The Zeitgeist: October 25, 2024

Today's Edition: Daze, Chaos Packaging and Costco Connection

Good morning. This week was tumultuous for McDonald’s, from former President Trump’s stunt shift to its E. coli outbreak crisis. Its internal memo about the controversial visit, however, was solid gold. Meanwhile, in sports, the Yankees vs. Dodgers World Series is, according to Adweek, more than just competition - “it’s a battle of the two biggest brands in the sport: two global powerhouses, representing enormous markets, packed with star power that extends well beyond baseball, and captivating audiences worldwide.” It’s an important reminder that brand power can elevate a sport (or business) beyond the hypothetical field.

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Also, Campbell Soup’s Goldfish cracker name change, KFC x Hatch’s “Kentucky Fried Chicken Rain” sleep audio content, Kate Spade x M&M’s collection, Milk-Bone’s rom-com movie trailer parody campaign, Nutella x Betches book club, Stanley x e.l.f collab and Olivia Munn’s SKIMS campaign for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Culture 

Snackable bites of consumer culture

Corporate

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

Connections

Feed intelligence

Media Moves:

  • Laura Cooper, formerly reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering private equity and mergers and acquisitions, has moved to the beverage and tobacco beat at the same news organization.

  • Krystal Hur, formerly markets reporter at CNN, is now markets reporter at The Wall Street Journal. She will start Nov. 4.

  • Ella Cerón, previously reporter at Bloomberg News covering equality, has left the news organization and has yet to announce her new role.

  • Akane Otani, markets reporter at The Wall Street Journal, has left the news organization after eight years and has yet to announce her new role.

  • Jamie Leventhal, formerly video producer at The Wall Street Journal covering news topics including business and technology, is now video journalist at The New York Times on the Daily Video Team in New York, producing video packages and livestreams and editing videos for social media.

Also... check out this 404 Media article about how people are repurposing old Redbox kiosks.

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.