Apple countersues Epic, and major brands are still boycotting Facebook: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. Apple's Epic counterattackApple’s tit-for-tat battle with Epic Games over “Fortnite” continues with Apple suing Epic for breach of contract. As the Wall Street Journal reports, Apple asked a federal judge in California in court documents filed Tuesday to award punitive damages and restrict Epic from continuing what it describes as “unfair business practices.” Also, that “1984” ad is clearly still smarting: In the filing, Apple makes a pointed dig at Epic’s attempt to portray itself as a “modern corporate Robin Hood.” “In reality it is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that simply wants to pay nothing for the tremendous value it derives from the App Store,” it says. As Apple defended its actions, the wrangling over the original lawsuit continues; Epic filed a motion Friday seeking to get Fortnite back in the App Store while the fight is ongoing, with a hearing set for Sept. 28. Major brands still boycotting FacebookSix weeks after the “end” of the Facebook boycott, major brands are still withholding their advertising from the social network. As Ad Age’s Ilyse Liffreing writes, according to a new study from BrandTotal—which analyzed paid social media data across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn ads from July 1 through September 3—major advertisers including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Nike, as well as several Unilever and Diageo brands, have not yet resumed ad spend with Facebook or Instagram. Whether brands are avoiding Facebook purely for advocacy reasons, however, is not clear. Some could be conserving their budget for end-of-year purposes, in light of the coronavirus pandemic. One media buyer, who believes brands will begin spending again in the new year, tells Ad Age: “These brands aren’t holding back from spending with Facebook because of any support for Stop Hate for Profit. They made a decision and they’re simply sticking with their budgets through the end of the year when most people will have forgotten about the boycott and moved on.” New Oscars diversity rulesAfter years of controversy over its attitude on diversity, the Academy Awards has finally outlined how it is going to tackle the issue. As reported in The New York Times, beginning with the 2024 Oscars, films hoping to qualify for the best picture category will have to meet inclusion standards both on screen and behind the scenes. For example, “at least one of the lead actors or a significant supporting actor must be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.” In addition, a film must meet two of four standards in areas of onscreen representation, offscreen creative leadership, apprenticeship opportunities for members of underrepresented groups and diversity in marketing and distribution departments. The new standards, which will be enforced by “spot checks,” are also likely to influence the advertising and production worlds; we’ll be following the developments closely. Negotiating the new NFLWith an uncertain NFL season kicking off tomorrow with mostly fanless games, Ad Age has taken a look at how brands are negotiating marketing in this challenging new environment. While in-stadium marketing will be virtually impossible, the lack of fans does create new opportunities for branding: Anheuser-Busch’s “Bud Light Showtime Cam,” for example, will feature two-way screens at field level, virtually recreating players interacting with fans after touchdowns. Other brands are debuting ad campaigns with a pandemic twist. For example, Progressive’s lockdown-themed ad, “At Home with Baker Mayfield,” finds the confused quarterback living at the stadium as his home, while Oakley’s new spot depicts players wearing helmet visors and sunglasses, after the brand developed face shield technology meant to combat coronavirus spread. Stay tuned for updates as the season develops—as long as it isn’t upended by coronavirus. 'Welcome back, Kap!'Colin Kaepernick has finally returned to football (well, kind of.) Ad Age’s Ilyse Liffreing reports that the star quarterback, who sparked a national movement by kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, can be chosen as a player in EA Sports’ latest Madden game, Madden NFL 21. EA announced the news yesterday on Twitter on its Madden NFL 21 account, tweeting an image of Kaepernick in the game with the caption: “Welcome back, Kap!” It’s a significant move for EA, which hasn’t included Kaepernick in a game since 2016. According to The Undefeated, which first reported the news, Kaepernick’s requests to EA included that his avatar wear an afro and have as its signature celebration a Black Power fist. Just brieflyChange at the IAB: Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randall Rothenberg is officially handing over the reins to incoming CEO David Cohen, reports Ad Age’s Garett Sloane. Cohen says the IAB wants to unite the industry with a yearly event that combines the TV upfronts, digital NewFronts and its latest brainchild, podcast upfronts. Snap meets AdColor: Snapchat has teamed up with AdColor to form a creative council highlighting marginalized communities, writes Ad Age’s I-Hsien Sherwood. It’s formed of 12 Black creatives who will act as judges for a campaign contest running for the next six weeks. Young creatives of color are now working in small teams on a brief from Snap, and the winning pitch will run on the platform in October. Netflix shakeup: Netflix VP of Original Content Cindy Holland is leaving, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Holland will replaced by Bela Bajaria, who is being promoted to the newly created role of VP global television, in a shakeup that restructures Netflix’s TV group to mirror that of its film operations. Creativity of the day: A new campaign from Liquid Death, a Heavy Metal-themed water brand whose tagline is “Murder Your Thirst,” centers on a baby-naming microsite, letting you generate the Heavy Metal name of your unborn child. Take a look at the film by Humanaut, featuring cute babies with Kiss-style makeup and names like “Deathany Killface,” over at Creativity. The brand also says it will gift anyone who legally gives their baby an approved Heavy Metal name a supply of products until the child turns 18. That does it for today’s Wake-Up Call, thanks for reading and we hope you are all staying safe and well. For more industry news and insight, follow us on Twitter:@adage. From CMO Strategy to the Ad Age Datacenter Weekly, we’ve got newsletters galore. See them all here. Subscribers make the difference. Individual, group and corporate subscriptions are available—including access to our Ad Age Datacenter. Find options at AdAge.com/membership.

Apple countersues Epic, and major brands are still boycotting Facebook: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

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