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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israel Takes Steps To Expand Control In Occupied West Bank; Some Companies Look To Evoke Emotions With Super Bowl Ads; Skier Lindsey Vonn Stable After Surgery On Broken Leg. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired February 09, 2026 - 05:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:30:00]

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And the president saying that he was not going to accept that and he outlined in his 20- point peace plan for Gaza sort of a path or a possibility of Palestinian statehood.

But what these new regulations are widely interpreted as meaning is that in the broadest sense, they undermine the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. They undermine the Palestine Authority's writ. They have a danger of diminishing the territory upon which

Palestinians can live in. The areas that are now being targeted by Israel are the farmland and the cities and this is something that's been going on step by step by step. So this latest step is in that context incremental but in the broader context it is significant.

And in the case of Hebron, which is a highly contested piece of the West Bank -- an area there that there is a minority in Hebron of Israeli settlers -- in that area the changes are even more significant. Any land that settlers had wanted to acquire there had to go through the local Palestinian Authority. Approvals went through that process involving Palestinians.

What is being pushed now is a process that will bypass any Palestinian controls over the purchase -- annexation of land in Hebron. And that in itself is a tinderbox of tensions and just underscores the significance of the changes that are taking place because they allow settlers to more easily get land in the West Bank than previous.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Yeah. A tinderbox of tensions is a good way to put it, Nic Robertson. Thank you.

Well, still ahead for us, millions of people watched the Super Bowl as well as a flurry of new commercials during the game. We'll take a look at the winners, and we'll take a look at the losers coming up next.

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[05:36:45]

SOLOMON: Welcome back to EARLY START. This is your business breakout.

Let's start with where U.S. futures stand ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. Futures at this point set for a lower open at this point. But a few big things for investors to watch. We have the delayed jobs report that is expected out on Wednesday. We also have the delayed CPI or inflation report that is also expected out later this week.

Let's take a look now at some of the other business headlines.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is working to tackle the housing affordability crisis in the U.S. Members of both the Senate and House have introduced bills to address high costs and the shortage of affordable housing by reforming zoning laws and reducing federal barriers to construction. A floor vote on the House bill is expected this week. The Senate could vote on its bill in the coming weeks.

Documents in the latest batch of Epstein files suggest that the sex offender attempted to cozy up to Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin. Emails show that Epstein had offered to help the son of Russia's then-ambassador to the United Nations get a job at a New York wealth management fund in 2018. It is unclear if Epstein ever connected with the Russian president.

And Elon Musk is switching his focus from taking humans to Mars to getting them back on the Moon. The billionaire posted online that his company SpaceX wants to build "a self-growing city on the moon." He didn't explain what a self-growing city is exactly, but he did suggest that his moon settlements could be achieved in less than a decade.

All right, now to the Super Bowl. That's obviously the big event on Sunday, but the commercials are always a pretty big draw as well and this year they featured a long list of celebrities.

T-Mobile, for its part, brought the Backstreet Boys on board singing a remake of their hit song "I Want It That Way." And Pepsi's new ad -- what looks like a Coca-Cola bear mascot took a blind taste test to pick his favorite cola. And guess what? He chooses Pepsi -- surprise, surprise.

And then there was this Dunkin' ad -- a 90s-themed throwback featuring Ben Affleck and a nod to his role in "Goodwill Hunting." It also featured Jennifer Aniston, Ted Danson, and even a quick cameo from former Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady. All those 90s stars in that Dunkin' commercial. It was quite a moment.

Joining me now from Atlanta is Jamie Turner. He's a marketing professor at Emory University and also the author of "Better: A Guidebook to a New and Improved You," available now for preorder. Jamie, great to have you this morning. I always love talking about the commercials because it becomes, you know, kind of a theme the week after the Super Bowl.

So from a branding standpoint, which of the commercials yesterday were, in your opinion, the winners and which were the losers?

JAMIE TURNER, MARKETING PROFESSOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY, AUTHOR, "BETTER: A GUIDEBOOK TO A NEW AND IMPROVED YOU": Yeah. Well, you know, you mentioned a few of the winners.

The Dunkin' spot was great because of all of those celebrities there. How can you not lean in and then talk about it the next day?

The Budweiser "Free Bird" commercial -- what a powerful spot. If you go online, you can look at all of the comments and people just talk about getting teared up about that. That was basically looking back at the Budweiser legacy while also looking forward at an optimistic future.

There were some other things that were great.

[05:40:00]

The Lay's harvest commercial, which was about a father passing on his farm to his daughter, which was really a great way of Lay's kind of saying hey, we're -- don't forget, potatoes are a vegetable too.

And then other things as well. The rocket commercial about the young person in the new neighborhood and how ultimately that difficult period actually turns into a good thing through the good neighbors and all that sort of stuff.

So it was a lot of great stuff going on this -- yesterday.

SOLOMON: Yeah, Jamie. When I -- I watched all the commercials, and I knew that you had pointed out both the good and the bad. And something about that Redfin commercial made me teary this morning. I don't know, maybe I was sleep-deprived because that commercial sort of tugged at my own heartstrings.

But what about the losers because there are always some that swing and miss?

TURNER: Yeah. The big miss this time was Coinbase. You take a look at that spot. For those of you who don't remember -- and I'm sure the vast majority of us don't remember -- is it was a blue background with type and music underneath, and that was it.

And a famous ad guy named David Ogilvy used to say you cannot bore somebody into buying a product. Coinbase tried to do that yesterday and I'm not sure that it actually worked. So that was the big swing and a miss. That one absolutely positively did not work out.

And actually, any of the spots that you don't remember, that's a miss. That means that they didn't create memorability or impact in anything they did -- and that was $8 million for the ad time alone flushed down the toilet.

SOLOMON: So what are the ingredients for a campaign that creates a strong memory, that creates an impact? What do you need?

TURNER: Great question. You know, studies have shown that when you create an emotion, emotions actually create memories. That you kind of have to have an emotion in order to create a memory. So most brands are trying to make you laugh or trying to make you cry. And when they get you to do one or the other, actually an emotion is created and that creates a memory, which ultimately creates brand preference. So when you get somebody to laugh or cry the next time they're in the grocery store, they go oh yeah, I remember that Lay's commercial I saw, and they grab the bag of Lay's as opposed to one of the competitors.

So that's one of the key components. And if you think about all the spots -- the ones that you remember -- they either made you laugh or made you cry, and that's very intentional because that emotion -- those emotions actually create memories which ultimately creates brand preference.

SOLOMON: Yeah. I find that really, really interesting.

Jamie, is there a hierarchy of emotions when you're thinking about what's more potent? Is laughter more potent than, you know, pulling at the heartstrings? Does it -- does it matter or you just need some emotion?

TURNER: You need some emotion. And so any emotion, whether it's laughing or crying, is a good thing. An emotion you would not want is anger. Of course, that would be a negative emotion. But positive emotions tend to be laughing or crying.

There's another element to great commercials. Great commercials have impact clarity and memorability. So they have impact in the sense that they grab your attention. They have clarity in the sense that they communicate a message that is clear. And then they have memorability, which is the next day you're talking about them, you're thinking about them. You're telling people at the water cooler, hey, did you see that funny spot, or did you see that spot that made me cry?

All of those things add up to a great commercial.

SOLOMON: Fascinating.

So it makes me wonder -- we have to go but it makes me wonder now thinking about that Dunkin' ad with all of the 90s celebrities. I mean, that just naturally brings back nostalgia. It naturally brings back the emotion of watching all of your favorites and all of those shows. I mean, you had Steve Urkel. You had Carlton from "THE FRESH PRINCE."

TURNER: Yes.

SOLOMON: You had everybody in that ad.

Jamie Turner, it's been such a pleasure having you this morning. Thank you.

TURNER: Great to see you. Take care.

SOLOMON: You, too.

Well, still ahead for us, U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn's Olympic dream ended in a crash in the downhill final. Just ahead we'll update you on her medical condition after she had to be airlifted to an Italian hospital.

We'll be right back.

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[05:48:32]

SOLOMON: Welcome back. I'm Rahel Solomon. And here are some of the stories we are watching for you today.

The family of Nancy Guthrie is pleading for her return ahead of a possible ransom deadline on Monday. The alleged ransom note reportedly threatens Nancy's life if her family does not pay $6 million in Bitcoin by 5:00 p.m. local time in Arizona. Her children, including "TODAY" show host Savannah Guthrie, have said that they will pay it as the search for their mother continues.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Lai was found guilty of two national security charges and a sedition charge in December. His yearslong legal saga has come to define Beijing's crackdown on the semiautonomous city. Lai has been in detention since 2020 and will not be eligible for parole until his late 90s.

The Seattle Seahawks celebrating their Super Bowl win. The team took the title Sunday night topping the New England Patriots 29-13. This is the second championship for Seattle and the first for their head coach Mike Macdonald in his second season in the post.

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn is recovering after breaking her left leg at the Olympic Games in Italy on Sunday. She is in stable condition after undergoing surgery to treat the fracture after being airlifted to a hospital. She was just 13 seconds out of the start for the women's downhill when she hit a gate and fell.

[05:50:00]

Checking the gold medal count so far, at the top of the pack is Norway with three golds. The U.S. right behind with two. Italy, Japan, Austria, and Germany all have one gold medal each, rounding out the top six. Italy leads with the most number of medals overall.

OK, joining us now from Milan for more on the Olympic Games is CNN sports anchor Amanda Davies. So Amanda, let's start with what the latest that we have on Lindsey Vonn's condition.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah, good morning.

Those reports that you are talking about came out from the hospital in Italy about Vonn's surgery on Sunday evening here in Milan. But we still haven't heard any more from them or from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard since that very, very short update saying though she's in a stable condition and receiving medical care from U.S. and Italian doctors.

I mean, the reaction, of course -- the alpine skiing and Olympic community really does tell you everything you need to know about Vonn's status and the appreciation for what she's done throughout her career.

Such a trailblazer who had already become the oldest female Olympic downhill medal winner when she took that bronze in Pyeongchang two Olympics ago at the age of 33. She, of course, had also been the first U.S. Olympic champion in Vancouver in 2010 in this downhill event.

So yesterday's ultimate winner, Breezy Johnson -- we should take nothing away from her at all. She becomes only the second U.S. woman in history to win what is one of the most prestigious honors not only at the Olympic Games but, of course, all of sports. And you could see her emotions across the board yesterday. That celebration of her biggest career achievement to date mixed with real concern and sadness for her teammate Lindsey Vonn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BREEZY JOHNSON, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL ALPINE SKIER: The work that we put in the careers -- I think obviously, you know, my heart aches for her. And yeah, it's a tough road and it's a tough sport. I think that that's the -- you know, the beauty and the madness of it that it can hurt you so badly, but you keep coming back for more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: Breezy Johnson can very much empathize as she actually got injured and missed the last Olympic Games because of a crash on the same hill. But interestingly, she is expected to be back on the slopes over the next couple of days for the training session for the combined event -- the new team event. But she opted not to ski this morning, perhaps understandably, but will be racing alongside Mikaela Shiffrin tomorrow.

That was the first gold medal for Team USA yesterday. But late last night they ended things very much on a high, defending the team figure skating gold by only just -- they were pushed all the way by Japan and ultimately won it by a point thanks to the "Quad God" as he's known. Ilia Malinin pulling out all the stops in his free skate.

Heading into this final segment of the competition, the U.S. and Japan had been tied -- 59 points apiece. Four-time national champion Malinin knew he needed to put on a real show. And one person -- or two people who certainly enjoyed it, 24-time tennis grand slam winner Novak Djokovic and his wife Jelena. Malinin scoring 200.03 to very much get the celebrations going.

And hopes have been really high across this games for this U.S. team. They're being dubbed perhaps the greatest U.S. figure skating team in history.

And today the competition continues with the ice dance -- rhythm dance that -- again, later this evening.

But something to watch in just over, I don't know, 45 minutes time or so, Stanford student Eileen Gu aiming to win the one Olympic gold that eluded her in Beijing four years ago. That's the free ski slope style. The double Olympic champion who represents the country of her mother's birth, China, became the first person to win three freestyle skiing medals last time out, but we know she always strives though for better than perfection actually.

And she did give fans a scare in qualifying, falling on her first run. But she joked afterwards it was about keeping people on their toes.

But she did put in, though, a brilliant second run and then ultimately qualified for today's final to set up what is being billed as a head- to-head between her and Switzerland's world champion and defending Olympic champion Mathilde Gremaud. It promises to be brilliant. Gremaud known as one of the most humble champions on the snow. But it's going to be a really, really exciting event to watch.

Back to you.

SOLOMON: Yeah, it sounds like it's going to be a great matchup.

Amanda Davies in Milan there. Amanda, thank you.

And still ahead for us warmer temperatures are on the way for parts of the U.S. Ahead, how long the warmer weather is expected to last when we come back.

[05:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL)

SOLOMON: Relief from the winter chill is on its way for parts of the eastern U.S., but only for a moment. Unseasonably warm temperatures in the West will spread through much of the East this week, as well as the Midwest and mid-Atlantic. But the cold reprieve will only be temporary for some as temperatures are expected to drop by Friday in most places along the East Coast.

And one of Sunday's biggest events was the much anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance from rapper and singer Bad Bunny. And the recent Grammy Award-winner made sure to bring the block party from Puerto Rico to California.

[06:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAD BUNNY, RAPPER, SINGER: Performing Super Bowl halftime show.

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SOLOMON: Bad Bunny's performance featured many of his greatest hits as well as appearances from Lady Gaga and Ricky Martin.

Unity was a large them of the night. At one point in his performance, Bad Bunny said, "God bless America" and went on to name every country in North, Central and South America.

OK, that'll do it for us here today on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. "CNN THIS MORNING" starts right now.