Storytime With Kendrick

PRESENTED BY PACASO

Happy Friday to all who celebrate. In one of the funniest privacy mishaps in recent memory, a batch of Spotify playlists created by Palmer Luckey — the founder of defense-tech giant Anduril — was discovered… and they’re hilarious. The playlists feature some wildly unexpected picks, including country star Kelly Clarkson, Celtic punk rockers Flogging Molly, and, most amazingly, a whole lot of My Little Pony. Nothing like building AI-powered next-gen fighter jets while rocking out to MLP’s “Unleash the Magic.”

pgLang, the “at-service” production company and label founded by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free, is launching a global creative agency dubbed Project 3.

Why It Hits: Standing out in a world inundated with marketing is harder than ever — but breaking through the noise to find an audience is more important than ever. That’s why brands are turning to agencies that either excel at creative or are led by someone who is a literal name brand. Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Effort checks both boxes… and Project 3 could follow a similar trajectory while operating with a much different vibe.

Behind the Curtain: Project 3 is evolving out of pgLang’s recent acquisition of international creative studio Frosty after years of collaboration.

Last Stitch: pgLang has already dipped its toe into brand work, producing campaigns for companies like Cash App, Chanel, Calvin Klein, and Gatorade — racking up six Cannes Lions awards in the process. Not too shabby for a company that once felt it didn’t have the bandwidth to do branding at scale.

But with the acquisition of Frosty and its 30 global employees, pgLang is ready to spread its wings with a full-service label. Still, Free maintains that quality over quantity will be the “north star.”

Prediction: Since Project 3 aims to rebuild brands from the inside out (and not just chase virality), expect some of its early work to include sweeping redesigns of legacy companies in need of an update.

How do you follow broken records? You get stronger. Just ask Pacaso.

Their co-ownership home-buying tech shattered records in Paris and London in 2024 — and no surprise there.

Coldwell Banker reports that 40% of wealthy Americans plan to buy abroad within the year. So Pacaso’s potential Italy expansion? Huge.

They’ve even locked down the Nasdaq ticker: PCSO.

Invest in Pacaso today.

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As IMAX becomes one of the biggest draws for moviegoers, there appears to be a whisper campaign for major theater chains to band together to put more marketing muscle behind their own premium-large format (PLF) offerings.

The Big Picture: IMAX has been on a tear this year, posting a record-best quarter for ticket sales, lifting the box-office grosses and cultural awareness of blockbusters, getting love from Wall Street, and now becoming a legit marketing tool on posters and trailers. Who wouldn’t be jealous of that kind of action?

Behind the Scenes: THR reports that some exhibitors and PLF brands are considering joining forces to market their products as game-changing and successful as IMAX… but others say those talks are overblown, with AMC stating it won’t join a competing coalition.

Final Credits: IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond isn’t sweating the competition, saying that the US theater chains have only expressed ongoing loyalty to IMAX (AMC has the most IMAX screens domestically), and the brand has a strong international footprint (23% of its revenue last year came from China alone). 

Also, IMAX has developed strong relationships with marquee filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Greta Gerwig, and Ryan Coogler. Dolby is the only competitor to adopt a similar strategy, working with the team behind Jurassic World Rebirth.

Coming Soon: Considering that many moviegoers are waiting weeks to see hit films in IMAX (especially in the 70mm format), there may be enough demand for another PFL exhibitor to make a sizable dent in market share… if they can publicize it effectively.

90.1% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Are you a chocolate fan?

“Is this a trick question?”

“Chocolate is life <3.”

“Especially dark chocolate with a glass of red wine. So decadent!”

“I make my own.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, 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.

🎮 Xbox console sales are down 22%, while game sales are up 10% and content and service sales have climbed 13% — a clear sign that the Game Pass transformation is in full swing.

🎥 Succession’s Jeremy Strong is potentially taking over the role of Mark Zuckerberg from Jesse Eisenberg in Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Network Part II.

🎙️ Bobbi Althoff has surprisingly signed off The Really Good Podcast after two and a half years — end of an era.

📈 Microsoft is the second-ever company to hit a $4 trillion market cap, thanks to massive gains in its cloud-computing business.

💰 Design-software startup Figma scored a $47 billion valuation in its IPO, with its stock tripling on the first day of trading.

🚀 The US Space Force is set to test a new navigation system powered by quantum tech, enabling it to pinpoint precise locations even in GPS-denied environments.

🤝 JPMorgan announced it will allow customers to link their accounts to their Coinbase wallet — merging traditional banking with crypto.

👕 Kering’s new CEO, Luca de Meo, is getting a nearly $23 million signing bonus as he takes over for Francois Henri-Pinault.

📱 Epic once again beat Google in court, with the Google Play Store deemed an illegal monopoly.