Hey, TFP fam, get ready to moon-gaze. Beginning with Monday’s super blue moon, we’re in for three straight months of supermoons — the perfect reason to spend an evening outside. Whether you’re a space nerd or just looking for any excuse to celebrate, these lunar events are a must-see. So mark your calendars, grab your cameras, and let’s vibe out.

In other news… junior pros are mentoring senior execs, the rich are getting richer charitably, and Avicii’s legacy lives on.

Want to discover even more newsletters? Here are some of our favorites

• YouTube – “Die With A Smile” - Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars

• X (Twitter) – Michael Keaton

• Google – Love Island reunion

• Reddit – Chappell Roan

• TikTok – “The Great Gig in the Sky” - Pink Floyd

• Spotify – “No Broke Boys” - Tinashe

.BUSINESS.

Schooling the boss might be the new workplace power dynamic

The Future. Reverse mentorship, where junior professionals guide senior executives, is catching on in the advertising world as marketers strive to authentically engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha. If companies want to stay relevant and connected to younger demographics, they may have to rely increasingly on junior employees (who can offer pivotal insights into emerging trends and platforms) to avoid culturally tone-deaf brand campaigns.

Youth knows best
The power of “reverse mentorship” demonstrates how younger talent can keep seasoned leaders grounded and culturally attuned.

• At Movers+Shakers, every campaign is vetted by the “culture squad,” a team of junior employees who make sure the work resonates with younger audiences. Ha Hoang, a Gen Z strategist there, advises senior colleagues on Gen Z slang (everything from bussin’ to brat summer) and when brands should engage in trending conversations.

• DANG, an agency led by Karan Dang (Walmart’s former head of brand creative) and Shruti Dang (former senior product designer for software company BlackLine), has recently launched two content series that deliver Gen Z marketing insights in short, snackable videos that appeal to younger consumers.

Gen Z to the rescue
Beyond marketing, reverse mentorship offers valuable lessons for nurturing a healthy workplace atmosphere. Younger employees can teach senior execs a lot about cultivating an environment that attracts, retains, and empowers next-gen talent.

39.5% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Do you think your workplace has good leadership?

“Honestly, I feel very disconnected from many of my coworkers, and I never know about things. (For example, I was informed that a new position had opened up at my company when it was posted on LinkedIn. Yikes.)”

“My workplace is overly democratic. Leaders fail to make decisions and provide direction and additionally fail to empower those who are most impacted by the lack of direction. This leads to nothing getting done and ICs working harder but not smarter.”

“Where I work is basically a place where people who’ve been burnt out on social go to keep making money while having a work-life balance. There isn’t really leadership; we’re all just doing sh*t to stay afloat, and it’s fine.”

.A WORD FROM OUR FRIENDS AT YAZIO.

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Media, Music, & Entertainment

• Manchester United’s back-of-jersey sponsorship deal generated millions in revenue for the team and suggests a growing trend of sports jersey ad spots. [Read More]

• An auction of Avicii’s instruments, shoes, and personal effects will be sold to raise money for his mental health foundation. [Read More]

• Charli XCX proves it really is brat summer by landing the gig of the cover girl for Skims’ new brand campaign. [Read More]

Fashion & E-Commerce

• Nike shares have risen 17% in the past week and a half, marking a potential end to the stock’s years-long losing streak. [Read More]

• The Athletic is launching a vertical targeting sports memorabilia and trading cards in the hopes of capitalizing on an underserved market. [Read More]

• Adidas will soon launch its first avatar product, giving Adidas NFT holders a virtual identity they can use to represent themselves “across platforms.” [Read More]

Tech, Web3, & AI

• Waymo has announced that its sixth-generation vehicle will be cheaper to produce because it features fewer sensors. [Read More]

• The Engine Accelerator is a startup accelerator for “tough tech” companies in typically less profitable areas like climate and health care. [Read More]

• Tesla is paying people to train its Optimus bot by walking around in motion capture suits for seven hours a day at $48/hour. [Read More]

Creator Economy

• Advertising agencies may not exist in their current form for much longer as creators outcompete traditional agencies in the social media space. [Read More]

• Over 200 creators have been credentialed to cover the 2024 DNC as press in Chicago this week, demonstrating a clear shift in the power of creators as news sources. [Read More]

• Lyvely, a SocialFi Web3 service, is airdropping $3M in its digital currency to early adopters and popular creators in an effort to kickstart its integration with the creator economy. [Read More]

.MEDIA.

How the rich get richer through charity

The Future. The government encourages charitable giving by granting tax breaks, but the ultrarich can use special financial vehicles like CRTs that turn charity into lifelong, tax-exempt income streams. In other words, the rich will continue to look virtuous as they keep getting richer… unless the IRS does something about it.

Give to the poor… and to the rich
One popular vehicle for charity and tax breaks is the charitable remainder trust (CRT).

• CRTs let taxpayers put money into a trust and receive annual payments for life (plus a tax break) because a leftover portion of the fund is donated to charity.

• One type of CRT is a charitable remainder annual trust (CRAT), which determines the annual income of the beneficiary when they’re initially funded.

• The other is a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT), which allows the fund’s owners to make contributions over time and grow the beneficiary’s annual income — representing a fixed percentage of the fund.

Them’s the breaks
The IRS ensures these funds function as charitable vehicles, so they’re not likely to completely crack down on CRTs like they have on some other ventures. But businesses can liquidate their assets into CRTs, too, and consequently pay reduced capital gains tax, which could be classified as tax evasion if the IRS chose to see it that way.

We guess it pays to be rich.

• Watch: Etiquette expert William Hanson debunks common manners myths on Wired’s Etiquette Support.

• Read: TikTok’s summer 2024 soundtrack is an international, genre-bending hit parade, with superstar and emerging artists dominating users’ feeds.

• Use: Public Work, a new, AI-powered image search engine, makes browsing 100,000 copyright-free images a visual delight.

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE

Today, on an extra special bonus episode of Future Forecast, our hosts Boye and Chris sit down with Andrew Kenward, the President and COO of Almost Friday Media. Andrew was an agent at WME in the digital media department at WME before being brought into the Almost Friday universe in 2021. We chat with him about his career, his goals for the brand moving forward, and what it's like working in media today.