May 26, 2017
As we head into Memorial Day weekend to kick off the much-awaited unofficial start of summer, stories from around the web were all over the place this week. Here are a few that caught my eye:
- Avolatte, Please – First the coffee world was taken by storm with the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino. Now it’s the avocado latte – better known as an avolatte. What was first created as a joke by a coffee shop in response to Australian millionaire Tim Gurner’s claim that young adults are unable to own homes because they blow their money on avocado toast and fancy lattes has now taken off down under. While both items are delicious on their own, I have a hard time imagining that this combination would be tasty.
- Hashtag Fail – Mexican gubernatorial candidate Javier Zapata attempted to stand out from his competition and promote his candidacy via rented billboards and a quite literal custom campaign hashtag. What hashtag did he decide to use, you ask? #Hashtagcampaña, which quite literally translates to “campaign hashtag.” While
this certainly got people talking, the jury’s still out on whether this was planned or not.
- Down in the Dumps – With the official end of the 2016-17 television season taking place on Wednesday, network TV ratings continued to take a huge hit. Several shows attracted audiences of fewer than 700,000 viewers in live-plus-same-day viewings, and the lowest-rated network show finale came in with an average audience of 548,000. While networks are quick to attribute declining viewership to outdated measuring techniques, it’s evident that streaming services are continuing to take a larger and larger slice of pie.
- Mind-blowing – Facebook revealed that it is hard at work on its new neuroscience center called the Center for Marketing Science Innovation. This space will be a place for the social network to conduct research that will help marketers and advertisers better understand what type of content resonates across platforms and devices. The lab will study users in a variety of situations (such as living rooms or conference rooms) meant to simulate viewing content in various settings, including on a desktop computer, mobile device or big-screen television.
- By the Numbers – In celebration of the long weekend, WalletHub released an infographic about Memorial Day, including everything from the number of men and women who have served our country in war time to how many hot dogs are consumed every second between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
