Out of Scope Issue 43: What’s in your Spotify Wrapped? 🎁
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Out of Scope Issue 43: What’s in your Spotify Wrapped? 🎁
This week’s nonrequired thinking on reputation, business, and culture
This week, we look at a change in command at Twitter, the internet’s favorite privacy invasions, the national hero of Barbados, and Cheeto dust art. As a post-Thanksgiving treat, we’ve got two weeks’ worth of news for you! Save some room for leftovers.
💡ON OUR MINDS:
Jack Dorsey flies the coop
This week, founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey announced he would be leaving the company after 15 years at the helm.
So what’s behind the big move? Axios reporter Scott Rosenberg posits that social media might be the field to flee after Facebook, er, Meta’s, big name change.
But is it something else? Protocol says, “Don’t think of it as leaving Twitter. Jack Dorsey’s going all in on crypto.” Dorsey is also the founder and CEO of payments platform Square (yes, he’s been the head of not one but two public companies this whole time) and notably declared bitcoin the future this past summer.
Also as of this week, Square, Inc. announced its own name change to Block - signifying the blockchain is a big part of its future. The company’s holdings include Square, CashApp, Tidal, and two blockchain companies, Spiral and TBD54566975.
While his farewell letter rallied against “founder-led” companies, he holds just 2.3% of Twitter’s shares with no voting rights, and Square, now Block, is more founder-led with 48% of voting power in his hands.
So is this the sign that social is done, and web3 and the metaverse are the future of business? Who’s to say! But Jack Dorsey certainly thinks that’s the case.
Block’s new leadership page is turning some heads
Unwrapping the world’s listening data
It’s everyone’s favorite time of year…and we’re not talking about the holiday season, but Spotify Wrapped!
As users flock to social media to share their results with friends and the internet alike, both in self-deprecating embarrassment and pride, it’s clear that once again Spotify has succeeded in creating an immersive experience that fosters a sense of digital community across social media platforms.
But it wouldn’t be a collective digital experience if it didn’t produce many different takes.
As some users pointed out, Spotify was seemingly able to create a personalized experience that serves as an exception to social media users' widespread privacy concerns:
spotify the only tech company to figure out how to successfully rebrand "we've been tracking you" to "isn't this FUN"
Meanwhile, the copy of this year’s Wrapped became instantly meme-able, with many mocking the pseudo-Gen Z language that reads like it was written by, well, anyone other than Gen Z.
Spotify previously came under fire last year for not properly crediting former intern, Jewel Ham, for her ideation of the immersive story concept after she published her intern project deck on Twitter. While Spotify has denied that Ham’s contributions informed the most recent variations of Spotify Wrapped, the similarities are uncanny, and in the court of public opinion, Ham, who is a young Black woman, is very much regarded as the rightful creator of one of Spotify’s greatest successes.
While Spotify Wrapped will likely remain viewed as a fun and somewhat trivial feature for years to come, Ham’s lack of recognition and Spotify’s use of Gen-Z language grounded in African-American English Vernacular (AAVE) creates questions around how brands might assess the intersection of ideation, culture, and intellectual property going forward.
🏆 BRAND WIN OF THE WEEK: Rihanna
The queen is out, and Rihanna is in. Barbados finally kicked the British monarchy to the curb for good after becoming independent 55 years ago. Until now, they’ve kept Queen Elizabeth as a ceremonial head of state, but they have elected their first-ever president, Sandra Mason. Prince Charles attended the event as the UK’s official representative. At the same ceremony, Ambassador (and international pop star) Robyn Rihanna Fenty was named a national hero for the country. As Prime Minister Mia Mottley so aptly put it,
“May you continue to shine like a diamond and bring honor to your nation by your works, by your actions.”
📡 ON OUR RADAR
As cryptos go mainstream and what you can buy with them becomes greater and greater, El Salvador announced their plans of a ‘Bitcoin City.’ The city plans to be powered by geothermal energy from a nearby volcano. The government plans on helping finance with $1bn in bitcoin-backed sovereign bonds. These announcements are being made just a few short months after the country announced bitcoin as legal tender starting this past September.
Out of Scope EIC Emily Schienvar took a drive through Dothan, Alabama during her Thanksgiving travel and stumbled on a particularly gruesome billboard featuring a gangrenous foot and the tagline, “Before you amputate, call Dr. Duke.” The big question: does anyone get an amputation without consulting a doctor? After a quick Google search, we learned that Durden Outdoor published a whole case study on the campaign - and they apparently know their market well enough to have established a thriving practice.
While Spotify Wrapped may be dominating the news cycle, last week the brand joined forces with fellow streaming powerhouse to create the “Netflix Hub” on Spotify with official playlists and soundtracks from Netflix’s most popular shows and movies including Bridgerton, Squid Games, and more. This smart crossover unites two highly engaged audience bases to share the love, deepening consumer relationships by leveraging the other’s brand to capture more share. And you better believe it’s already working -- catch us binging The Crown podcast, this week.
In the age of rebranding, Abercrombie is coming out on top. CEO Fran Horowitz has successfully rebranded the company from its olden days as a dark dungeon of low self-esteem that haunted Gen Z and millennials alike to a more inclusive vision of collective belonging, aligned with recent strides in the body positivity movement. While getting former CEO (and brand liability) Mike Jeffries out of the way was clearly the first step in creating a reinvented Abercrombie, the brand’s recent success goes to show that walking the walk can go a long way in the eyes of consumers.
An inventive one-year partnership has emerged between TikTok and BuzzFeed as they both continue to understand and grow their audiences. This is the first time TikTok has signed a deal with a media company to sell integrated sponsorships within weekly live programming.
The latest hot take: don’t have a hot take unless you need to. Global advisory firm Brunswick issued a new study called The Talking Trap, which details the natural impulse many organizations and executives have to weigh in on every social issue; however if those issues aren’t core to the business mission the message can fall flat, or worse, come off as pandering. And we couldn’t agree more. Brands should be ready to put their money where their mouth is, or otherwise consider staying quiet.
As is every year, brands are hitting Art Basel to create a spectacle that will get people talking. This year, Cheetos partnered with hip-hop lifestyle brand Rock The Bells to create and display artwork made entirely out of its iconic orange dust… truly giving “don’t touch the art” a whole new meaning.
It’s a whole new world in the metaverse. More and more brands are activating on popular digital world platforms like Roblox and Fortnite, with heavy hitters Chipotle, Nike, Verizon, and Vans all launching activations this year. What started as a gimmicky PR stunt could be considered a new best practice for brands looking to reach a Gen-Z audience and potentially a new staple service that creative marketing agencies need to offer.
Local icon status apparently isn’t enough to be featured on a licensed local version of Monopoly. Worcester diners didn’t make the cut, but a hot yoga studio did. Monopoly maker Top Trumps USA charged $21,000 or more for squares on the board.
What’s in a word (of the year)? Merriam-Webster chooses one word each year based on data from its site; 2021's word is “vaccine.” Runners up included “insurrection,” “perseverance,” and “woke.”
Hinge is giving its users a whole new way to passively judge their romantic prospects. Hinge’s short-form audio prompt debuted to virality a few weeks ago as users began reposting answers they deemed particularly cringe-worthy or funny across social media. While Hinge estimates that only 46% of their users have listened to a voice prompt, it surely does seem like many are on board to lean into the fun.
The best publication to give an exclusive to is definitely TMZ when it comes to news like this: Dr. Oz is running for Senate. He’ll be running as a Republican in Pennsylvania to fill the retiring current senator Pat Toomey’s seat. Dr. Oz is the latest in a series of public figures running for office, including former Mets manager Bobby Valentine, who ran for mayor in Stamford, CT, and Caitlyn Jenner vying for the California Governor seat. We’ll be watching to see who endorses.
On Monday, CNN suspended anchor Chris Cuomo “indefinitely” as new details came out about his efforts to assist his brother, former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, who faced sexual harassment charges. Some speculate Chris Cuomo’s removal is just another PR move to appease the masses following his original wrist slap in May. But can CNN bring him back in good conscience in today’s climate? Only time (and the court of public opinion) will tell.
“Fake it till you make it” seems to be backfiring for ClassPass, which faked listings for thousands of beauty, wellness, and fitness providers on its platform. The health club aggregator, recently acquired by MindBody, is now facing a lawsuit presenting the grievances of many small businesses who are claiming, among other frustrations, false affiliation, false advertising, and unfair competition under federal and state law.
Apparently, the Gucci family isn’t a fan of the new ‘House of Gucci’ movie - and neither is Tom Ford. Gucci the brand, however, seems to be on board, having provided the film with clothes. The division of opinion makes sense - the family is certainly getting some less-than-flattering coverage, while the brand is raking in publicity.
The WTA has suspended tournaments in China, sending a message to China re: the disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai, who has been missing ever since she claimed on her social media channels that she was sexually assaulted by a top member of the Chinese government. Will the message be received by Chinese officials? In any case, the WTA comes off with a strong stance as for its players, unlike some other athletic leagues, even if the decision has more to do with China’s strict COVID policies.
Big-name CPG brands like Clorox, Colgate, and many others are baiting millennials with dupes for aesthetic DTC brands. These giants want to capitalize on the successes of popular brands like Glossier, Warby Parker, and Away -- not only for their compelling visual ID but their ability to reach consumers by meeting them where they are shopping online. Moral of the story? Branding has the power to make a real business impact.
The days of lining up at stores to do your Black Friday shopping may be over, with foot traffic down 90% this year compared to 2019. As retail giants are changing course from past years and pushing early holiday shopping due to supply chain concerns, mega-stores Walmart and Target kept in place their policy from last year’s pandemic cautiousness and closed their doors on Thanksgiving Day. With the lack of shoppers and other issues surrounding retailers right now, it’ll be interesting to see if even Black Friday goes fully remote.
We’ll see you here next week! 👋
HL
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The fine print:
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