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To understand President Donald Trump’s media strategy around the biggest television show of the year, it’s helpful to think of his actions as a brand activation. To command and control as much of the nation’s attention as he could around the Super Bowl, Trump simply took a page out of the advertising playbooks for consumer products. Even as Americans cut their cords and watch fewer hours of live TV every year, the Super Bowl remains a tentpole event that people tune in to see. Rather than zipping past commercials on their DVR or YouTube TV, the splashy ads are considered part of the programming. Brands pay big bucks to get their ads on during the gamethe cost of 30 seconds of airtime is now as high as $8 millionthough the true cost is much higher. Brands often tee up their ads by prereleasing them online before the game and they follow through with brand activations afterwards to milk their 30 seconds for as long as possible. Trump did something similar. The Super Bowl is already a big day for the president since the network that airs the game traditionally gets a newsy pregame interview. Had Trump relied solely on his pregame interview with Fox News host Bret Baier, though, the headlines would have been out of his hands and might have focused on some of his most unpopular policies. Even sitting down with a friendly network (Fox will become the first network in U.S. history to air a show hosted by a president’s family member), poses its risks to a president’s narrative. Trump was asked questions about his actions, like putting the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, in charge of cutting government spending (a judge recently put restrictions on Musk’s powers, and polling shows Musk is becoming increasingly unpopular); his threats of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which spooked the stock market before Trump reversed course and pressed pause; and stubbornly high consumer prices that haven’t gone down since he took office despite campaign promises to do so. But rather than rely on the pregame interview alone, Trump attempted to design his own news cycle around the game. Trump was the first sitting president to attend the Super Bowl, grabbing precious airtime showing him saluting the flag during the National Anthem, and like a consumer brand seeking to maximize its ad time, he teed up his appearance and made time for some follow-through. En route to New Orleans for the game, Air Force One’s path crossed over the recently renamed Gulf of America. With an oversize map as his prop, Trump signed a proclamation making Sunday Gulf of America Day. The rename and proclamation, of course, does nothing to lower prices or make the U.S. safer, but it does have an awful lot in common with brand stunt naming, like IHOP temporarily calling itself IHOb to promote its burgers, or Coors Light, which released limited-edition Mondays Light beers to promote its product on the day after the Super Bowl. Trump left the game early after incorrectly predicting the Kansas City Chiefs would win, but on his way home he looked to make more news, picking a fight with Taylor Swift on his social network and announcing a plan to stop minting pennies. The penny idea is one that’s been floated before, not to mention the fact that Trump’s authority to unilaterally do so is unclear. Still, it has all the hallmarks of his favored form of governance: showy, visceral, and easy to understand. Trump also announced 25% tariffs on aluminum and steel Monday, which may not be as simple or popular, but considering the bread and circuses of his Gulf of America Sunday, the news may well be drowned out by his preferred narratives.
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E-Commerce
The worlds leading minds in AI are gathering in Paris for the AI Action Summit, which kicked off on Monday. French president Emmanuel Macron is hosting the summit, which includes Vice President JD Vance among its attendees. But the summitwhich is focused on discussion and debate about the future of the technologycomes at a time when things are moving quickly in the AI space. While Frances minister for AI and digital affairs, Clara Chappaz, may want to keep the debate focused on three key objectives for the summit, covering societal and cultural, economic, and diplomatic needs, theres much more going on at the minute. Between Project Stargate, the U.S.s $500 billion plan to try and corner off the development of AI and to head off the rise of China in the space, to joint ventures being brokered between Japan and OpenAI to provide proprietary platforms and models to boost businesses there, it may seem like theres plenty of action happening outside official communiques and conferences. And thats before you get to the epoch-changing impact of DeepSeeks arrival, and its R1 models ability to upend the economics of the generative AI revolution. This marks the third major summit since the U.K. hosted one at Bletchley Park in November 2023. What, exactly, is the point of these discussions? In my opinion, this is first and foremost a diplomatic move that aims at facilitating the convergence of AI governance, generating debate on the impact of AI on societies, says Thomas Husson, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester, who is attending the summit. Its unlikely a major announcement will be made, but what matters here is the continuous dialogue on AI global regulation. But critics argue that, in a world where governments simply arent catching up to the private companies engaged in a relentless AI race (and where countries and private companies are striking semi-protectionist deals), continuous dialogue may not solve much. To be the architects of a positive future for AI, governments need to build out the incentives required to make sure the technology works, is safe and is trustworthymaking sure the roof doesnt fall in on us, says Gaia Marcus, director of the Ada Lovelace Institute, an independent research institute focused on the development of AI. Governments also need to build and invest in alternatives that ensure the value and benefits of tech advances can be felt by everyoneand avoid paying extortionate rent to a few large companies for a generation. The current plan for the summit, as evidenced through a leaked draft of the summits pledge, doesnt do that, Marcus says. Based on the initial draft, we are concerned that the scaffolding provided by the official summit declaration is not strong enough, she tells Fast Company. Those in the AI safety space fear that another milquetoast declaration does little more than provide further breathing room for big tech companies to pull away even further from regulation. There are some strong points within the planned pledge at the end of the summit, however. The declaration does highlight widespread consensus on key structural risks, like market concentration, labor market impacts and sustainability challenges, Marcus adds. But it fails to build on the mission of making AI safe and trustworthy. And more broadly, it all adds up to a growing feeling of hopelessness.
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E-Commerce
After a year of dominating U.S. headlines for everything from a major E. coli outbreak to a visit from Donald Trump, McDonalds today announced its fourth-quarter and full-year 2024 financial report. Here’s a quick look at the numbers: Fourth-quarter revenue was $6.4 billion Fourth-quarter net income was $2.2 billion Full-year revenue was $25.9 billion Full-year net income was $8.2 billion Global comparable sales increased by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, while U.S. comparable sales dropped by 1.4% in the same period. (Thats compared to a 4.3% gain in the fourth quarter last year.) The data shows that while McDonalds has made progress globally, U.S. numbers remain sluggish as the chain struggles to strike the right balance between fair prices and profit. The $5 meal deal: A financial mixed bag Over the past several months, McDonalds has been on a mission to dispel its reputation as a villain of the American inflation story. In a LendingTree survey last May, 65% of respondents said theyd been shocked by a fast food bill in the past six months, while 80% said they considered fast food to be a luxury. Plenty of ire has been directed at McDonalds for its perceived role in contributing to unaffordable fast food costs. To combat that perception and win customers back, McDonalds launched a $5 value meal in June. While the deal was meant to be a limited-time offering, the campaigns popularity (and financial payoff; its been credited for saving the chains third quarter) led McDonalds to extend the $5 meal into December 2024. Then, in November, McDonalds once again promised to offer its value meal for at least the first half of 2025. On an earnings call today, a McDonalds spokesperson shared that Q4 was the companys best quarter of the year with the American low-income consumer segment. However, per the financial report, the 1.4% drop in U.S. comparable sales could be attributed to a decline in average check, partly offset by slightly positive comparable guest countsmeaning that, as customers are spending less per meal, McDonalds is having trouble recouping the difference. The impact of the E. coli outbreak continues Theres another reason for McDonalds lackluster fourth quarter in the U.S., according to CEO Chris Kempczinski: the lasting impact of last years E. coli outbreak, which sent the companys stock into a tailspin at the time. Our fourth-quarter performance reflects the impact of the food incident, Kempczinski said during todays earnings call. The outbreak, which emerged in late October, sickened dozens of McDonalds customers and killed one person, causing the company to temporarily remove its Quarter Pounder from thousands of stores. Months later, it seems like the company is still working to regain consumers trust as it continues to navigate a rocky economic climate. Nevertheless, investors are relatively optimistic about the companys outlook: As of this writing, shares of McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) are up almost 5%, to about $309 per share.
Category:
E-Commerce
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