The Zeitgeist: November 22, 2024

Today's Edition: Cozy Tech, AI Ads and Lamb Chop

Good morning. According to AAA projections, a record-breaking 80 million Americans are estimated to travel for Thanksgiving this year. This year’s projection is an increase of 1.7 million people compared to last year and 2 million more than in 2019. In other travel news this week, Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection amid growing losses, and American Airlines is rolling out tech that shames passengers who try to board before their turn.

Of note, Confidant is closed next Friday, Nov. 29, so we’ll arrive back in your inbox on Friday, Dec. 6. Happy Thanksgiving!

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Also, ALDI’s Charcuterie Chalet pop-up, Grillo’s Pickles x Boka’s pickle-flavored toothpaste for National Pickle Day, Knorr’s #EffortisEverything campaign celebrating cooking fails, Pepsi's "Uncover Cups, Pizza Hut’s Tomato Wine and Smirnoff’s new Chief Vibes Officer Troye Sivan.

Culture 

Snackable bites of consumer culture

Corporate

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

Connections

Feed intelligence

Media Moves:

  • Mike Bird, formerly Asia business and finance editor at The Economist, is moving to New York in 2025 to cover Wall Street and U.S. finance for the same publication.

  • Priya Anand, formerly tech culture reporter at the San Francisco Standard, has left the publication to start a communications consulting business.

  • Nadia Lopez, formerly reporter at Bloomberg, is now reporter at Axios San Francisco.

  • Khristopher J. Brooks, formerly reporter at CBS Moneywatch, is now reporter at real estate news service CoStar News.

  • Dara Kerr, formerly tech reporter at NPR, has left the news organization for a new opportunity.

  • The Financial Times announced the appointment of Jay Rayner as restaurant critic, Tim Hayward as food writer and Marina O’Loughlin as columnist as part of an expansion of its food and drink coverage. Rayner was formerly restaurant critic at the Observer, Hayward was formerly restaurant critic for the same publication and O’Loughlin was formerly restaurant critic at the Sunday Times. Hayward will contribute deep-dives on home cooking projects and other culinary fixations, and O’Loughlin will write a monthly column about the global restaurant scene and food culture.

  • Layoffs were announced this week at Hearst Magazines. The publisher said it is reallocating resources amid changes in the industry.

Also... complete the song lyrics, lines from books or quotes from movies and historical speeches in The Precognition Game.

Thanks for reading.

If you need help accessing the full text of any of these stories, drop your team a line and we'll send it right over.

—The Editors

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe to the Confidant Zeitgeist here.