By Natalie Munio
Megyn Kelly jumps ship and heads to NBC, CES takes over Sin City, Amazon joins the athletic wear arms race, Macy’s didn’t have a good holiday season, and with this new law, everybody’s about to move to France.
Here are this week’s top stories in marketing and advertising.
Famed Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly announced in a statement on her Facebook page Tuesday that she would be leaving the Fox News network for NBC News, where she will host two new shows, as well as participate in both breaking and political news coverage on a rolling basis. Kelly has long been heralded a conservative icon for the network after joining Fox as a legal correspondent over a decade ago. According to The New York Times, today, Kelly is the No. 2-rated personality in cable television news. Recently however, more challenges arose for Kelly and the network, particularly around the presidential campaign. Kelly publicly clashed with Donald Trump on several occasions, most notably during the presidential debates when he was angered by one of her questions. Kelly had publicly said she didn’t feel supported by the Fox News network, which many speculate had a hand in her deciding to jump ship for NBC. Kelly’s last show will air Friday where she will say her official goodbye to the network and its viewers.
The Consumer Electronics Show: A gathering place for the tech and marketing masterminds to come together to talk business and showcase new technologies and gadgets that will shape the future of the industry. Big-wig company names like Samsung, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter were all in attendance at the event, each with new gadgets and announcements to roll out in front of eager eyes by the thousands. As reported by AdAge, so far, some notable takeaways from the 50 anniversary of CES include Tinder tapping into VR (standing for “very real,” not “virtual reality”), and Samsung leaping into 2017 with a strong start after having sold more than 5 million VR headsets (flashback to last year’s slight hiccup with a particular smartphone with a reputation to catch fire unexpectedly). Madison Avenue was also represented at the event, with big-time agency names like Omnicom and R/GA in attendance and among special dinners, and major media outlets like The Verge covering all of the event’s happenings.
As if deciding between which brand of workout leggings wasn’t a feat enough already, Amazon has decided to join the arms race. It was revealed this week that Amazon would launch its own athleisure brand after job postings for brand managers to help launch the line appeared online. The launch was later confirmed by Business Insider. Amazon Fashion Private Label already owns about a dozen trademarked brands that are sold through the Amazon site, so the move into the athleisure markets signals plans to amp up the in-house brands in the near future. Delivery drones, grocery stores, and now workout clothes? Seems like Amazon is a force to be reckoned with.
Despite the iconic parade that marches through the streets of Manhattan each holiday season, Macy’s just couldn’t seem keep up this time around. The Drum recently reported that during the critical holiday period between November and December, sales for the department store chain were believed to have dropped 2.1% from the previous year. It was announced this week the department store chain would close 68 of its stores nationwide, and layoff roughly 10,000 staffers. In a statement, Macy’s CEO said, “we continue to experience declining traffic in our stores where the majority of our business is still transacted.” The company said they plan to invest in a consumer data and analytics team in the hopes it will drive new marketing strategies for 2017.
As if the food, wine, culture, scenery and history weren’t enough to make you want to pack your bags and buy a one-way ticket to France, now they’ve got work-life culture on their side, too. A new French law came into effect with the new year that now legally grants people the right to ignore work-related emails after they’ve left the workplace and the workday is done. According to USA Today, the law specifically says companies with more than 50 employees must “give workers the right to disconnect from email, smartphones and other devices during negotiated hours.” In a statement to CNN, France’s ministry of labor explained the measures were designed to ensure the respect for rest periods and a “balance between work and family and personal life.” Turns out, even for the French, technology has caused a spike in the everyday stress of the average person. The issue largely comes down to boundaries, or lack thereof, with our ability to now take work home with us, even after leaving the physical office itself. Now, if only the U.S. could take a lesson from the French…