Best Buy shared a brand refresh this week, which includes a new “imagine that.” tagline, an expanded color palette, and a holographic spokesperson named Gram. The retailer is attempting to adapt to the digital age and rebound from declining sales.
A peek into today’s edition:
- How Broccoli City Fest is taking over Audi Field
- The 2024 Summer Olympics kick off with new tech offerings
- Colin Kaepernick launches AI startup
Broccoli City is Elevating its Festival Experience
Audi Field, a stadium best known for its advanced LED lighting system, is home to the DC United and Washington Spirit soccer franchises. The stadium will be jam-packed this weekend, but not for its typical sporting events.
The 2024 Broccoli City Festival will bring thousands of music and culture enthusiasts together for a two-day event at Audi Field for the first time. This year’s lineup includes Megan Thee Stallion, Gunna, Lil Yachty, Kaytranada, Victoria Monet, and more. Additionally, it will feature live experiences hosted by Issa Rae and Desi Banks, among many others.
Broccoli City Co-Founder Marcus Allen told Boardroom that his brand is looking to switch it up this year to make the festival a more immersive experience and production.
“We’re rolling out this live experience concept, and one thing we want to accomplish with this is shooting the festival like it’s an award show,” Allen said. “Think Oscars-style, off-shoot conversations to create a full-production to make the in-betweens of the festival that much bigger and dynamic.”
Check out my full interview with Allen to find out how Broccoli City is transforming its brand and introducing new digital content year-round.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris have officially arrived. Here are a few ways top brands are using tech to elevate the multi-sport event:
- Meta Quest users can watch events via the Peacock app in a private virtual theater or via a floating 2D screen in mixed reality.
- Google was named the official search AI partner of Team USA, which includes NBCUniversal introducing an “Explain the Games” feature powered by Google Search’s AI Overviews.
- At the beginning of the month, Peacock announced that it would be leveraging AI to provide subscribers with personalized Daily Olympics recaps featuring Al Michaels‘ voice.
- Ahead of the Games, artist Daniel Arsham and Coinbase teamed up to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of USA Basketball with a commemorative series of NFTs. Fans can secure a piece of art and sports history with one of four collectibles.
- Apple pushed an Apple Maps update in Paris to showcase venues where events are happening. The Big Tech giant also introduced a dedicated Olympics hub on Apple TV, Apple News will feature curated coverage of events, and the company will put some extra promo behind sports-related Apple Podcasts.
- Activist and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is launching an AI company, Lumi, for comic book, graphic novel, and manga designers looking to create works with AI tools. The new platform launched in beta on Wednesday.
- A group of 14 NBA franchises, including the New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Phoenix Suns, are facing a lawsuit filed by Kobalt Music Publishing, Artist Publishing Group, and other music publishers. The lawsuit accuses the teams of using the publishers’ copyrighted music without permission in promo videos posted on social media platforms.
- Cosm, an experiential media and immersive technology company, secured space to build a 70,000-square-foot, three-level immersive entertainment venue in Atlanta. The new space will host live sports and experiential entertainment experiences, similar to its locations in LA and Dallas.
- Reddit struck deals with major sports leagues, including the NBA, NFL, MLB, and the PGA Tour, to attract more advertising dollars. This comes as the NBA officially announced an 11-year, $77 billion media rights deal with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon Prime Video.
- OpenAI announced a new search engine dubbed SearchGPT that aims to provide “fast and timely answers with clear and relevant sources.” The AI leader opened a waitlist on Thursday for users to test an early prototype.
- Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity firm behind the widespread computer outage last week, offered its partners a $10 Uber Eats gift card as an apology for the inconvenience. Uber has been flagging the gift cards as fraud due to high usage.
The Information confirmed some early reports that Apple is developing foldable phones that could be released as soon as 2026. I’m going to bet that Apple will reinvent the sleek flip phone model instead of creating foldable devices as Samsung does.
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