invited.” Who asked for this? Who cares when you have millions in restitution to pay off and have no shame in having another three streaming documentaries made about your antics.
Read more → theverge
Like what you see? Subscribe Now or Partner With Us
Today's email was brought to you by David Vendrell.Edited by Nick Comney. Publishing by Sara Kitnick.