Checking bullies ✋
Individual brands, healthtech win, and a weirdly named arena.
Hi 👋, Tanvi here.
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Let’s go ahead and get started:
Stock market summary:
US - S&P 500 down 2.42%
India - Sensex up 0.94%
How a stadium became “Climate Pledge” Arena 🌍
Amazon announced on Thursday that it has secured the naming rights to the stadium to the future home of Seattle’s National Hockey League team and has renamed the building “Climate Pledge Arena”.
The name change is part of Bezos’ pledged $2 Billion to make Amazon carbon neutral by 2040.
In a statement the CEO said that the reason behind naming the stadium Climate Pledge Arena is for it to serve as a constant reminder of the importance of fighting climate change.
The stadium has a 18,100 seating capacity and will be powered with 100% renewable energy also making the hockey ice with reclaimed water.
We get Bezos’ enthusiasm for climate change, but whoever came up with that name….
One-man (or woman) media is increasingly becoming hotter 🔥
The GOAT of the NBA, Lebron James will leverage his network and connections to start a new media venture that puts in a $100 Million in independent creators and underappreciated artists of the black community.
The newly formed entity will take the responsibility of distributing content created by black and other non-majority artists, and has attracted interest from tier 1 investors across the world.
In similar news that highlights independents leveraging their brand power:
Kanye West will get his fashion label “Yeezy” to collaborate with global clothing retailer GAP. GAP, a declining retailer believes that the partnership will help it find its lost mojo back and attract Gen Z and younger consumers.
Just last week the global beauty brand Coty had signed a deal with Kim Kardashian for a dedicated beauty line up.
These events are highlighting a shifting trend in the market where individuals are leveraging their popularity and mass appeal to drive eyeballs to legacy brands and initiatives, directly forming a bond with their consumers.
Can personal brands pay similar dividends to the average people too? Tweet out your thoughts with the piece and let us know.
RBI tightens digital lending norms 🔐
All digital lending platforms which act as agents of banks and NBFCs will be mandated by RBI to disclose the name of the lender on whose behalf they are engaging with customers from here on out.
The move is part of a series of others that are aimed towards extending wider control over digital lending platforms and protecting vulnerable consumers, especially in the times of weak economic conditions, from falling for easy lending schemes.
Reports had been highlighting that several digital lenders took to cyber bullying as well as customer shaming to recoup non-paying loans.
Apparently, digital platforms were also using fake legal notices and making constant calls to customer’s extended networks including friends and family for recovery of money.
As digital services become popular, the RBI wants to ensure safe practices are followed and that first time consumers are well protected. Read more...
India’s health-tech app leads 📱
India’s contact tracing app (Arogya Setu) has assumed the pole position as the most downloaded app in the fitness category on both Android and iphones ever since its launch.
According to analytics firm App Annie, the app has been downloaded over 120 million times until the first week of June.
Since its launch, the app has also been under scrutiny for possible privacy violations by hackers and security experts. But to mollify such speculations the government has open sourced the code for the app and denied all violations thus far.
While it's hard to take sides on that issue, the government’s initiative to leverage technology wherever possible to combat the pandemic at scale will likely pay dividends for the health-tech ecosystem as well as India’s consumers for decades to come.
NASA wants help to solve the poo-poo problem for space🚽
NASA launched a Lunar Loo challenge on Thursday to crowd source innovative solutions to the problem of capturing and containing human waste in Space.
The space agency wants an adjustable setup developed that works for variable gravity, including microgravity and lunar gravity. The requirement is part of its plans to return to the Moon by 2024 under the Artemis mission.
The winnings are $20K, $10K, and $5K for the top three entries respectively. Wanna take a shot? Read more here...
Tweet of the day -
What else are we snackin’ 🍿
😞 Large majority of OYO’s furloughed staff to be laid off in the US - OYO made an aggressive entry into the US non-luxury vacation rental markets but the timing turned out to be horrible. The company has now witnessed about 30% occupancy globally, and as a result will lay off a considerable number of furloughed US employees to save cash. Employees will be offered stock options as severance packages.
🚨 First charge sheet filed by CBI in Yes Bank case - the YES bank fiasco has formally resulted in the first chargesheet filed that accuses management of approving junk loans to select customers without ensuring repayment abilities in return for personal benefit. The bank’s takedown had recently sent shocks through the country’s economy, raising attention to India’s rising portfolio of non-performing assets.
😷 Maharashtra to reopen barbershops, beauty parlours as part of mission begin again - one of the worst hit states is now considering non-essential services like barbershops and parlours for its Phase 4 of reopening, making it easy for consumers to get basic services as well as to allow for some economic stimulation.
📚 As demand for online courses rise, Byju’s plans to hire 4000 people - jobs seem to be simply moving from one arena to another. Ed-tech platforms are clearly the winners of lockdowns and Byju’s is planning on adding 4,000 people in creative, engineering, product, sales etc.
😞 Macy’s cut 3,900 corporate jobs - the global retail apocalypse continues in full swing as ecommerce platforms eat retail giant’s lunch. Macy's, the formidable century old king of global retail is now feeling the jitters, and has officially cut 3,900 non-store jobs, including in management, engineering and other.
Hope you took a thing or two away from today’s edition. 😀
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