Is Zuckerberg onto something with that Apple Vision Pro reaction video?

Welcome back to Spark, a weekly newsletter from Vivace Content. We compile news signals from across the business, financial, and cultural landscape, and spark ideas to help you and your business jump on something new to talk about. Send tips and feedback to [email protected] or just hit reply.

Happy Monday,

One of the best things about the internet is its occasional ability to serendipitously surface something that makes you stop and feel something. A laugh, a cry, a smile, nostalgia, or some of each.

Ryan’s recent example of this is this young rugby player hyping up his teammate, an inspiration to us all!

Joel’s is a new jaw-dropping cover of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Jacob Collier, John Legend, Tori Kelly and YEBBA.

What’s yours? Best wishes for the week ahead!

In today’s issue: Zuckerberg vs. Apple, American Psycho, French cuisine, and the Vivace Index

Is Zuck onto something with that Apple Vision Pro reaction video?

By now you’ll have seen the reviews, ads, and extensive commentary surrounding the Apple Vision Pro. It’s a big bet for the tech company, one they hope will be a game-changing product in their portfolio, representing a new era for computing.

Did you catch Mark Zuckerberg’s response video (below)? The Meta CEO isn’t an unbiased reviewer in this fight. Meta is the maker of a competitor product, the Quest 3, and in this video shot on their device, Zuckerberg gives his take on how the two products compare.

Many of the online marketing and tech chattering class, including marketing expert Matthew Kobach, hailed the video as effective and efficient, and we tend to agree.

What could’ve taken a product marketing team weeks to prepare and create as a response likely took a fraction of the time, and was (in our view) multitudes more impactful, given Zuckerberg’s profile and passion for the product.

In an era where professional communicators and marketers often default to creating something that has polish and panache, it’s a good reminder that, as Kobach stated, “sometimes the best ad/comms plan is just to talk into camera for 200 seconds.”

Vivace Index 👆

Our recurring feature providing a snapshot of the world by the numbers.

• +265%: Nvidia’s increase in quarterly revenues, thanks to the enormous AI boom. (FT)

• $35.3 billion: Amount Capital One will pay to acquire Discover Financial in an all-stock deal, creating a global payments giant. (Reuters)

• $1 billion: Amount Girl Scout Cookies will make this year. (Forbes)

• 20: Happy 20th birthday to the Podcast, which was almost called “audioblogging” or “GuerillaMedia.” (The Economist)

• $25 billion: Kroger-Albertsons supermarket deal, which the FTC is suing to block. (Reuters)

• $50,000: Amount The Cut’s financial columnist lost from an Amazon scam. (The Cut)

• 421,000: New homes England needs to build per year, according to a Financial Times analysis. (FT)

• 55%: of sports fans in South Korea are women, compared to under half in the U.S. and under 25% in both Britain and Australia. (New York Times)

Casting a new Patrick Bateman

Everyone’s favorite investment banker is getting a second act. Lionsgate Television chief Kevin Beggs says a new American Psycho TV show is in the works. So we want to know — who do you want to see step into Christian Bale’s shoes? We have a few ideas here.

Best of the rest

Can we invest in nature as an asset? How should companies weigh in on a controversy? Is Bill Ackman going to run for office? Can Biden take on shrinkflation? Can the booming stock markets last?

Off the charts: Time to move to France?

📆 Upcoming events

• Feb 26: Mobile World Congress, UN Environment Assembly begins, WTO Ministerial Conference begins in Abu Dhabi

• Feb 27: World NGO Day

• Feb 29: Leap Day

• Mar 1: Employee Appreciation Day

• March 3: World Wildlife Day

• Mar 7: World Book Day

• Mar 8: International Women’s Day, SXSW begins

• Mar 10: 96th Academy Awards (Oscars)

• Mar 17: St. Patrick’s Day

• Mar 21: World Poetry Day

• Mar 22: World Water Day

• Mar 23: Earth Hour, World Meteorological Day

• Mar 30: International Day of Zero Waste

🗳️ Reminder: 76 democracies will hold elections in 2024. Check out this convenient 2024 Global Election Quick Reference guide compiled by Marshall Manson.

Friends of Vivace: News and views

• Santander is hiring for a Communications Lead - Thought Leadership in NYC or Boston (h/t Noelle Campbell).

• Congrats to Nika Sheynberg who’s starting at Deloitte as a Senior Consultant!

• Congrats to Melissa Berry who will serve as a judge for the World Sports Photography Awards.

• Calling all B2B influencers: Onalytica co-CEO Ashley Zeckman wants your help.

• LSEG CMO Amie Stankiste sits down with Financial Promoter to talk about “reigniting the fire in one of the world’s oldest financial capitals.”

Thanks for joining us this week. Anything we missed? Something we should include next week? Please send all ideas and feedback to [email protected]. 

Spark is a production of Vivace Content, where we help our clients navigate what to say and how to say it every single day. Get in touch if you’d like a no-hassle consultation about how we can help you. Have a great week ahead, and see you next Monday.