Top Gun, Top Tweets and Top Tunes: NL #101

The need for speed.

The hype is real. Top Gun: Maverick is legit. The long-awaited sequel to the 1986 classic smashed Memorial Day box office records, earning a whopping $156 million over the holiday weekend. Basically, everyone and their grandpa saw the movie. And everyone and their grandpa loved it.

The film pulled off an impressive blend of new and old storylines without feeling too hokey. The original characters bring back some serious nostalgia, the new faces some serious fangirls, and you can’t help but smile when you hear the eighties glory of the Top Gun Anthem blasting. And not surprising to anyone, Tom Cruise has still got it. It feels like just yesterday, we saw him as the young Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, ready to take on the skies. 30 years later, and he looks almost the exact same. Which is weird, because I’m pretty sure people say the same thing about me…

Top Gun’s massive success has allowed brands ample opportunities to capitalize on the current craze. The movie’s unique appeal to mutliple generations invites a wide range of marketing. A few noteworthy campaigns below.

The Wrist Watch Maverick  ⌚
IWC, the luxury watch maker, released a Top Gun style featurette starring brand ambassador Tom Brady. The NFL champion promotes the IWC TOP GUN watches within a variety of epic terrains.

Adult Costumes, but Cooler 😎
Paramount Studios partnered with Alpha Industries to create a suite of t-shirts and jackets inspired by the movie. “The franchise’s latest clothing collab lets you dress like a real-life Maverick.” Honestly, this one sounds like something my five year old would geek out about, but to each his own.

Bourbon Street Steak with A Side of Popcorn 🍿
In the weeks leading up to the film’s release, Applebee’s customers could earn free movie tickets after spending $25 at the restaurant. Sounds like more money for Raisinets. Which is a huge win.

Gamers are Basically Pilots 🎮
Ace Combat announced its collaboration with Top Gun for the release of Ace Combat 7. The 25 year old PC game’s newest series will feature three aircrafts from the film. Look out. Those couch potato pilots are about to get dangerous.

A movie with such marketability doesn’t come around everyday. From the early bird special at Applebee’s to the teenage gamers, the Top Gun brand has something for everyone. If I had to guess, your brand didn’t hop on the Top Gun train. A bomber jacket with your company’s logo is probably not what your clientele is looking for. Understandable. But a valuable lesson from the campaigns above- how can we tap into the current buzz? How can we take advantage of the current trends to best position our business and our products?

Top Stories

Twitter fined $150M in privacy settlement.

Twitter’s in trouble for breaking the rules… again. Quick FTC lesson, it’s illegal for companies to tell consumers they will use their personal information for one purpose, then use it for another. And apparently, the blue bird’s been doing just that for quite some time. The latest complaint filed by the Departmen of Justice alleges that Twitter collected customers’ personal information for the stated purposed of security and then exploited it commercially. “This practice affected more than 140 million Twitter users, while boosting Twitter’s primary source of revenue,” FTC Chair Lina Kahn said in a statement.

But how? Allow me. From May 2013 to September 2019, Twitter prompted users to provide their number or email addresses for security purposes. Twitter said the personal info would be used to help with account recovery, “scout’s honor.” While Twitter DID use people’s numbers and emails for protective purposes, they also used the information to serve people targeted ads, ads that raked in millions and millions for the social platform.

Twitter agreed to settle the government’s allegations by paying the $150 million civil penalty. It also agreed to implement new compliance measures to ensure the platform improves its data privacy practices. For perspective concerning the “punishment,” the government fine represents about 3% of Twitter’s annual revenue. Translation- chump change.

Read More

Amazon will surpass Walmart by 2024.

Walmart will soon lose its status as the country’s biggest retailer. Amazon is expected to surpass the super store in its share of the overall US retail market in just two short years. Even with the recent shopping slowdown due to the pandemic, and Amazon’s first quarterly loss in seven years, the e-commerce giant is expected to come out on top.

Edge by Ascential is predicting that Amazon will add more than $294 billion in US sales between 2021 and 2026, holding 14.9% of the market share. Walmart’s share is expected to shrink to 12.7% from 13.2%. With Amazon’s growing Fresh brand and e-grocery revenue, it’s really no surprise the digital platform is closing in on Wally World. E-grocery and Whole Foods transactions alone have contributed to $40.6 billion in sales for Amazon since January 2020.

The e-commerce provider also expects Costco will grow its share to become the third largest retailer by 2026.

Read More

Best of the Week

Readers are Leaders

Nick Clegg’s latest, Making the metaverse: What it is, how it will be built, and why it matters. One of the best commentaries on the metaverse I’ve seen. Read it. If anything, you’ll feel smarter.

Tips and Tricks

Don’t let the summer heat dry out your brainstorming sessions. Check out Hubspot’s roundup of ideas to get the team’s creative juices flowing. Trust falls are not included, which we feel was a grave oversight.

What to Watch

A fun visual story from Think with Google’s, What Makes Content Good. Helpful stats on what the typical audience is looking for. Spoiler alert: everyone is looking for good content.

Weekly Tunes

No better way to kick off summer than with Dawes on the radio. Their latest single, “Comes In Waves,” is another easy listen from our favorite folk rockers.

More News from the Week.

• Go ahead and cancel summer. Shortages reported in lifeguards and Mexican Pizzas.
• Man in a wig smears cake all over the Mona Lisa, and claims his act was for climate change. Because nothing says “go green” like smashing a baked good on a beloved work of art.
• Your favorite Mad Man on why he loves being… an Ad Man.  Fun read.
• McDonald’s remixes its beloved jingle to honor the Queen’s celebration of 70 years on the throne. Do we think the Queen gets a Big Mac? Or is she more of a Quarter Pounder kind of gal?