Media Whiplash
From Iconic Rebrands to AI Takeovers – A Riveting Industry Update
We’re trying to wrap our heads around the whiplash of media news that has been developing lately. First, it was the bombshell of ‘killing the bird’: rebranding Twitter, erasing its iconic logo, and replacing it with a bland ‘X’ with plans to turn it into an ‘everything app’.
As if that weren't enough, the entertainment industry has been rocked by a Hollywood strike, where writers and union employees are demanding not only better wages but are also raising their voices against the encroaching influence of AI. In shocking instances, AI is even replacing human actors, leaving us all astounded by the speed of change.
Meanwhile, The Guardian Media Group's British arm has been facing challenges from declining print newspaper sales and a sluggish UK advertising market. Amidst these headwinds, a glimmer of hope has emerged - a substantial surge in financial contributions from readers in North America and Australia, making up more than a third of the company's income and reaffirming the global appeal of their content.
On a brighter note, we’re thrilled to share some excellent news for Wishbox Media. We’ve been honored with two grants for both 2023 and 2024, propelling our mission to produce powerful digital media content focusing on social and environmental issues in the Middle East.
So welcome to the latest edition of the Wishbox Media newsletter, where we promise to keep you updated with the most exciting happenings in the media industry.
Best wishes,
Rana F. Sweis
Founder of Wishbox Media
💡 What we’ve been up to
🖍️ New Client: Questscope - We’re thrilled to announce our collaboration with the international nonprofit Questscope. As their media partner, we’ll manage their social media platforms and create compelling multimedia content to be shared across various media channels.
🔖 Grant for Media Content Production - We’ve been awarded a prestigious grant by the French Media Development Agency (CFI - QARIB) for the next two years, empowering us to produce impactful media content on a wide range of social and environmental topics.
🎞️ Grant for Digital Stories on Women in the Middle East- we’ve received a special grant from Makanati (USAID) specifically dedicated to creating digital stories that shine a light on the lives and experiences of women in the Middle East.
📮 Founder Rana F. Sweis has just published a feature in the Middle East Institute. In this article, she delves into the ambitious plans and visions for Jordan's baptism site development, offering readers glimpse into the future of this historically significant location.
🖼️ Featured Exhibition by Ahmed Khaldi- We’re excited to showcase the talent of our illustrator, Ahmed Khaldi, who recently held an inspiring exhibition titled "My Grandfather's Orchard" at the prestigious Jacaranda venue in Amman. Through his artwork, Ahmed portrays the captivating stories and memories of his father's childhood hometown of Jaffa and his grandfather's cherished orchard there.
At Wishbox Media, we’re dedicated to producing meaningful and thought-provoking content, and these exciting collaborations and achievements propel us further on our mission to make a positive impact in the media industry.
Ahmed Khalidi’s artwork 🎙️ Live Talks: Our live talk this month featured author and journalist Natasha Twal Tynes, who shared insights on the importance of creating newsletters for brands and content creators and tips to increase the open rates for your newsletter #LIVETALKS.
🎧 You can listen (Arabic) to an excerpt from the conversation with Natasha below:
🗄️ From the archives
🎴 An effective GIF can transcend language and culture to present a short, quick, and visually beautiful animated message. Wishbox’s GIFs are digitally hand-drawn, and each goes through a rigorous process, whether it's forming the idea, message, color scheme, or artwork. Our GIFs have been created for various clients and organizations and cover issues like health, youth, women, and cultural and social matters.
The GIF below captures a woman's return to the workplace after the coronavirus lockdown and isolation.
📨 Drop us a note if you want to collaborate with us on creating compelling GIFs that tell your stories.
📺 Our media consumption
We’ve been experimenting with the social media scheduler tool Loomy. It allows you to schedule content across various social media platforms and in different formats. it also provides you with prompts to create new content.
We enjoyed reading this New Yorker article titled “The Tyranny of the Tale,” in which the author warns against what he calls “narrative supremacy.” Here’s an excerpt:
And if a story betrays us? The solution, it seems, is to cast about for a better one. The journalist Nesrine Malik makes this case in her 2019 book “We Need New Stories”: “It is pointless to fight fake facts, or true but cynically twisted facts, with other facts. The new stories we need to tell are not just the corrections of old stories, they are visions.” Narrative Initiative, which is dedicated to “durable social change,” is one of a number of organizations devoted to such strategies; “impactful, enduring social change,” it holds, “moves at the speed of narrative.” 🔖📚