Beer, Blatter, Boardrooms, and Backlash

??? The big stories this week:

SPAM

What does every office worker not want to see on a Monday morning? Another email. Also, someone asking for a list of last weeks' achievements? Well for a couple million US federal staffers this week, both happened! And it's sent everyone into a spin: https://www.wired.com/story/doge-elon-musk-federal-workers-chaos-confusion/

Blatter's Back

Unsure of just how credible his remarks are these days, but this week, Ex-FIFA boss Sepp Blatter spoke to Reuters and discussed how he actually thought England should have won the rights to host the decorated World Cup tournament ahead of Saudi Arabia. Which is not likely to go down all that well in the KSA: https://www.reuters.com/sports/soccer/england-should-have-won-world-cup-hosting-before-saudi-arabia-says-ex-fifa-chief-2025-02-25/

Bottoms Up!

Anheuser-Busch InBev extended their top-tier sponsorship of with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through to 2032 Games in Brisbane, Australia. The deal also covers the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps: https://www.sportspro.com/news/ioc-ab-inbev-olympics-top-sponsor-extension-brisbane-2032-february-2025/

iPhone 17

Apple's new iPhone17 designs have been 'leaked' apparently this week, with the look said to be somewhat... controversial? https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/leaked-iphone-17-renders-hint-at-major-design-changes-including-3-controversial-changes-for-the-pro-and-pro-max

United?

An expected 200 more jobs will be axed at Manchester United as the club's board looks to return it to profitability, after a steep climb in the number of employees since 2018: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/02/25/sport/manchester-united-redundancies-free-lunches-spt-intl/index.html

?? Now for some inspiration

The meaning of life, in 5 easy to follow words:

?? Something to make you look clever

Here's a couple of links to stories a little more random, but which will equally make you the most clever in the room... If not, you're probably in the right room.

Ice Money

Where there's a threat, there's an opportunity. A thawing world is creating a great economic opportunity for someone, as the Economist explores, the Arctic poses huge financial rewards, but, when might it be grasped? https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/01/23/the-arctic-climate-changes-great-economic-opportunity

Where are my Carbon Reduction Fans at?!

Well, they have fans in them... So that kind of worked. But if you were interested in how countries are tracking on their Net Zero pledges, take a look at the UK, where this week, it was reported half of all homes will need a heat pump, and four in five cars should be electric within 15 years! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70ekknr2rwo

Data's King

Forget content, its data that's the real value add. As ADWEEK discover, it's Epsilon, Publicis Groupe’s data unit, which has become its biggest weapon, helping its stock soar nearly 70% since 2023: https://www.adweek.com/programmatic/publicis-data-wars-omnicom-ipg/