Indigo offers fresh details on cyberattack as profit slips in latest quarter – Business News
Arijeta Lajka, The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 4:03 pm | Story: 410947
Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – President Joe Biden speaks about Ukraine from the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington on Jan. 25, 2023. An altered video that shows Biden making comments that attack transgender people was created with a new generation of artificial intelligence tools. While Hollywood studios have long been able to distort reality in this way, experts say the technology has been democratized without considering how it can fall into the wrong hands and be used to spread disinformation. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
In a video from a Jan. 25 news report, President Joe Biden talks about tanks. But a doctored version of the video has amassed hundred of thousands of views this week on social media, making it appear he gave a speech that attacks transgender people.
Digital forensics experts say the video was created using a new generation of artificial intelligence tools, which allow anyone to quickly generate audio simulating a person’s voice with a few clicks of a button. And while the Biden clip on social media may have failed to fool most users this time, the clip shows how easy it now is for people to generate hateful and disinformation-filled “deepfake” videos that could do real-world harm.
“Tools like this are going to basically add more fuel to fire,” said Hafiz Malik, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Michigan who focuses on multimedia forensics. “The monster is already on the loose.”
It arrived last month with the beta phase of ElevenLabs’ voice synthesis platform, which allowed users to generate realistic audio of any person’s voice by uploading a few minutes of audio samples and typing in any text for it to say.
The startup says the technology was developed to dub audio in different languages for movies, audiobooks and gaming to preserve the speaker’s voice and emotions.
Social media users quickly began sharing an AI-generated audio sample of Hillary Clinton reading the same transphobic text featured in the Biden clip, along with fake audio clips of Bill Gates supposedly saying that the COVID-19 vaccine causes AIDS and actress Emma Watson purportedly reading Hitler’s manifesto “Mein Kampf.”
Shortly after, ElevenLabs tweeted that it was seeing “an increasing number of voice cloning misuse cases,” and announced that it was now exploring safeguards to tamp down on abuse. One of the first steps was to make the feature available only to those who provide payment information. Initially, anonymous users were able to access the voice cloning tool for free. The company also claims that if there are issues, it can trace any generated audio back to the creator.
But even the ability to track creators won’t mitigate the tool’s harm, said Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who focuses on digital forensics and misinformation.
“The damage is done,” he said.
As an example, Farid said bad actors could move the stock market with fake audio of a top CEO saying profits are down. And already there’s a clip on YouTube that used the tool to alter a video to make it appear Biden said the U.S. was launching a nuclear attack against Russia.
Free and open-source software with the same capabilities have also emerged online, meaning paywalls on commercial tools aren’t an impediment. Using one free online model, the AP generated audio samples to sound like actors Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lawrence in just a few minutes.
“The question is where to point the finger and how to put the genie back in the bottle?” Malik said. “We can’t do it.”
When deepfakes first made headlines about five years ago, they were easy enough to detect since the subject didn’t blink and audio sounded robotic. That’s no longer the case as the tools become more sophisticated.
The altered video of Biden making derogatory comments about transgender people, for instance, combined the AI-generated audio with a real clip of the president, taken from a Jan. 25 CNN live broadcast announcing the U.S. dispatch of tanks to Ukraine. Biden’s mouth was manipulated in the video to match the audio. While most Twitter users recognized that the content was not something Biden was likely to say, they were nevertheless shocked at how realistic it appeared. Others appeared to believe it was real – or at least didn’t know what to believe.
Hollywood studios have long been able to distort reality, but access to that technology has been democratized without considering the implications, said Farid.
“It’s a combination of the very, very powerful AI based technology, the ease of use, and then the fact that the model seems to be: let’s put it on the internet and see what happens next,” Farid said.
Audio is just one area where AI-generated misinformation poses a threat.
Free online AI image generators like Midjourney and DALL-E can churn out photorealistic images of war and natural disasters in the style of legacy media outlets with a simple text prompt. Last month, some school districts in the U.S. began blocking ChatGPT, which can produce readable text – like student term papers – on demand.
ElevenLabs did not respond to a request for comment.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 2:59 pm | Story: 410922
Photo: The Canadian Press
A Bed Bath & Beyond sign is shown in Mountain View, Calif., Wednesday, May 9, 2012. Bed Bath & Beyond has received an initial order for creditor protection.THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Paul Sakuma
Bed Bath & Beyond Canada Ltd. was granted an initial order for creditor protection by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Friday under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, according to the company acting as the court-appointed monitor for the case.
Court documents posted to Alvarez & Marsal Canada Inc.’s website say Bed Bath & Beyond Canada is insolvent and cannot restructure its operations without support from its American parent company.
The documents dated Friday say Bed Bath & Beyond Canada has commenced the creditor protection proceedings to allow for a timely wind-down of the business and liquidation of inventory.
They say the company had a net loss of $99.5 million for the nine-month period ending Nov. 26, 2022.
U.S. parent company Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. has shut scores of its stores across the country and warned last month that it may need to file for bankruptcy protection as it was unable to pay back its loans.
It recently raised about $1 billion through offerings of preferred stock and warrants, which it said will be used to pay off debt.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 12:38 pm | Story: 410884
Photo: The Canadian Press
The new CEO of pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. says regulatory uncertainty in this country has resulted in a “lost decade” for Canadian LNG production. Enbridge workers weld pipe just west of Morden, Man., Thursday, Aug. 16, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods
The new CEO of pipeline giant Enbridge Inc. says regulatory uncertainty in this country has resulted in a “lost decade” for Canadian liquefied natural gas production.
Greg Ebel, who took the reins from outgoing Enbridge CEO Al Monaco last month, says the company’s pipelines currently supply natural gas to five operating LNG export facilities on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
He says that’s a missed opportunity for Canada, particularly for the West coast, which does not yet have an LNG facility up and running in spite of global demand for the product.
Progress is being made, with LNG Canada’s massive LNG export terminal under construction near Kitimat, B.C., and Enbridge’s own Woodfibre LNG — a partnership with Singapore’s Pacific Energy Corp. — also approved.
But Ebel says Canada needs to do more to accelerate energy infrastructure development.
He says investors need stability and certainty, and Canada’s failure to provide is one reason LNG investment has flowed to the U.S. Gulf Coast instead.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 12:36 pm | Story: 410883
Photo: The Canadian Press
An Indigo bookstore is seen Wednesday, November 4, 2020, in Laval, Que. Indigo Books & Music Inc. is continuing to investigate what it calls a “cybersecurity incident” that has affected its website and electronic payments in stores. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz
Canadian bookstore chain Indigo Books & Music Inc. offered fresh details about an ongoing cyberattack on Friday as the company discussed its rocky third-quarter results, which saw the company’s profit and sales slip amid softening consumer demand.
“We felt the adverse impact of inflationary pressures on consumer behaviour,” Indigo CEO Peter Ruis said during a call with analysts. “Customers were increasingly focused on price and the tightening of discretionary spending was yielding a more value-oriented shopper.”
Indigo posted record-breaking sales online on Black Friday and in-store during Boxing Week, he said.
But strong holiday sales were tempered by a pullback in customer spending during much of the rest of the quarter ended Dec. 31, Ruis said.
“The retail industry on a whole is operating in a challenging macroeconomic environment,” he said. “Our teams have been working hard to manage various pressures including supply chain disruptions, significant increases in fuel prices and higher costs of inventory.”
Indigo reported a profit of $34.3 million for the quarter, down from $45.1 million a year earlier, while revenue was $422.7 million, down from $430.7 million in the same period a year ago.
The bookstore has increasingly added gifts, baby items and other wellness and lifestyle products to its product assortment.
Indigo’s print business showed resilience in the latest quarter, growing in both sales and market share compared with pre-pandemic levels but down slightly compared with the same quarter last year, Ruis said.
The company’s general merchandise business “delivered another strong quarter led by double-digit growth in the baby, toys and wellness categories,” he said.
“The ongoing success of this business underlines the value of the company’s carefully selected assortment and the strategic expansion of core product offerings to meet the evolving needs of our consumers.”
Meanwhile, Indigo’s website has been down since Wednesday afternoon. While the retailer can process in-store orders paid in cash, it cannot process electronic payments, accept gift cards or handle returns.
Craig Loudon, Indigo’s chief financial officer, said the cybersecurity incident has resulted in disruptions to both internal operations and the company’s e-commerce and retail channels and that it is unclear whether customer data has been accessed.
The company is working alongside third-party experts to resolve the situation, he said.
“Indigo’s main priorities are to protect customer data, limit the operational and financial impacts of this incident and safely resume full operations as quickly as possible,” Loudon said.
Associated Press, The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 11:37 am | Story: 410865
Photo: The Canadian Press
FILE – Elon Musk departs the Phillip Burton Federal Building and United States Court House in San Francisco, on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. A unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation is conducting an investigation of Neuralink, a brain implant company started by Musk, following claims by an animal rights group that it received information that suggests the company didn’t follow proper procedure when shipping potentially hazardous materials, Friday, Feb. 10. (AP Photo/ Benjamin Fanjoy, File)
Elon Musk’s brain-implant company Neuralink is being probed over its shipping methods after an animal rights group contacted the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. officials said.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said that public records show untrained Neuralink employees transported “contaminated” devices that were removed from the brains of “infected” monkeys without safely packaging them. The incidents are said to have taken place in 2019 at the University of California, Davis, where experiments on rhesus macaques were performed.
Neuralink is one of many groups working on linking brains to computers, efforts aimed at helping treat brain disorders, overcoming brain injuries and other applications.
The origins of the technology dates back to the 1960s, but significant advances have been made in recent years.
Late last year, in a livestreamed “show and tell” presentation, Musk said his team is in the process of seeking approval from U.S. regulators to test his company’s device. He said at the time that the company should be able to put the implant in a human brain as part of a clinical trial in about six months, though that timeline is far from certain.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine said medical files it obtained for the monkeys suggest that transported neural devices may have been contaminated with antibiotic-resistant pathogens including Staphylococcus and Klebsiella, which can cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis. The group said the devices have also have been contaminated with Corynebacterium ulcerans, an “emerging human pathogen” that can produce fatal diphtheria. The devices may also have come from monkeys infected with Herpes B.
“The records suggest that Neuralink’s sloppy practices pose a danger to public health and safety,” Deborah Dubow Press, Esq., associate general counsel with the Physicians Committee, said.
Neuralink, based in Fremont, California did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
The Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is conducting the investigation.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 7:34 am | Story: 410812
Photo: The Canadian Press
Enbridge Inc. reported a loss of $1.1 billion in its latest quarter as it took a $2.5-billion non-cash goodwill impairment charge related to its gas transmission business as a result of what it said was the increased cost of capital.
The pipeline company says the loss amounted to 53 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared with a profit of $1.8 billion or 91 cents per share in the last three months of 2021.
On an adjusted basis, Enbridge says it earned 63 cents per share in its latest quarter, down from 68 cents per share a year earlier.
The company says the drop in adjusted earnings was primarily due to higher financing costs from rising interest rates on floating-rate debt and increased depreciation costs on new assets placed into service in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 73 cents per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
In its outlook, Enbridge reaffirmed its 2023 financial guidance, including adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization between $15.9 billion and $16.5 billion and distributable cash flow per share between $5.25 to $5.65.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 7:32 am | Story: 410811
Photo: The Canadian Press
Fortis Inc. reported a fourth-quarter profit of $370 million, up from $328 million a year earlier.
The gas and power utility says the profit for the quarter amounted to 77 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 69 cents per diluted share in the last three months of 2021.
Revenue for the quarter totalled $3.17 billion, up from $2.58 billion.
On an adjusted basis, Fortis says it earned 72 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted profit of 63 cents per share a year earlier.
Analysts on average had expected a profit of 71 cents per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.
In its outlook, Fortis announced a five-year capital plan to spend $22.3 billion. It says the growth will help support its dividend growth guidance for between four and six per cent annually through 2027.
The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 7:30 am | Story: 410810
Photo: The Canadian Press
Russia announced Friday that will cut oil production by 500,000 barrels per day next month after Western countries capped the price of its crude over its action in Ukraine.
“As of today, we fully sell all our crude output, but as we stated before, we will not sell oil to those who directly or indirectly adhere to the ‘price ceiling,’” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies.
“In connection with that, Russia will voluntarily cut production by 500,000 barrels a day. It will help restore market-style relations,” he said.
Analysts have said one possible Russian response to the cap would be to slash production to try to raise oil prices, which could eventually flow through to higher gasoline prices at the pump as less oil makes it to the global market.
International benchmark Brent crude rose 2.2% Friday, to $86.42 per barrel.
The Group of Seven major democracies have imposed a $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil shipped to non-Western countries. The goal is to keep oil flowing to the world to prevent price spikes that were seen last year, while limiting Russia’s financial gains that can be used to pay for its campaign against Ukraine.
The cap is enforced by barring Western companies that largely control shipping and insurance services from moving oil priced above the limit.
Russia has said it will not sell oil to countries observing the cap, a moot point because Russian oil has been trading below the price ceiling recently. However, the cap, an accompanying European Union embargo on most Russian oil and lower demand for crude have meant that customers in India, Turkey and China have been able to push for substantial discounts on Russian oil.
The impact of a cut of 500,000 barrels per day is an open question as a slowing global economy reduces the thirst for oil.
The OPEC+ alliance of oil producers, which includes Russia, tried to boost oil prices with an October announcement that it would cut production by 2 million barrels per day, only to see prices fall below $80 per barrel by December.
Asked if Russia consulted OPEC+ members about Moscow’s new production cut, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “there had been conversations with some members of the OPEC+” before the move was announced. He didn’t offer any details.
But Novak insisted in a statement later that Moscow made the move without consulting anyone.
“It’s a voluntary cut; there have been no consultations with anyone regarding it,” the deputy prime minister said, according to the Russian media.
The new reduction could be “an early sign that Russia might try to weaponize oil supplies after last year’s failed attempt to weaponize natural gas,” said Simone Tagliapietra, an energy policy expert at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels.
But that could be difficult to accomplish because it’s easier to find alternative supplies of oil, traded through tankers that crisscross the globe, than to replace natural gas, which before the war mostly came by pipeline.
Russian exporter Gazprom has cut off most supplies of natural gas to Europe, citing technical issues and refusal by some customers to pay in Russian currency. European officials call it retaliation for supporting Ukraine.
Europe did suffer from resulting high natural gas prices but has managed to replace much of the lost Russian supply from other sources including shipborne liquefied gas from the U.S. and Qatar. Natural gas prices have since come down from all-time highs last summer but are still three times higher than before Russia massed troops on the Ukraine border.
The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 6:53 am | Story: 410797
Photo: The Canadian Press
Honda reported a 27% jump in its October-December profit, despite headwinds like shortages of computer chips and rising costs of raw materials.
Tokyo-based Honda Motor Co.’s profit in the last quarter totaled 244.6 billion yen ($1.9 billion), up from 192.9 billion yen the year before.
Quarterly sales rose 20% to 4.4 trillion yen ($33.5 billion), as Honda sold more motorcycles around the world, compared to a year ago, while vehicle sales were little changed.
By region, Honda sold more vehicles in Japan and the U.S., but sales declined in China and other parts of Asia. Motorcycle sales grew across all major markets, including Japan, North America and the rest of Asia, especially Indonesia, India and Vietnam.
Like other automakers, including Japanese rivals such as Toyota Motor Corp., Honda is stepping up in the push to offer more electric vehicles, as concerns grow about the environment and climate change.
The maker of the Accord sedan, Asimo robot and Gold Wing motorcycles has promised to launch 30 EV models globally by 2030.
Honda is promising a range of models, from tiny vans to muscular sportscars. It’s especially aggressive in model offerings in China, where Honda is a strong brand.
The company is also going electric in motorcycles, introducing such products in Europe and China before a global rollout.
Honda was hurt by the shortage of computer chips and by pandemic-related disruptions in China, Eiji Fujimura, who oversees accounting at Honda, told reporters.
The war in Ukraine and other developments that have sent raw material costs and energy costs higher have also battered the bottom line of the world’s automakers.
But Honda was helped by favorable currency fluctuations, expecting that to add 269 billion yen ($2 billion) to its operating profit for the full fiscal year through March.
A weak yen boosts the earnings of Japanese exporters like Honda when translating overseas revenue into yen. The U.S. dollar was trading at about 115 yen a year ago. It rose as high as 150 yen over the past year and is trading at about 130 yen lately.
Honda stuck to its full year profit forecast at 725 billion yen ($5.5 billion), an improvement from 707 billion profit the previous fiscal year. It lowered its vehicle sales forecast to 3.85 million vehicles from an earlier 4.1 million. Honda sold 4.07 million vehicles the previous fiscal year.
Honda raised its motorcycles sales forecast for the fiscal year to 18.7 million, better than an earlier projection for 18.43 million motorcycles, and the 17 million motorcycles sold the previous fiscal year.
The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 6:51 am | Story: 410796
Photo: The Canadian Press
SpaceX is a big step closer to sending its giant Starship spacecraft into orbit, completing an engine-firing test at the launch pad on Thursday.
Thirty-one of the 33 first-stage booster engines ignited simultaneously for about 10 seconds in south Texas. The team turned off one engine before sending the firing command and another engine shut down — “but still enough engines to reach orbit!” tweeted SpaceX’s Elon Musk.
Musk estimates Starship’s first orbital test flight could occur as soon as March, if the test analyses and remaining preparations go well.
The booster remained anchored to the pad as planned during the test. There were no signs of major damage to the launch tower.
NASA is counting on Starship to ferry astronauts to the surface of the moon in a few years, linking up with its Orion capsule in lunar orbit. Further down the road, Musk wants to use the mammoth Starships to send crowds to Mars.
Only the first-stage Super Heavy booster, standing 230 feet tall, was used for Thursday’s test. The futuristic second stage — the part that will actually land on the moon and Mars — was in the hangar being prepped for flight.
Altogether, Starship towers 394 feet, making it the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. It’s capable of generating 17 million pounds of liftoff thrust, almost double that of NASA’s moon rocket that sent an empty capsule to the moon and back late last year.
SpaceX fired up to 14 Starship engines last fall and completed a fueling test at the pad last month.
Flocks of birds scattered as Starship’s engines came alive and sent thick dark plumes of smoke across the Starship launch complex, dubbed Starbase. It’s located at the southernmost tip of Texas near the village of Boca Chica, close to the Mexican border.
The Canadian Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 6:42 am | Story: 410793
Photo: The Canadian Press
Employment growth in Canada blew past economists’ predictions in January, even as forecasters had expected higher interest rates to weigh on the labour market.
The economy added a whopping 153,000 jobs last month, Statistics Canada said in its latest labour force survey released Friday.
The country’s unemployment held steady at five per cent, hovering just above the record low of 4.9 per cent reached in the summer.
The Canadian economy has been on an upward trend with employment since September, adding a total of 326,000 jobs.
That’s despite forecasters anticipating the higher cost of borrowing will slow the economy down significantly this year and weigh on employment.
In January, Statistics Canada said gains were made across sectors in the economy. Wholesale and retail trade experienced the largest gains to employment, adding 59,000 jobs, followed by 40,000 jobs added in health care and social assistance.
Most jobs added to the economy were full-time, while people aged 25 to 54 drove the gains.
With the labour market running hot, wages have also been rising, though at a slower pace than inflation. In January, wages were up 4.5 per cent on a year-over-year basis, growing at a slightly slower pace than in December.
The slower wage growth partly reflects relatively high average wages in January 2022 as COVID-19 restrictions caused job losses in lower-paying sectors.
Revisions to labour force survey data suggest wage growth peaked at 5.8 per cent in November.
Since March, the Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate eight consecutive times, bringing it to 4.5 per cent. That’s the highest it’s been since 2007.
Typically, higher interest rates cause businesses and people to pull back on spending. As spending slows and sales fall, businesses may alter hiring plans.
While economists generally note employment is the last indicator to turn during an economic slowdown, the labour market has been surpassing most economists’ expectations.
Ahead of the release of the labour force survey on Friday, RBC forecast the Canadian economy added 5,000 jobs last month.
The Bank of Canada said the tight labour market is a sign of an overheated economy.
At its Jan. 25 decision, the central bank indicated that it plans to hold its key rate, allowing time for higher interest rates to work their way through the economy.
The central bank is hoping to see easing in the labour market, something it says is necessary for inflation to come down to its target of two per cent.
The Associated Press – Feb 10, 2023 / 6:41 am | Story: 410792
Photo: The Canadian Press
Doja Cat in a scene from Google’s 2023 Super Bowl ad.
Super Bowl ads are more than just breaks between gameplay during the biggest sporting event of the year: they offer a glimpse of the country’s zeitgeist, along with how major industries are faring.
This year, crypto ads and automakers are advertising less since those industries are facing problems. Major food brands like M&Ms, tech companies like Google, streaming services including Peacock and alcohol brands have jumped in to take their place.
When Super Bowl LVII kicks off Sunday night with the Kansas City Chiefs taking on the Philadelphia Eagles in Glendale, Arizona, big marketers will be battling it out during the Fox broadcast as well.
Their prize? The chance to capture the attention of more than 100 million viewers expected to tune in for the big game. This price of entry is steep: some advertisers are paying more than $7 million for a 30-second spot, and that doesn’t include the cost of making the ad itself.
This year, viewers can expect stars galore, light humor and catchy songs. For the most part, advertisers are steering away from somber messages or outrageous humor that might have worked to capture attention in decades past, but not now, when the country is still emerging from the pandemic, facing economic uncertainty, and the war continues in Ukraine.
“This year is a ‘don’t worry be happy’ year,” said Kelly O’Keefe, CEO of Brand Federation. “You name it, we’ve had it all and its put us in almost depressed situation. This year people are over it and advertisers are responding really well —there are traditional brands, traditional humor and its going to feel like just a big old group hug.”
WHO’S STARRING?
Stars are commonplace in Super Bowl ads, but over the past few years ads have been more and more stuffed with celebrities. This year is no exception.
Popular celebrities offer goodwill to a brand and help it stand out from the 50-plus or so advertisers during the big game. But with so many stars in ads, it can be harder stand out in a crowded field.
“If you use celebrity in a smart way, it’s huge,” said Rich Weinstein, a professor at VCU Brandcenter. “But with all of these celebrities, are people going to remember who each celebrity is attached to?”
Big names making a splash this year: Melissa McCarthy sings a jingle for Booking.com, Miles Teller dances to hold music for Bud Light and Adam Driver makes multiples of himself for Squarespace. Avocados From Mexico enlists Anna Faris for one of the few slightly risque ads this year, that envisions a present where everyone is naked — including the Statue of Liberty. And tennis star Serena Williams stars in two ads: one for Michelob Ultra and one for Remy Martin. It’s the second year in a row she has had a presence in more than one ad: last year in addition to a Michelob Ultra ad, she starred in an ad for smart home-gym maker Tonal. Even hip hop mogul P. Diddy appears in an ad, in which he tries to make a hit for Uber One.
One unusual star this year: Jesus. A group of Christian donors is paying top dollar for two ads that promote the “He Gets Us” religious message.
WHICH ADS ARE THROWBACKS?
Another tactic that advertisers use to win over viewers is recreating beloved movies and TV shows. This year, online shopping site Rakuten is making a splash by enlisting Alicia Silverstone and Elisa Donovan to recreate a seen from 90s rom-com “Clueless.” Popcorners, a snack brand from Frito-Lay, brought back “Breaking Bad,” which first aired in 2008, with stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul.
Other advertisers trying to capitalize on favorite content from years past: T-Mobile’s ad shows John Travolta singing a T-Mobile home internet-themed version of “Summer Nights” from “Grease” with “Scrubs” stars Donald Faison and Zach Braff. And finally, Michelob Ultra evoked “Caddyshack” by setting its ad at the Bushwood Country Club that’s in the movie.
The nostalgia fits the mood of the times, Weinstein said.
“Consumers are looking for a good laugh and to feel comfortable,” Weinstein said. ”It’s less about living in the problems the world faces today and more about leaning into nostalgia and having fun.”
DO STUNTS WORK?
Some first-time advertisers have decided to lean into stunts and gimmicks to make their first foray into the big game stand out. The most notable is Fan Duel, which hired four-time All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski to try to make a field goal live during an ad in the third quarter. If he makes it, anyone who places a Super Bowl bet of $5 or more on FanDuel will win a share of $10 million in free bets.
A blockchain-based gaming company, Limit Break, plans to run a QR code during the first commercial break of the game and will give away non-fungible tokens to people who scan it. And for its first national Super Bowl ad, Molson Coors asked people to bet on aspects of its commercial, like whether it will feature Miller Lite or Coors Light.
Kim Whitler, a professor at the Darden School of business, said stunts don’t always translate to positive sales results or brand recognition for brands.
“People want to do stunts because stunts get attention,” she said. “But at the end of the day, the ad has to communicate something that’s unique or better about the brand.”
WHICH ADS WILL BE GAME-TIME SURPRISES?
While many advertisers have released ads ahead of the game, there are always some surprises. Dunkin’ Donuts is running an ad that reportedly will star Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, although the brand hasn’t confirmed that. Stellantis, which owns car brands Jeep and Ram, will run two undisclosed ads. And M&Ms has kept its advertising under wraps after declaring that its candy spokescharacters were on pause — they’re likely to make an appearance during the game, however.
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