Fútbol Is The New Football

PRESENTED BY LEVANTA

Happy Thursday, Future Party. Feeling the soccer fever during the World Cup? Nike certainly is, so don’t be surprised if your next pair of sneakers looks like it came straight off the pitch. More on that below.

Nike is hyper-focused on leveraging the World Cup’s runaway success to mount a major business comeback.

The Big Play: Nike has been in a bit of a rut over the past few years, prompting a CEO change, a scaling back of unnecessary products, and plenty of public soul-searching. While the Swoosh has never been the leader in soccer footwear and apparel, surging American interest in the sport — along with its enduring global popularity — appears to be the sales opportunity it’s been looking for.

Behind The Moves: According to AdWeek, Nike’s six-minute World Cup film, “Rip the Script,” marks the beginning of a new era for the brand.

Final Score: Nike’s World Cup marketing push is already translating into sales. According to data from M Science, the company has sold 2.5x as many kits as it did during the 2022 World Cup. Even if rival adidas still leads in US store sales this season, that’s a significant surge.

CEO Elliott Hill says Nike’s focus on soccer extends well beyond the World Cup: “We’re not treating the tournament as a single moment; we’re using it to reshape our business, telling a connected story over time.”

Future Goals: In the wake of the USMNT’s loss this week, much has been said about the US’s lagging youth soccer pipeline. Expect Nike to make a major push into that space as it aims to become the sport’s next dominant brand.

Most e-commerce brands running external traffic aren’t scaling — they’re just spending.

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OpenAI has debuted a suite of new voice models for ChatGPT, aiming to make speaking with AI the primary way people interact with its models.

The Big Picture: Voice-powered AI is typically the most expensive way to use these systems, as it requires more tokens than text-based interactions. Unfortunately, tokens are becoming scarcer and more expensive as companies across the industry grapple with memory shortages. OpenAI says it’s bringing costs down, which could make voice viable for a growing number of customers — and pave the way for more natural adoption among everyday users.

Behind The Change: OpenAI’s new voice models, GPT-Live-1 and GPT-Live-1 mini, are… well… live.

Closing Thoughts: OpenAI says the new voice models will be available to ChatGPT users on the free tier, making it clear the company is looking at mass adoption. But that doesn’t mean it’s skimping on capability. Atty Eleti, product lead for ChatGPT Voice, said the company believes these models can be used to “manage increasingly complex, long-running, agentic work.”

Prepare for a lot more purposeful interruptions at work.

Prediction: Voice may be the easiest on-ramp for turning casual users into power users — and getting people comfortable talking to AI ahead of OpenAI’s still-under-wraps hardware device.

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52.4% of you voted No, but I know what it is in yesterday’s poll: Have you ever watched any version of Love Island?

“Reality TV has always felt like brain rot to me. I can’t imagine devoting time to it, especially not every day.”

“Zero interest. Looks fake and in bad taste.”

“I caught a few episodes of the OG — the UK version, Season 1. It’s fascinating because it opened my eyes to the dating culture there.”

“I got into the UK and Australia versions during the pandemic and have been glued to my TV for every franchise since. It’s garbage — and my ultimate guilty pleasure!”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

📺 The Emmy nominations are in, with Hacks earning a record-breaking 24 noms for its final season.

🎤 Justin Bieber is joining Madonna, Shakira, and BTS as a co-headliner of the FIFA World Cup Final halftime show, curated by Chris Martin.

👀 Big Brother is (sort of, kind of) bringing its 24/7 live feeds to YouTube.

🤖 Perplexity is reportedly testing an AI coding tool that can build software projects from start to finish from a single prompt.

☀️ Fieldston Power is installing solar panels on rent-stabilized apartment buildings across NYC, helping lower energy costs for low-income households.

🚶‍♀️ WeWard locks your phone’s apps until you hit your daily step goal. Genius.

📱 X will now DM you if you’ve interacted with a post that’s later corrected by a Community Note… so expect a lot of DMs.

🎥 TikTok is making it easier for brands to advertise alongside Mini Dramas on the platform.

🛑 If you don’t want people using your public Instagram posts to generate AI images with Meta’s new tool, you’ll need to opt out.