In this issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at four stories to think about next week, including: the problem with certifications, bad times to rebrand – part II, horsepower as a service, AI music gets real, and underpaid vs. over-appreciated jobs.
In addition, we have ads from: Manscaped, Irn-Bru, Under Armour, Uber Eats, and Apple Fitness.
// Stories of the Week:
1.) The Problem with Certifications.
As the job market slows and workers fear AI’s long term impact, non-degree certifications have skyrocketed as a potential avenue to strengthen an employee’s appeal. However, recent research from the Burning Glass Institute found that across 23,000 of the most popular certifications, only 1 in 8 delivered notable pay gains within a year of completion. Even programs from notable institutions or in sought after fields provided little payoff, according to the dataset which compared outcomes between workers in and out of programs since 2009. Fields that offered a credential uplift often skewed towards nursing, medicine and radiology vs. marketing and advertising, further illustrating the slow down and ongoing contraction within creative industries.
As more workers seek different ways to diversify skills and seek out stability, are we poised to see a backlash against the non-degree education industry? Or is the desperation of many workers strong enough, that any chance, no matter how slim is worth taking a chance?
2.) There’s Never a Good Time to Rebrand, But There Might Be Better Times Than This Week.
It’s never worth forgetting how hard successfully rebranding is. Something that HBO Max and more recently MSNBC and Cracker Barrel stand to remind us. Both brands found themselves at the intersection of brand and US culture, but for wildly different intentions.
This week, news channel MSNBC shared its intention to become MSNOW – joining the ranks alongside HBO Max of questionable media channel rebrands, dropping its association with heritage channel NBC. Media rebrands are particularly complex, as they often reflect the changing nature of ownership and association in a changing media landscape. While the channel’s name ironically reflects a joint venture with Microsoft (MS) that ended in 2012, the new decision to separate from NBC’s heritage (and the NBC news brand) comes from a planned spinoff of the channel into a new company called Versant. Coming at a time where trust in traditional media is low, it may be starting in a challenging position, before it’s even revealed that MSNOW actually stands for ‘My Source for News, Opinion and the World’. In a world of fragmented and numerous, but untrusted news sources – the decision to be instructive about how they want viewers to feel with the brand, vs. creating stimulus to generate that trust, may pose a long term challenge.
While MSNBC was forced through logistics to shift brands, American restaurant Cracker Barrel has taken a similar move to engage new audiences. Sparking outrage from the US right, vs. MSNBC’s US left, Cracker Barrel has dropped the eponymous ‘barrel and man’ from its logo for a cleaner, text only design. Coinciding with a NYC popup appearance, the brand’s attempt to broaden beyond its country heritage kitsch for a wider position has run the risk of alienating its traditional base. Much like country music as a genre, efforts to expand often fall afoul of loud traditionalists. However, unlike MSNOW, Cracker Barrel’s move can still be walked back, but the brand will hope that it can grow an audience, while its meat loaf and cornbread keeps regulars coming, and time pulls it out of the ‘culture wars’.
3.) HaaS: Horsepower as a Service
Volkswagen has sparked outrage amongst UK drivers by offering a ‘subscription service’ to access greater horsepower from their ID.3 electric vehicles. For a monthly fee of £16.50 (roughly $22.50), an annual payment of £165 (roughly $220), or a one-time lifetime subscription of £649 (about $880) drivers can boost the car’s horsepower from 148 to 168 – activated by a software switch and staying enabled even if the car is sold.
While VW have marketed the feature as a ‘flexible choice’, can a sector whose ‘optional extras’ are normally met with disdain, in the form of aftermarket accessories and dealer extras, change the core experience of a car? The move seems more apt to video games, who have angered gamers with optional DLC and micro-transactions, than a car manufacturer.
4.) When AI Picks Up Where Artists Left Off.
GenAI music has threatened to put musicians out of work, but what happens when it creates fake songs for musicians, without their knowledge? UK folk singer Emily Portman found herself in a surprising situation recently, as fans celebrated a new album she didn’t release. The songs, seemingly generated by AI and put out on major streaming platforms, led fans to laud her recent work, while she personally recognized that it lacked her own sense of humanity and artistry.
Though AI music is still more likely to create new AI acts like the Velvet Sundown than unknowingly expand real artist’s back catalogs, the news does highlight the potential intersection between AI music, covers and tributes. When fans, and others, can take artist work and extend it without their consent, what does an artist’s heritage look like? When AI cover bands can be indistinguishable from the real thing, are more artists likely to license their work and try to interact with AI spinoffs – such as singer Grimes? How long until someone franchises their art through AI and out into different genres, interests and markets?
Read More Here.
// Chart of the Week: Brits Feel Jobs that Contribute to Society Are Underpaid
New YouGov research looks at British attitudes towards occupations, analyzing which are perceived as overpaid and underpaid, as well as which the public feel contribute to society. The two factors show that no jobs are seen as overpaid while creating significant social impact. Instead, while nurses, care workers, farmers, fire fighters and teachers are seen as highly underpaid and socially beneficial, senior doctors and tradespeople exist as the two closest professions that create social impact while being paid fairly for it.
Does this highlight the UK public’s acceptance of a trade off between financial and social impact, as years of underfunding in socially beneficial sectors created a mutually exclusive perception of financial success and social good?
// Ads You Might Have Missed:
1.) ‘This is Not a Soft Drink’ – Irn-Bru:
Irn-Bru is more than a soft drink. In Scotland, it’s a national treasure, ‘Scotland’s other national drink’ and an advertiser that weighs in on everything from Unicorns to Football and Christmas. It’s everything from an effective hangover cure to a bane of nutritionists fighting sugar, but most importantly, Irn-Bru wants you to know that it’s made in Scotland, of Scotland (and Girders). Its latest campaign features a rousing monologue from a ginger self described to ‘fly too close to the sun’ and puts its heritage, tone and girder logo on show (and in related merch) in a way that reminds viewers that it could only be Scottish.
2.) ‘Be the Problem’ – Under Armour:
Under Armour has evolved the brand’s long term grit into a new ad celebrating the spoiler in football. The ad claims that “In a world of footballers trying to be the solution… be the problem”, with a tone that would make Vinnie Jones proud. The negative shift, from the hero’s tale, favored by competitors like Nike, to the arguable villain is intriguing. While it could be a risk to ask athletes to position themselves against someone else’s story, versus asking us to write our own, it taps into the reality that competitive sport doesn’t exist in isolation. Every competitor compares against someone else as the very nature of the game, and Under Armour reminds us that when it happens – you don’t have to be the positive one.
3.) ‘Uber Eats x Sky Sports’ – Uber Eats:
Uber Eats’ brings its restful ‘When You’ve Done Enough, Uber Eats’ idea in its latest Sky Sports sponsorship idents – leveraging football managers “Big” Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis and Alan Pardew. The three feature in a series of videos relaxing at a villa, which after coaching 3,000 games amongst them, feels well earned. The series plays into the personalities and in-jokes of each, as well as tapping into the sense that by the end of the season, at least one of the three (famous for jetting in to save a team from relegation), may have departed from their poolside lounges.
4.) ‘Severance x Fitness Plus’ – Apple Fitness:
Apple’s numerous properties don’t often cross over with each other as much as expected. However, Apple Fitness’ recent move to create a class featuring Severance actress Sydney Cole Alexander, the board’s representative Natalie Kalen on the Apple TV+ show, may signal a change. The class itself isn’t wildly unique, but its use of a Severance themed promo shows how Apple’s world building efforts may begin to work together more closely to promote each other.
5.) ‘Send Face Pics Instead’ – Manscaped:
Men’s grooming brand Manscaped has taken a novel approach to stopping men from sending d*ck picks. ‘Post Pic Clarity’ aims to drive men to send ‘face pics instead’ by showing the story of one man who accidentally avoided sending a sext. Instead, his face pic causes him to fall in love, have a family and in the final scene, witness his son about to make the same mistake.
There’s nothing funny about unwanted pictures, but while they’ve previously been turned into NFTs and highlighted as harmful acts, Manscaped takes a humorous tone to persuade on a serious issue. For men who may not have been convinced by the negative consequences, a joke about what they could be missing might have a shot.
// Sunday Snippets
// Marketing & Advertising //
– GAP Courts Denim’s Current Controversy in Its Latest Pure Vibes Jeans Ad [Ads]
– DoorDash Channels 90s Nostalgia and “Five Nights at Freddy’s” to Recruit Workers [Ads]
– Streetdoctors Fights Rising Knife Crime in the UK with an Ad Reminding There Is No Safe Place to Stab Someone [Ads]
– Terry Crews Offers to Help Athletes Learn How to Act for Sonic [Ads]
– MSCHF Launches a Creative Offering for Brands, Amplified MSCHF [Agency]
– Spirit Airlines Continues to Investigate Restructuring [Travel]
– The LA Olympics Looks to Sell Naming Rights to a Number of Venues [Sports]
– US Alcohol Exports to Canada Have Decreased by 62% Due to Boycotts [Marketing]
– Lacoste Swaps its Crocodile Logo for a Goat to Celebrate Novak Djokovic [Sports]
– HR software JustWorks reminds what the human in HR really means [Ads]
– Itsu Enlist Lower League Football Fan, the Wealdstone Raider, to Sell Dim Sum [Ads]
– ALDI is Set to Open Its First Midtown Manhattan Location [Retail]
// Technology & Media //
– NASA and Google Test AI Powered Medical Support for Astronauts [AI]
– The African Union Backs a Campaign to Replace the Mercator Projection in World Maps [Geography]
– Wikipedia Releases a Longer Guide on Spotting Signs of AI Writing [AI]
– Google Research Looks at How Video Consumption is Changing [Media]
– From Helvetica to Hell: The Memeification of US Govt Communication [Media]
– What Happened to the Musical Ringtone? [Media]
// Life & Culture //
– When ‘Fine Dining’ Becomes ‘Find Dining’ as Foraging Tours Increase [Food]
– As Oasis Begin the US Leg of Their Reunion Tour, Can They Break the US [Music]
– Dungeons and Dragons Enters Its Stadium Entertainment Era [Gaming]
– Affordability is Pushing the European Beach Holiday Into a Weekend Trip [Travel]
– Crocs Inks Footwear Deal with the NFL to Capture Gameday [Fashion]
– How Optimisation Hijacked Men’s Fitness [Fitness]
– Why You’re Probably an NPC [Culture]
– Move over Bridezillas, Groomzillas are a Thing. That Said, I’m Just Happy the Zillas Found Each Other [Culture]
// Until Next Sunday
As always, let me know what you think by email (dubose@newclassic.agency), website or on LinkedIn.
You can also listen to an audio summary and discussion of each week’s newsletter on Spotify. We’re also on TikTok!
