Raffi's Round Up - w/c 24th February 2024
The five best Marketing-related nuggets across my desk this week
Welcome to the latest edition of my weekly Round Up!
Greetings after a very cold week in Chicago and Toronto! Here are the five best Marketing-related nuggets that came across my desk this week:
ONE (if you want to get under the skin of Gen Z, read this one)
had a useful piece unpacking what is really going on for the next generation. A lot of brands would do well to properly understand what’s going on because, as Kyla says, it runs deep: we are seeing “a generation's attempt to navigate a world where institutions promise stability they can't deliver, where algorithms offer opportunity without security, and where the very nature of work and worth is being redefined.”
TWO (if you needed a reminder about the power of top 1% IP, read this one)
The Bond franchise is one of those special pieces of IP that is almost worth whatever price. For Amazon that number was $1bn — keep an eye out for brand extensions away from the core film franchise… We’re talking origin story, we’re talking 19th century Bond, and more. Personally I can’t get enough. More from Deadline here.
THREE (if you’re interested in how to marry scale and intimacy, read this one)
I’ve been geeking out on the Starbucks evolution, and I came across this killer quote in an old piece by M.G. Siegler:
“Scale is power, but you need to obfuscate that from the customer when it comes to retail. Bespoke up front, scale in the back, as it were. These are community centers, not big brand community soul suckers.”
The full post is worth a read here.
FOUR (if you want to see the Greggs brand moving up a gear, try this one)
This is a brand that now takes almost £2 of every £100 spent on the UK hospitality sector and is moving up and up thanks to smart collaborations across culture. Their latest with 24 star (yes I know other things too… but 24 was iconic!) Kiefer Sutherland hits the mark again.
FIVE (if you want to see a smart brand flexing, try this one)
So Apple TV have released “an exclusive ODESZA set designed for eight hours of focus” to pair with the new season of Severance. Alongside what they did in Grand Central Station, this is a stacked Marketing department flexing its smarts, power and resources.
