Doodle Inspirations – August 14
At NDP, we pride ourselves on staying on top of the industry – what’s new, what’s trending, what’s surprised us. Here are a few things that caught our attention and got us talking this past week:
There were discussions about movie theaters – specifically ownership and reopenings. A 1948 decree was struck down in federal court last week that now allows movie studios to own movie theaters. The Paramount Consent Decree was originally created over concerns of studio collusion as it related to movie releases, but with the diverse methods of distribution now, it’s less of a concern in the eyes of the court.
Also announced was that 100 AMC Theaters would reopen on August 20, and to celebrate, the theaters will be adopting the 1920 theater ticket price to celebrate AMC’s 100 years of operation. While the $0.15 ticket price will only be for a single day (Aug 20), there will be still be some promo ticket prices available as an additional 300 locations open across the country by Labor Day. AMC will be showing previously released blockbusters like Black Panther, Ghostbusters and Back to the Future at a lower cost ($5 per ticket) as well as new releases like Tenet and The New Mutants at normal ticket prices. We are interested to see what sales numbers look like with this test reopening in select cities.
Phil Collins has a repeat hit single on his hands 39 years after the original release thanks to the Williams twins of Gary, Indiana. Their video showing their reaction to their first listen of “In The Air Tonight” has helped propel the song into the 21st century. While we always knew this was a hit, we’re excited to see the resounding effect that music can have on anyone who listens.
Necessity breeds innovation. While traditional malls have been struggling for years, COVID has pushed many over the edge, but Simon Property Group – the biggest US mall owner – is trying to change that story. With traditional anchor stores like JC Penney and Sears shuttering, Simon has approached Amazon about transforming these anchor retail spaces into warehouse distribution centers for the retail giant. This could help with last-mile fulfillment needs for Amazon, but if this were to be approved, many local governments would have to go through re-zoning processes to change the retail spaces to industrial warehousing. We are intrigued by this possible logistics change for Amazon and are curious to see how the retail giant proceeds.
While virtual calls can be somewhat boring, Facebook is trying to keep them as entertaining as possible by providing GIPHY backdrops within the Messenger/Chat video service. GIPHY was acquired by Facebook back in May and this is the first major integration of the two company platforms. As a company that loves to communicate using GIFs, we’re excited to use this integration ourselves.
If anyone has ever lived or traveled to Texas, you most likely know what Whataburger is – it’s as famous in Texas as In & Out Burger is on the west coast. Whataburger has announced a multi-state tour in 2021 utilizing their brand new food truck. We only wish there was a Whataburger in Virginia so it would be more likely they’d bring this new marketing tool to the Commonwealth.