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👋 A bird’s-eye view of a situation can be helpful. A penguin’s-eye view? Truly invaluable. That’s why researchers are working on PenguCams, cameras affixed to New Zealand penguins that will help track how the birds eat, hunt, and live. And, importantly, give us way more footage of cute li’l penguins.

🎧 On the pod: Is blockchain storytelling Hollywood’s future?

NEWS FLASH

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, posing for a picture

🏈 If you’re looking to blow $8m in 30 seconds, all it takes is buying an ad for this year’s Super Bowl. Prices for the most-coveted ad spots rose to a record-breaking $8m+ for 30 seconds of air time, up from $7m last year. With an estimated 120m+ viewers tuning in to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles battle it out (or to catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift), demand for ad space is high, with spots selling out in November. If you’re tuning in this year, expect the usual culprits — snacks, drinks, and tech — as well as some focus on newcomers, like AI.

💸 Did somebody order an everything app? No? Too bad! Elon Musk is still working toward that concept, and he’s gotten one step closer: X is partnering with Visa to offer real-time payments on the social platform. The X Money Account service, set to launch later this year, will create an in-platform digital wallet and connect to users’ debit cards to allow for peer-to-peer payments and transferring funds to personal bank accounts. X will use Visa’s instant money transferring service, Visa Direct, to support the new services.

🫤 Here’s some entrepreneurial spirit: Shazali Sulaiman, a 28-year-old Malaysian man, launched a new “villain for hire” venture after being repeatedly told he looks like a tough guy. Clients can hire him to harass their significant other in a public place, giving the client the opportunity to confront him and show off how very cool and protective they are. The service starts at $22-$34 per day (Sulaiman is more expensive on weekends — fair enough). Though sexual harassment and inappropriate public behavior are illegal in Malaysia, Sulaiman states it’s all for show, “like WWE.”

MORE NEWS TO KNOW

The newest unexpected brand collab: This time with tequila and fried chicken. Popeyes and Don Julio announced a special menu featuring tequila-marinated fried chicken that’ll be served at select locations for a limited time.
Another bird app: Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s Block launched “codename goose,” an AI assistant for engineers that can alter code, look for bugs, and more, and which the company said may eventually expand to other uses, such as music generation.
Starbucks keeps making changes: The coffee chain will slash ~30% of its menu to focus on higher quality items and viral trends. It’s not clear what’s on the chopping block, though its Oleato olive-oil drinks are already gone.

EXPERT INSIGHTS

What’s top of mind for marketing leaders?

Last year’s playbook is basically ancient history. But 700+ leaders just spilled the tea on what’s actually working.

This 2025 field guide packs all of their insights into frameworks that’ll help you stay ahead.

Feast on our findings:

Four top trends everyone is watching
How strategists are integrating AI into workflows
How to elevate and differentiate your content
Notes on data privacy and intentionality
Survey data from chiefs in the trenches

Here’s what the heads have to say about exceeding expectations.

Top marketing trends

THE BIG IDEA

A smiling man holds out a phone; the screen reads, “Be my friend?”

We’re still lonely, startups are still trying

Is the answer to getting offline being more online? A bunch of apps seem to think so.

The booming friendship-app trend is not slowing down as we navigate this post-pandemic digital age, where work is often done remotely and third spaces, like coffee shops and community hubs, have disappeared.

Friendship apps…

… promise connections with equally lonely people near you:

Pie, an app that brings people together around common interests.
Bumble BFF, which accounted for ~15% of Bumble’s monthly active users in 2023.
Timeleft for group dinners, The Breakfast for group breakfasts.

Serial entrepreneur Radha Agrawal (Thinx, Daybreaker) founded Belong Circle to “eradicate loneliness,” per The Cut.

It involves meetups in various cities — free, with a suggested donation of $20 — far more accessible than Wow It’s Now, the $15k/ticket, invite-only adventure trip for founders and high-net-worth types Belong Circle spun out of.

Experts say…

… that people who are serious about making friends online should be specific about what they’re looking for and open about who they are, meet IRL, and find ways to maintain the connection.

That last part is key. You can go to as many app-powered meetups as you like, but if you never see those people again, what’s the point? While that’s largely up to users, apps can help.

Business Insider’s Amanda Hoover recently tried 222, an app that matched her with five strangers at an NYC hot spot. It later asked for feedback on her matches, and encouraged a second meetup with one of them, “taking the awkwardness of pursuing a new pal out of my hands.”

Timeleft is adding a new feature to help diners plan subsequent outings, after finding that they often did so on their own.

It’s also possible…

… we don’t need new apps.

Wired interviewed a 58-year-old goat farmer who joined the Facebook group Surrogate Grandparents USA after becoming estranged from her own children. She now has four “adopted” adult daughters and a mess of grandkids.

🔗

DATA POINT

Bar chart: Employer wage increase plans—2023: <4% (9%), 4%-9% (26%), 10%+ (70%); 2024: (<4%) 37%, (4%-9%) 58%, (10%+) 50%; 2025: <4% (16%), 4%-9% (13%), 10%+ (11%); source: Gartner.

Hoping for a raise this year? You can probably bank on it — 94% of employers plan to bump up salaries in 2025, according to a recent Gartner survey of 300 CFOs and finance leaders — just don’t expect more than a pittance.

Only 61% of employers plan to dole out raises of more than 4%, down from 86% in 2023, while those planning to offer raises of less than 4% surged to 37%, up from 9% in 2023.

Shrinking wage increases reflect easing inflation and low quit rates, per Gartner, and between a cooling job market and 65% of professionals reportedly feeling stuck in their roles, Axios suggests employers aren’t too worried about resignations.

Ultimately, a small raise is better than no raise. Just hope your boss isn’t part of the 2% of employers who plan to reduce average salaries this year.

AROUND THE WEB

📅 On this day: In 1920, Jujiro Matsuda founded a cork business, Toyo Cork Kogyo, in Hiroshima, Japan. In 1931, it produced the Mazda-Go, a three-wheeled car, and became known as Mazda.

📺 That’s cool: Watch retro TV shows with Time Travel Television.

🧠 Game: Try to make two words out of the given letters.

📸 Wow: Check out the winners of the 2024 Ocean Art Underwater Photo Contest.

🐢 Aww: Turtles in wigs.

HOT TAKES

Yesterday, we asked if you’ve ever digitally shoplifted.

Turns out, we have a very stand-up group here (not surprised), with only 3% saying they’ve reported a package stolen when it was not and 11% claiming a package never arrived when it had. Another 8% said they’ve disputed a legit credit-card charge.

Where things picked up: piracy. More than 44% said they’ve illegally downloaded copyrighted books, music, or movies.

And of those who’ve committed digital retail crimes, 40% said they plan on continuing these actions regularly.

SHOWER THOUGHT

What we really need is a day between Saturday and Sunday. SOURCE

Today’s email was brought to you by Juliet Bennett Rylah and Sara Friedman.
Editing by: Ben “Everyone’s BFF” Berkley.

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