Welcome back. Your brand might be ready for the future, but is your company?

Nvidia leads the inaugural Best Companies for the Future ranking from the WSJ Leadership Institute, a detailed new lens on S&P 500 companies’ readiness for the years to come.

The ranking, compiled with our partners at Bendable Labs, incorporates 30 data points on company performance in six areas that are key to navigating the changes ahead: AI readiness, innovation, talent readiness, financial fitness, resilience and agility. You can read much more on the methodology, data sources and caveats here.

(WSJLI members receive exclusive access to insights through our competitive intelligence tool.)

Best Companies for the Future doesn’t purport to predict the future. But its findings can shed light on companies’ strengths, weaknesses and opportunities compared with their peers, particularly by looking below the top line.

While Nvidia secured the overall No. 1 spot with strong showings in five of the ranking’s key focus areas, for example, the chip maker ranked 110th for resilience because of its dependence on Taiwan and China.

Salesforce, the software-as-a-service pioneer, and Omnicom Group, the largest advertising holding company, each occupy sectors that have appeared at some risk from AI that helps new rivals rise and clients do more for themselves.

Salesforce landed at No. 6 in the first Best Companies for the Future ranking, however, with top-30 positions in five of the six key areas.

Omnicom was No. 449, standing relatively tall in AI readiness and corporate resilience but burdened by low rankings in innovation and talent readiness.

Among major marketers outside of tech, Mastercard shone at No. 7. It was buoyed in particular, happily for the financial colossus, by its financial fitness.

The Kars4Kids jingle that many of you know so well will continue playing in California after all—for now.

We told you last month about a judge’s ruling banning the nonprofit Kars4Kids from broadcasting its nearly hypnotically simple song in California, at least without new disclosures, after a lawsuit claiming deceptive advertising.

A state appeals court ruled on June 4 that Kars4Kids can keep running its usual ads in California, at least while the group tries to reverse the original finding, USA Today reports. The new ruling didn’t get into the merits.

Kars4Kids celebrated the pause in the ban. “The uninterrupted airing of its ads will enable the charity to continue funding its programs for children and families.”

The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Patrick Coffee writes for the newsletter this morning:

Veterans of Google and Meta’s advertising product, safety and privacy teams, along with a former Federal Trade Commission chairman, have come together to help fund a startup designed to fight AI with more AI.

Concern over the proliferation of artificial intelligence-driven online scams prompted the launch of security platform InfoHawk, according to co-founder and CEO Rob Leathern, who previously worked in ad product management at Google and Meta, where he helped start the Facebook maker’s business integrity unit.

The problem extends to marketers. AI technology’s rapid progression has lowered the barrier to entry for would-be scammers, and as the number of unscrupulous players grows, many legitimate brands find themselves crowded out of multiple platforms by fake ads, he said.

“A lot of the AI tools are … allowing actors to generate increasing volumes of images, text and website landing pages. Then they run ads against [them], with products that don't exist or offers that are misleading for consumers,” said Leathern.

Global consumers lost around $442 billion to online scams over the past year, with 45% of adults saying they’d encountered more scams during the past 12 months than in the previous year, according to the nonprofit Global Anti-Scam Alliance.

Platforms don’t want to tolerate or encourage bad actors, but they aren’t always incentivized to address the issue, according to Leathern. Any effective effort to curb what has become a global problem will require some combination of security tools, voluntary safety standards and legislative action, he said.

“I think there's room to improve there for everyone, and I think the other reality is you're never going to, quote-unquote, solve crime,” said Leathern.

InfoHawk’s core product is a detection tool that plugs into various platforms’ servers and helps them identify deceptive content, with the goal of shutting down scam campaigns as early as possible. The tool itself is, of course, powered by AI.

The Austin, Texas-based company raised $2.25 million in a pre-seed round led by venture firm Moonshots Capital.

Its angel investor list includes former FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz; Scott Spencer, former Google VP of ads safety and privacy; Rob Goldman, Meta’s former VP of ads; Nikila Srinivasan, ex-VP of product at Meta’s WhatsApp; and Brian O’Kelley, founder of adtech firm AppNexus.

The community where marketing leaders drop the corporate speak and share what’s actually happening. The WSJ CMO Council unites leaders from the world’s most influential brands including Adobe, Audi, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Meta, Taco Bell, P&G and Verizon.

Tap into the connections and WSJ intelligence that move careers forward and separate the prepared from the scrambling.

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Driverless trucks are here, delivering bags of Doritos and other PepsiCo products to stores like Walmart and Dollar General. [WSJ]

Soccer-themed Pepsi Max cans in the U.K. include a limited number with cold-activated ink that reveals the chance to win prizes. [Packaging News] 

A&W compressed an entire restaurant to promote the chain’s new smash burger in Canada. [Famous Campaigns] 

Trade Desk Chief Revenue Officer Anders Mortensen is leaving after seven months in the post. [Adweek]

Alamo Drafthouse’s CEO defended the strictly no-talking-no-texting movie chain’s new system requiring theatergoers to order food and drinks by phone. [Fast Company]

Spotify is talking with concert promoters about securing the streaming rights for music festivals, complementing a push into traditional tickets. [Bloomberg] 

Luxury auto retailers are branching out into private tracks where members can drive race cars. [WSJ] 

TikTok Shop is turning up in more marketers’ requests for proposals from agencies as a necessary area of expertise. [Digiday] 

Top creatives predict that big winners at this year’s Cannes Lions will include ChatGPT, Claude and… Clash Royale? [Ad Age]