It’s time again for the Trippant Takeaways, a weekly collection of stories highlighting trends, best practice and provocative ideas in communications across sport, entertainment, technology and culture.
Alternative Fifa World Cup perspectives from The Guardian and The New York Times
Around its halfway stage, the Fifa World Cup is generating hundreds – maybe thousands – of stories a day. Unsurprisingly, given the build-up and the setting, a lot of these are plotted along one axis, with human rights and geopolitics at one end and a fun football tournament at the other.
But there are plenty of other layers through which to experience the whole thing – and no doubt other major sports events in the future. The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew has picked up on how swooping camera close-ups, stadium light shows and AR in-game stats have lent a video game aesthetic to the real-world presentation.
Meanwhile, The New York Times’ Sarah Lyall and Christina Goldbaum have snuck beyond the bit behind the velvet rope – all the way through to the VVIP section.
The FT on Qatar’s London advertising challenge
The hyper-focus on Qatar as a World Cup host has inevitably drawn attention to the state’s many other financial and marketing partnerships.
Transport for London’s suspension of advertising from Qatar has uncovered its own network of conflicts and compromises.
Digiday on the World Cup and Twitter’s commercial disorder
The explosion of conversation and reaction around Qatar 2022 looks, at first glance, to be good news for the embattled Twitter, with new owner Elon Musk proclaiming records in tweets per second during the live action.
Beneath the surface, however, it may only be confirming the dysfunction that is undermining the company’s brand relationships at a difficult economic time.
Fast Company on Mastodon and Fortune on the celebrity view of life after Twitter
Opinions still vary on how far and fast Twitter could decline through its current difficulties, and they vary further on what might come next.
Some users have tried to lead a migration to platforms like Mastodon, with mixed results, while athletes and celebrities – including a decidedly phlegmatic Ryan Reynolds – have been giving their thoughts on the future of social media.
Marketing Week on Spotify’s new annual tradition
Millions of Spotify users will have a few common sentiments this week. Things like: “When did I listen to that?” Or: “Why did I share my password?”
Still, the streaming giant’s annual Spotify Unwrapped review service – artfully timed before playlists get swamped by December’s festive binge – has become a major social media moment and, as Marketing Week explains, is now being supported by ever more ambitious accompanying campaigns.
AdWeek on the secret to Super Bowl success
While we’re checking off end-of-year rituals, the new year set are only getting closer. And the key early landmark in 2023 might even be called ‘the Super Bowl of brand marketing events’.
It might also just be called the Super Bowl. AdWeek has tried to uncover the winning formula to a great spot in US advertising’s big night out and found that stars still go a long way.
The BBC on art’s artificially intelligent future
AI-generated image tools have exploded in popularity in the past year and, given the machine-learning nature of the medium, a lot more powerful, too.
That has already raised questions about copyright and the professional prospects of human designers and illustrators but what will it mean, on a deeper level, for creativity? Writing for the BBC Future, the artist and roboticist Alexander Reben tries to offer an optimistic vision.
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