🟨 the caveat 01: so, you are thinking about "killing" your mascot?
Well, before you start planning the funeral, let's chat...
Hey there!
Welcome to the caveat where I curate and share my two cents on the cool and (not so cool) stuff happening to all your favourite brands.
So, you're thinking about "killing" your mascot? Well, before you start planning the funeral, let's chat about what that really means and whether it's the right move for your brand. Duolingo decided to "kill off" their beloved mascot, Duo the Owl, along with his pals Falstaff, Zari, and Lily. They didn't stop there; they playfully hinted that users could bring them back by engaging more with the app. Duolingo's campaign, while successful, did raise some eyebrows. One particular video featured the "dead" mascots alongside a viral audio clip that some felt was in poor taste, highlighting the fine line between edgy and offensive.
These two numbers explain why Trump can’t make up his mind about tariffs. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have had a chaotic week. First, they were on, then they were great, then they were maybe off, then definitely off (but just for now). One other economic indicator that may have influenced Trump’s tariff policy is one that the president seems to have developed a new focus on during his second term: a benchmark known as the 10-year Treasury bond yield. That yield is the interest rate that the federal government pays to Treasury bondholders each year on loans that mature after 10 years.
LinkedIn is experimenting with a "Connections only" update that could affect how many people can see your posts. This change means that your posts are automatically set to be visible only to your first-degree connections, which potentially limits their reach. To ensure your content reaches more people, you can adjust your post visibility settings. Select Anyone to make your post visible to everyone, including those outside your immediate network. Although I think this update may be a step in the right direction for those of us who are over it with “thought leadership” posts from strangers and would rather actually see updates from people they, you know, chose to connect with.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's latest novel, Dream Count is a frustrating return, a critic believes nobody should call it a comeback. In a review by Vulture, the critic acknowledges Adichie's enduring talent for storytelling but raises concerns about the novel's depth. They suggest that her popularity may have influenced the work, leading to underdeveloped characters and a somewhat one-dimensional narrative. Additionally, the critic notes that the novel's exploration of feminist themes is sometimes overshadowed by a focus on male behavior, potentially detracting from the complexity of the female characters.
PrettyLittleThing is trying to erase its fast-fashion history. It’s scrubbed its socials to remove all past content and revealed a ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic for its logo, website and products. With competition heating up from brands like Shein and constant scrutiny over its sustainability and ethics, PLT found itself at a crossroads. Stick to the same old formula or take a bold leap and shake things up? Anyway, they went for the latter. To show that PLT is entering a whole new era, a bold change was necessary, the bubblegum pink and unicorns had to go.
Pretending to work at the office is actually not a new thing, except it has a new name. As companies crack down on hybrid work, Gen Z face a new challenge, how do you look busy even though you are hardly working? One example of taskmasking: moving quickly through the office while carrying a laptop or typing loudly, but what you are typing is not relevant to your job. Taskmasking might not help you get things done, but it can feel like a full-time job on its own. You are so tired going into an office, even if you didn’t do anything differently than you would at home.
Amazon should resist the urge to squeeze every last drop out of James Bond. Many people are worried about Amazon taking full creative control of Ian Fleming’s James Bond franchise. Can the tech giant really handle the future of one of the most iconic characters in modern fiction? So when Jeff Bezos posted a question on X last month asking who should be the next James Bond, many people cringed. Amazon hasn’t done great with movies yet. It has spent a lot on films like Air, Late Night, and Sound of Metal, but none have been major hits.
Nobody believed in Beyoncé and Cécred and you can’t blame them. When Beyoncé dropped her hair-care line, Cécred, a year ago, not everyone was convinced. One creator even called the brand a “flop” after just five months, while comparing it with Rihanna’s Fenty Hair, which had just launched. On a Reddit thread titled “Why have some Beyoncé businesses failed in the past?” people even blamed Beyoncé herself, questioning why former brands including Ivy Park, Beyoncé’s athleisure brand that launched in 2016, had ended.
How cult brands like Crocs see influencer marketing changing. Crocs’ influencer strategy has been led by collaborations that have transformed a product once seen as ugly into a fashion statement. Crocs has really benefited from shifting its focus to organic fans, whether big or small, to create awareness about the brand. Their whole mission is about embracing individuality with “come as you are,” so it makes sense. But making that shift also meant a mindset change. But giving influencers the freedom to represent the brand is not without its own risks.
Elon Musk had a rough Monday and his wallet definitely felt it. Tesla’s stock tumbles, falling to a level lower than it was before Trump won the 2024 election. X (formerly Twitter) was down, leaving users frustrated and adding to the chaos. However, it is not surprising, Musk’s increasingly political social media posts and his ties with the controversial Department of Government Efficiency are affecting Tesla's brand in the U.S. and especially Europe. According to Forbes, Musk’s net worth has fallen by a whopping $139.4 billion compared to his peak of $464 billion in December. Now he is down to $324.6 billion, Musk is not doing badly, if you ask me.