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This week in branding news, a 10-year-old meme appeared as the face of a new federal department, Tumblr launched a TikTok-esque feature, and Crocs made some clogs inspired by the Beatles. Heres what you need to know.Various iterations of doge.gov from the week of January 20, 2025 [Screenshots: doge.gov]DOGEs WIP logoThe news: Directly after taking office on Monday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to rebrand the U.S. Digital Service (USDS) as the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE (sigh). The new department, set to be headed by billionaire Elon Musk, has been pitched as an outside advisory group that would recommend government reforms and find $500 billion in annual spending to cutbut its looking more and more like the USDS with a new, meme-ified name. Now DOGE seems to be having trouble deciding on a logo that wont turn it into a laughing stock.Big picture: DOGEs name is a nod to a meme thats more than a decade past its prime, which featured a photo of a Shiba Inu with a misspelled caption. The meme is also the face of the joke-turned-real-cryptocurrency Dogecoin, which Musk has financially supported.When the doge.gov website debuted on Monday, it displayed an AI-generated Doge meme as its official logoa reference to the deluge of AI slop that hit the web after Musk initially announced the project. Shortly afterward, that first logo was replaced with a more classic version of the meme. And, as of this writing, the website has no logo at all.Why it matters: Its unclear exactly why the Doge logos were taken down. What is clear is that elevating a concept that started with a meme into an actual federal department is merely an escalation of the new Trump administrations rejection of convention in favor of all things absurd and, often, troubling. [Screenshot: Tumblr]Tumblr tries to go TikTokThe news: Ten years after it first teased the concept of Tumblr TVa tab dedicated to discovering new GIFs (how very 2015)Tumblr has finally launched the feature as a kind of TikTok wannabe. Big picture: Tumblr TV (which, in its modern form, also supports video content) comes during a moment when plenty of TikTok users are searching for potential alternatives amid the apps uncertain fate. Lemon8 and RedNote have both seen a massive spike in users; meanwhile, some former TikTok users are buying phones with the app pre-downloaded on eBay, as its no longer available on the App Store.According to TechCrunch, Tumblr was also a destination for TikTok dupe seekers: A spokesperson reported that the platform saw a roughly 35% increase in iOS app installs and a 70% increase in new users joining Communities, a feature that allows users to join various groups focused on specific interests.Why it matters: Tumblr TV might serve as a TikTok alternative if you were, say, stuck on a desert island with only one app downloaded to your phone, but as of right now, its just not cutting it. The interface is still quite GIF-focused, the video quality is subpar, and the default grid setting means that vertical swiping isnt as smooth. In 2015, this might have blown our minds, but in 2025, it feels more like a blast from the past. [Photo: Crocs]A new Crocs collabThe news: A new Crocs collaboration might just take the cake for the wackiest shoes the brand has ever released. Big picture: The new two-clog Crocs collection is a tribute to the Beatless 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. One pair features the classic Croc silhouette decked out in the flattened, psychedelic aesthetic that defined the film. The other pair is designed to look like a literal yellow submarine, complete with portholes (through which each member of the iconic band peeps up at the wearer), tiny propellers, and a raised tower on top of the vessel. The shoes will be available online on January 28.Why it matters: Crocs continues to demonstrate its innovative dominance with a strategy that purposefully defies expectation. One moment, the brand is making serious moves for the climate by going bio-based and recycling old clogs into new clogs; the next, its entertaining silly collabs with McDonalds and making clogs for dogsall while launching the occasional high-fashion silhouette, like the popular Salehe Bembury Crocs and punkabilly-inspired leather Crocs. Its the brand that keeps us on our toes, literally.
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E-Commerce
Americans are struggling to afford a place to live. Homes cost more than five times the average salarycompared with just three times the average salary in the 1960s. Over the same period, inflation-adjusted rental prices have risen by 64%, far outpacing inflation. Meanwhile, new housing starts continue to fall, including a more than 20% drop in multi-family construction in November 2024 alone. The simple fact is that were not building enough affordable housinghomes at prices families can really afford. And if the housing market is straining the finances of many families now, just imagine what the market will look like as surging ranks of Gen Z buyers enter the market. Countless dedicated teachers, nurses, and carpenters are already unable to live in the communities where they work; how much farther are they supposed to commute? Housing insecurity in the U.S. is obviously a long-developing and complex problem, and theres no magic policy wand we can wave to eliminate it. But as a starting point, three major contributing factors can be addressed right now to ease the pressure on home prices. If were serious about affordable housing, its time to have serious conversations about these three priorities. Let Gen Z help ease the skilled trades labor shortage Housing affordability is often discussed as a matter of supply and demand: All we need to do is build more houses. But what if the houses were building are still too expensive for many buyers? After all, developers have to cover their costs. And those costs are currently being inflated by a significant labor shortage in the skilled tradesa problem of our own making. For years, parents and career counselors have been telling young people that a college degree is essential for a successful life, and theyve been listening. This meant that as builders, electricians, and masons retired, there just werent enough millennial and Gen X aspirants to take their place. In fact, 95% of skilled trade professionals on the Thumbtack platform report their top concern for the future is the ability to find workers to hire. But now we have an opportunity to reverse that trend. A recent survey from my company found that a full two-thirds of Gen Z generationincluding 78% of those with a college degreeexpress a growing interest in skilled trades professions, fueled in part by social media content. More than half of Gen Z are now considering a skilled trade career, up 12% over the past year alone, including 72% of those with a college degree. Unfortunately, this appetite to learn trade-related skills is not matched by the opportunities available. Only 41% of Gen Z had access to trade programs in schoolthough 83% of those who did take shop class called it their favorite subject. Thats why comprehensive policy to address this issue has to include expanding the talent pipeline for Gen Z skilled tradespeople. Beyond restoring shop class, we need to build training, mentoring, and apprenticeship programs that prepare young people to enter the field ready to do quality work from day one. Loosen restrictions on housing development Exclusionary, single-unit zoning policies are the definition of NIMBY: This part of town is for families with quarter-acre lotslet other families find somewhere else to live. As the population grows, that somewhere else is getting further and further away from established communities and their infrastructure, while the prices of existing homes spiral. In fact, young adults who grew up in these spacious suburban spreads can rarely afford them by the time they enter the market. Nobody is saying we should outlaw picket-fence bungalows and ranch homes, but if theres land and capital available nearby to build affordable multi-unit housing, why should local governments impose barriers? States across the U.S. are already moving in this direction, from Oregon and California to North Carolina and Connecticut. And some cities are also stepping in to build affordable housing. For that matter, why are towns and counties even allowed to determine what people are allowed to build on their land? Restrictions on industrial uses are understandable, but when it comes to residential housing, the market should decide what goes whereand the market is calling for affordable apartments and townhouses wherever theres room to build them. Take highways out of the equation The housing shortage is most acute in our urban centers, where young people want to live and companies want to hire. Theres only so much we can do with infill developmentthough we should be doing all we can there, too. The greater opportunity is to help people access these places more easily while living further outwithout soul-crushing gridlock. A century ago, the first wave of suburbanization was enabled by the rise of widespread car ownership and a massive investment in roads to carry them. As commute times grow and daily drives slow to a crawl, we need to shift focus to transit-oriented development (TOD) policies. In many cases, that infrastructure already exists in the form of light rail. To make those investments work harder for homebuyers, we should rezone areas near transit stations for higher residential density, complemented with expanded park-and-ride lots and development incentives for affordable housing. The Federal Transit Administration offers grants under a TOD pilot program to support community efforts to improve access to public transportation. In 2024, applications with a significant affordable housing component were eligible for up to 100% federal support. That kind of vision and commitmenton the part of both regulators and the communities participating in the programwill be essential to solve this crisis. Housing is one of the most fundamental human needsand America is falling short of ensuring that our families can achieve it. By taking practical steps to lower construction costs, make more land available for multi-unit development, an expand the inventory of transit-friendly homes, we can ease the pressure on home prices and help more Americans afford a secure foundation for their families.
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E-Commerce
When it comes out later this year, the most creative new set of Lego bricks won’t be available in stores or from any traditional retailer. The only place you’ll be able to find it is in a classroom. Lego Education Science is a new science-focused Lego set and educational tool from the venerable toymaker, with its signature bricks playing the literal building blocks of hands-on science experiments and lessons. Designed for students in kindergarten through eighth grade, Lego Education Science is an attempt to engage children in science through building with Lego bricks, along with guided lessons exploring dozens of scientific concepts. Scheduled for release this summer, the kits are the latest product from Lego Education, a school-focused arm of the company that has been producing educational playsets for 45 years. Its kits are used in public schools across the country, including those in New York City’s Department of Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and Chicago Public Schools. [Photo: Lego] Lego Education Science is the company’s first attempt at creating a standalone teaching tool. Sets of the past have been more supplemental to existing curriculaan extra learning aide for after-school programs or as part of a science or robotics club. Not every kid gets to go to an after-school program or an enrichment club. For us, that started to feel like a very, very big opportunity to make even more impact, and certainly to reach a much more diverse group of kids, says Andrew Sliwinski, Lego Education VP and head of product experience. [Photo: Lego] Lego Education’s Science kits include more than 120 differentiated lessons across three grade ranges that can be explored using just the material in the box. Building with Lego is a central part of each lesson, but it’s also a gateway for making sometimes difficult scientific concepts easierand more funto grasp. What we’re trying to do is figure out a way where we can make science engaging, creative, and collaborative, but oh yeah, make that fit in a 45-minute lesson in a classroom with a teacher that doesn’t have a background in science, says Sliwinski. It’s quite the design brief to make that work. [Photo: Lego] Each lesson involves building something with Lego pieces, then using what was built to explore a specific scientific concept or phenomenon, from momentum to structural stability to biomorphology. The kits are designed to be used in groups of four students, with an online component that teachers use to guide a lesson plan, which typically starts with a playful scenario or storyline and often features a familiar Lego minifigure. One lesson about earthquakes, intended for students ranging from third through fifth grades, is called Lemonade Shake, and involves a Lego character with a lemonade stand. The students put the lemonade stand on a shake table and connect it to a small motor included in the kit. When the motor is turned on, the lemonade glasses tumbles to the ground. The students then attempt to design and build their own lemonade stand that could better withstand the seismic force of another earthquake. Ruthie Chen Ousley is Lego Education’s head of product for the science category, and a former elementary school teacher, and she says the familiarity of building with Lego helps students open up to scientific lessons that some might otherwise balk at. What we find is that it’s really the combination of the different design choices that we’ve made that unlocks this level of engagement, from the storyline in the beginning that invites everybody in to think about this character and the immediate connection to the minifigure character that children have, to the array of Lego building elements and materials that they’re able to play with, Ousley says. [Photo: Lego] Sliwinski says developing Lego Education Science took more than five years. Lessons are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards, the state and national standards used to normalize science curricula. In creating the tool, Lego Education integrated feedback from more than 150 teachers, and had hands-on testing by more than 3,000 students, which proved invaluable in the design process. You have to cater for a really wide rnge developmentally, Sliwinski says. What a five-year-old can do and what a 14-year-old can do are different, even down to physical hand and finger strength. So we had to think about all of those details. The designers also had to contend with the reality that most kids already think of Lego as a toy. Sliwinski says it was important that the Lego Education Science kits weren’t just perceived to be toysor worse, to be seen as toys trying to hide the fact that they are schoolwork. We should never make chocolate-covered broccoli. The worst thing that we can do, I think, is try to take an educational idea, wrap it in a candy shell and try to get the kid to swallow it, Sliwinski says. What we really have to do is think about why should a kid be excited about this, why should a child think that this is interesting to them. The goal of the kits, Sliwinski says, is to make science more approachable to young children, and to see themselves when they hear the word scientist. That’s not about just making science fun, he says. That’s about making science relevant more than anything else.
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E-Commerce
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