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May the fastest - and smartest - Fluxxer win.

Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.

Today's big stories:

🏉 Sportsbet is one of the biggest advertisers in Australia

⌚ Rolex watch prices skyrocket thanks to supply chain shortages

🔌 European Union causes a major blow to Apple by standardising charging cords

Oh and get this...

You loved the games...now you're gonna froth on the movie adaption. Nintendo is working on a film about the one and only Mario. Chris Pratt will play Mario, and chess-player extraordinaire, Anya Taylor-Joy will be Peach. And who will be Bowser, you ask? None other than the legendary Jack Black.

Sportsbet is flooding our screens with ads. And it's official - you're not imagining it.

Background: Sportsbet is the Aussie online gambling company owned by Flutter Entertainment. It's been around since 1993.

What happened: Despite its name, Sportsbet ain't just for sports. It famously offered odds on how the world would end, and still lets ya bet on who's going to win Bachie.

What else: It's now been revealed that Sportsbet spent a whopping $139 million on advertising and sponsorships back in 2020. To put that into perspective, Sportsbet is up there with Harvey Norman, Coles, Woolies and the federal government for advertising.

‍So what's the key learning?

💡Sports betting in Australia has been gaining more popularity than a teen Netflix series.

💡The amount of money Aussies spend gambling on sports has been growing at around 10% per year since 2015. And every year, Aussies place more than 300 million bets on Sportsbet alone.

💡You can blame the growing popularity of online and mobile betting platforms - which took off during COVID. But constant gambling ads aren't helping either. So the big question is, will gambling ads ever be banned?

‍There's a shortage of Rolex watches - they say it ain't a marketing strategy

Background: Rolex is the world's leading luxury watch brand started way back in 1905. It's worn by Roger Federer (immediately after he steps off the court) and the watch of choice for celebs like Rihanna, David Beckham and Brad Pitt.

What happened: These babies are real luxury. In fact, the cheapest watch is US$5,700. And it's because of Rolex's 'craftsmanship, design, and time-testing quality'.

What else: Just like every other company over the last 18 months, Rolex was hurt by some serious supply chain issues. But this just makes their watches even MORE expensive because of the limited supply.

So what's the key learning?

💡Scarcity marketing is a marketing strategy that capitalises on a customer's FOMO - aka, their fear of missing out. It's based on an actual psychological principle that people want what's tough to get.

💡You can think of it like simple supply and demand. When there's a low supply, and a high demand for a product, that product will naturally increase in price.

💡The De Beers Group specialised in this. It controlled a large portion of the diamond trade - this meant it could manipulate the supply (by reducing production) and increase demand (with clever marketing campaigns 'diamonds are forever'). Yep, your life is a lie. But in this case, Rolex says that ain't the case.

The EU reveals plans to standardise charging cords...and yep, we see ya shaking in your boots Apple

Background: The European Union has announced plans to make USB-C connectors the standard charging port for all smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices.

What happened: The EU hopes that by doing this, they'll reduce environmental waste. The new legislation is set to come into effect from 2024.

What else: The move could spell bad news for Apple, who've always relied on their own 'proprietary' ports. Ya know, the ones that have you running to the Apple store every time you lose yours...cos the ones in your drawer aren't compatible.

So what's the key learning?

💡Proprietary technology is anything that a company invents, and only uses on their own products. And Apple has benefited off its proprietary charging cords and headphones all the way from the iPod classic...to the latest iPhone 13.

💡By continuously changing its proprietary tech, Apple has controlled the purchases of its tech accessories. And it's been hugely lucrative for them. There were:

• super wide chargers that fit our iPod nanos back in the day.
• lightning connector for the newer iPhones.
• special headphone jacks...so it was bye-bye standard headphones.

💡Apple's wearables, home and accessories division brought in a whopping US$30.6 billion last year alone. So we can't see them being impressed by the EU's plans.