June 27, 2020

empowering you with insights and information from the edge of today’s headlines

Business

Plant-based burgers had an interesting week. McDonald’s ended a six-month trial of Beyond Meat in its Canadian outlets without plans to add the alternative to its menu. While Starbucks announced that it will offer a breakfast sandwich using Impossible Foods’ sausage. (In the US, McDonald’s has yet to launch a vegan burger, while Burger King has been serving an Impossible Burger for over a year.)

Plant-based alternatives got a boost in demand from meat shortages in the US following the pandemic-based closure of several processing plants. Both Starbucks and McDonald’s have also pivoted their business models in response to the pandemic — Starbucks closing stores and opening take-out only locations, and McDonald’s improving the efficiency of its drive throughs and reducing items on the menus.

One unexpected consequence of the coronavirus is the reduction in our carbon footprints, and we hope to see the shift toward plant-based alternatives (whether due to safety or environmental concerns) continue.

What we are watching: Amazon announced that is has acquired Zoox, a self-driving car start-up which aims to build an autonomous solution to ride-hailing. Zoox will now have the deep pockets and innovation mindset of Amazon to compete with Google’s Waymo. The acquisition also raised the ire of Elon Musk, who called Bezos a “copycat.” (Bezos and Musk also compete in their space ambitions with Blue Origin and SpaceX.)

The Zoox technology combined with Amazon’s logistics could be a unique pairing. We’re not so sure how ride-hailing will recover post-pandemic, but we’re one step closer to not worrying about the driver.

Go Deeper:

NY Times on Plant-Based Meat Demand

CNBC on Zoox

Technology

Another Update: This week we wrote about the #StopHateForProfit boycott on Facebook, and in just a few days the movement has gained steam. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, Verizon and Hershey all agreed to pull advertising from the platform (some for longer than just July).

The cynical take: With the recession looming, most companies are cutting their advertising budgets anyway. Both Unilever and Coca-Cola announced a pullback from all social media advertising (not just Facebook). Are the companies using this movement as an opportune time for virtue signaling? If they are cutting their ad budgets, we compliment them for starting with Facebook first, but we also hope that they will continue to promote inclusivity if/when their consumers return.

Facebook responded by expanding its ban on hate speech when it comes to advertising (you can still spew hate any way you’d like as an individual). Facebook will also label newsworthy posts that violate its rules, and will label any posts that discuss voting. We have yet to see Facebook enforce any of these changes, but 🤞🏻.

Off the Mark: Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, formed the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2015 to use technology to “advance human potential and promote equality.” Not quite a non-profit organization and modeled after the Gates Foundation, the CZI has come under scrutiny lately.

Some of the scientists working for CZI publicly complained about Facebook’s misinformation and asked Zuckerberg to resign, and some non-profits have been declining the “dark” funding.

What to watch: Many tech billionaires have set up philanthropic arms, and we applaud the initiative. While most executives choose to make elaborate press releases and donate to donor-advised funds, Jack Dorsey has actually started donating his $1B pledge, and he tracks it on a public spreadsheet. We hope more executives will be peer-pressured into transparency and put their money to work.

Go Deeper:

Recode on CZI

Politics

The Democratic convention will be held mostly virtually this year. In August, Joe Biden will head to Milwaukee to accept the nomination, while most of the delegates will refrain from traveling and participate virtually.

Biden will also announce his running mate in August, probably at or around the convention. The so-called Veepstakes are getting narrowed down to a list of heavyweight, female contenders, including Kamala Harris, Susan Rice, Elizabeth Warren and Val Demmings.

Just a thought: Not that we have an “in,” but we’d propose that Biden announces his entire cabinet at once, taking the pressure off the presumptive VP-elect and allowing for an incredibly diverse cabinet. Hypothetically, why not include Buttigieg for Defense, Warren for Treasury, Harris for AG, Yang for Commerce and Bennet for Education?

Media

Earlier this week, Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell, voice actors on cartoons, stepped down from their roles. Both performers are white, and voiced biracial characters. Following their announcements, The Simpsons decided that they will no longer cast white actors as characters of color. While The Simpsons has had its own issues with non-white characters (see Hank Azaria playing Apu in an overtly stereotypical fashion), we have not heard whether Nancy Cartwright, a woman, will stop voicing Bart.

What we are watching: LeBron James and Maverick Carter announced $100M of funding for their new entertainment and consumer products company, SpringHill Co. The company was formed in early March, and intends to be:

The venture is a combination of Uninterrupted, SpringHill Entertainment and The Robot Company, and is already the most diverse media company in the US (with 40 percent women and 64 percent POC).

Besides an update to Space Jam, SpringHill will produce a documentary on Black Wall Street and has production deals with ABC Studios and Warner Bros.

Go Deeper:

Bloomberg on SpringHill

Design

Goldman Sachs announced it own custom typeface this week: Goldman Sans. It is free to use with a unique caveat — it can’t be used to criticize Goldman Sachs. The typeface design is meant to improve accessibility and legibility on its digital platforms, and the designers state that they started constructing the numbers first, since, you know, finance.

Goldman is definitely not the first company to design its own typeface (Airbnb, IBM, Netflix and Google have their own as well). Although the design is often explained as fitting the brand, its vision and its mission, a custom typeface reduces the licensing fees of using a commercially available one.

With so much of our lives online, typography is in essence its own user experience. We are not sure the bankers will notice the difference, but we’ll be tracking their base and bottom lines. (couldn’t resist the bad typography puns)

I❤️NY

I must take a moment to reflect on the amazing life and career of Milton Glaser, who died yesterday at 91. Glaser was one of the founders of NY Magazine and designed the iconic I ❤️NY logo. He taught at the School of Visual Arts, and was an incredible mentor. He will be missed.

Go Deeper:

NY Magazine 

— Lauren Eve Cantor

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