Twitter Lets Fans Send Artists at the VMAs Stan Mail
Why send fan mail for the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday, when you can go on Twitter and send Stan Mail? The media company and the social network teamed up on #VMAStanMail, which enables artists participating in the VMAs to view a screen of curated tweets containing the hashtags, in several different languages, which will…
Twitter: Where Bots Can Be Proud to Be Bots (If They’re Good)
Twitter is letting bots be bots, as long as they’re good bots. The social network is giving automated accounts a way to identify themselves as such via a label on the profiles, helping users differentiate between them and accounts run by humans. Twitter Twitter said its research found that people wanted more context about accounts…
Havas Media Raids Data And Analytics Talent From Rival Shops
Havas Media has quietly raided a half dozen top data and analytics execs from rival agencies including Dentsu, MediaCom, Wavemaker and Zenith as part of an investment in its Decision Sciences,
Analytics, and MarTech Group.
Analytics, and MarTech Group.
Everything You Need to Know About Ray-Ban Stories
Google Glass kickstarted the smart glasses movement, but it also spawned the term “glassholes” before the project was put on hold in 2015. Snap Inc. went more mainstream with its Spectacles, which debuted in September 2016, initially sold via vending machines called Snapbots, and the camera company released its newest generation, for select creators only,…
Lil Nas X and Elton John Trade Wardrobes and Delivery Orders for Uber Eats
Lil Nas X is a multitalented entertainer who is especially skilled at two things: marketing and turning pop culture legends into collaborators. One of those icons is Elton John, who recently joined the rapper on a new song that will appear on both artists’ upcoming albums. Now, the pair has brought their budding friendship to…
Streaming TV Is Built For Indie Ad Tech, With Innovid CEO Zvika Netter
The landscape for IP-delivered TV ads is a heck of a lot different from digital advertising. For one, consolidation is happening extremely slowly, if at all. The number of scaled platforms with big audiences is crowded and diverse and includes Roku, Amazon, Google/YouTube, Disney, NBCU/Peacock, AT&T and Comcast among many others. This week on AdExchanger… Continue reading »
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Amid NFL Coverage and Her Apparel Line, Erin Andrews Is Still Not Busy Enough
In contrast to the moniker of the podcast she co-hosts, Erin Andrews isn’t “calming down.” But when it comes to the seemingly endless personal and business brand-building work Andrews has going on, she’s making the effort. In late August, the Fox Sports NFL sideline reporter was gearing up for the new football season, which for…
‘One of our biggest risks is burning out the team’: Why e-commerce startup Bolt added wellness days this past August
Employees at e-commerce startup Bolt were off on “wellness days” for most of the Mondays ahead of Labor Day this past August. Doing so was a way for the company to combat potential burnout — a rising managerial issue for companies to mitigate amid the pandemic — for its nearly 300 employees, according to Tom Berger, vp of marketing at Bolt.
“As a startup in the tech space, we realize that one of our biggest risks is burning out the team,” said Berger. “Things like wellness days are put in place to help alleviate burnout and ensure that our employees are taking time off.”
Bolt is one of a number of companies adding new perks or time off in the hopes of making sure employees don’t become exhausted and demoralized. And given the stress of the Covid-19 variants and uncertainty due to the on-going pandemic, as well as usual Q4 stresses, marketing execs who say they are adding perks and time off to stay on top of employees’ well being.
Offering three consecutive Mondays ahead of Labor Day was new this year for Bolt and Berger expects that the company will continue to add additional wellness days throughout the year to help support employees as the initiative was well-received.
Rather than giving employees an extra PTO day to take, Bolt gave the entire office specific days off to make sure the team could actually enjoy the day. “When everyone is off, everyone can recharge,” said Berger. “If everyone’s not off you’re still getting the Slack messages, emails and things like that. It’s just a way for everyone to take time off.”
Ian Leslie, senior director of retail advocacy at Bolt, took advantage of the wellness days, explaining that being able to take time away allowed people to help de-stress and “take time to step away” and that for the team “these wellness days are really important.”
Finding ways to add time off or other perks to help employees manage symptoms of burnout will likely help companies with retention in the long run, according to ad recruiter Christie Cordes.
“It most definitely helps with retention. By acknowledging and meeting employees where they are versus requiring them to ask [for time off] is kindness that people are looking for from employers,” said Cordes. “Most everyone is experiencing some form of grief in this pandemic. Grief can not be truly met, unless it’s acknowledged. [It’s] a very good move to create an environment of caring that many are seeking now.”
Aside from the wellness days in August, Bolt offers meditation and yoga classes as well as classes on compassion, leadership and anxiety, noted Berger. “We put those in place to give employees a break from day-to-day meetings,” said Berger, adding that the classes and wellness days help the company by having employees come back to work recharged.
The post ‘One of our biggest risks is burning out the team’: Why e-commerce startup Bolt added wellness days this past August appeared first on Digiday.
PlayStation Reimagines Chess as a Futuristic Battle Between Royalty and Underdogs
Chess saw a resurgence during the Covid-19 lockdowns. In the U.K., for example, some chess websites and apps reported sign-up increases of 400%, while the Netflix show about a chess prodigy, The Queen’s Gambit, became a hit. PlayStation jumps on this trend in its latest global campaign, elevating what might be considered a quiet game…