#92 The Least Boring Weekend Newsletter

May 28, 2022 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

Good Morning Readers!🌄

Here’s to hoping for a successful day ahead.

The Deep Fake Beatwax trading platform, featuring videos of Elon Musk and other prominent figures in the cryptocurrency scene, promotes scams that steal deposited currency.

Spoof claims ownership of BitVex crypto trading platform Tesla CEO Elon Musk, falsely claiming that he created the site to allow investors to get up to 30% return on cryptocurrency deposits. The script provided by the scammers features videos made by modifying the voice of the crypto-advocate into a legitimate interview with Deep Fake Technology.

🤝 Coinbase joins fortune 500—the first crypto-company to make it!

😊 Just Brands Being Great Allies—Pride Month Edition!

🥇 Brand Of The Week - Miro

🎁 Brand Deals Of The Week

📕 Top Reads Of The Week

⚙️ Plenty of jobs await you!

So, scroll down to THE VERY END & read up on what's yet to come your way!

DTC X CRYPTO

Coinbase joins fortune 500—the first crypto-company to make it!

Coinbase is the first crypto company to join the Fortune 500, making it the largest crypto exchange in the US by trading volume. Its co-founder and largest shareholder, Brian Armstrong, commands a net worth of just under 3 billion.

As far as being the first, Coinbase has compiled a list of impressive achievements. It was one of the earliest cryptocurrency start-ups in the country when it began its venture a decade ago. It became the first cryptographic unicorn to be assessed at $1.6 billion in 2017. It was also the first crypto exchange company to be listed on the Nasdaq in 2021. It was certainly the first company in history to spend millions flying the QR code around the screen during a Super Bowl announcement, a gamble that has resulted in more than 20 million visitors jamming the site. 

And before we move on to our next segment—have you signed up for our BETA Program yet?

Don’t miss the chance 🎫 to get exclusive access to THE automation tool you’ll ever need as a DTC business. Just fill out this form (would take you 1-minute) & we’ll reach out to you.

Just Brands Being Great Allies—Pride Month Edition!

With Pride Month starting in just a few days, we’re sure you’re pumped to let your audience know just how supportive you are of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

With the DTC audience growing with each passing day, more brands are popping up to join in the race to success (read: profitability) implying that if your brand isn’t inclusive and engaging enough, your audience has quite a few options to turn to. 

Millennials make up to 80% of the buying power of the current DTC audience and have expressed effectively their receding inclination toward problematic and intolerant brands. Not only do they wish to associate with businesses that do good for the society and environment but are also respectful of every individual’s lifestyle choices.

So how can you make sure to support the LGBTQIA+ community without coming off as an opportunist? 

👍🏼 Be Supportive 365 Days A Year

The queer community is queer all year round. They don’t magically spawn into existence just to enjoy the pride month and then vanish with a ‘poof’. If you wish to show support as a part of your brand identity and value, ensure to show support throughout the year. 

You can do so by running inclusive campaigns throughout the year, ensuring you cast members of the community on advertisements you run, donating to the cause whenever possible, and speaking about supporting the community online.

❌ Don’t Rainbow-Wash

Savvy buyers won’t fall for brands that suddenly turn into rainbow-themed accounts across all social media channels as the clock strikes midnight on the 1st of June. They’re aware of the numerous brands that donate to the welfare of the queer community throughout the year. If you’re not one of them yet flood your social media with messages of support, it’ll paint your brand as an opportunist and desperate. 

Instead, show your support 365 days a year, speak up about how your company encourages the staff to speak up about their rights as a person from the queer community, share stories of hiring and promoting queer staff, and more. 

#1 Getty Images

A step from Getty Images, a giant leap for the queer-kind.

They’re seeking opportunities to improve how underrepresented certain communities, including the queer community, have been on a global scale. They launched a partnership with GLAAD to create guidelines for the photographers, customers, and in-house team members to better understand inclusivity on a global spectrum. With them, it’s all about awareness.

#2 A Tribe Called Queer

This brand is the epitome of support for the queer community, and we’re very proud! 

Not only do they offer a collection of amazing products, but also host a podcast concerning all-things-queer, offer financial support to organizations with the help of direct donations on the website by customers, host inclusive art projects and events, and much more. 

#3 Cute Little Fuckers

This brand embodies inclusivity better than anyone in the DTC industry.

They not only work on creating sex toys but making them innately inclusive. Their brand often donates to the queer community and they run an active podcast to speak about the LGBTQIA+ community as well as disabilities. In addition, they allow customers to make safe direct donations towards an underprivileged trans, POC, and disabled person. 

#4 Vera Bradley

Last year, the brand designed a collection of luggage and backpacks showing support to the LGBTQIA+ community and donated a whopping $20,000 to a non-profit organization called Free Mom Hugs which works on creating change through visibility, education, and conversation. 

They also aligned their brand messaging with the campaign to ensure the customers get a complete understanding of their goals with the strategy.

But business practices aren’t all that make a brand inclusive. Many businesses are also taking actionable steps to ensure that their office spaces are designed taking into account their employees' preferences. 

#5 P&G

They are huge advocates for gender inclusivity & queer rights through and through. Not only does P&G run events and campaigns to extend support to the community but also reflects the sentiment in their workspace by ensuring they provide equal opportunities without bias, maintain guidelines for queer rights in the space, and ample opportunities for their employees’ stories to be heard. 

Of course, the list doesn’t end here (and we’re VERY grateful for that). But it’s time for you to take the steps. 

Being inclusive in a workspace is not challenging or complicated at all. With a lot of resources available on the internet to learn from, you can create a brand that advocates for inclusivity in its audience through its products and within its workspace for its employees.  

Brand of the week - MIRO!

Miro launched a fantastic brand marketing ad campaign this week! 

Dubbing a complex task at work to be a ‘monster problem’ (we love a good play on words), Miro shows how you can solve it in a matter of seconds. The ad shows a literal monster destroying the city when the team decides the best way to tackle the issue is to start a Miro board. They brainstorm together, cook up solutions for our superheroes, and test out their plans as each team member gets eliminated in a Final Destination style. 

Of course, in the end, they do reach a possible solution that worked and the city is saved—all thanks to Miro.

The short 1-minute ad shows all features and functionalities of the platform exceptionally well, leaving nothing to the imagination. With funky and fun graphics paired with the VERY realistic-looking monster, the ad was all the more memorable. 

Brand Deals of the Week

Amazon's Black Friday deal is here! Need we say more 😉

Kohl's is hosting a grand sale, giving you 50% off on its products.

Get up to 65% on Orient watches.

COSTA DEL MAR is giving away a discount of up to 57% off.

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Top Reads of the Week

Wayfair opens its first Allmodern store in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. 

eBay to open its sneakers pop up in Los Angeles.

Jack Dorsey is stepping down from the Board of Directors of Twitter.

Apple reminds its retail workers that they can also say no to unions.

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In need of a job? We’ve got plenty awaiting you!

Marketing Specialists - Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT

SEO Specialist - Morgan Stanley

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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great weekend! Get that D2C business runnin’.