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RiRi steps down. ICYMI, Rihanna announced over the weekend that she’d be stepping down as CEO of her lingerie brand Savage X Fenty. Hillary Super, the former head at Anthropologie Group, will assume the role starting today. Talk about a quick turnaround. While the Caribbean Queen will no longer be leading the company, she’ll still be making waves behind the scenes — transitioning to an executive chair position.
In other news… Spotify gets a social bump, sweat swells in Hollywood, and Modelo dethrones Bud Light.
Top Trends
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MUSIC
Spotify influencers turn up the volume on music discovery
The Future. “Spotify influencers” are leveraging their followings on other social platforms to get people talking about and sharing their music playlists. The practice’s surging popularity is turning into a sort of digital mixtape culture, which is great for underserved artists. But it also may highlight that Spotify needs to introduce some actual social features if it wants to evolve with its user base, create an ecosystem of artist discoverability, and stay one step ahead of its competitors.
Human ear
A new crop of influencers is giving music discovery on Spotify a more personalized touch… by growing followers on TikTok.
Ari Elkins (@arijelkins) pushed his 2.1 million followers to his 40 Spotify playlists, which now have thousands of likes.
Kelsie Herzog (@theyellowbutton) leveraged her account into a Patreon subscription that curates unique playlists for subscribers (over 1,300 so far).
The grassroots discovery platforms these influencers have become demonstrates how much Spotify needs to rework its entire music-recommendation ethos.
As the streamer has prioritized centralized curation over user recommendations, it’s built a service that has so much music… but may leave users stumped as to how to find something new to listen to.
ENTERTAINMENT
Hemsworth puts in the work // GIF by Kate Walker
Extraction 2 sweats for your attention
The Future. Netflix rolled out a billboard for Extraction 2 that features a close-up of star Chris Hemsworth… sweating. Like legit perspiring. It’s an experimental marketing move that hopes to break through the noise. After similar interactive campaigns for Smile and Scream VI generated headlines, every Hollywood studio marketing department may get a mandate to think outside the box if they want a film to break out.
Drip design
The new billboard for Extraction 2 wants people to feel the adrenaline.
The interactive billboards in LA and NYC made Hemsworth look like he’s sweating by using lasers to cut holes in his forehead that mimic pores.
Per Variety, a water supply behind the billboard then pushes water through the pores “at a pressure and frequency to mirror the consistency of sweat.”
Netflix also decided to keep the billboards at street level so people could… you know… actually see the sweat (and take selfies with Hemsworth’s handsome mug).
While it’s impossible to know if the billboards contributed to the estimated 42.8 million people that fired up Extraction 2 during its weekend debut, experiential marketing does generate headlines… it just takes a little more sweat equity.
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FOOD & DRINK
Center-podium cerveza
America overflows with love for Modelo
The Future. With 8.6% of the American beer market, Modelo Especial has overtaken Bud Light to become the top-selling brew in the country. It’s just another example of how popular Mexican beer has become over the past decade, with many of its best-sellers now representing 80% of all beer imports in the US. As demographics change, it’s possible that what’s considered a classic American taste may change as well.
Latino libations
Modelo Especial became the top-selling beer in the US by staying true to its Latino roots and leaning into American culture.
According to Fast Company, as the US Latino population has grown in size and spending power, Modelo Especial has emerged as one of their top beer choices.
Especial has also won over the craft-loving “hipster” crowd due to its positioning as a premium beer.
In marketing the beer, Modelo is a sponsor of fast-growing MMA, and has built a message that it’s the celebratory brew after a day of hard work.
While some point to the controversy surrounding the Dylan Mulvaney promotion as having impacted Bud Light’s overall sales enough to cost the brand the top spot, analysts already expected the changing of the guard in two to three years.
The Latin takeover of American fridges was already (deliciously) in full swing.
Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Warner Bros. Discovery continues its debt-reduction marathon by putting half of its film and TV music publishing rights — including music from Purple Rain and Batman — up for auction for $500 million. Read more → variety
Wells Fargo believes that Paramount Global will have no choice but to break up its assets if it has any hope in inevitably selling to a buyer — especially to unlock the full worth of Paramount Pictures. Read more → indiewire
Hollywood studios and streamers are still spending mightily on Emmy “For Your Consideration” campaigns despite trying to cut costs everywhere else. Read more → variety
Fashion & E-Commerce
French fashion house Lanvin has enlisted Future as the creative director for its new Lanvin Lab collection, which hopes to bridge fashion and music for its inaugural line. Read more → highsnobiety
Organized retail flash mob thefts have increased so much in big cities that governments and companies are collaborating on new crime-fighting task forces and determent technologies. Read more → businessoffashion
Ikea put a 19-foot tall Blue Bag in the middle of Chicago’s Millennium Park with a QR code that, when scanned, initiates an AR experience where furniture flies out of it and gives the viewer a 10% off coupon. Read more → fastcompany
Tech, Web3, & AI
Meta is blocking news sharing on both Facebook and Instagram in Canada in defiance of the country’s new Online News Act, which would force tech giants to pay for local journalism. Read more → thr
Apple’s Vision Pro headset could have its own Airplane Mode (called “Travel Mode”), which disables some features to ensure people don’t fling around their arms while in close quarters. Read more → theverge
Terrifying: a firm called Throwflame plans to sell a robot dog with a flamethrower on its back named the “Thermonator.” Read more → complex
Creator Economy
Amaze is integrating into TikTok Shop, so its users can sell directly on the social platform. Read more → tubefilter
YouTube is rolling out an A/B testing feature for video thumbnails, called “Test & Compare,” that lets users choose three thumbnails for a single video and see how it performs. Read more → theverge
Twitch is introducing a new monetization tool dubbed “Hype Chat” that allows users to pay to have their messages pinned for a set period of time during a live stream. Read more → tubefilter
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Editing by Nick Comney. Publishing by Darline Salazar.