|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Trade Groups Run Ads in West Palm Beach Just to Reach Trump; Startups Offer Brands New Tools for AIO; Why Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s Broke Up
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome back. Today, TV viewers in West Palm Beach, Fla., get an eyeful of ads aimed at a single person; a new crop of startups promise to help brands optimize their websites for the AI era; and Krispy Kreme disappears from the breakfast menu at McDonald’s.
|
|
|
|
|
|
More than a dozen advocacy and interest groups have focused on the tiny Florida market of West Palm Beach, often with ads praising President Trump. Illustration: Alexandra Citrin-Safadi/WSJ
|
|
|
|
|
|
Interest groups believe President Trump’s support can single-handedly make or break their priorities in Washington, so much so that they are targeting the president in Florida through an ad strategy often referred to as the “audience of one,” Maggie Severns and Anthony DeBarros report.
They have aired roughly $2 million of TV ads in West Palm Beach, home to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, that reach many viewers but appear to be meant for the president’s eyes only, a Wall Street Journal analysis found.
Advertisers targeting Trump include the pro-vaping lobby, aluminum manufacturers who support tariffs, and even his own Department of Homeland Security touting its tough enforcement efforts.
“Mr. President,” an auto-industry group said in one ad, “Together we can drive innovation and American manufacturing. Let’s do it.”
The spot was meant “to reintroduce the new administration to the country’s largest manufacturing sector,” said John Bozzella, the group’s president.
Next up: Republicans who had trouble persuading some of their own lawmakers to back the party’s tax and policy bill, which President Trump signed into law Friday, now have to sell it to the public. [WSJ]
And Elon Musk named his new political party the America Party. [WSJ]
|
|
|
|
|
Content from our sponsor: Deloitte
|
|
|
CMOs Face Increased Pressure to Prove the Impact of Marketing
|
|
CMOs are gaining more responsibilities and influence, according to a survey. They also are feeling more pressure from CEOs, CFOs, and boards to demonstrate the value of marketing. Read More
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Google under CEO Sundar Pichai has introduced AI Mode, which answers queries in a chatbot-style conversation with far fewer links than traditional search. Photo: Camille Cohen/AFP/Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
|
At least a dozen new companies are pouring millions of dollars into software meant to help brands prepare for a world in which customers no longer browse the web and instead rely on ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI chatbots to do it for them, Katherine Blunt writes.
A startup called Profound is building its platform to monitor and analyze the many inputs that influence how AI chatbots relay brand-related information to users. It has raised more than $20 million from venture capital and claims dozens of large customers including fintech company Chime.
“We see a future of a zero-click internet where consumers only interact with interfaces like ChatGPT,” said co-founder James Cadwallader, “and agents or bots will become the primary visitors to websites.”
Related: CMO Today’s Patrick Coffee wrote in May about marketers’ side of the equation in AI optimization. [WSJ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
$400
|
|
Price for one musk melon imported from Japan and sold at Farm & Forage in the Hamptons, where gourmet groceries compete for extremely affluent shoppers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
McDonald’s is looking for its next breakfast breakout after the collapse of its Krispy Kreme partnership. A Spicy Egg McMuffin is set to debut on Tuesday. Photo: Getty Images
|
|
|
|
|
|
McDonald’s has ended its experiment selling Krispy Kreme doughnuts to aid breakfast sales, Heather Haddon reports in a look at what went wrong.
The partnership, which went national in 2024, should have been a match made in fast-food heaven. “Our fans’ love for Krispy Kreme runs deep,” Tariq Hassan, then McDonald’s U.S. CMO, said at the start.
But doughnuts sales across the McDonald’s network proved uneven.
Making and delivering doughnuts across McDonald’s sprawling network saddled Krispy Kreme with logistical challenges, leading to checkered supply at some locations. High prices also contributed to slower-than-expected sales, some McDonald’s operators said.
“We sold probably 10 doughnuts in the last three months, I am not kidding,” one McDonald’s employee said on Reddit last week.
Krispy Kreme said sales started strong but sagged when McDonald’s dialed back advertising.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“I was a very strange child.”
|
|
— Burberry CEO Joshua Schulman on his boyhood reading Women’s Wear Daily and memorizing department-store layouts from company filings. Schulman is now bringing Burberry back to its roots in scarves, umbrellas and the classic trench after predecessors steered the brand into an identity crisis.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
‘Jurassic World Rebirth’ adds to this summer’s box-office rebound after flops like ‘Snow White’ and ‘Mickey 17.’ Photo: Jasin Boland/Universal/Everett Collection
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Jurassic World Rebirth” led the holiday-weekend box office with $147.3 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales, continuing the summer box-office comeback after a disastrous start to the year. [WSJ]
Amtrak is going viral with its “Summer Train-Tacular” ad in the style of a ’90s Monster Truck promo. [Fast Company]
EV makers are pitching rock-bottom pricing as sales for battery-powered cars continue to fall. [WSJ]
Low-calorie, low-carb Michelob Ultra has emerged as the chief bright spot in a gloomy beer market. [WSJ]
TikTok is developing a version of its app for users in the U.S. ahead of a potential forced sale in the country. [The Information]
Walmart, Target and TikTok Shop are extending or enhancing their sales timed to take on Amazon’s extra-long, four-day Prime Day, which starts tomorrow. [Modern Retail]
Followers are flocking to Mallory Brooks, who digs into the quality of influencer-founded clothing brands using the TikTok handle @plzdontbuythat. [Glossy]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
