How Quibi fell apart in 199 days

Hi! Welcome to the Insider Advertising daily for October 26. I’m Lauren Johnson, a senior advertising reporter at Business Insider. Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox every weekday. Send me feedback or tips at LJohnson@businessinsider.com.

Today’s news: How Quibi fell apart, inside The Richard Group’s troubles, and the execs leading the e-commerce advertising industry.

Mobile content app Quibi, backed by $1.75 billion and some of Hollywood’s top names, launched in April and died in October.
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman led the company, which missed warning signs and took costly missteps in the leadup to and after its debut.
Rob Price, Meghan Morris, and Becky Peterson tracked the buildup to and aftermath of Quibi’s ill-fated launch.

Patrick Coffee and Tanya Dua report that independent ad agency The Richards Group is facing steep revenue and staff losses after founder Stan Richards made racist comments that led several clients to fire the firm.
Insiders said there have been other racially tinged incidents at the agency, including a late 2019 one where staff parodied Asian cuisine. Some connected those episodes to the agency’s rigid, traditional culture that included strict check-in times, no paid parental leave until mid-2019, and all-male retreats with the founder.
Stan Richards defended his approach to running the agency and blamed his exit on company leaks and the media.

Advertising has been a bright spot during the pandemic for retailers as e-commerce shopping takes off.
I identified the eight people leading advertising at the retailers. They include Walmart Media Group’s Rich Lehrfeld and Instacart’s Seth Dallaire.
Amazon has long been the biggest ad platform but Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid and others want to challenge its dominance by pitching advertisers things like more granular data and new audiences.