Zuckerberg readies for TikTok ban, top CMO predictions for 2025 and unmasking greed
Issue #38
Am I dull, or is it entirely acceptable to feel a flutter of childish excitement about today’s U.S. Supreme Court hearing on the TikTok ban? At 3 p.m. UK time—10 a.m. in Washington—the drama begins. TikTok’s lawyers will argue the ban violates the First Amendment, and for two hours, courtroom theatre will unfold. I’m half-tempted to go full movie night: a litre of Coca-Cola Zero Vanilla, a giant bag of Butterkist, and my feet up in full recline, ready for suspense.
Unless you’ve been off-grid at a monastic retreat, you’ll know that Mark Zuckerberg, aka the Zuck, added his own plot twist this week. Sporting his new uniform—a Skims black tee, a gold chain, and an $895,500 Greubel Forsey watch—he announced that Meta is now a bastion of free speech. Think Elon Musk’s X, but with a sheen of respectability. Worried about brand safety? Relax. Meta has spent decades perfecting the art of filtering out what brands hate (#freethenipple). The Meta Oversight Board’s got you.
So what’s really going on? For starters, the Zuck needs to seriously suck up to the incoming administration. For someone worth $200 billion, his $1 million campaign donation to Trump was practically an insult. He might as well have tossed his Greubel Forsey into the MAGA war chest.
But the Zuck also smells blood. Over a third of Americans spend 90 minutes or more a day in a TikTok-induced haze. And with Trump’s 15 million TikTok followers, the court will also review an amicus brief urging the ban be delayed. The Zuck’s strategy is clear: position Meta as the all-American alternative and whisper, “Go ahead, take down this national security threat. I’m your boy.”
Here’s the irony. The Zuck, father of three young children—Maximus, Aurelia, and August (names inspired by Roman imperial emperors)—bans his kids from using phones. If they were allowed, he’d realise kids today are more likely to be glued to YouTube anyway.
And this brings me back to my own son. He’s twelve, and puberty has arrived early like a storm. Testosterone floods his system, his voice cracks, and his favourite YouTubers show him how to be “cool” at school. Hormones wrestle inside him, and sometimes, I’m the one he shouts at. It stings, and I wrestle with myself—how did a phone end up glued to his hand when I knew the dangers?
So maybe this flutter of anticipation about the hearing isn’t just excitement. Maybe I’m also baying for a drugs raid, hoping the crystal blue meth that is TikTok gets pulled off the streets, easing the pressure on other platforms—and on brands—to keep chasing the next social media hit.
This year, my feed has been flooded with people waking up to social media’s sickness and promising that 2025 will be the year of informed choices. But deep down, I know that’s not how it'll go.
So maybe later, I’ll skip the courtroom theatrics, grab my son and head to the park. We’ll wrestle each other instead of wrestling hormones and guilt, laughing until the cold and dark of a winter London afternoon slip past unnoticed. On the way home, we’ll swing by Wingstop, fill up on chicken, and talk about silly, beautiful nothingness.
Because if anything’s worth chasing, it’s that.
Let’s rise together with every issue. ♡
Market Movements
UK borrowing costs hit multi-decade highs | CNBC
Reeves heads to China amid market trouble at home | BBC
Whitehall braced for spending cuts after UK hit by bond market turmoil | FT
Brand Beat
Meta abandons fact-checking | The New York Times
Top CMOs share their predictions for 2025 | Fast Company
LA wildfires—how the city's ad industry is coping with the disaster | AdAge
What will happen to TikTok? | Vogue Business
How the US TikTok ban would actually work | Wired
Sainsbury to increase wages by 5% after 'biggest ever Christmas' | The Guardian
M&S chief calls on government for 'growth plans' | The Grocer
Where is the creator economy headed in 2025? | Forbes
The decline and fall of the viral microtrend | Business of Fashion
British brands are dreaming big in America | WWD
Shein's London IPO on the line over labour concerns | Investment Week
'Wicked' earns a record $70m in first week streaming alone | Variety
Wren and Krakowsky offer an inside look into the Omnicom IPG merger | The Drum
German Donor Kebab first-ever campaign demands we open our mouths | LBB
EY asks business to futureproof in new campaign | Marketing Beat
Cadbury ad shows unlikely forms of generosity | Creative Review
Kellog's Rooster is System1's ad of the week | System1
Lego links up with TV hit Bluey for toy sets to be launched later year | The Guardian
Trending: Kenco's single packaged nutritious smoothies | Thingtesting
Starting Up
Dragon's Den celebrates 20 years, the winners and the scandals | Daily Mail
London's Verdiva Bio raises $410m as it joins weight loss drugs frenzy | SIfted
Alternative investment models for education startups | Forbes
Silicon Valley's biggest start-ups shun IPOs in 2025 | FT
The femtech revolution is just getting started | CityAM
Tech Tidbits
AI in 2025: Five trends for marketing and media | Digiday
These three French innovations are stealing the spotlight at CES 2025 | Maddyness
Waymo co-CEO says U.S. could lead globally on autonomous driving | Fortune
Musk calls on California and Delaware to force auction of OpenAI | FT
Don't count out human writers in the age of AI | Wired
Venture Vibes
Y Combinator scored a surprise when Larry Page came to speak | TechCrunch
Berlin-based Upvest backed by BlackRock raises €100m | Sifted
'We believe in London': US VCs shrug off tax rises | The Times
VC funding for female founders has stabilised | Pitchbook
Design Driven
Tiger Woods Sun Day Red logo can't catch a break | Fast Company
Kulturhavna captures the power of participatory design | It's Nice That
A hand-crafted new typeface for London's Petticoat Lane market | Design Week
Hello, Happiness
Unmasking greed: The evolution of a complex desire | Big Think
This CEO starting hosting cold plunges in his backyard | Fortune
Kier Starmer, take note: Money makes us happier | The Times
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