Questions & Cuts
· Questions for APOS · Nike nor black nor white · An AI Barbie? · Instagram, anyway · Referee Cam! ·
This week’s edition is packed with goodness but slightly shorter and a tad early. Why? Because your writer is headed to that summit of summits in APAC- APOS. It’s always riveting- today I share some of the ideas that I’m looking forward to hearing about this week.
Meanwhile, ▶️ Curated/Cuts finds a striking, first of its kind collaboration from Nike; a car and its octopus within; an homage to the Chicago Blackhawks, and Instagram’s new campaign featuring amongst others, Tyler the Creator.
Then there are stories around Barbie & AI (say what?), Youtubers on Tubi, TV on Netflix, Sachin Tendulkar on redditt and a long running little model for independent-ish TV shows (no, not Youtube).
This is the Colour Bar- where creativity, content, culture, tech, brands & humanity collide.
APOS
The APOS summit hits APAC this week, and as always promises to see a coming together of minds, ideas, assertions, revelations, friends, collaborators, conspirators, answers and questions. Always, questions. I have many too.
What is actually going on with bundling around streaming (is anything meaningful really happening?) Does Asia like niche streamers? Are ads going to power up streaming? What role do broadcasters have in blending traditional TV, streaming, mass appeal, live entertainment, archives and technology?
Consumers are overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of content and services- do we have hope for magically clean solutions for discovery and viewing? How are traditional aggregators evolving? What plays are super-platforms making with their technology? Is Connected TV making shared viewing a thing again (or did it just never go away)?
What is the deal with sports watching and younger generations? Is sports untouchable, or showing signs of vulnerability? Will technology save the day or is grassroots always the first answer?
How will AI impact storytelling and the role of human creativity? Does anyone truly care about the ethical implications of AI-generated content? Is the biggest deal in AI really around localisation? Will AI make global content work better in Asia; will it help Asia export to the globe better? How do the money-people look at the potential of A to ‘revolutionise’ content creation? Do they actually think it will?
How meaningful is the rise of micro-dramas? What does short form even mean anymore? Is CTV bringing back longer form?
How can regulations and policy foster a competitive creative environment but also protect it?
Many of these questions are worth pondering, and thats what is likely to happen in Bali this week, as APOS’s agenda covers all this, and then some. Sample some of the conference themes at play:
TV's Next Act. Navigating the Digital Maze. The Global Content Marketplace. AI The Creative Disruptor & Enhancer. The Future of Streaming. Short Form Revolution. The Battle For the Living Room.
Check out more on APOS here. I will post from the summit, here and here, when I can tear myself away from the discussions and debates; and The Colour Bar will get a whole lot of download from the event in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
🎬 Curated/Cuts.
1. Nike x NBNW
Nike’s collaborations with designers, artists and the creative world at large are not new. It would appear they have a first, though, with an Indian collective. Nor Black Nor White’s duo Mriga & Amrit were raised in Toronto; forays into their roots led to NBNW being established in a tiny home studio in Mumbai circa 2010, then moving to a new base in Delhi.
“To respect the past is to respect the process and the people who carry it forward.” _NBNW
This collection invites women to sport with apparel, footwear and a cross-body bag meant to promote freedom of movement and expression, featuring bandhani (tie-dye), which has been a love for the NBNW duo since the early days. The campaign features wrestler Anshu Malik, sprinter Priya Mohan and cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues and Shafali Verma.
Designed right here in India by a local collective that gets our vibe. Wearing Nike that’s laced with Indian culture is a flex. It’s bold, rooted, and ours. As a woman in a sport that’s often seen through a male lens, being part of a campaign like this is my way of saying, ‘We’re not just showing up, we’re here to take over, win big and look fab while doing it.’” — Jemimah Rodrigues, cricketer and Nike athlete\
2. Instagram, anyway
Instagram has launched a campaign with a distinct creator push. This ‘Anyway’ campaign is meant to encourage every user to share their creativity, and features talent like Tyler, The Creator, Rosalia, Cole Bennett, Slawn, and more.
3. Chicago Blackhawks
This spot for the Chicago Blackhawks looks to pack 100 years of firsts into one film- but no slow-mo nostalgia trips here! The fine folk at Nomint “pitched a visual (and literal) poem, crammed with every easter egg we could dream up.”
· Direction & Animation: Ariel Costa (Blinkmybrain) · Writer Andrew Boulton · Audio Combustion ·
4. OctoBMW
Have you ever thought of a BMW like an octopus? No? Me neither, but here’s your chance.
AI
Barbie and AI? Barbie-maker Mattel is looking at its first AI-powered product this year, as it teams up with OpenAI. A doll with highly realistic biology and beauty standards combining with LLM led inputs- what could go wrong? Simon Chesterman had this to say,
“When UNESCO came up with guidelines on AI, one of the few points of agreement was that children below the age of 13 should be protected from unsupervised use of genAI in particular. After a generation of kids grew up with social media and the attendant anxiety and depression, are we about to start another experiment with Gen Alpha?
Rage Bait. Have a look at this campaign for AI company completely unironically named Artisan. *[*FYI: Artisan, noun, a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand]. A campaign that self-admittedly went for cheap viral results.
“The goal of the campaign was always to rage bait“ and also “Looking forward, we’ll likely tone down the messaging to be more in line with what we actually believe rather than just clickbaiting..!” This was, inevitably, followed by “The Truth Is, We Love Humans. We don’t actually want people to stop hiring humans”.
Copy that.
Entertainment
In the action: Referee cam in FIFA World Cup /Dazn: Football referees are wearing tiny cameras. The footage is sent over a private 5G network straight to DAZN for live broadcast.
Netflix in France is going to carry channels content from TF1, a leading broadcaster. The deal will bring thousands of hours of content to the streamer, including sports. It will also apparently offer the live channels. On the face of it, this is a deal that is a win for Netflix; presumably TF1 will get a boost to challenging linear products. This could be seen as (another?) early step for Netflix’s aggregator ambitions, not something we have heard of much. Relatedly but inversely, recently they had the deal with Canal+ where the French giant will distribute Netflix content in French-speaking Africa. Examples of diversification.
YouTube on TV, again. Tubi is adding hundreds of Youtube shows to its platform. In another instance of Hollywood and Youtube trying to find a happy growth space, they are launching ‘Tubi for Creators’ with various initiatives to bring creator content to the platform. It has inked deals with six YouTubers to distribute more than 500 episodes from their shows. These include Rhett & Link’s Mythical, FunnyMike, Dan & Riya and Kinigra Deon.
Parental Guidance. I would often look askew at tactics to make superhero/violent movies fall under PG13. “It’s almost become a maxim of Hollywood that if studios and filmmakers want a blockbuster, they need a PG-13 rating.” It would seem this could be changing. Maybe. Since January, PG films have earned $1.53 billion, accounting for 41% of the year-to-date revenue. It’s the highest percentage of any rating this year. One of the key explainers? “There’s a powerful sense of nostalgia at play in many of these cases. It’s not just parents and their young ones looking for out-of-the-house entertainment. It’s also the millennials and Zoomers who grew up with these franchises.”
Endorsement. Cricket Legend Sachin Tendulkar was named brand ambassador for Reddit. This includes a thread on the man (ok, sure), but also his official profile on the platform, where he will “share personal reflections, match insights, and exclusive content.” This comes on the back of numerous sports-related collabs from reddit in the last 18 months or so. They say this underscores how Sports is one of the fastest-growing groups (+30% YoY).
Production: Reese Witherspoon’s frumpy producer on The Morning Show aka Mark Duplass and his brother run a production company. This piece looks at how they are using an indie-film-style model where they finance and produce shows themselves, allowing full creative control and ownership. Now they are looking at self-distributing too.
Social: Underage Influencers: “Young Brazilians chase social media fame, selling ‘get-rich’ schemes, while legal battles question platform responsibility and the cost to childhood.” Brazil is going after social media sites to keep its kids safe… while parents and ‘managers’ wax eloquent about how this is good for the kids, and their families.
Tennis: In the aftermath of that epic French Open final between Sinner & Alcaraz, a defence of tennis and why it needn’t be afraid of new-gen apathy just yet. “For tennis to be terrified of pickleball means that tennis is lying to itself.”
