Target does DTC better than DTC does DTC

Shenzhen vs. Amazon. You may be aware that Amazon banned some top Chinese merchants for alleged paid reviews. At least 50,000 accounts were affected, with losses tallying in at over 100 billion yuan for “made in China, sold on Amazon” businesses. Now, Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China, is giving out 2 million yuan to subsidize cross-border e-commerce sellers and encourage them to find other selling platforms, apart from Amazon.

Streaming is King. Salesforce has officially entered the streaming space. They have their own in-house studio and are launching Salesforce+, an original programming source for business professionals. It will be available for free online in September, with a streaming app set to follow the web launch.

More Sights and Sounds Smells: Jay-Z and Roc Nation have both invested in Michael Rubin’s sports licensing company, Fanatics, raising its value to $18 billion. Disney will let you and a friend be the heroes of your own two-day immersive Star Wars adventure at their new Galactic Starcruiser hotel for only $4,809. Or if you’re looking for a more affordable immersive experience, Homesick and Budweiser have collabed on a Backyard BBQ scented candle with lemonade top notes, BBQ smoke midnotes, and barley base notes for $34. Want.

Coolest Kids on the Swamp: We should probably stop being surprised by Supreme collaborations, but this one did make us do a double take. It’s the Shrek font and it says Supreme. It’s silly, but it perfectly strikes the balance of irony and nostalgia millennials and gen Z love most. In fairness, credit should be given to Montreal skate brand Dime for their earlier rendition of the concept from 2019.

Fair food fight. Chomp is taking over Iowa City. The food delivery co-op owned by local restaurants is inching GrubHub out of their market and even pays drivers a fair wage. Restaurants are benefiting as well because the fees are half of what they were with GrubHub. Go Chomp!

Target is eating DTC Lunch. Americans took pet adoption to the max during the pandemic, and spending on our cuddly cuties increased by 143% from May 2020 to June 2021. What better time for Target to launch their own private label (surprise surprise) food for our doggos and kitties? Christened Kindfull, the brand is made of high quality ingredients and even uses some recycled packaging. It’s available meow!

“Genuinfluencers”. Meet the latest wave of social media influencers who hope to sell you—nothing? These “genuinfluencers” as they are called, prefer to use their platforms to inform and share, rather than sell. Brands are noticing and using them as assets to spark ideas and conversations. Hilary Williams Dunlap, Senior VP of talent for Digital Brand Architects (DBA) says, “The landscape has completely changed in regard to who is considered a person of influence and how we define that term.”

From agency to in-house. During the pandemic, many people reevaluated their personal satisfaction levels at work. Numerous employees left previous employment and have never gone back, and there is a notable level of this happening in the marketing world. Workers are leaving agency life to work in-house jobs, and those opportunities are increasing. Ryan Barwick dives into these changes in his Morning Brew piece, as part of the workforce shift we know as The Great Resignation.