Marketing Brew // Morning Brew // Update
What happened when one creator account shifted gears.

It’s Monday. Claire’s, the teen accessories shop, filed for bankruptcy for a second time last week and plans to close 700 US stores. And we were just about to get another ear piercing too…

In today’s edition:

—Kristina Monllos, Jasmine Sheena

SOCIAL & INFLUENCERS

Hubslife on Instagram

Illustration: Morning Brew, Images: @hubs.life_ on Instagram

Is the new American dream a farce?

We’re talking, of course, about the “dream” of content creation, posting content, gaining a massive following on social media, getting a ton of brand deals, and quitting your 9-to-5. Someone might see it as a fool’s game when watching the backlash that one creator, Connor Hubbard, or @hubs.life_, has faced over the last few months.

Hubbard, dubbed “the most boring man on the internet” last year by The Guardian, garnered massive followings on TikTok (917,000 followers) and Instagram (1.4 million) for his mundane day-in-the-life videos that, as GQ reported, drove “the internet insane.”

“Most of the world is working,” Hubbard told GQ last May, theorizing why his content normalizing the 9-to-5 had become so popular. “They have to work for a living. They can’t all be influencers.”

But by that point, Hubbard had become an influencer. And in February of this year, Hubbard followed the now familiar trajectory, quitting his 9-to-5 to become a full-time content creator, transitioning from what had made him famous to yet another influencer without a traditional day job. (Hubbard did not respond to Marketing Brew’s request for comment.)

Since then, Hubbard has faced backlash from his fans for no longer being “relatable.” There’s even a new content cycle from other creators, breaking down what went wrong—a “downfall” that some say “needs to be studied.”

Hubbard is one of a number of content creators who’ve followed this trajectory, pivoting from a part-time influencer (who has a normal job) to a full-time content creator, dependent on brands and algorithms for income. It’s a difficult transition for any creator to manage, one they should approach with a plan to guide audiences along on the journey, according to influencer marketing and ad agency execs.

Continue reading here.—KM

From The Crew

BRAND STRATEGY

Disney CEO Bob Iger holds a microphone while speaking on stage

Charley Gallay/Getty Images

Hulu and Disney+ are officially combining into a single standalone app Disney, CEO Bob Iger announced during the company’s Q3 earnings call Wednesday.

The combined app, which will roll out next year, comes after Disney acquired full control of Hulu from Comcast in June, and it marks the latest move from Disney to streamline its operations amid intense competition in the streaming business. It’s unclear if Hulu will remain available as a standalone app going forward.

“By creating a differentiated streaming offering, we will be providing subscribers tremendous choice, convenience, quality and enhanced personalization, while at the same time continuing to grow profitability and margins in our entertainment streaming business through expected higher engagement, lower churn, operational efficiencies, and greater advertising revenue potential,” Iger told investors.

The news comes as the company’s DTC division, which houses Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, saw a 6% quarterly increase in revenue, along with continued subscriber growth. Core Disney+ subscribers reached 128 million in Q3, up 1.8 million from the prior quarter, and average monthly revenue per paid subscriber from Disney+’s domestic business also grew slightly, from $8.06 to $8.09.

Read more here.—JS

TV & STREAMING

"WATCH FOR FREE" is displayed over a video of the "Keyboard Cat" meme, part of "Dueling Cats" YouTube ad promoting its regular-season NFL game in September

Screenshot via YouTube

YouTube has a little surprise for NFL fans tuning into this weekend’s New York Giants vs. Buffalo Bills game on Saturday. And like most good surprises, it involves cats.

On Saturday during the preseason football game, the streamer will run a 30-second ad called “Dueling Cats” featuring a nod to the Keyboard Cat meme that, according to KnowYourMeme, first went viral around 2009 on—where else?—YouTube.

The ad promotes YouTube’s upcoming stream of a live NFL game, the Sept. 5 regular season kick-off match featuring the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Los Angeles Chargers held in São Paulo, Brazil, which marks the first time YouTube will stream a live NFL game for free to consumers. The ad featuring two Keyboard Cats wearing jerseys jamming out on their respective keyboards, which hearkens back to the early days of viral memes and also serves as a throwback to YouTube’s 2023 Super Bowl campaign when it announced a YouTube-NFL Sunday ticket partnership that first brought NFL matches to paying subscribers on the platform.

Wes Harris, YouTube’s marketing director, said the goal behind the ad is designed to communicate to audiences the first-of-its-kind stream that the Sept. 5 game will represent.

“Consumers are not conditioned to watch live NFL on YouTube, and so we really needed to make a statement and drive undeniable linkage that this is a uniquely YouTube experience,” Harris told Marketing Brew. “There’s nothing more immediately recognizable than the Keyboard Cat in terms of instantly thinking about YouTube and signaling that this is a YouTube campaign.”

Continue reading here.—JS

FRENCH PRESS

French Press image

Morning Brew

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

Take a holiday: A calendar of social media holidays for planning ahead.

You’re gonna be popular: More than a dozen tips on getting more Instagram followers.

Listen and learn: One agency exec reflects on intentional in-office time so Gen Z employees can get experience learning about office culture.

IN AND OUT

In and Out Marketing Brew

Francis Scialabba

Executive moves across the industry.

  • X’s former CEO, Linda Yaccarino, joined telehealth company eMed as its chief executive.
  • Translation hired Activista co-founder Beto Fernandez as chief creative officer, the latest in a series of executive changes at the agency.
  • Paramount comms exec Liza Burnett Fefferman is exiting the company.
  • Amazon Wondery CEO Jen Sargent is leaving the company as it restructures.

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