This week Halloween decor gets spooky, the websites you love are exploiting you, publishers look to build awareness through brand marketing, and more.
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TRENDING
Have Halloween decorations become too scary?
There is a noticeable shift in how the holiday is celebrated: the decor is getting more outrageous, gory, and violet. Since 2020, more adults seem to be getting into Halloween, and a licensed clinical psychologist in New York City says the change may speak to the character of our current culture. According to the National Retail Federation, spending on Halloween decorations alone is expected to reach $4.2 billion this year, up from $1.6 billion in 2019. Source: The New York Times
The financial woes impacting higher education
The University of Chicago soft-launched a new capital campaign after university leaders said the school needed to cut $100 million in expenses. The elite university’s financial problems are consistent with what many universities are facing, scrambling to make cutbacks without losing students. While tuition costs continue to increase, expenses for universities are also up, and federal cuts are causing even more financial strain. At UChicago, 65 federal grants have been lost, and the school stands to lose revenue from international students as more choose to study outside the U.S. Source: The Wall Street Journal
TECHNOLOGY
Why every website you love is getting worse
Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, says the term “enshittification” describes how once-great platforms deteriorate after locking users in. Once users are locked in through network effects and switching costs, companies gradually worsen the product to extract more value. He describes how, at Google, an executive once proposed making search results less effective so users would run multiple queries, in turn seeing more ads. Similarly, Meta’s platforms shifted from a reverse-chronological feed filled with friends’ posts to a curated mix of suggested and paid content. Source: Vox
AI note-taking is helping professionals (partially)
An October study from Software Finder found three in ten respondents admitted to skipping meetings, trusting AI notetakers to capture what they miss. Nineteen percent of full-time workers surveyed said they use AI tools to generate meeting notes, but 41% of those respondents also said important context was not captured by the tools. While AI notetakers may not be able to be completely relied upon in their current state, research by TechBullion found meeting attendee vocal participation increased by 40% when note-taking is offloaded to AI, allowing teams to feel more present. Source: Fortune
BRAND
Publishers lean into brand marketing campaigns like never before
Previously seen as an unnecessary move, publishers are now choosing to amp up brand marketing efforts (some for the first time ever). The way younger generations consume news means publishers can no longer rely on simply producing content and assuming it will reach them. NBC News launched its first brand marketing campaign on Monday, advertising across digital and physical channels to promote trustworthiness in its organization. Earlier this year, other notable publishers like Wired, The Guardian, MarketWatch, The Houston Chronicle, and The San Francisco Chronicle also began leaning into brand marketing. Source: Adweek
As run clubs surge, brands look to benefit
In-part influenced by social media, run clubs are turning the sport from an individual act to a social activity. Brands are wanting in, seeing the opportunity to tap into diverse audiences. For races, like the upcoming NYC Marathon, this opportunity means brands can reach both runners and spectators. An increase in race participation has also led to more brand sponsorship interest. The chief commercial officer for the nonprofit behind the NYC Marathon said this year the expo floor space was “essentially sold out,” and the race has six new official partners. Brands are also sponsoring run clubs in cities globally and on online platforms like Strava. Source: Marketing Brew
SOCIAL
People are dragging the new JPMorgan headquarters
The company’s new headquarters in midtown Manhattan was unveiled last week, and online attention has focused on a particular post from Michael Dell, showing an image featuring seemingly endless rows of Dell monitors in the new JPMorgan workplace. The post now has over 17 million views, and the sentiment online is overwhelming negative. Users are calling the snapshot “dystopian” and “an awful work environment.” The 60-story skyscraper was $3 billion to build and design, and has been a huge topic of discussion around the RTO debate since the project was announced. Source: Fast Company
