The influencer industry gets official

Get your Facetune ready: Influencers are gearing up for their moment in the political spotlight. 

This week, a small set of TikTok tastemakers and IG mavens banded together to launch a trade group, the American Influencer Council. 

Part of their goal is to legitimize influencing as an industry. The AIC wants to fund market research into the influencer economy and build a mentoring program for rising stars.

Another mission? Political lobbying. 

Washington is not prepared for these skincare routines

The arrival of the AIC is well timed. The FTC is reviewing a topic near and dear to the hearts — and wallets — of influencers: Ad disclosures.

The current law of the land is the FTC’s Endorsement Guide, which states that any connection between an endorser and the seller of a product must be “clearly and conspicuously disclosed.” 

But the guide is nonbinding, and there’s no real penalty for violating it. 

Lord & Taylor got in trouble with the FTC for a 2015 campaign. The company failed to disclose that it paid ~50 influencers to post in a paisley dress on Instagram. An FTC commissioner pointed out to TechCrunch that the company didn’t have to apologize, offer refunds, or even send a notice to customers.

The FTC wants to start levying fines against bad actors. And the AIC agrees. Rule-breakers are a drag on business. 

Unveiling the influencer political platform

A few of the AIC’s other demands: 

• That ad-disclosure techniques — both their language and visual prominence — be standardized across the major social networks.
• That the FTC review the Endorsement Guide every 3 years, instead of the glacial pace of every 10.
• That the FTC put more resources into educating new influencers about its rules. 

If you have a mildly successful Insta account for your golden retriever and you want in on this new political movement, I have bad news: Admission to the AIC is invite-only. And frankly, Rex’s doggy bandana is very 2017.

Conventional wisdom says renters throw away money because they don’t build equity over time. But a couple of new startups are hoping to turn that idea on its head.

The security of ownership meets the flexibility of renting 

Rhove extends “renterships” to tenants in Rhove-partnered apartment complexes. The arrangements give tenants a stake in the building — and their assets grow with the property’s value.

Rhove acts as an investor in the property by paying a lump sum to the owners. Tenants earn returns as property owners collect rent from the whole building, and as the property appreciates, the value of the shares increases.

Nico offers a similar concept. 

The startup launched in LA’s Echo Park neighborhood, where gentrification threatened to push out some long-time residents. By purchasing rent-stabilized buildings and registering them as a financial trust, Nico offers portfolio shares to residents… giving them a leg up in keeping their homes.

What’s the bottom line?

A young person will spend $200k+ in rent over the course of his or her lifetime. With many Americans dropping ⅓ of their income on rent, it’s hard to save money to eventually buy a home. 

And renters generally don’t have the same opportunities to accrue wealth as homeowners. One study found wide wealth gaps between older homeowners and renters, even when their incomes are similar.

If your friends have been swapping messages on Encrochat, it’s time to hit them with a little side eye.

You can think of EncroChat as WhatsApp’s evil twin. Criminals across Europe gathered to discuss the mundanities of drug dealing — names of clients, price points, amounts of cocaine and ketamine on hand. 

For hitmen and drug dealers, downloading EncroChat was a professional necessity. As of last month, ~60k people were using it. 

But then European authorities hacked EncroChat and downloaded reams of incriminating messages. On Thursday, they announced they had arrested 746 criminals and recovered 2 metric tons of drugs, 77 firearms, and $67m+ in cash. 

How EncroChat found product/market fit

You couldn’t get EncroChat off of the App Store. To use the service, you had to pay thousands of dollars a year for an EncroPhone, which VICE compared to an Android device with the GPS, camera, and microphone removed.

What made EncroChat so popular was its arsenal of privacy tools: Enter a PIN, for instance, and the “wipe” feature would clear your device of all data.

EncroChat shut down last month, but an encrypted phone company called Omerta has already stepped in to fill the void. 

Referring to EncroChat, Omerta wrote in a blog post, “Did you narrowly escape the recent Mass Extinction Event? Celebrate with 10 percent off. Join the Omerta family and communicate with impunity.”

This week, we looked at the evolution of branded swag during the pandemic. We asked you to ID some of the best and worst, erm… prizes… you’ve ever received.

You didn’t disappoint:

• Mike gushed about a giant fishing lure — 29 inches! He wasn’t as enthusiastic about the stale popcorn someone once gave him. Maybe he could use that to attract fish, too?
• Jared liked a bottle opener/seed depth tool. “It’s used to measure the depth of seeds in a field or the height of a plant,” he said. “Add a bottle opener to it, and you can enjoy a cold (or warm) beer while out in the fields.” Right on.
• Ysmay once received an Acer mini laptop with Livescribe pen. Makes sense that Ysmay was unimpressed by a water bottle that “started to smell like melting plastic” after 5 uses.

Which leads us to the swag that made you gag.

• Poor Christopher once picked up a “collector’s edition” Smirnoff bottle from a liquor distributor. Alas: “Apparently it’s for display purposes.”
• Heather said a power bank was the best and worst promotional product she ever received: “It was given to me after a job interview. I didn’t get the job.”
• And then there’s Ben, who once got… a logoed condom. I guess that’s one way for a brand to make a personal connection?

The pandemic gave us lemons, but the stock market decided to make some Lemonade.

Lemonade, the SoftBank-backed upstart that wants to disrupt the stodgy insurance industry, had a big trading debut on Wall Street on Thursday. It priced its initial offering at $29 per share — and by the closing bell, its stock price had risen to more than $69, up ~140%.

The company raised almost $320m in its IPO. It all adds up to a big win for SoftBank, which contributed $420m of the $480m that Lemonade had raised already.

This guide from Marker breaks down the essentials of Lemonade’s business (which has yet to post a profit), if you’re in the mood for another glass.

It’s not the only one winning accolades…

…because investors gave Accolade, a health-tech startup, a round of applause, too.

Accolade works with companies to help employees navigate health-care benefits. Its client base includes American Airlines, Comcast, Lowe’s, and State Farm. The company sold shares at $22 each, above the expected range of $19 to $21. Accolade’s stock ended the day at more than $29, up 35%.

The takeaway from Thursday, which extended a recent run of successful Wall Street launches: The IPO market is sweet, bitter as our economic prospects may be.

Sorry, we’re not done talking about this cereal

We swear we never do this but, like… have you tried it?!?

Sure, you just read about Magic Spoon two stories ago, and even Amazon Prime doesn’t deliver that fast, but still. You get the idea.

11g protein. 3g net carbs. 0g sugar. 110 calories. Gluten free, grain free, and zero artificial flavors or sweeteners. 

And on top of all that, it just frickin’ tastes good. 

Order Magic Spoon’s Nutty case here to get their two newest flavors (Peanut Butter and Honey Nut) and reinvent your breakfast.