Hi pals, hope you’re having a great weekend. Five things of interest that came across my desk this week…..
The Magic of McDonald’s
McDonald’s is set to launch its biggest campaign ever tomorrow. Wild, considering we’re only one month post-Grimace, a pretty successful campaign in its own right. Aside from admiring the incredible ambition of the brand team and Wieden+Kennedy1, (do we have eyes on their times sheets?? Did anyone take a vacation this summer??) I love that both of these strategies center legacy as opposed to nostalgia. Nostalgia-washing in marketing is so tired to me because it often doesn’t imagine a future for the brand or signal an enduring investment in consumers—it rides solely on consumers’ emotions. When you can pair emotions with an innovative or standout product, that’s the sweet spot, the crunch of an M&M in a McFlurry if you will.
The campaign will essentially explore McDonald’s ubiquity in popular culture. From television to movies to music, “everyone has a McDonald’s order,” per the brand. I’m actually surprised it took them this long to stumble on the concept— it reminds of Macy’s long-running “Magic of Macy’s” holiday commercial. It’s not without precedent even within the company; McDonald’s Netherlands did a similar campaign earlier this year to promote its delivery app. Users could scan scenes from films to “Order That Scene” whenever a McDonald’s product was mentioned or shown on screen. The entire rollout is meant to mimic that of a blockbuster film’s marketing strategy, with teasers, trailers, and designer merch.
With the decline of influencer marketing, passive, “discoverable” product placement is predicted to flourish. For this reason and several more, I’m looking forward to seeing the campaign in its entirety. My only reservation so far is the product packaging/what the final execution will look like cause this is sorta…blah. Will report back once the actual spot drops……
The Escalation of Trauma Discourse
Big month for trauma!!!! Which makes sense because the prodding and unraveling of therapy-speak was a Major Topic of Discussion this summer following a lot of people’s introduction to therapy during lockdown, either online or IRL. The New Yorker’s July 10 digital issue dedicated itself to “therapy as a distinguishing feature of contemporary life.” Danielle Carr profiled “The Body Keeps the Score” author Bessel van der Kolk for New York Magazine this week and David Brooks told everyone to “grow the f*ck up” (give or take a few expletives) in the Times. I….. have a great many thoughts. Perhaps enough for a dedicated newsletter. I agree, the way we approach contemporary navel-gazing is a problem. But assigning blame to mass immaturity.......not sitting right with my soul. For now, I’m engaging in my new favorite thought experiment which is: Who is Profiting Off of This? Who is Selling the Solution? Who Has a Stake in Our Unhappiness & Insecurity? Hint: it’s not therapists.
The Power of Baggu Fangirls
Let me begin by saying, I own a Baggu tote that is the single most complimented item in my wardrobe, ever, of all time. I think it’s funny that this brand that started out as reusable grocery totes has proliferated into a full blown status item. Who are the girlies of Bushwick without their crescent cross bodies??? Here’s what excites me: brands that stoke this level of ferocity. Case in point, an announced collab with Sandy Liang sold out in mere hours. Not atypical for designer collaborations, especially when the designer’s price point is dramatically different from the collaboration pieces— think any designer x Target run. The story here is the immediate reselling of pieces with steep price hikes and Baggu’s reaction.2 What did Baggu do, you ask? Swiftly set up a pre-order site so everyone could get their hands on the items they wanted and also capped purchases to dissuade resellers. A brand that stokes this level of ferocity AND thoughtfully & quickly triages problems to produce consumer-centered solutions? That’s a brand with staying power.
The Perpetuity of Annie Rauwerda
Annie Rauwerda runs a fascinating TikTok account called “The Depths of Wikipedia” which is….. exactly what it sounds like. Trivia and weird observations inspired by the online encyclopedia. She’s like the Godmother of The Proverbial Rabbit Hole. I donate literally any time Wikipedia asks for my money, so I have a vested interest in any and all self-identifying “Wikipedia Influencers.”
Anyway. After seeing (but not investigating) lots of headlines and tweets and news items this month about THE PERPETUAL STEW IN BROOKLYN I was TODAY YEARS OLD when I learned Annie was behind the viral story!!!!!!!!!! What a lady. If that wasn’t enough, she’s a fellow Michigan Wolverine (Go Blue! lol) It’s like learning your favorite actor moonlights as a musician in your favorite band.
Annie gets belated airtime here because interested people are interesting and—I say this with benevolence—we have far too few of them. Worth shouting out whenever someone is making cool stuff that can’t be replicated by businesses or AI.
The Long-Awaited Sale of Simon & Schuster
Last summer, the Department of Justice v Penguin Random House trial failed to secure PRH a sizable acquisition — publishing peer Simon & Schuster from Paramount (it did, however, produce some Very Good Sound Bites in the process). This summer, likely preoccupied by dual writer and actor strikes, Paramount said whatever3 and sold the publishing house to private equity firm KKR for $1.62B. PRH was going to buy it for $2.2B, but given the amount of regulatory scrutiny the initial deal received, this price decrease tracks. The publishing industry is not really optimistic. KKR recommends itself by pointing to the case study of RBMedia, an audiobook company they sold for twice its purchasing price earlier this year. Audiobook production and distribution is different from auctions and publicity and lots of other publishing house expertise, but sure.
All I can add here is that I have firsthand experience that business people don’t really understand publishing. And vice versa. I think this is why once buzzy book startups flounder. I’m not sure what this meeting of the minds will generate, but I hope someone at KKR approaches this acquisition with some, er, curiosity and reverence for the publishing process and the people involved.4 National Book Award Winner Tess Gunty put it nicely during her interview today with CBS News Sunday Morning: “The book is a collaboration between the reader and the writer. It's an imaginative collaboration. It's not a relationship between a consumer and a product; it is something more freely entered (and, to me, sacred) than that.” Best wishes, KKR!!
Craft Room Reporting
I continue on my greeting card-making tirade! This weekend I bought some tan toned paper from Sam Flax that I’m excited to play with.
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That’s it for this week. Thank you for supporting!!!! And in case you’re behind on Left On Reads, the archive is just this way :)
P.S. No Circling Back today but I would like to direct you to THIS article about the matchmaking renaissance
McDonald’s agency of record
@OldLoserinBrooklyn on TikTok has a really good breakdown of the ethics involved in these collabs
This is me exaggerating. They probably didn’t say “whatever.” Probably.
A goodwill indicator of sorts: employees will receive equity in the company post-acquisition, a strategy that has benefitted KKR in the past