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Mention the brand Stanley 1913, and you might picture a young woman flaunting a colored or bedazzled water tumbler on TikTok.In the past five years, the Stanley Quencher–also known as the Stanley cup–has achieved viral fame, particularly among millennial and Gen Z women. Kate Ridley, chief brand officer of Stanley owner PMI WW Brands, said the company “fondly” refers to those fans who helped fuel the brand’s success as “the Quencher Woman.”But while Stanley wants to “continue nurturing” those loyalists, it’s now thinking beyond viral fame, she said. Its future hinges on targeting a wider, international audience and broadening its…

ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) has now become the No. 3 most-blocked account on Bluesky, after receiving its official verification on Friday, according to third-party trackers. Bluesky users, unsurprisingly, are angry about the government account being hosted on the platform. Many are recommending that others block the account directly or subscribe to a block list that includes all of the U.S. government’s official accounts. The blocklist was introduced after the White House and other government agencies under the Trump administration signed up for Bluesky last October to post messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown. The accounts that joined…

Villages looked for niches they could fill in the global market. The town of Xuchang, for instance, capitalized on its legacy of making hairpieces for opera performers—and on the willingness of rural women to sell their black ponytails—and turned itself into a hub for wigs. Zhuangzhai became the largest supplier of caskets to Japan, in part through its proximity to groves of paulownia, a lightweight, slow-burning wood favored in Japanese cremation ceremonies. The town of Qiaotou became the world’s button-making capital after three brothers found a handful of discarded buttons in a gutter and decided to resell them, or so…

For years, TikTok has treated its commerce ecosystem like a fortress—what happens in the app stays in the app. But as advertiser scrutiny around measurement intensifies, the short-form video giant is opening its garden’s walls.TikTok is quietly expanding its ability to measure what happens after people leave the platform, rolling out a new tool designed to track indirect sales driven by ads and organic content. According to four ad buyers and platform documentation, TikTok’s new Off-site Performance Analysis tool—which rolled out on Dec. 24 —uses a pixel, or small bit of code to track behavior, that links engagement across organic…

Grubhub parent company, Wonder, announced that it has acquired Claim, a restaurant rewards app. Founded in 2021, Claim offers cash-back rewards for local restaurants that users can redeem for dine-in or pickup orders. Restaurants partner with Claim to create promotions, boost foot traffic, and track performance insights through the Claim dashboard. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed; however, Claim raised a total of $20 million, it said, when it raised its $12 million Series A in October, 2024. PitchBook estimated its valuation at $62 million. Grubhub says the acquisition will give restaurants on its platform access to…

THE symbolism was clear last June when Emmanuel Macron, surrounded by factory workers, held up a sleek lithium battery in his right hand and a mining lamp in his left. He was in Douai, a northern French city with a coal mining history dating back to the 1700s. The city is now also the site of a battery factory, which would allow France to produce all parts of electric vehicles domestically. This factory, Macron declared, represented an “economic and ecological revolution.”Macron immediately acknowledged that France didn’t pull this off alone: “We brought in investors from the other side of the…

Microsoft AI (MAI) has named Andréa Mallard as chief marketing officer (CMO).The exec, who left Pinterest in January after seven years, confirmed her new role in a LinkedIn post. “Just under two weeks ago, I began my new role as CMO for Microsoft AI,” she wrote. “AI is already the most consequential technological shift of my lifetime. It will shape our children’s lives in ways that are difficult to predict.”She continued: “That’s precisely why I’ve joined profoundly thoughtful leaders like Mustafa Suleyman, Yusuf Mehdi, Jacob Andreou, Mike Davidson, Julia Beizer, Ciaran McCarthy, Charles Kha, Mark D’Arcy, and David Levenson (among…

One of the more prominent alternative app stores that emerged in the EU as a result of the region’s Digital Markets Act is shutting down. The store, Setapp Mobile, from the Ukrainian-based developer MacPaw, first launched in September 2024, offering dozens of apps across categories like productivity, finance, video, photo, creativity, and more. Its model offered consumers access to all of Setapp’s mobile apps through a $9.99 monthly subscription, provided the user’s Apple ID was associated with an EU member state. Now, the company says all applications will be removed from Setapp Mobile by the end of the sunset date,…

A girl is found on a street in Ma’Anshan, China, in May 1993. Her paternal grandfather, the story goes, set her down and walked away. No explanation. It’s unclear how long she’s been outside when somebody arrives and takes her to the orphanage.A white woman adopts the girl and brings her to America in August 1994. She gives her an English name.In spring 2010, when Youxue (her Chinese name) was a high school sophomore in Dallas, Texas, she decided to start searching for her birth parents. She knew it wouldn’t be easy. Given the international nature of her adoption and…

VIA Taps Matt O’Rourke as CCO After Yearlong Search Independent agency VIA has brought on Matt O’Rourke as chief creative officer, adding a senior creative role to its executive team as it looks to expand its work with national consumer brands.O’Rourke, whose first day was January 15, will report to CEO Leeann Leahy and will oversee creative direction across all clients, including Arm & Hammer, Klondike, and Golden Corral.“Matt is exactly the kind of creative leader this moment demands,” Leahy told ADWEEK. “He represents a new generation of creativity, one that understands how audiences behave, how media evolves, and how…

Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales has been called the last decent tech baron. It’s sounds like a flattering label, although one I usually associate more with yacht-dwelling meatheads who feed their herds of cattle homegrown macadamia nuts; the kind of person who can most recently be found wining and dining with the President of the United States and his coterie of MAGA sycophants.Wales, on the other hand, keeps things relatively low-key. Even as the site he founded, Wikipedia, turns 25 years old this month, he seems more interested in fixing his home Wi-Fi than joining the tech elite’s performative power games. He…

The Super Bowl is associated with indulgent foods like chips, pizza, soda, and beer. It’s also a night to watch plenty of ads for those indulgences.A decade ago, the Super Bowl featured 14 ads for alcohol, candy, snacks, and fast food. Last year, that tally grew to 20, led by the likes of Taco Bell, Doritos, Mountain Dew, and Totino’s.Ahead of the 2026 Super Bowl, however, health seems to be the emerging trend among the food and beverage brands that have announced Big Game ad buys so far.Instead of advertising sugary soda, PepsiCo will front prebiotic soda brand Poppi, which…

Meta’s Oversight Board is tackling a case focused on Meta’s ability to permanently disable user accounts. Permanent bans are a drastic action, locking people out of their profiles, memories, friend connections, and, in the case of creators and businesses, their ability to market and communicate with fans and customers. This is the first time in the organization’s five-year history as a policy advisor that permanent account bans have been a subject of the Oversight Board’s focus, the organization notes. The case being reviewed isn’t exactly one of an everyday user. Instead, the case involves a high-profile Instagram user who repeatedly…

Private equity firm Everstone Capital is bringing together India’s Wingify — a company that helps businesses test different versions of their websites to improve sales and customer engagement — and France’s AB Tasty to build an over $100 million a digital experience optimization company with more than $100 million in annual revenue, just a year after it bought a controlling stake in Wingify for $200 million. The combined business will serve more than 4,000 customers globally and generate more than $100 million in annual revenue, with about 90% coming from the U.S. and Europe and teams spanning North America, Latin…

TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200 is the flagship early-stage startup competition held at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, spotlighting the world’s most promising young companies. Each year, thousands of applicants from around the globe vie for one of 200 slots in the cohort, which provides unparalleled visibility, access to top-tier investors, and opportunities to grow.  Early-stage startups from around the world are joining the Startup Battlefield email list to be the first to know when applications open in mid-February. Don’t miss a beat if you’re ready to join the action.  What is Startup Battlefield?  Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images Startup Battlefield 200 is a highly selective startup launch program designed to…

The Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA Array) at Georgia State University has generated detailed images of the early stages of two nova explosions that were detected in 2021. Through near-infrared interferometry, a process that combines light from multiple telescopes, the CHARA Array was able to capture in high resolution the rapidly changing conditions of their early post-explosion phase.A nova is an astronomical phenomenon that occurs in a binary system when a white dwarf strips its companion star of hydrogen-rich gas, causing a thermonuclear runaway reaction on the white dwarf’s surface. The name derives from the sudden brightening that…