Morning Glory < 30 Seconds: Lights Out at Motel 6, How Figs Got Naked

 By Cliff Oxford 

Daily Deal—Two totally avoidable marketing embarrassments yesterday: medical-apparel marketer Figs was raked over Twitter coals for an ad with a woman in scrubs holding a copy of Medical Terminology for Dummies upside down, and iconic ad agency Richards Group (Chick-fil-A cows) had an exodus of major clients, including The Home Depot, when the founder Stan Richards commented that a new concept for Motel 6 was “too Black.” Stick with the damn light on. Perfect for pandemic.

Side Deal—Real role: Chief Content Creators. Did you see how Disney reorganized the power circle around who is creating the content and monetizing it, not by who is “managing” it. Content is not king—it is the people who are creating it. Future. 

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IPO Glow—Founder of WeWork, Neumann, is back in the building but not at WeWork. It is his family office, which invested $30M in Alfred, a start-up that provides services like a concierge and maintenance request software to residential buildings. It’s his first major foray into public life since resigning from WeWork last fall after its failed IPO and near collapse. He thinks Alfred has a shot at SPAC IPO in 2021. By the way, the headline was $30M—wild guess $2M–$3M of hard money.

Entries/Exits—The History Channel has greenlit the new nonfiction series “Great Escapes” with Morgan Freeman (working title), which will look back at some of the biggest jailbreaks from some of the most notorious prisons in the world. The episodes will feature new technology for dramatic recreations.

Saw abbreviated release of "French Exit" starring Michelle Pfeiffer brilliantly playing a 65-year-old spoiled socialite who unexpectedly goes broke and insolvent overnight after her husband drops dead. She flees to live in Paris with her son and a cast of characters. Yes, it's a rip-off of "Schitt's Creek," who by the way the NY Times TV critic recommended Sunday in "What to Watch" after the show mopped up the Emmys winning six awards and exactly 1,240 days after we recommended the show in the "Morning Report." Glad you thought it could be a contender.