Good Week/Bad Week in Branding

Good Week: Amazon – The e-commerce behemoth announced a 30%-plus increase in revenues for the second quarter of 2016, marking the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of gains. Amazon attributes the rise largely to the success of its cloud computing division. (I attribute it largely to my wife.)

Mixed Week: Facebook – Second-quarter earnings for the Book of Faces revealed $6.4B in revenues, far exceeding analysts – and the company’s – projections, with as many as 1.13 billion users turning to the site daily. All that sharing drove shares up as much as 7%. However, the celebration is dampened by reports that an ongoing IRS investigation could result in more than a $5B penalty based on the company moving certain assets to an Irish subsidiary to reduce its U.S. tax burden.

Bad Week: Sesame Street – Apparently, acquiring the undisputed crown jewel of children’s educational television programming wasn’t enough for the suits at HBO, who promptly dismissed three of the show’s longtime stars, including Bob (actor Bob McGrath), who’s been the kind-hearted human face of the show since it’s 1969 debut. Kids. Puppets. Network executives. One of these things just doesn’t belong.