š Donāt forget to buy your holiday presents. The rest of the US definitely isnāt: Holiday spending could increase by 3.5% this year, hitting a new record of $989B, and Amazon is hiring 250k extra workers to keep up with shipping volume. That might not be enough to put peopleās fears at bay ā more than half of Americans say theyāre worried about delivery delays this holiday season.
š§ On the pod:Everything we know about Sora, OpenAIās video generation tool.
NEWS FLASH
š§¾ OpenAI came with receipts. The company published a blog post on Friday alleging that Elon Musk wanted OpenAI to become a for-profit company, complete with a detailed timeline of events spanning November 2015 to March 2023 ā and a note that Musk agreed that a āfor-profit was the next stepā in 2017. The public rebuttal comes in response to Muskās latest court filing against the AI company that asked a federal court to prevent OpenAI from becoming fully for-profit. Grab your popcorn, sit back, and get reading ā the blog post also includes screenshots of private emails and texts with Musk.
šø Smile, youāre on camera: The New York City Department of Transportation sent a cease and desist letter to artist Morry Kolman, who created Traffic Cam Photobooth, a website that lets people take selfies using feeds from traffic cameras. The agency claims it encourages ādangerous behaviorā and promotes āunauthorized useā of its cameras. Kolman, whose goal is to bring attention to surveillance tech, did not take the site down and instead used it ā and a 25-foot pole ā to take a photo of the letter with a traffic camera.
šļø Home sweet home: A Zillow analysis of millions of listings surfaced five trends homeowners want for 2025. They include eco-friendly homes, houses built to withstand natural disasters, budget-friendly ācozyā homes, āwellnessā features such as spa-like bathroom amenities, and vintage vibes. Hereās a fun fact: mentions of sculleries ā rooms tucked off kitchens for tasks like meal prep or washing dishes ā have increased by 8% YoY in for-sale listings.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Epic Games is making payments to āFortniteā players who were charged for unwanted in-game purchases. The refunds ā averaging ~$114 ā could total $245m in payments for the companyās ādark patternsā noted in a Federal Trade Commission accusation.
Rhode Islandās online benefits system, RIBridges, went offline on Friday following a cyberattack that might have exposed the personal information of thousands of residents. The portal housed applications for Medicaid, food stamps, and other government benefits.
Consulting firm McKinsey will pay $650m to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into its work advising Purdue Pharma on how to boost OxyContin sales.
FUTURE OF CONTENT
The truth? Most websites get no organic traction
A walloping 94.29% of them, to be specific.
Thatās what Neil Patel, one of the most trusted marketing experts on Earth, discovered after a month of tracking billions of keywords.
Yes, content is broader than text, but the social post stats were pretty grim, too: Neilās analysis of 5m+ posts showed that six out of 10 gained zero engagement.
If youāre not quakinā in your boots, you must not be in marketing. If youāre frantically but understandably shooketh, hereās the next move.
If youāre on TikTok, you definitely know Crumbl. Or, maybe, if thereās a teenage girl in your life (who is probably on TikTok).
The cookie brand has swept social media, garnering 9.6m followers on TikTok and a cult-like following of dedicated fans looking to sample the newest flavor, perThe Wall Street Journal.
What started as a single Utah store in 2017 has ballooned into 1k+ franchise-owned Crumbl stores in the US and 18 in Canada ā 96% of which have opened since 2020.
Crumblās franchisees generate $1B+ in annual sales.
The average Crumbl shop earned ~$1.2m in revenue in 2023, with profits of ~$123k.
Crumbl itself posted a net income of nearly $31m on $122m+ in revenue last year.
The chain opened 300+ new stores in 2023, and is on track to add ~100 more in 2024. It also plans to expand to Australia and the UK; plus, thereās merch.
Crazy for cookies
Crumbl is a hit with women ā 65% of its customers are female ā especially teens and tweens.
Young girls are particularly spellbound by the brandās sugared-up marketing strategies:
The brand releases weekly menu changes and limited-edition cookie drops that supercharge its power on social media.
The pale-pink cookie boxes were developed in partnership with the Pantone Color Institute.
With 15%-16% of teens using YouTube or TikTok āalmost constantly,ā Crumblās picture-perfect branding drives big business.
Developing new cookie flavors is also a careful process that can take three months to a year. Each new flavor goes through five or six iterations and is tested in ~50 stores before itās launched.
What some might not enjoy? Crumblās classic milk chocolate chip cookie has 730 calories and 47 grams of sugar.
Was your last coffee date inside a bank?Tune in to find out why so many banks are going all-in on cafes.
Want your meetings to be worth your time? Here are seven agendas to make every Zoom efficient and productive.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Value of a cello that Air Canada reportedly kicked off a flight, causing cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his sister, pianist Isata, to miss a sold-out performance in Toronto.
Apparently, you do have to buy a seat for a cello as they donāt fit in the overhead bin. Yet complications arose when the pairās flight was delayed, then canceled, and they had to make a last-minute reservation for a new one. Kanneh-Mason said itās often complicated transporting instruments by air due to unclear airline policies.
If youāre wondering how a cello costs $3.1m+, this oneās 300 years old and was made by Matteo Goffriller, a well-known Venetian luthier (AKA someone who makes stringed instruments).
AROUND THE WEB
š„ On this day: In 2009, James Cameronās Avatar ā one of the highest-budget and highest-earning films ever made ā premiered.