Will Apple Buy Disney? (STRATEGY) + Conservative Women <3 Feminist Barbie.
I'M FUNDRAISING.
I’m fundraising!!!
The Agenda:
Opinion/Links
Will Apple buy Disney? (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, Tech, B2C, Streaming]
Conservative women <3 feminist Barbie.[Hollywood, Tech, B2C]
Anthony Mackie is smart. (Twisted Metal) [Hollywood, IP]
Nintendo TRIPLED its licensing income. (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, IP, Gaming]
Hasbro channeling Mattel’s strategy? (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, IP, Toys, Gaming]
Crayola gets into movies. [Hollywood, IP, Toys]
Monopoly: The Movie. [Hollywood, IP, Toys]
The Meg 2 is not made for you. [Hollywood, IP]
Streamers and writers resumed talks, dropped them right away. [Hollywood, AI]
Fashion: Channeling the strategies above. (STRATEGY)[Fashion/Luxury, B2C]
Economist becomes rapper becomes convicted crypto felon. [Crypto]
Manga
Business Samurai #84: “CENSORED.” [Coffee Distribution Arc #36] + HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT (FUNDRAISING)
Monday Motivation
“We have a “strategic” plan - it’s called doing things.” (Herb Kelleher, founder, Southwest Airlines)
ANNOUNCEMENT: I’m fundraising so I’m putting Business Samurai on temporary hiatus. Until I’ve raised enough to bring Cross Platform to the next stage, then I’ll get back to BS’ next episode right away. Thank you all for your patience!
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Opinion/Links
Hollywood
Will Apple buy Disney? (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, Tech, B2C, Streaming]
The rumor’s been floating around for a while. After all, Disney’s Bob Iger’s renewed contract seems to match with a targeted asset sale. Iger is already looking to sell Disney’s TV assets. Assuming regulators would even let Apple buy Disney:
What would Disney get out of this:
Owned by one of the most valuable companies in the world, by market cap.
Apple doesn’t need to make a profit from content, since it sells a lot of other things.
Entertainment is volatile and execution is key. Marvel’s Secret Invasion, which streamed exclusively on Disney+, got not-great reviews and cost over USD 200M, more than double the budget of Super Mario, to make. If Amazon is continuing to fund The Rings of Power and the execution improves, maybe Disney needs the resources to do the same thing with IP that misses. And still, maybe with a smaller budget?
TBH, running Disney right now looks like a massive headache, to say the least.
What Apple would get out of this:
Franchise IP. Currently, AppleTV+’s content is relatively niche and by some measures has the smallest US audience among the major streamers. So, room for growth. But ideally Apple wouldn’t buy Disney’s theme parks and TV assets. This may be especially true as competition in US streaming continues to heat up, where even market leader Netflix may be under pressure.
Content to drive consumers to its upcoming platform, the Vision Pro headset.
Services rev. Apple’s quarterly numbers came out, and iPhones (50% rev.), which is a major profit driver, appears to be slowing down, but OTOH, services rev. (20% rev.), which includes music and TV, hit an all-time high. Note that services is the second-largest rev. stream after iPhones. Services might be the potential growth driver for Apple going forward.
[The importance of IP in the digital economy; Premiumization.]
Conservative women <3 feminist Barbie.[Hollywood, Tech, B2C]
More on the feminist cross-platform IP that continues to fascinate me, because USD 1B global box office can’t all be liberals and leftists. People can say one thing and then do something else. Initial Google trends showed Barbie v. Oppenheimer US preferences following electoral trends, with red states tending to favor Barbie. I’m assuming these are mostly women-driven, unless there is something guys in these areas aren’t telling me. Who knows what actually drove these trends, but I’d like to point out that conservative female commentator Brett Cooper, cosplaying in pink, liked Barbie. She did point out the speech (I knew it!). OTOH, I have also seen serious discussions on capitalism and consumerism while speakers were also cosplaying in pink. What’s going on:
Business: IMO the accessibility of the Internet has done away with the monoculture and has given rise to fandoms, which businesses must now super-serve. Maybe in Barbie’s case, it’s not just a fandom but an entire gender that is being super-served. Some reactions have me thinking about Dove and The Body Shop marketing campaigns.
Creative: If you are super-serving a target demo, it looks like you can get away with sacrificing some storytelling 101 in order to super-serve. Barbie is on-the-nose, Mario is generic, Star Wars VII is a clone of Star Wars IV. So what. The target demo loves it anyway. But maybe you can’t get away with that forever.
[The demise of monoculture and the rise of fandoms; Masking.]
Anthony Mackie is smart. (Twisted Metal) [Hollywood, IP]
Anthony Mackie’s quote from 2018:
“There are no movie stars anymore. Like, Anthony Mackie isn’t a movie star. The Falcon is a movie star. And that’s what’s weird.”
I think he was right, and you can read all the previous issues of Cross Platform for supporting evidence. But hey, Mackie is now starring in the streaming adaptation of the Twisted Metal video game series, and the fans love it. I talked last week that actors should be associated with IP, and now Mackie is associated with not one, but two IPs - Marvel’s The Falcon, and now, Twisted Metal (based on the appearance of malls and Neve Campbell, target demo is guys who grew up in the 90’s).
[The importance of IP in the digital economy.]
Nintendo TRIPLED its licensing income. (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, IP, Gaming]
Nintendo’s latest quarterly numbers showed a 3x increase in licensing income, mainly off the back of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which 168 million people watched. Nintendo’s strategy is IP utilization cross-platform in order to offset volatility in selling consoles, in some ways like how Apple’s services are offsetting a slowdown in iPhone sales per above (see a pattern here?). But console sales are still 90% of rev. So a ways to go. NT, Nintendo is also aiming for multiple Switches per household - like an iPhone..?
[The importance of IP in the digital economy; Premiumization.]
Hasbro channeling Mattel’s strategy? (STRATEGY) [Hollywood, IP, Toys, Gaming]
Speaking of IP utilization, toy company Hasbro has officially sold its in-house TV/film unit. Focus now is on its core competency in toys, and then working with partners - note that Hasbro has over 30 live-action, animation projects in dev. and is going for an asset-light model, sounds like its eternal rival Mattel and its partnership with Warner Bros. to produce Barbie. Also, Hasbro is big on video games (Baldur’s Gate, etc.). Also, maybe a sequel to Dungeon & Dragons, please?
[The importance of IP in the digital economy.]
Crayola gets into movies. [Hollywood, IP, Toys]
Monopoly: The Movie. [Hollywood, IP, Toys]
In an age of rising inequality in the US, of all the toy IPs, why this one? Unless it’s a deconstruction, hopefully Barbie-style and not Indiana Jones-style.
The Meg 2 is not made for you. [Hollywood, IP]
Yes, reviews are poor, but guess what? It’s not made for you! A US-Chinese co-production, the first iteration of which did well in China.
US audiences are so used to shark IP that it’s an entire movie genre. Sometimes LL Cool J even raps about sharks. Not so in China (as far as I’m aware).
[Cultural globalization.]
Streamers and writers resumed talks, dropped them right away. [Hollywood, AI]
I guess we’re very far from a resolution.
Fashion/Luxury
Fashion: Channeling the strategies above. (STRATEGY) [Fashion/Luxury, B2C]
Looking at fashion, aka cosplay for cool people, it appears that some industry players are launching repair services. There are environmental and other reasons for this, but it also appears to me to be a variation on the theme above re: Apple and Nintendo - supplementing rev. selling physical product with services/intangibles.
[Premiumization.]
Crypto
Economist becomes rapper becomes convicted crypto felon. [Crypto]
She went cross-platform with her career but ended up on the wrong platform. Or she might actually be smarter than the rest of us. Doesn’t prison time lend street cred to one’s rap career?
Manga
Business Samurai: Business Strategy Manga
Latest episode of webcomic about businesses selling to consumers. Cross Platform’s own IP and multimedia franchise. You can read the complete story so far here.
The plot: The MASTER (マスター) corporation has hired a team of young and talented businesspeople from diverse backgrounds to guide its business strategy as it enters new industries. But is everything is as it seems? Hijinks and drama ensue as team CLARITY (明快さ) launches new businesses, while each member tries to make her and his way in the world!
The current story arc: Claurette, Lixue, Jiae, and Ryota are working to distribute Cafe Honesty's cold brew based on coffee beans... digested by a house cat. But now they've bumped up against competition with the Toriyaki company!
Episode #84: “CENSORED.” [Coffee Distribution Arc #36] + HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT (FUNDRAISING)
Monday Motivation
This one’s for me as much as it is for you. :) I have to go out of my comfort zone and raise for Cross Platform. You might have to go out of your own comfort zone and do things, to achieve what you really want in life.
GO FOR IT! REACH YOUR GOAL!