Welcome to the Monday Memo — your pop culture snapshot from Manifesto.
Hey friends, Mondays can be tough. Here are 7 things to make November 13th, 2023, a bit better.
Excited to have a few PDX members in Milwaukee this week!
1. Artist of the Week: Karoliina Koljonen
Karoliina Koljonen is a graphic designer and illustrator living in Finland. Every day, Koljonen shares an image that captures her current emotional state in the form of a cartoon raccoon. Following the account makes us feel like a kid again, tearing through the paper to find our favorite comic strip.
2. What we're listening to: New Heights - Apple Podcasts
Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce from the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce from the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about their games and share unique perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. We came to hear about Taylor Swift, but we stayed because we fell in love with these two.
3. What we're watching: David Holmes: The Boy Who Lived - HBO (November 15th)
When stunt double David Holmes injured his spine test filming for the penultimate 'Harry Potter' movie, his career came to an end, but his inextricable bond with Daniel Radcliffe did not. Sometimes the real magic is found in the ways we pick up the pieces after tragedy.
4. Trend & Advertising Highlight: Hello Fresh and Tinder swipe right into a successful collaboration
HelloFresh, the world’s leading meal kit company, and Tinder, the world’s most popular app for meeting new people, are introducing a new relationship phase, Forking Season. For those of us who are either in a relationship or a bit older, we are about to enter "cuffing season" the time of year around the holidays when it feels like everyone pairs up into romantic relationships. The play on this terminology leverages insights from Hello Fresh's research. New data gathered by HelloFresh has revealed that the fifth date is usually when couples go from casual to committed, typically through the power of a homemade meal. In fact, “Cooking” is among the top 20 Interests Tinder users add to their profiles. With 81% of Americans agreeing that hosting a date for a home-cooked meal for the first time signals a relationship is becoming serious, couples enter their Forking Season when a relationship evolves from meeting out in public spaces to meeting up at the kitchen table. Lead Strategist at Manifesto, Bridget Babcock says: "I love ideas like this—when they take a relatively boring research insight like “cooking a meal signals a relationship is moving from casual to committed” and then turn it into something catchy and fun. When companies lean into their strengths (Hello Fresh brings the strength of home-cooked meals, Tinder brings the strength of algorithm-based, data-driven dating) but make it relatable and surprising at the same time. Research and data can be dry—but when it is the foundation for creativity, it becomes delightful!."
5. Cognitive Bias of the Week: Serial Position Effect
As Thanksgiving approaches we wanted to bring back the serial position effect. The serial position effect describes how our memory is affected by the position of information in a sequence. It suggests that we best remember the first and last items in a series and find it hard to remember the middle items. Say you are preparing for Thanksgiving dinner and need to run to the store to grab a handful of items. It can't be THAT hard to remember so you begin to list the items you need (flour, sugar, butter, milk, a few other items, and eggs) without writing them down. After you get your flour and eggs, you may find yourself staring at the shelves as you try to remember what else is needed. Every day we must remember the information presented to us, often formatted in series. This can include remembering a grocery list, memorizing a phone number, or following instructions. Since we want to remember important information, we need to be aware of how our memory works to improve recall. In short, just bring a list next time.
Kayleigh Williamson and her mom Sandy Williamson ran the New York City Marathon on Nov. 5, 2023. PHOTO: THOMAS SILK; JANE DANCE 6. Good News of the Week:
Runner, 33, Among First with Down Syndrome Ever to Finish NYC Marathon: 'Victory Dance at the Finish Line' (PEOPLE)
Volunteers picked up more than 10,000 pounds of trash during the Yosemite Facelift, a yearly trash clean-up event that takes place on National Public Lands Day (GGG)
These communities in Ohio are success stories of opioid addiction treatment and recovery (AP NEWS)
For the first time in three years, California is drought-free (KTVU)
7. Bonus: Can't Catch Me Now by Olivia Rodrigo
Back in the 2010s, before each Hunger Games film, fans would eagerly anticipate which pop stars would release new music for the film. In honor of this tradition, Olivia Rodrigo released a new single for the prequel to the beloved series, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. The song is haunting, beautiful, and a reminder that Rodrigo has always been more than just a "pop princess."