Trademarking McConaughey

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Happy Thursday, Future Party. Did you know the latest app to go viral in China isn’t an ultra-fast delivery service or a micro-drama platform… it’s an app that lets people know you’re still alive. The “Are You Dead” app (called “Demumu” outside of China) is aimed at people who live alone and prompts users to check in every single day to confirm they’re… you know… still breathing and capable of picking up a phone. If someone goes several days without checking in, their emergency contact is notified. Considering America’s loneliness epidemic, is it only a matter of time before the app takes off here?

Let this be your motivator to get friendly with your neighbors.

Actor, author, and all-around icon Matthew McConaughey is trying to protect himself from deepfakes by trademarking himself.

The Big Picture: Stamping out deepfakes is becoming an overwhelming problem for everyone — especially celebrities, who are playing Whac-A-Mole to stop bad actors (not the performance kind) from fraudulently monetizing their name, image, and likeness. Without federal legislation in place, they’re being forced to try out-of-the-box ideas to stem the reputational damage.

Behind The Filing: Making deepfakes of McConaughey is definitely not “alright, alright, alright.”

Last Line: While some celebrities have trademarked certain catchphrases (Lizzo with “100% That Bitch” and Paris Hilton with “That’s Hot”), McConaughey seems to be the first to pursue an overarching trademark of himself. McConaughey knows he’s worth his weight in gold, making this a proactive move to protect his core work tools — his face, his voice, his sign off.

Otherwise, it would only be a matter of time before McConaughey was pulled into a scandal of some random YouTuber’s making.

The Future: CAA is doing something similar to McConaughey with all of its clients via its CAA Vault… so it’s likely just a question of when the agency will file trademark applications for all of its A-list clients. You know, just in case.

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The revamped and modernized Digg is officially in open, public beta.

Why It Hits: Digg was an icon of the Web 2.0 era… but it couldn’t keep pace with competitor Reddit. That led to the company being sold, chopped up, and sold again over the past decade. Now, it’s back under the leadership of original founder Kevin Rose and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, with plans to use AI to center human connection — instead of the other way around.

Between The Lines: The Digg reboot is betting that users want a little 2000s nostalgia mixed with their AI-powered social media.

Final Update: One of the big changes in this iteration is Digg’s focus on making sure real, authentic people are using the platform, while actively keeping out fraudsters and bots. Rose told TechCrunch that the company plans to do this via “little signals of trust along the way and bundling them all together into something that’s meaningful.” That includes fancy methods ranging from zero-knowledge proofs and location data to requiring that someone in, say, a community about Oura rings actually owns an Oura ring. It’s the small things that build credibility and help maintain a positive user experience…

…and, in the hope of Rose and Ohanian, an even better experience than what users would find on Reddit.

Prediction: Community managers, much like on Reddit, are the heartbeat of forum-based platforms… so finding ways to empower them, and possibly compensate them, could be the deciding factor in the platform’s success.

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52.2% of you voted Nothing — I tune celebrity ads out in yesterday’s poll: When a celebrity appears in an ad, what matters most to you?

“There is nothing less authentic than a high-profile actor in an ad for anything.”

“I always wonder how much they were paid to do the ad.”

“I couldn’t care less about ads in general. Spending money on professional actors […] just makes the price consumers pay even higher than it already is. Give me an ad with my neighbor — someone who actually uses the product and is voicing their own opinion — and that will grab my attention and maybe lure me into purchasing it.”

“A celebrity ad is great when there’s a real connection — or a funny one, like the Michael Cera ads for CeraVe. But the Super Bowl is often full of ads that just stuff a ton of celebrities in to connect with as many people as possible, and those are deeply tiresome.”

“I’m biased because I work in the advertising industry, but […] the data is clear: celebs make people watch (and remember) ads. They boost likability, relevance, and trust for pretty much any brand. The key is matching the talent to the audience to maximize impact. Put another way — if you don’t like it, it’s probably not for you.”

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.

🍿 Asad Ayaz has been named Disney’s first-ever chief marketing and brand officer.

🎙️ Netflix has greenlit its first slate of original podcasts, which includes shows from Pete Davidson and NFL star Michael Irvin.

🎸 Bandcamp is the first music streamer to totally ban AI-generated music.

🎧 OpenAI and Jony Ive’s first AI product seems to be a pair of ChatGPT-powered earbuds.

🚘 After countless controversies, Tesla is putting its Full Self-Driving software behind a monthly paywall.

🐴 Kawasaki is set to mass-produce a hydrogen-fueled robot horse. Wild.

🏆 Tickets to the 2028 LA Olympics went on sale yesterday… and the site immediately crashed due to demand.

👕 Twitch streamer Kai Cenat is rolling out his own clothing line dubbed “Vivet.”

📉 Saks has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after it took on too much debt to buy Neiman Marcus a year ago.