It’s about to be a crazy news week, so let’s start it off gently. Dirty Projectors’ new song, “Overlord,” is downright soothing, with guitarist Maia Friedman’s voice floating through a set of comfortable chords that tumble forward easily and always resolve. In their press release, the band compares the song to one by Joni Mitchell, calling it a “‘Both Sides Now’ for an Amazon Prime world.” That’s about right; “Overlord’s” soft presentation recalls the time of Woodstock while its words beckon toward the future: “Oh, fear is old / Please don’t yell at the train, just get aboard / Oh, we go forth / Those who stay behind will be left on the shore / Who could afford not to be a part of what we’re pushing toward?” Here we go.
The grocery game has been an analog one for a long time: put things on shelves, package them in bright colors, hope they sell. Because of that generalized blind spot, stores have long allowed big brands to dictate shelf placement, which of course means that the General Mills and Unilevers of the world put themselves front and center where shoppers can see them. Now in the age of Amazon-as-grocery, supermarkets have more data than ever before on who’s shopping and how, and they’re starting to dethrone the major players, moving the Trix or whatever a little further down and putting their own house brands at eye level. Helps to own the house, doesn’t it?
Lest the box get lost in the fray, here’s something that might catch your eye: a $13 price tag on cereal. It’s no secret that the cereal category is flagging in the wake of the discovery that super-processed grains are bad for you. But General Mills won’t be deterred. After pivoting some products to straight-up dessert, they’re hoping to re-engage the health-minded set with Morning Summit, a box full of mostly almonds (but also some flakes and cranberries for good measure) that sells for about three times the cost of a regular box. It does seem like anyone willing to spend that amount on cereal has already pivoted to Magic Spoon, but with a name like “Morning Summit,” GM seems ready for an uphill battle.
Further down the aisle, our friends at Giphy have finally collaborated on a peanut butter jar with Jif. It’s almost a crime this didn’t happen sooner.
