Virtual influencers have IRL earning potential. Brud, the new studio behind virtual star Lil Miquela, was recently valued at $125 million. More than 80,000 people per month stream her songs, and she partnered with Samsung for its #TeamGalaxy campaign and Prada for its Fall 2018 collection. Software voicebank Hatsune Miku surpassed $120 million in revenue…
Facebook has been touting its new design for months now, giving users the option to toggle back and forth between what it’s calling Classic Facebook and the upgraded interface known as New Facebook. This has allowed users time to explore the new layout and features while the platform continues to finalize changes. However, starting in…
The New York Times did a wonderful set of articles last week titled OOO. The articles cover the spectrum of issues we are all facing working from home (WFH). Some of the writings were based on a survey of 1,123 remote workers. And because of the polling methodology, the results were unsurprising, so much so…
There’s been a lot of talk during the Covid-19 crisis about brands helping customers as much as possible. On that level, back to school is serving as an important type of midterm exam to see how much marketers actually learned in the last six months. Back to school normally starts in July and is over…
2020 has threatened to undo me. Prior to the pandemic, I was confident in my naturally empathetic leadership approach, managing 10 employees and 10 clients. But I also knew when to stand my ground. Strong and soft. I began repeating this mantra when the business impact of the Covid-19 crisis began to take shape. March…
As we approach November, media concern about election integrity grows. Of course, not all of that concern is genuine. Whether you are from the school of thought that has no issue with voter suppression if it protects your priorities, or are all for pushing for more voters to register at any cost, lines have been…
Publishers are under increasing pressure to find new audiences and new streams of sustainable, recurring revenue that can be supported with existing infrastructure or minimal, if any, investment. Agencies, whose core goal is client retention and relationships, need new channels to support those clients, given ever-changing market conditions and budgets, and due to current events,…
The modern day cannabis consumer has emerged as one of the most dynamic demographics defying archaic stereotypes. People of all backgrounds, no matter their life stage, are now consuming it. Once considered a fringe category, cannabis in all of its forms is now a household essential, especially in the time of the coronavirus. There are…
In the midst of a global mental health crisis, hundreds of billions in funds are going into addiction therapy. The time is ripe for alternative forms of treatment. Psychedelics could be the answer to treating most patients. But they’re nothing new. Psychedelics are entheogens that are either naturally derived from plants (psilocybin, ayahuasca and ibogaine)…
I miss meeting new people. I miss bumping into people I know. So, necessity being the mother of invention, my team has been experimenting with different ways to gather our community–and we have a plan. Introducing the Shelly Palmer Online Networking Salons. They are free, category-specific, weekly, 20-minute, super-curated, small Zoom meetings where you will…
The fourth quarter of 2020 will be different in many ways, yet it will still carry outsized importance for retailers. Shopping behavior has been heavily disrupted. Here’s what pandemic lessons you can apply this holiday season, and why you should focus on millennials over Gen Z. Millennials are more committed to online shopping than Gen…
Latinx is a forward-thinking term, inclusive, appropriate and emblematic of the way younger generations expect brands to talk to them. So why is it receiving backlash of late? Why are some brands ignoring it? It’s not widely adopted–yet Several articles have been published as of late that cites research or references that Latinx isn’t a…
Marketers have been suffering from FOFO (Fear of Finding Out) for a long time. A term familiar in the medical community to describe the psychological barrier that stops people from seeking medical advice for worrying health conditions, FOFO is the complete opposite of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). What drives FOFO is twofold. First, it…
For the past week, everyone has been talking about Instagram Reels, which enables users to edit 15-second videos with audio and fun AR effects. Sound familiar? Yes, there are a lot of similarities between Instagram’s Reels and TikTok. And even though Instagram confirmed the U.S. launch of Reels in mid-July, it seems especially significant as…
Every year, Instagram is gaining more and more popularity, and it’s easy to understand why–the nifty, visually oriented platform provides many options for brands to advertise their products and services. With the average attention span getting shorter and shorter, it’s easy to understand why Instagram carousels, which deliver more information in a shorter time, are…
Over the past several months, touch has been increasingly removed from our daily lives. A recent study showed that 42% of American adults report feeling deprived of touch. A similar study in the New York Times found 42% of Americans also expected it to be at least a year before they’d be willing to shake…
Another day, another epic fail from a brand putting on the diversity mantle or shouting about social distancing. Ads keep missing the goalposts on the climate emergency, diversity, ocean plastic–pick a theme. Behind every misstep is bad advice, lack of understanding or someone who didn’t listen. The majority of a company’s value is inevitably tied…
Social experts, creators and addicts are taking a deep, exasperated breath. The same breath they took when Instagram launched hashtags in 2011, Direct in 2013, Stories in 2016 and IGTV in 2018. The launch of Reels is, yet again, another feature that’s been tacked onto Instagram. What started as one of the most innovative platforms…
For many of us, sport is a much-needed divergence from our daily lives. Historically, when the economy was down or when you were experiencing life’s daily discord, sports was a welcome aberration for the mind. As a fan, you could always count on your favorite team taking the field or court a certain time of…
I was watching Billions one night, and as someone with a Master’s degree in social work, I was intrigued that the financial firm hired an in-house psychologist to counsel the talent. As it turned out, these people were in-house performance coaches, who also happened to act as therapists. This fictional example serves as a revealing…
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
