One of the biggest cultural moments of the 2010s was one that didn’t happen: Anyone with a pulse in 2017 remembers Fyre Fest, the doomed luxury music festival that pulled out all the marketing stops.

Think supermodels like Kendall Jenner as part of a curated influencer group the festival referred to as “Fyre starters” posting blank orange tiles on their Instagram pages, igniting confusion and online discussion. Think a viral, splashy ad featuring other models like Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber at the beach.

However, it all fell apart when the festival didn’t actually happen due to poor planning, which stranded festival attendees on the Bahamian island of Exuma. (You remember the infamous photo of a pathetic-looking cheese sandwich taken by a festival attendee that went viral on Twitter.) In 2018, entrepreneur and festival co-creator Billy McFarland pleaded guilty to charges related to defrauding both festival investors and vendors.

The incident birthed documentaries on Netflix and Hulu, as well as four years in a federal prison for the man behind it all: McFarland, who owes roughly $26 million to those he defrauded. It wasn’t the first time McFarland has been associated with questionable business ventures, either (Google “Magnises” to find out more).

Now McFarland, who got out of prison last year, is back with plans for Fyre Fest 2. The first drop of pre-sale tickets for the event—scheduled for December 6, 2024, at an undisclosed Caribbean island—have sold out (100 went for about $500 a pop), according to the event’s website.

McFarland spoke with Marketing Brew about how he’s rolling out the second iteration of the infamous event with the help of a festival company he would not disclose.

Read our conversation here.—JS

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The Federal Trade Commission is worried about blurred lines. No, not that one. It’s worried about how “blurred advertising,” or ads that don’t clearly look like ads, could impact kids.

Last week, the FTC released new recommendations for advertisers to more clearly distinguish between entertainment and ads.

While many advertisers might love an immersive, contextual, dare we say organic environment, the FTC is concerned that children may struggle to tell the difference between what’s just content and what’s a paid advertisement, “potentially leading to deception, as well as physical, psychological, financial, privacy, and other harms,” a post about its recommendations reads.

Its advice? Don’t do it. “The best way to prevent harms stemming from blurred advertising is to not blur advertising. There should be a clear separation between kids’ entertainment and educational content and advertising, using formatting techniques and visual and verbal cues to signal to kids that they are about to see an ad,” the post notes.

The commission provided some suggestions on how to avoid this blurring. For instance, it suggested including written and verbal disclosures that can help signify that something is an ad, pointing to lines such as, “We will be right back after these commercial messages.”

Keep reading here.—RB

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Geoff Renaud is co-founder and CMO of Invisible North, an experiential marketing agency that’s worked with brands like Bumble, Klarna, and Under Armour.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? I’ve been an advisor to the founder of Coachella for over 20 years. Being part of the core team and helping set the vision for the largest live music event in the world has been the most amazing part of my career. Over the years, my contributions to the festival have varied, but I’m really proud of the work we did together to take its Web3 strategy off the ground last year.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? It’s a classic, but Sarah McLachlan’s ASPCA commercial. It has to be one of the longest-running and most successful ads of all time. From the heart-wrenching picture to the emotional lyrics, it works. They’ve raised millions of dollars for homeless pets. As an animal rescuer, it just gets me every time. I want to send them more and more money whenever I see it.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I’m a world-class harmonica player. Unfortunately, that gets less and less cool over the years, but I could play anything. I love to jam.

What marketing trend are you most optimistic about? Least? I’m most optimistic when I see how AI is going to be used to transform every aspect of business. It’s going to be a wild ride. On the other hand, it’s hard to watch brands try to figure out NFTs and Web3 before Web3 is figured out. It’s far too early for some of these NFT marketing strategies to work. Brands need to know how to interact with consumers in a regulated manner to see success.

What’s one marketing-related podcast, social account, or series you’d recommend? The Download by MIT Technology Review. It’s a fun, engaging daily must-read (other than Marketing Brew, of course). It has an incredible range of insights and news across the broad tech spectrum.

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

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Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Netflix and SK Broadband, a South Korean telecom company, formed a partnership to end a long-running legal feud over mobile data costs.
• The Writers Guild of America is slated to restart talks with studios Wednesday as the writers strike stretches past the 140-day mark.
• Wasserman, a sports and music-focused management firm, acquired the Hollywood talent agency and production company Brillstein Entertainment Partners.