We Didn't Get the Day Off 🇺🇸
Happy July 4th
GM. I decided this year that Who Do You Know? Media, LLC does not take July 4th off of work. Whether you’re getting ready to head to the beach, a rooftop, or your family’s pool, now you have what you need for a niche conversation on brands. You’re welcome!
In Today’s Newsletter—
Ikea is Coming to Manhattan
Saks 5th Ave is Buying Neiman Marcus
Apple’s Weird Paid Ads
Our Legacy Running Gear
Ikea is opening a location in Manhattan. Rejoice, you no longer need to trek to Red Hook for cheap Swedish furniture. Ikea is making their third attempt at opening a location in NYC’s best borough. The furniture retailer attempted this in the 90s with a smaller footprint location, and then again in 2019 on 3rd Ave. Both spaces were essentially just showrooms and were perceived as a watered down experience compared to some of the store larger locations, which often exceed 300,000ft². The location will be on the ground floor of a new building at 570 Fifth Ave, and is part of a luxury retail renaissance happening in midtown. Luxury brands such as Prada and Aman have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in this area purchasing buildings and placing a strong bet on the future of rich people spending money in midtown.
Saks Fifth Ave is purchasing Neiman Marcus. Speaking of luxury retail, the parent company of Saks is acquiring Neiman Marcus for $2.65B. This M&A deal further consolidates the struggling luxury department store sector. Neiman Marcus had formerly filed for bankruptcy protection, and faced suffering the same fate as Barney’s. The new group will have a dominant hold on the market, with 75 store and 100+ discount outlets across the country.
Apple’s Instagram ads could use some help. The brand once known for their innovative, aspirational ads is now running cookie cutter Canva ads on Instagram, touting the Macbook Air as the ‘best AI PC’
If you work in paid ads, you know that keyword testing is really critical to finding what gets clicks, and I get AI is a hot topic right now, but to me this feels so detrimental to their brand, aligning with a trend of degradation across their product line and software output. Remember their reviled iPad ad that featured artistic tools being crushed? Back in the day, Apple ads were concise, clean, and inspired customers to ‘think different’ Today, they just put AI on a Canva template and let if fly. I’m currently watching Mad Men, and reading David Ogilvy and I sorely wish I could have worked in a better era of advertising.
Our Legacy Workshop is dropping running gear. The brand’s Work Shop division is launching a Natura Running Collection made of natural dyed recycled nylon. For me, this is incredibly exciting. Our Legacy is one of the best contemporary brands and this running collection is so nice. I also love the editorial shoot, which was shout outside of Lake Como. I will be picking up some items when it launches tomorrow, July 5.
Okay gotta run! Tomorrow’s newsletter I am speaking with a social media expert behind some of your favorite brands accounts :) Stay tuned.
Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, and designer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.
Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio
Apple ads, in general, have gone so downhill in the last several years. And I agree - it's damaging to a brand always tied to sleek, clean aesthetics. They are clearly having an identity crisis and it's sad.