đ Donât be scared to set boundaries. That goes for what time you log off from work or, in the case of 66 Perry Street, who you allow on your steps. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved an application by the owner of the brownstone â the site of Carrie Bradshawâs apartment in âSex and the Cityâ â to build a gate out front to protect the building and its tenants from a never-ending stream of fans.
đ§ On the pod:Turns out shoppers donât buy products if theyâre locked up.
NEWS FLASH
đ Deere, John: The FTC is suing farming manufacturer John Deere, the latest in an ongoing saga over its controversial repair practices. The feds allege that John Deere holds an illegal monopoly over its equipmentâs repair market, leading to higher prices and longer wait times for farmers. Software locks prevent farmers from repairing the equipment without authorization from John Deere, and the lawsuit claims that a âMemorandum of Understanding,â in which the company agreed to make some repairs easier, is insufficient and designed to skirt right-to-repair legislation.
đ» Coors Light is getting a new name â for now. The beer brand announced a temporary name change to âMondays Light,â complete with new packaging, TV and print ads, and a billboard in Times Square. A nod to the first Monday after the end of football season, 12-packs with the new name will be available at retailers nationwide for a limited time. Parent company Molson Coors is likely hoping the stunt can shake the dust from its beer bottles â last year, retail beer sales fell 0.6% to $45.6B, and overall Coors Light sales fell 2% to ~$2.7B.
đž A new Instagram? Pixelfed, a decentralized photo-sharing platform launched in 2018, has garnered major interest since Meta announced a host of changes to how it moderates content on its apps. Pixelfed is open-source, community-funded, and part of the fediverse, a la Mastodon. Curiously, however, 404 Media found that Meta may be blocking links to Pixelfed on its platforms. Hmm!
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
The SEC is suing Elon Musk for failing to disclose his Twitter stock ownership in 2022 before buying the company. The SEC alleges Musk underpaid âby at least $150mâ as a result.
Red No. 3, an artificial dye used in a variety of products, will be banned in US food and drugs starting Jan. 15, 2027. The dye, which has been linked to cancer, is already banned in cosmetics.
The FDA is proposing new nutrition labels to go on the front of product packaging. The new labels would classify saturated fat, sodium, and sugar as high, medium, or low, to help consumers quickly understand where their snack stands.
STAY ON TREND
What marketing trends will dominate 2025?
Time to lock in, you brand-building brainiacs.
This yearâs State of Marketing Report covers all the subjects you shouldnât ignore â bold brand values, vibrant visual content, collabs with fabulous influencers, and more of whatâs working.
Specifically, for leaders at a16z, Asana, Graphite, and Marketing Against the Grain. Grab the guide, because itâs fascinating and free.
Surprise, customers donât like being inconvenienced
We hate to say we told you so, but⊠well. Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth revealed in a Q1 earnings call that âwhen you lock things up⊠you donât sell as many of them. Weâve kind of proven that conclusively.â
Target, Walgreens, CVS, and a host of other retailers have made brick-and-mortar increasingly frustrating, and, given the rise of online retailers and delivery services, some shoppers just arenât dealing with it.
What happened?
Retailers sounded the alarm on shoplifting. In particular, Walgreens reported a 52% rise in lost inventory â AKA âshrinkâ â in 2020 and 2021, perFortune.
Their response was to lock up inventory, including most personal care items, forcing customers to ask employees to unlock various cases. Some retailers implemented systems that allow customers to unlock cases with their phones.
Shoppers donât like it, and 27% of them will abandon a purchase if they encounter a lock.
So what will Walgreens do?
Walgreens plans to close ~450 underperforming stores this year and pivot its retail selection to focus on wellness and proprietary brands.
But regarding curbing inventory loss, Wentworth described it as âhand-to-hand combatâ and suggested there may be some âcreativeâ solutions on the horizon, but what those are remains unclear.
Some stores use:
Increased surveillance tech
Employee training
Body cams
Partnerships with law enforcement
Reduced entry/exit points
Electronic security tags
Some of these would be hard to implement â imagine a security tag on every box of toothpaste â but some, like a dedicated security guard, may not bother customers who donât intend to steal.
Brick-and-mortar retailers could also incentivize customers to place mobile pickup or delivery orders with them versus rivals like Amazon, but that doesnât really solve the whole in-store shopping issue.
More broadlyâŠ
⊠shrink is hard to quantify, with Walgreensâ former CFO James Kehoe saying that maybe the company had âcried too muchâ about it in the past.
Plus, reports of a gigantic uptick in post-pandemic shoplifting were ultimately retracted upon further scrutiny.
Without sufficient data to understand who is shoplifting, how much, and why, it may be difficult for stores and their communities to implement meaningful solutions that donât drive off paying customers.
Gaze into the crystal ball: Five marketing leaders share their predictions for the trends of 2025. (Yeah, there’s AI stuff on the list.)
Want to chug knowledge?Hereâs how to use AI to do 10 hours of research in 20 minutes. Drink responsibly.
DATA POINT
The hottest job in 2025? Veterinarian, according to career site Indeed, which ranked the occupation No. 1 on its Best Jobs of 2025 list.
Listings for vets, the most prevalent on the market, have increased 124% since 2021, and are expected to grow 19% over the next nine years.
Sure, the job pays well â animal MDs take home a median annual salary of ~$140k â but whatâs really driving the trend seems to be Gen Z.
The young cohort not only spends more on their animal companions than older generations, averaging $178 in monthly pet expenses, compared to just $90 for baby boomers, theyâre also increasingly opting to raise fur babies over human ones: A recent survey found 67% of respondents ages 18-26 would rather own a pet than have a child.
AROUND THE WEB
đ On this day: In 1605, Miguel de Cervantesâ novel Don Quixote was published.
Yesterday, we asked how youâre feeling about TikTokâs possible ban.
Most of you (71%) are unfazed, as you never had the app to begin with. For 14%, the feeling is neutral â they plan to move to whatever app comes next. Then there are the 6% who are excited to have a forced screen-time break, and the 9% who are dreading a possible ban on their favorite app.
As for whether the ban will actually pass, 64% felt unsure while 24% said âdefinitelyâ and 12% said âno way.â
Many are still readying to take their scrolling elsewhere, with 60% saying theyâve downloaded Instagram Reels, 33% turning to YouTube Shorts, and 15% taking a chance on Chinaâs RedNote.
SHOWER THOUGHT
Netflix could include ratings from Rotten Tomatoes to save us all a web search.SOURCE
