AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• Our field team helped Disney & Pixar’s LIGHTYEAR make history as the first ever screening at the Residence of the Vice President of the United States. 150 attendees gathered on the lawn outside of the VP’s Residence. Notable attendees include LIGHTYEAR voice talent Keke Palmer and Uzo Aduba, Chief of Space Operations General John “Jay” Raymond and Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten. Keke Palmer and Uzo Aduba had a private meet and greet inside the VP’s Residence with Madam Vice President and Second Gentleman Mr. Emhoff. Immediately following, NASA Astronaut Leland Melvin led students through interactive STEM activities, which culminated with the Vice President and LIGHTYEAR Talent cheering on the students during their paper airplane competition. A photo line also took place inside the Residence prior to introduction remarks made by NASA Astronauts and LIGHTYEAR talent. Allied supported Disney with logistics, travel, talent handling, day-of management, and more to help ensure an out of this world event. People.com announced the event and a press blast closely followed.

  

• For the 8th year, Allied collaborated with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to bring the masses to the Philadelphia Flower Show, one of the largest horticulture events in the world. This year our team handled creative and digital media for the 10-day show, held for the second year outdoors at FDR Park in South Philadelphia due to Covid-19 precautions. Check out the TV spot Allied put together! As the show came to a close, exciting news broke that the 2023 show will return to its “roots,” back indoors and back in March as the pinnacle Philly event ushering in Spring, as it was always intended to be.

  

• Ladies and gentleman, ELVIS has entered the building… and movie theaters everywhere! Congrats to our North American field team for a stellar campaign for ELVIS. Our Canadian team heard “thank you… thank you very much” from WB Canada and director Baz Luhrmann after a robust Canadian tour. ELVIS talent attended the first public screening of the film in Canada at the renowned TIFF Bell Lightbox. The event started with red carpet interviews and a 30-minute Q&A moderated by TIFF CEO, Cameron Bailey. Following their introduction, the talent filmed content with select TikTok creators with a combined reach of more than 2.3M followers. In the US, several field team members dusted off their blue suede shoes to assist in running a 3-day junket and premiere in Memphis. After the junket, Baz Luhrmann and Austin Butler made a surprise visit to screening attendees in Phoenix. Fans cheered as Baz and Austin completed interviews on the red carpet and introduced the film. Pack a fried banana and peanut butter sandwich and dance your way to movie theaters to see ELVIS!

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• Roku's partners will have to switch some of the technology powering their channels to Roku's in-house stack. By taking control of the technology, Roku limits access to the data related to channel performance. (Protocol)

• Google has failed to dismiss the privacy lawsuit that alleges it gives personal information to third parties without informing users. (Reuters)

• Walmart and Roku have partnered to bring shoppable ads to streaming. Streamers will just need to click “OK” on their Roku remote to make an on-screen transaction. (Media Post)

• NBCUniversal has created a new certification that ties together emotion and ad quality. The focus on emotion is driven by research that found strong emotional engagement drives 80% of consumers’ brand preference considerations. (Marketing Dive)

Awards / Festivals

• At the Daytime Emmy Awards, Netflix saw nine wins for its various titles including Sparking Joy With Marie Kondo and Penguin Town. (EW)

• The Tony Awards provided a revenue boost for several shows. Best musical winner, A Strange Loop, saw its highest grossing week following the ceremony, bringing in ​​$845K and playing to 99.9% capacity. (THR)

• At the Cannes Lions Awards, Coinbase's Super Bowl ad won the Direct Grand Prix for its lo-fi spot featuring a bouncing QR code. (AdAge)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• The EU and UK cinema market saw total revenue losses of at least $20B from 2020-2021 as a result of theater closures and COVID-19 restrictions. (THR)

• Despite success of recently-released films like Top Gun: Maverick and Spiderman: No Way Home, US movie ticket sales are down almost 40% from pre-pandemic levels. (Bloomberg)

  

• Top Gun: Maverick has become the third film since March 2020 to bring in over $900M at the box office, earning $475M domestically and $427M overseas. (THR)

• A remastered version of Titanic will be available in cinemas beginning February 10, 2023 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film. (Deadline)

Gambling / Casinos

• To attract more sports betters, Caesars Entertain­ment has partnered with Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions to produce video and podcast content for its various platforms. (THR)

• Fanatics is working to acquire sports betting company Tipico, which is the leading sports betting provider in Germany. (CNBC)

• Blackstone has acquired Crown Resorts and will be taking over three casinos located in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth. (Gambling News)

Live Events / Attractions

• Disney’s sales from theme parks and experiences are currently above pre-pandemic levels, climbing over 6B for the first time since 2020. (Bloomberg)

  

• For the first time since theaters reopened last fall, Broadway audiences will not be required to wear masks beginning July 1st. (Forbes)

• Iconic '80s film Back to the Future is coming to Broadway in 2023. Show details are limited, but those interested can sign-up for priority ticket information. (THR)

• Disney is selling a 24-day private jet tour of its 12 theme parks starting at $110K per person. Passengers will be given private tours of the parks, museums and archives. (Business Insider)

• Attractions must get on tourists' schedules before they arrive for vacation as schedule is the primary decision-making factor for leisure activities. (Impacts Experience)

  

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Over 1M music streamers in the UK cancelled their subscriptions in Q1. 37% of consumers cited saving money as the reason for cutting their services. (BBC)

• The Obamas’ Higher Ground is leaving Spotify and entering into an exclusive, multiyear first-look deal with Audible. (THR)

• Spotify has teamed up with Integral Ad Science to bring transparency to podcast advertising. The companies will soon develop the podcast industry’s first third-party brand safety and suitability reporting tool. (The Drum)

• Spotify is introducing a new feature that lets users better discover nearby events and concerts. It's replacing its in-app Concert Hub with a personalized Live Events Feed. (Tech Crunch)

NFT / Blockchain / Crypto

• Meta joined Microsoft and several other tech companies (but not Apple) in forming the Metaverse Standards Forum, a group aimed at developing industry standards in the metaverse and making companies' virtual worlds compatible with each other. (Reuters)

• Macy's is releasing 10K free Macy’s Fireworks NFTs in three tiers. Each showcases elements from its annual fireworks bonanza and unlocks access to AR wearables that can be used on select platforms. (Marketing Dive)

• Lowe’s is creating more than 500 free 3D digital assets for customers to use in Lowe’s Open Builder, its new metaverse hub. It's is also releasing a wearable NFT collection for Decentraland users. (Retail Dive)

• Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo has entered sponsorship deal with crypto exchange Binance. Multiple Ronaldo NFT collections will be released exclusively on the Binance NFT marketplace. (Decrypt)

• eBay is acquiring NFT marketplace KnownOrigin as it continues to focus on digital collectibles. (Retail Dive)

OTT / Streaming

• Paramount+ is expanding its original content offerings, aiming to launch 150 international original shows and movies by 2025. (Streamable)

• Bally Sports+ has launched in select markets priced at 19.99/mo or $189.99/yr. Users can stream five MLB teams: Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and Tampa Bay Rays. (Streamable)

• Crunchyroll announced a reboot of the Trigun anime series, which will be released in 2023. (The Verge)

• Netflix has more than 75%, or 139, of the most popular streaming shows in the US this year. Disney is the next closest streamer, having 31 of the most popular shows. (Bloomberg)

  

• Sling TV will soon launch “Freeview Weekends,” giving subscribers access to a different premium channel each weekend through August of this year. (Streamable)

• FuboTV will stream select games on NBC Sports Chicago to customers in Chicago and the surrounding areas. Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls, and Chicago Blackhawks fans can now stream select games in 4K. (Streamable)

• AGM client AMC+ is launching in Spain on Vodafone España’s TV platform. The launch will enable Vodafone TV subscribers in Spain to have AMC+ for €3.99 a month. (Digital TV Europe)

• Google and NBCUniversal are the top candidates to help Netflix create an ad-supported tier. A partnership with either Google or NBCUniversal would likely be exclusive. (WSJ)

• Netflix has laid off an additional 300 employees, around 3% of its workforce. Most staffers impacted (216) were in the United States. (THR)

• Disney and Starz have partnered on a streaming subscription bundle in LatAm. The offer ties together Disney+, Star+ and Starzplay for consumers in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. (THR)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Over half of all US adults have changed the way they eat or drink due to inflation. More than 80% of those who say they’ve made adjustments are eating out at restaurants less often. (Morning Consult)

  

• 80% of shoppers feel more confident in their purchases because of using AR, and 96% of shoppers are interested in post-purchase AR experiences such as product instructions, sharing opportunities, reviews, and suggested pairings. (Media Post)

• Walmart announced two AR features on the Walmart app. One enables furniture from Walmart’s mobile site to be digitally viewed in customers’ homes, and the other is used in-store to help customers get more information on items by pointing their phone camera at store shelves. (Walmart)

Social Media

• TikTok's US user data has been repeatedly accessed from China. TikTok’s goal has long been that any US data stored on the Oracle server will be secure and not accessible from China or elsewhere globally. (Buzzfeed)

• Instagram has added new features to Reels, giving creators more ways to engage with their audiences. Updates include enhanced audio capabilities, video length updates and new templates. (Search Engine Journal)

• Facebook wants to turn its main feed into a ‘discovery engine’ for video content. It plans to achieve this by making Reels successful, building world class recommendations technology, and unlocking messaging-based sharing. (Search Engine Journal)

• Twitter is testing a new feature called Notes, which lets users write over 280 characters in a single piece of content, with the inclusion of photos, videos, and GIFs. (Twitter)

• US Instagram users that edit their age from under 18 to over 18 will now have to prove their age in one of three ways: upload an ID, record a video selfie, or ask three mutual followers who are at least 18 to confirm the users' age. (Axios)

Video Games

• Minecraft added a new feature that bans reported players from online play. The ban applies to those who violate Minecraft's community standards. (Games Radar)

• Microsoft is updating its browser, Edge, to make it more gamer-friendly. Edge will get a Clarity Boost to improve Xbox Cloud Gaming streams and an efficiency mode to prevent Edge from taking PC resources when a game is being played. (The Verge)

• TikTok parent company ByteDance generated $1B of player spending across its mobile games between June ‘21 and June ’22, a 16% increase YoY. (CNBC)

• To help players find better squadmates, Fortnite is testing new social tags for profiles, which can be used to match users up with other like-minded players. The tags will include preferred game modes and whether a user wants their mic on or off. (The Verge)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Mastercard released its first-ever music album. “Priceless,” available on Spotify, features original songs by 10 artists from around the globe that incorporate the melody of Mastercard’s brand sound. (Marketing Dive)

  

AND NOW THE GOOD STUFF

• The UK government published its national AI strategy, which outlines its long-term vision for the technology and its impact on society.

• Rodney Brooks, the creator of the Roomba, throws cold water on the idea that AI will surpass human intelligence in the near future.

• A unique look behind the curtain at how one VC fund increased returns.

• How Peloton uses design and gamification to keep people on the exercise platform.

• If you think gentrification is about new coffee shops and high rents, you are missing an essential aesthetic element.

• Watch out for the Trisolarians! Scientists might have found the first-known planet orbiting three stars at once.