BTS’s Jin is so back (from the military); Practical Magic 2 was just announced on TikTok; get ready to see a lot more of Ella Emhoff; and where is the nepo baby class of 2024 going to college?
GEN Z MOST TRUSTED BRANDS, morningconsult
According to Morning Consult’s fifth annual Most Trusted Brands report, Gen Z adults’ most trusted brand is Band-Aid, followed by Google and YouTube, and on the standout brands list — brands that are most trusted among Gen Z adults relative to U.S. adults overall — TikTok, Snapchat, Spotify, Twitch, and Discord make up the top five. We need to stop trusting tech companies so much! (In my expert opinion as a highly accident-prone person, I think Band-Aid is fine to trust.)
SPOTIFY'S BIGGEST CAMPAIGN SINCE 'WRAPPED' IS DEEPLY PERSONAL AND RELATABLE, adweek
This is how to do an OOH campaign. (This is how not to do an OOH campaign.) The visuals — which feature selfie-style shots of real listeners and cool people like designer Carly Mark and publicist Gia Kuan — are fun and powerful, and the copy plays up how the Spotify listening experience is highly personal. One ad reads, “My Spotify knows me better than my therapist.” I would tell a therapist my deepest darkest secrets, but I wouldn’t show them my Spotify On Repeat playlist.
TIKTOK CREATORS EXPERIMENT WITH SUBSTACK UNDER NEW PROGRAM, wapo
A group of TikTok creators have been selected by Substack for a year-long incubator program aimed at helping them translate their short-form video content to a new medium: the humble newsletter. The TikTok stars chosen include trend forecaster Coco Mocoe, vintage clothing curator Gabi Jones, and a TikToker who posts animated shorts under the name “God,” among others.
YOUNG WOMEN ARE FLEEING ORGANIZED RELIGION, nyt
Gen Z and millennial women are leaving the church “in unprecedented numbers” amid a cultural mismatch between young women — who increasingly identify as feminists and support L.G.B.T.Q. and reproductive rights — and the teachings of some of the largest Christian denominations in America, which are veering right and turning toward more retrogressive ideas about women’s place in their organizations.
HOW JORDAN BARDELLA HAS HELPED GIVE THE FAR RIGHT AN ACCEPTABLE FACE IN FRANCE, cnn
The 28-year-old selfie-taking, heart-hand-posing politician led the French far right to a landslide victory in the European Parliament elections thanks, in part, to his social media presence. He’s known for his videos with brutal put-downs, such as drinking a beer with a caption reading “drinking the tears of Macron fans.”
BIDEN HAS A TIKTOK PROBLEM. SUPERFAN HARRY SISSON WANTS TO HELP., semafor
With TikTok (and young people, men especially) tilting more to the right, 21-year-old college student Harry Sisson, who has more than 890,000 followers and nearly 100M likes on TikTok, remains Joe Biden’s biggest fan.
“There isn’t a man alive who loves Joe Biden as much as Harry Sisson,” TikTok creator V Spehar, who hosts “Under the Desk News” and has known Sisson for years, told Semafor. “A lot of people think he’s paid by the administration or he’s a shill — he’s not! He just fucking loves Joe Biden.”
IT’S TIME TO BEACQUIRED FOR €500 MILLION, theverge
BeReal, the photo app that was (briefly) very popular among Gen Z, sold itself to French gaming company Voodoo for $537 million. In 2022, during the app’s heyday, a Series B deal landed BeReal a $585 million valuation from Coatue Management and DST Global; just three months ago, Business Insider reported that the company was quickly running out of money as user growth stalled.
One last thought:
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TIL: Semafor's got a good font