👋 Don’t forget to buy your holiday presents. The rest of the US definitely isn’t: Holiday spending could increase by 3.5% this year, hitting a new record of $989B, and Amazon is recruiting 250k extra workers to keep up with shipping volume. That might not be enough to put people’s fears at bay — more than half of Americans say they’re worried about delivery delays this holiday season.
🎧 On the pod:Everything we know about Sora, OpenAI’s video generation tool.
NEWS FLASH
🧾 OpenAI came with receipts. The company published a blog post on Friday alleging that Elon Musk wanted OpenAI to become a for-profit company, complete with a detailed timeline of events spanning November 2015 to March 2023 — and a note that Musk agreed that a “for-profit was the next step” in 2017. The public rebuttal comes in response to Musk’s latest court filing against the AI company that asked a federal court to prevent OpenAI from becoming fully for-profit. Grab your popcorn, sit back, and get reading — the blog post also includes screenshots of private emails and texts with Musk.
📸 Smile, you’re on camera: The New York City Department of Transportation sent a cease and desist letter to artist Morry Kolman, who created Traffic Cam Photobooth, a website that lets people take selfies using feeds from traffic cameras. The agency claims it encourages “dangerous behavior” and promotes “unauthorized use” of its cameras. Kolman, whose goal is to bring attention to surveillance tech, did not take the site down and instead used it — and a 25-foot pole — to take a photo of the letter with a traffic camera.
🏘️ Home sweet home: A Zillow analysis of millions of listings surfaced five trends homeowners want for 2025. They include eco-friendly homes, houses built to withstand natural disasters, budget-friendly “cozy” homes, “wellness” features such as spa-like bathroom amenities, and vintage vibes. Here’s a fun fact: mentions of sculleries — rooms tucked off kitchens for tasks like meal prep or washing dishes — have increased by 8% YoY in for-sale listings.
MORE NEWS TO KNOW
Epic Games is making payments to “Fortnite” players who were charged for unwanted in-game purchases. The refunds — averaging ~$114 — could total $245m in payments for the company’s “dark patterns” noted in a Federal Trade Commission accusation.
Rhode Island’s online benefits system, RIBridges, went offline on Friday following a cyberattack that might have exposed the personal information of thousands of residents. The portal housed applications for Medicaid, food stamps, and other government benefits.
Consulting firm McKinsey will pay $650m to settle a US Department of Justice investigation into its work advising Purdue Pharma on how to boost OxyContin sales.
FUTURE OF CONTENT
The truth? Most websites get no organic traction
A walloping 94.29% of them, to be specific.
That’s what Neil Patel, one of the most trusted marketing experts on Earth, discovered after a month of tracking billions of keywords.
Yes, content is broader than text, but the social post stats were pretty grim, too: Neil’s analysis of 5m+ posts showed that six out of 10 gained zero engagement.
If you’re not quakin’ in your boots, you must not be in marketing. If you’re frantically but understandably shooketh, here’s the next move.
If you’re on TikTok, you definitely know Crumbl. Or, maybe, if there’s a teenage girl in your life (who is probably on TikTok).
The cookie brand has swept social media, garnering 9.6m followers on TikTok and a cult-like following of dedicated fans looking to sample the newest flavor, perThe Wall Street Journal.
What started as a single Utah store in 2017 has ballooned into 1k+ franchise-owned Crumbl stores in the US and 18 in Canada — 96% of which have opened since 2020.
Crumbl’s franchisees generate $1B+ in annual sales.
The average Crumbl shop earned ~$1.2m in revenue in 2023, with profits of ~$123k.
Crumbl itself posted a net income of nearly $31m on $122m+ in revenue last year.
The chain opened 300+ new stores in 2023, and is on track to add ~100 more in 2024. It also plans to expand to Australia and the UK; plus, there’s merch.
Crazy for cookies
Crumbl is a hit with women — 65% of its customers are female — especially teens and tweens.
Young girls are particularly spellbound by the brand’s sugared-up marketing strategies:
The brand releases weekly menu changes and limited-edition cookie drops that supercharge its power on social media.
The pale-pink cookie boxes were developed in partnership with the Pantone Color Institute.
With 15%-16% of teens using YouTube or TikTok “almost constantly,” Crumbl’s picture-perfect branding drives big business.
Developing new cookie flavors is also a careful process that can take three months to a year. Each new flavor goes through five or six iterations and is tested in ~50 stores before it’s launched.
What some might not enjoy? Crumbl’s classic milk chocolate chip cookie has 730 calories and 47 grams of sugar.
Was your last coffee date inside a bank?Tune in to find out why so many banks are going all-in on cafes.
Want your meetings to be worth your time? Here are seven agendas to make every Zoom efficient and productive.
NEWSWORTHY NUMBER
Value of a cello that Air Canada reportedly kicked off a flight, causing cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason and his sister, pianist Isata, to miss a sold-out performance in Toronto.
Apparently, you do have to buy a seat for a cello as they don’t fit in the overhead bin. Yet complications arose when the pair’s flight was delayed, then canceled, and they had to make a reservation for a new one. Kanneh-Mason said it’s often complicated transporting instruments by air due to unclear airline policies.
If you’re wondering how a cello costs $3.1m+, this one’s 300 years old and was made by Matteo Goffriller, a well-known Venetian luthier (AKA someone who makes stringed instruments).
AROUND THE WEB
🎥 On this day: In 2009, James Cameron’s Avatar — one of the highest-budget and highest-earning films ever made — premiered.
