 |
|
|
|||||
How brands reach consumers is always evolving. And at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW this past weekend, executives from Duolingo, NBCUniversal, and Creators Corp. discussed how they’re not only holding their consumers’s attention, but finding ways to embed their brands into their daily lives, primarily through branded entertainment. NBCUniversal: Find Ways to Engage Fans within an Experience When John Jelley, SVP of product and user experience at Peacock and global streaming for NBCUniversal, thinks about branded entertainment, he thinks about fandoms.� From Love Island to The Traitors to Saturday Night Live, NBCUniversal has a wide array of IP with deep fandoms Jelley is looking to engage in broader ways through the company’s streaming service Peacock. In January, the company slowly began rolling out mini-games and short video clips within the Peacock app. And to Jelley, it’s been about providing casual entertainment but also leaning into the fandom these shows have attained. “I think it’s really important as well, not just to think about people coming in the game, but how are you’re going to get them to stay and feel progression. And so I think one of the things were thinking about is since we have these fandoms and people are kind of a little competitive, seeing where you rank against others in that fandom, Jelley said. “If the user can feel like you’re testing their knowledge and they’re themselves part of the game in a way and associated with the brand, they’re going to be much more open to playing it versus it feeling sort of somehow forced or non-organic.” Duolingo: Build your Brand with your audience Entertainment is core to language learning app Duolingos brand, said senior creative director James Kuczynski. Because the app is a gamified way to learn, everything revolves around making it fun, he said. Duolingos entertainment marketing plan focuses on creating brand partnerships that stand out and dont feel boring, he noted. For example, when Squid Games first season launched on Netflix, Duolingo saw an increase in Korean language learning by 40%. So, with the release of season two this past December, Duolingo partnered with Netflix to launch the “Learn Korean or Else” campaign that played off of the rather aggressive tactics Duolingo’s viral mascot Duo employs to get users to stick with their lessons. For us, it was really about tapping into that fandomhow can we help fans of a specific topic get the most out of what they love? said Kuczynski. And that really is the core question that we ask for every single partnership that we have. Because if we’re not adding value, then it just feels like another brand attaching themselves onto another IP.Last year, Duolingo also made a deal with Sony Music last year to bring recordings from popular artists to the app’s music course, as well as teaming up with comic platform Webtoon for a series of digital comics featuring the app’s various characterssome of whom have become almost as popular as Duo. Case in point: the app’s angsty, emo teen Lily got her own sitcom Living with Lily in 2023. “We’ve really built our brand listening to all of our fans and followers. And I think that’s something that over the course of the last several years, we just keep leaning into,” Kuczynski said. “We’re looking for ideas that allow our fans and people on the internet to just create our brand for us. We listen to them, we lean in, and then we create content that they want to share.” Creators Corp.: Know where you Belong Over the past decade, brands have learned to meet audiences where they are, said Anne-Margot Rodde, founder and CEO of game studio Creators Corp., which partners with notable figures including four-time NBA champion Steph Curry, sports and comedy creators Dude Perfect, and others to create branded video games.� In the gaming space, Rodde said that young audiences gravitate towards highly social games like Roblox and Fortnitewhere creators can build whatever branded entertainment they want within the game. However, in creating this content, Rodde said that authenticity and recognizing what audiences want is key.� I think the place where there still needs to be improvement is really understanding the audience and understanding what works, she said. A lot of the time you see branded experiences where the brand is everywhere. It’s not something that the player necessarily wants to see in the game that they love and want to play.
Category:
E-Commerce
AI image editing may be all the rage, but good old-fashioned image editors are still essential. Theres a problem, though: Windows PCs, Chromebooks, and Macs dont include exceptional image editors that go beyond the most basic editing needs. Sure, you can pay for Photoshop or hunt down another image editorbut what if you just want to do something quick? Well, then youre left searching the weband maybe you come across a reasonably decent online image editor, but perhaps it forces you to sign into an account or pay for a subscription. Or maybe it just doesn’t do what it promises to do in any especially impressive way. Lets skip all that. Todays tool is an easy, free, and completely browser-based image editor that doesnt need any accounts or payments. You can access it from any type of device, too, and start editing images almost instantly. Psst: If you love these types of tools as much as I do, check out my free Cool Tools newsletter from The Intelligence. You’ll be the first to find all sorts of simple tech treasures! Photoshop for the rest of us Allow me to introduce you to Photopea. Photopea is a powerful tool that many of our Cool Tools newsletter readers have recommended over time. You can get started with it in roughly 10 seconds. It’s simple: Just head to the Photopea website. (The first time you load it, youll want to click the X in the top-right corner to hide the welcome banner.) Then choose the Open From Computer button and select an image from your device’s storageor, if you’re on a PC, drag and drop an image from your computers file manager directly onto the Photopea page. Photopea makes it easy to import files from your phone or computer. Youll then see an image-editing interface that’ll look immediately familiar if youve ever used Adobe Photoshop. Photopea is packed with professional-grade tools that are normally limited to costly, complex, and at-times clunky desktop image editors. Youll find layers, filters, a clone stamp for touch-ups, a background removal system, and even batch resizing and image-converting options. Whenever you’re made the modifications you need, click the “File” menu and select “Save” to download your final file. That’s it. Photopea looks and feels a lot like Photoshop, but it’s completely free and runs entirely in your browser. Now you’ve got a Photoshop-caliber image editor at your fingertips whenever you need itfor free, usable without signing in, and without any software installation required. Whats not to love? You can use Photopea on its website in your browser. (It’s technically compatible with both desktop and mobile browsers, but the desktop experience tends to be best. If you see a Photopea app in the Android or iOS App Store, know that it isn’t official or associated with this same site.) Photopea is free with ads. You can sign up for an account and pay $5 per month to remove the ads and get access to AI photo-editing tools, if you like, but it absolutely isn’t required. Photopeas privacy policy says all your photos are stored on your device and never sent to any remote servers or shared in any way. Keep the geeky goodies coming with my free Cool Tools newsletter. You’ll get an instant introduction to an incredible audio app and a new off-the-beaten-path gem in your inbox every Wednesday!
Category:
E-Commerce
When both my picky kids discovered they loved eggs, it was a blessed relief for meal planning. After years of trying to find dinners that everyone was happy to eat, my kids affinity for eggs added quiche, frittatas, and omelets to our cooking repertoire. We now go through two dozen eggs a week at chez Guy Birken. Which means I have personally been paying very close attention to spiking egg prices. My local grocery store is selling a dozen eggs for $5.99more than two times the price of eggs as of March 2024. If youve been wondering why you need a second mortgage to afford your breakfast, heres what you need to know about this price eggsplosion. Supply and demand Even if you slept through your Econ 101 class, you probably remember the law of supply and demand: When supply is low and/or demand is high, prices increase. In the case of the humble chicken egg, supply is down because of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), aka the bird flu, while demand has remained the same, resulting in higher prices. Avian flu Since 2022, over 166 million birds have come down with this harmless-sounding malady, and over three-quarters of the affected birds are egg-laying hens. Millions of chickens have died and millions more have been culled to prevent the spread of this very contagious disease. The loss of so many chickens means there is a smaller supply of eggs, which has pushed up the price. Bird flu may be the primary driver of the eye-watering prices of a dozen eggs, but its not the only one. Garden-variety inflation has also affected the price of eggs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the unadjusted Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 2.8% for the year ending February 2025. This may not sound like muchand it is only 0.8% higher than the Feds goal of 2% inflationbut it does have an effect on the cost of getting an egg from a hen to a dairy aisle when everything from chicken feed to gasoline is more expensive. Inelastic demand When prices for many goods go up, many consumers will substitute a different product. For example, if beef prices suddenly skyrocketed, a lot of shoppers would buy pork, chicken, or tofu instead. This is known as elasticity of demand and it helps keep prices somewhat stable. (Elasticity of demand is also why grocery prices tend to go up much more slowly than healthcare prices, since its easy to substitute one protein for another and impossible to substitute one prescription drug for another.) But eggs are an inelastic product. Even when their prices spike, people still buy about the same number of eggs. There are not many appropriate substitutes for eggs in applications like baking, and eggs offer a relatively low-cost source of healthy protein, even when prices rise. Since consumers continue to purchase eggs at about the same rate they always did, prices wont go down until the supply returns to previous levels. Will egg prices keep rising? Like many consumers, I have simply been paying the higher prices for eggs on the assumption that what goes up must eventually come down. Thats how its gone for every previous price spike Ive lived through. But that is not necessarily what will happen this time around. This version of the avian flu appears to be more virulent and tenacious than other strains of the disease. The 20142015 bird flu outbreak disappeared after about a year, since hot weather helped kill off the virus. The current outbreak has been affecting our nations birds since 2022 and the change of seasons has not had a noticeable effect on ending the virusso we may yet see scrambled eggs become a status symbol. Of course, no economist, journalist, or farmer has a crystal ball. There is no way to know for sure where egg prices are headedand its not like we can stockpile eggs to prepare. Finding cheaper eggs (or egg substitutes) There are a number of options available to shoppers to keep eggs from destroying their grocery budget. (Please note: despite the current administrations recommendation, raising backyard chickens is not feasible for most peopleand introducing a heap of inexperienced urban farmers to the joys of backyard poultry could prolong the avian flu outbreak.) To start, check the local egg prices at the Pantry & Larder site Eggspensive. This site tracks the cost of a dozen eggs at every Walmart location nationwide. The Krazy Coupon Ladys egg price comparison and egg coupons can also help you get the lowest possible price. You can also work around your egg needs for many recipes. While egg substitutes in baking are never quite perfect, using ingredients like applesauce, Greek yogurt, mashed banana, aquafaba, or vinegar + baking soda can re-create some of the specific properties eggs add to your favorite baked goods. And dont forget that vegans like baked goods, too. (If you havent tried vegan baking since you broke your tooth on a carob-chip cookie in the 1980s, youll be delighted to learn that its come a long way.) Vegan bakers have come up with a number of delicious recipes that dont equire any eggs or egg substitutes. Dealing with eggstreme prices The price of eggs often works as a political shorthand to describe the kitchen table economic worries of the average person. But since last fall, theres nothing metaphorical about the high price of eggs in America. The ongoing avian flu has reduced the supply of eggs, and the demand for eggs has remained inelastic. Its possible that egg prices will continue to rise if we cant get the bird flu under control, but that doesnt mean youre stuck paying through the nose for your eggs. Several websites offer price trackers and coupons for eggs, and there are a number of substitutes that can re-create eggy properties for your baking and other recipesand dabbling with some vegan recipes can help you avoid the need for eggs altogether.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||