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For filmmakers with a fondness for certain fonts, using them frequently enough in their work can turn typography into a sort of signature. See the typeface in a film, and you know exactly who the director is. Wes Anderson has an obsession with Futura, while John Carpenter set his film credits in Albertus, a formal serif. Papyrus is now synonymous with James Cameron’s Avatar franchise, and more than 40 of Woody Allen’s films use Windsor. For director Sean Baker, whose comedy-drama Anora won the 2025 Oscar for Best Picture and netted him the Academy Award for Best Director, his font of choice is the tall, narrow, decorative Aguafina Script. Created by type designers Alejandro Paul and Angel Koziupa of the Argentinean type foundry Sudtipos, Aguafina Script is described as semi-formal and eye-catching with characters that flow into each other, perfect for product packaging, glossy magazines, and book covers. Turns out it also works well for movie posters and title sequences, as Baker has proven for more than a decade now with his various projects. [Images: IMDB] Baker told the streaming platform Mubi last year that he first selected Aguafina Script for the title sequence of 2015’s Tangerine, about a transgender sex worker (a film that was shot entirely on iPhones), because he was looking for something that was stylistically interesting and because it subverted the grittiness of the subject matter. It is saying that there is an elegance to this production in the way were presenting the subject matter, he said. After realizing the font could serve the same purpose for 2017’s The Florida Project (about a girl and her single mother who live in a motel near Disney World), he said, If I continue this it could eventually become something that people connect withand connect with my films [the way Carpenter’s and Allen’s fonts did with theirs]. Now when you see those fonts, you think of those filmmakers and their films, said Baker, who utilized Aguafina Script through to the movie posters too. I like to have consistency between my advertising material and the actual credits. By weaving it into the visual identity of his films, including a recently minted Oscar winner, Baker has made Aguafina Script his own, and shown how type can be used to challenge viewers’ preconceived notions.
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E-Commerce
When Netflix was finally ready to bring back its massive international hit TV series Squid Game for Season 2 after a three-year hiatus, it had a unique marketing challenge: remind people why they fell in love with a Korean action drama that revolves around a murderous contest. Approximately 39 months had passed since the debut of Squid Game took the world by storm with its coordinated green tracksuits, Pink Guards, and twisted takes on childrens games. The first season exploded to the surprise of everyone, becoming a global pop culture sensation. Back in 2021, Netflix marketing outside Asia was largely reactive to what audiences were excited about. This time, there were years of anticipation. Marian Lee, chief marketing officer at Netflix, says there was an excitement internally to re-create that phenomenon, but also a ton of pressure on her teams. Convincing people to come back to watch the second season is an entirely different proposition than being surprised and having some fun with it. [Photo: Netflix] What came next was a worldwide full-court press of entertainment marketing. Pink Guards were deployed at events, activations, and press appearances around the planet. The Season 2 campaign kicked off at the Paris Olympics. Pink Guards popped up at Sydney Harbor and Bondi Beach, the canals of Venice, Bangkoks Chao Phraya river, Saudi Arabias AlUla, and Beco do Batman in So Paulo. Fans played Red Light, Green Light live under the Pink Guards watchful eyes in Los Angeles, Jakarta, and Warsaw. As of February 14, Season 2 had 14.25 billion owned social impressions, eclipsing Netflixs biggest Instagram and TikTok posts ever. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix Australia & NZ (@netflixanz) As a result, Squid Game Season 2 captured the most premiere-week views of any Netflix show in history. It spent eight consecutive weeks in the Netflix Global Top 10, amassing 185.2 million views in that time, and quickly became the streamers third-most-popular show of all time, after Wednesday and Squid Game Season 1. The marketing strategy behind the shows second season is a case study in how to match and elevate fan-generated hypeand it offers a window into how Netflix operates as a global brand marketing organization. Jakarta [Photo: Netflix] Found in translation Squid Game is first and foremost a Korean show. That was the mantra, and that was the foundation from which Lee and Netflix approached the marketing of the show. We have teams in 40 markets around the world, and it would be very American for us to say, Okay, well, now that it’s the biggest show, we’re going to have our largest marketing and publicity teams in L.A. run the campaign, Lee says. It was very important for me that the Korea team retained the strategy for how global teams were going to execute against it. This was a major shift for the streamers most popular properties like Stranger Things, Wednesday, and Bridgerton, which are exported from the U.S. marketing organization to the rest of the world. Lee created a global task force to connect major markets with the Korean team. There were translators in every meeting, even though everyone spoke English, to make sure any cultural nuances werent overlooked. Sao Paulo [Photo: Netflix] Lee spent the better part of two years cultivating and setting up the relationships between the Korean team and other major markets, in order for the rollout of Season 2and now the forthcoming Season 3to be as strong as possible. The coordination wasnt to make sure everyone followed the same playbook, but for the Korean team to really set the creative strategy and then the other marketing teams to take that and figure out the best way to express it in their markets. Creative strategies and creative platforms is the starting point, where everything emanates from, but where you can deviate across markets is in partnerships, or media placements and things like that, Lee says. So it was really important for us to spend a lot of time arguing and debating about that creative start point. One debate was around the theme of choice in the second season, represented by a voting system that allowed players to choose to stay or leave after each game. The Korean marketing team felt that was the center pointthat moral choice. Yet it wasnt resonating with the other teams. It’s important that when you’re dealing with different cultures and different languages, you have to find a creative start point that is literally so simple that any agency can run with it, Lee explains. London [Photo: Netflix] This translated into the idea of choosing to participate being a major part in all the live experienes across markets. Runners in tracksuits raced up the Champs-Élysées in Paris. Brazilian fans competed in Squid Game-themed competitions. The brand threw a Squid Game-themed rave in London. The nice thing about Netflix is that you can have a center creative strategy, but every market is going to have different flavors of how they activate with fans, Lee says. Paris [Photo: Netflix] Playing the brand game When Season 1 of Squid Game dropped in 2021, there were no international brand partners or collaborations. And yet Vans slip-on sneakers sales increased almost 8,000%. Duolingo saw a 40% increase in Korean language learners. For Season 2, with plenty of lead time, Netflix lined up a laundry list of brand partners, including Puma for those green tracksuits, Call of Duty, Kia, limited-edition Crocs, Duolingo, and more. But just like the creative strategy, Lee says local markets were in charge of what brand collabs would work best for their audiences. This is a global show, so you really could have global partners, but we also asked all the teams, Who are important partners in your market? says Lee. The result was a mix of brands that wouldnt normally be attached to a single property. In food alone, it was McDonalds in Australia, Burger King in France, Domino’s in the U.S., and Carl’s Jr. in Mexico. KFC Spain sold more than 400,000 units from its exclusive Squid Game menu and brought in more than $4 million in sales during its four-week runits most successful activation ever. We just said, Okay, what really matters for your market? Make sure you’re doing the most creative and the most fun way to engage with your fans. And I think that really worked, Lee says. Netflix announced last month that Season 3 will launch in June, about six months after Season 2. Lee says this allows both the streamer and brand partners to better bridge that relatively short gap. That short window is amazing for riding high off of Season 2 straight into Season 3 without wasting media dollars. We can just keep activating and engaging fans now through creative social, Lee explains. Beyond that, the brand will keep momentum going with live experiences in Australia, New York City, and Seoul, as well as a video game on its platform. Warsaw [Photo: Netflix] Fans lead the way The biggest insight that helped Netflix’s Squid Game marketing strategy is one Lee says has already helped other shows and properties. Lees teams work to find the parts of a show fans gravitate to most, then create content, experiences, brand partnerships, and more around that. Focus on the fans and really start organically, that is always the recipe for success for Netflix, she says. For Squid Game Season 2, it was iconography like the tracksuits and Pink Guards, combined with the desire to participate in some (nonlethal!) version of the games. The start point for Wednesday will be different than a comedy with Amy Schumer, Lee says. But I really think that the fans tell you what they want to see more of.
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E-Commerce
The U.S. Forest Service, already struggling with understaffing, fired about 3,400 workers last monthroughly 10% of its workforceamid the Trump administrations efforts to shrink the federal government. Now, with Forest Service chief Randy Moore set to retire this week, the agency will be led by a former timber industry lobbyist. In a letter posted to the agencys website, Moore called the cuts incredibly difficult and urged remaining staff to rise to the occasion. But current and former Forest Service employees warn that mass firings threaten public access to federal lands and increase wildfire danger for tens of millions. They also fear the Trump administration is moving toward auctioning off public lands to corporations interested in resource extraction. Federal workers and their unions are pushing backwith some success. A federal judge last week ordered the government to cancel its directive to lay off employees at six agencies. However, the ruling did not extend to the Forest Service, leaving some workers unclear as to its implications. Workers are also speaking up in hopes that their advocacy can reverse the administrations course and protect the public lands they say are at risk. Tom Carvajals work duties as a lead river ranger in the Boise National Forest ranged from checking parking passes to guiding archaeologists on weeklong missions into the rugged Idaho wilderness. He said it was the greatest job in the world, but it came to an end in mid-February when he was fired alongside thousands of other Forest Service employees. I dont know if Ill be able to find something Im as passionate about, Carvajal said. As upset as he was to lose his job, Carvajal was more concerned about what would happen to the public lands he had dedicated years of his life to preserving. When you look at the other executive orders . . . our public lands are f**ked, Carvajal said. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed the Unleashing American Energy executive order that called for reversing environmental protections on federal landsabout 28% of the countryin the name of resource extraction. Carvajal fears that move could lay the groundwork for reducing the size of public lands by auctioning off once-protected areas to private development. It would not be the first time. During his first term, Trump eliminated environmental protections from more public land than any president in U.S. history. In 2017, he reduced Utahs Grand-Staircase Escalante and Bears Ears national monuments by a combined 2 million acres after companies including Energy Fuels Resources (USA) Inc. lobbied his administration for access to the areas uranium, coal, and oil deposits. In 2020, Trump stripped protections from Alaskas Tongass National Forest, allowing logging and road development on hundreds of square miles of old-growth forest. The Biden administration later reversed both decisions, but Trumps team is again looking to reduce the size of Utahs national monuments and allow logging in Alaskas protected temperate rainforests. Trump also moved to roll back regulations that required federal agencies to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates environmental review for actions like land permitting. Doug Burgum, Trumps secretary of the Interior, has also directed his department to encourage energy exploration and production on federal lands and waters, even though the country is already producing more crude oil than ever before. Following Moores resignation, the Forest Service will be headed by Tom Schultz, the former vice president of resources and government affairs at Idaho Forest Group, one of the largest private lumber producers in the country. Capital & Main reached out to the Trump administration for comment but received no response. His Unleashing American Energy order characterized environmental protections of public lands as burdensome and ideologically motivated regulations, which impeded their development and stood in the way of making reliable and affordable electricity available to U.S. citizens. Unlike the National Park Service, whose primary mission is the preservation of natural and cultural resources, the Forest Service balances conservation with other purposes like timber production and resource extraction. Forest Service employees fear that the balance will tilt too far in favor of industry and that vast tracts of public lands could be lost. I think were going to lose our federal government land. I think in the next four years, the Forest Service just wont be around anymore, said Taze Henderson, a Forest Service employee in Washington states Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest until he was fire this month. Hendersons job was to prepare the forest for private logging operations while prioritizing forest health and fire prevention. His efforts often drew legal challenges from local environmental groups, which, he said, complicated the timber harvesting process. Now he warns that the private contractors who could replace him will do far more damage to the forest. Raymond Beaupre worked as part of the Okanogan-Wenatchees wilderness trail staff before getting fired. Profit-driven timber harvesters will be more bloodthirsty, potentially endangering the ecosystem, according to Beaupre. Its like letting the fox into the hen house, he said. Beaupre warned that a downsized Forest Service would also limit recreational opportunities, as many trails require consistent upkeep to stay accessible. Without regular maintenance, fallen logs, and erosion ultimately lead to trail loss. Even before the firings, staffing and funding shortages had already led to trail loss. Our district used to have 1,200 miles of trails. Now we fight as hard as we can to maintain 450 of those miles, Beaupre said. Forest Service employees who were spared in the recent firings say the changes have already hurt the agency. I didnt know morale could get any worse and then it did, said Madi Kraus, a wildland firefighter and union steward for the National Federation of Federal Employees in Colorado. We feel like were in a relationship with an abusive partner. We never know whats going to come next. Many of those dismissed were responsible for managing firefighting logisticsa loss that could affect the agencys ability to protect communities, Kraus said. In fact, many employees whose main job wasn’t firefighting, but who were qualified to fight fires when needed, were terminated. Among them was Carvajal, who started his career as a wildland firefighter and continued to assist on crews after changing positions. Last summer, he logged more than 300 overtime hours fighting wildfires just north of Boise. With wildfire risks rising as more people move into fire-prone areas and climate change leads to more extreme weather, the need for a strong firefighting force has never been greater. But the Trump administrations actions are eroding that capacity, said Riva Duncan, a former forest fire chief in Oregons Umpqua National Forest. Even if the firings stopped right now, we know its still going to be bad, Duncan said. It means the existing workforce has way more exposure to risk. . . . Theyre not going to be able to suppress as many fires. Workers have staged protests across the country, including inside national parks, and unions have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration, claiming that the mass firings violate federal law. There are signs the pressure is working. Several Forest Service employees who were fired this month have since been rehired. Even though U.S. District Judge William Alsups order Thursday to rescind the directive firing probationary employees didn’t extend to the Forest Service, Alsup said he was going to count on the government to do the right thing by applying his ruling more broadly. Carvajal, meanwhile, is dedicating his time to speaking up about the potentially devastating impacts of deep cuts to the Forest Service and the loss of public lands. If we lose those lands to any other kind of development, thats really where the problem is going to last, Carvajal said. That can be avoided if people know that this is your land. By Jeremy Lindenfeld, Capital & Main This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California on economic, political, and social issues.
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