Out of Scope Issue 105: One News Story, Endless Perspectives

Plus: IPad babies all grown up; Milk is ‘in’ for Spring

Apr 06, 2023

This week in comms had it all: an in-person arraignment that could’ve been an email, an acquisition that got people talking, and a chartreuse shortage sparked by monks with other priorities. One through line: clarity is crucial when it comes to whether or not someone needs to be in court, sharing messages with key audiences, offering context around business deals that may or may not turn heads, and simply offering milk alternatives.

💡ON OUR MINDS: Perception is in the eye of the beholder

April 5, 2023 will live on as a historical date in U.S. history, with Donald Trump becoming the first former POTUS to be indicted on criminal charges.
In an age where news can be distributed across an infinite number of platforms, the difference in perception of one story can be vast, influencing how we communicate, consume, and digest the news. At Hirsch Leatherwood, we often like to show, not tell. See for yourselves:

📡 ON OUR RADAR

The dairy industry is trying to make drinking milk cool again with campaigns targeting a generation primarily eschewing the beverage for milk alternatives. Instead of nostalgia ("Got Milk", anyone?), milk processors are hitching their products to causes that resonate with younger generations — whether promoting gender equality in sports by donating to the nonprofit Girls on the Run for every woman who joins #TeamMilk, declaring milk the "performance beverage" at TwitchCon gaming convention, or creating Shark Tank-like contests encouraging small food entrepreneurs to invent dairy-based products aimed directly at Gen Z. It’s clear dairy is trying to make the "O.G. sports drink" relevant with a generation suffering from "milk shame." Whether these new campaigns change generational tastebuds remains an open question.
Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor Group, known for going to the mat in negotiations with movie studios, tv networks, and digital platforms on behalf of talent, is acquiring a 51% stake in World Wrestling Entertainment, aka the WWE. While this news may seem like a punch in the face to any other group looking to share a piece of the wrestling for mostly entertainment’s sake pie, it’s a strategic move on Vince McMahon’s part to make some green before hits to his (and the organization’s) reputation become unrecoverable.
Those that declare remote work is killing cities should read this week’s Curbed interview David Madden, a sociologist and co-director of the Cities Programme at London’s School of Economics and Political Science. The global pandemic reignited a decades-old trend of equating the well-being of cities with the success of real estate companies filling spaces and developing new construction projects in downtown areas. The truth is that the “urban doom” school of thought is more of a pessimistic perspective on the state of things than the actual state of things.

🥊QUICK HITS:

In case you missed these stories.

Sunnier days ahead? In his annual shareholder letter, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon seems cautiously optimistic for the U.S. economy.
The Sunshine State and the Magic Kingdom are at odds over recent political decisions from Florida Governor Ron Desantis that target members of Disney’s key demographic: kids.
IPad babies are all grown up with a new study showing social media usage from kids aged 8 to 12 has increased by 17%.
Credit Suisse Chairman Axel Lehmann gave a mea culpa for the bank's failure and loss of client trust leading to it being purchased by rival UBS.

Thanks for reading,

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This week’s newsletter is brought to you by monks living and working in a 900 year-old French monastery who are more focused on connecting with the Holy Spirit than distributing spirits to high-growth markets around the world.

OUT OF SCOPE

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