Generative AI advertising is drawing consumer backlash after brands including J.Crew, Shein, and Skechers released campaigns marred by obvious AI flaws. Internet sleuths and critics pointed to distorted figures, suspicious likenesses, and poorly rendered images, accusing companies of chasing novelty at the expense of quality. The incidents highlight consumer frustration with brands prioritizing speed and cost savings over authenticity—particularly in fashion and retail, where heritage and trust are core to brand equity. Experts argue AI can accelerate creative production, but only when paired with human direction and craftsmanship. Missteps reveal the risks of treating AI as a replacement.
The trend: In the wake of the US closing the de minimis loophole, several large Chinese ecommerce and logistics firms have been investing in European warehouses to offset US losses, per Bloomberg. Our take: The days of rapid growth for Chinese ecommerce companies may be over. Europe might soften the blow from US losses, but it is unlikely to replace them—especially given the weak economic outlooks in France and Germany.
Brands are finding growth in controversy. American Eagle added 700,000 new customers tied to its controversial Sydney Sweeney ad campaign and a Travis Kelce collaboration. The campaigns generated a combined 40 billion impressions, helping American Eagle bounce back from a difficult quarter. American Eagle’s strategy shows that controversy can reignite attention and that generating buzz can pay off. But smaller or inclusivity-minded brands must weigh the potential long-term cost of missteps.
The news: General Motors is tapping the brakes on electric vehicle production just after posting its best-ever month of EV sales in August. The automaker plans to scale back output of the Chevy Bolt and two Cadillac models as the federal $7,500 EV tax credit expires at the end of this month. “It will take several months for the market to normalize,” wrote Duncan Aldred, senior vice president and president, North America, in a blog post explaining the move. In the meantime, GM aims to avoid overproduction, anticipating a “smaller EV market for a while.” Our take: GM revived the Bolt to fill an unmet niche: affordable EVs. While the GOP tax and spending bill may narrow that opportunity, strong consumer interest suggests GM can still carve out meaningful gains—if it delivers a compelling value-for-money proposition.
AI means something different to every retailer—and their level of adoption reflects that range.
Old Navy is venturing deeper into beauty. The Gap Inc. unit will begin selling its own branded beauty products this fall, alongside an expanded selection of items from brands like e.l.f. and Mario Badescu, per The Wall Street Journal. Old Navy’s beauty expansion is a bold bet, given the enormous number of brands already in the market and the increasing ranks of retailers hoping to benefit from resilient beauty demand.
The news: Direct-to-consumer (D2C) telehealth startup Remedy Meds is acquiring competitor Thirty Madison in an all-stock deal valued at over $500 million. Our take: By adding affordable weight-loss drugs to its men's and women's health treatments, the newly combined company will directly compete with Hims and Ro. However, their larger customer base will likely draw the attention of GLP-1 drug manufacturers like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Both pharma companies are actively trying to shut down the market for compounded weight-loss drugs. Transparent marketing and staying on top of potential regulatory changes to compounded GLP-1 allowance will be key to sustaining customer loyalty.
The trend: Nearly one-quarter of patients (24%) who are pleased with the quality of their recent medical care may still change doctors in the next 6 months, according to a new survey from Huron Consulting Group. Our take: People used to have limited options for healthcare and just went with whatever was in their insurance network. But things are changing, and providers can no longer bet on this. To compete with new tech-savvy healthcare companies, traditional clinics and health systems need to adapt. While they may not be able to match them completely, they should at least adopt some of the features that patients want.
The trend: Healthcare executives expect AI adoption to be the leading trend in the next two years and have high expectations for improvements in patient care, per a new survey from Sage Growth Partners. Sage surveyed 101 healthcare system and hospital C-suite executives during the second quarter about AI opportunities and investment plans. AI can help healthcare shift from reactive to proactive care by transforming the vast amount of data from health sensors into actionable insights. However, the key is to integrate this AI as a tool to support, not replace, a provider's judgment. AI predictive assessments and analytics add valuable information, but providers’ experience, critical thinking, and empathy are necessary not only for balanced diagnoses but also to maintain patients’ trust. A recent study in JAMA found that patients think physicians who use AI are less trustworthy, less competent, and less empathetic than those who didn’t. For now at least, AI use in healthcare is a significant perception hurdle requiring transparent disclosure and careful oversight.
The news: Florida state’s surgeon general and Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a ban of required immunizations such as measles, mumps, chickenpox, whooping cough, and polio. Our take: We can no longer rely on childhood immunizations as basic preventative care—as has been the case for the vast majority of people in the US for a long time. = Vaccine makers and healthcare providers need to actively promote vaccines, especially childhood vaccines. Their messaging and marketing will need to highlight the safety and benefits of vaccines. They should also take a page from the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and avoid talking down to people and issuing edicts, but instead adopt a non-judgmental tone and invite questions.
Black adults in the US spend 45.9% of their total TV time on streaming platforms—more than both cable (22.4%) and broadcast (21.8%) combined, according to July 2024 data from Nielsen.
The news: Even before the IFA 2025 show floor opens in Berlin, brands are flooding Europe’s CES with announcements pushing AI beyond PCs and phones into the smart home. Ambient intelligence promises proactive tech: Manufacturers unveiled ecosystems that link appliances, security, lighting, and entertainment—using “ambient intelligence” to replace voice and app commands with proactive, intuitive service. Our take: The race to ambient intelligence shows where innovation is headed—invisible systems that anticipate needs. But over-automation risks eroding consumer control and deepening dependence on walled gardens.
As the connected TV (CTV) market matures, new ad formats are giving brands tools to capture attention in cluttered streaming environments. India’s Smart TV OS CloudTV launched a 3D ad unit on Thursday across its OS-powered devices, with the goal of providing a premium user experience and outperforming traditional ad formats in attention capture. CTV is a critical investment for advertisers looking to capitalize on the shift to digital, and 3D ad formats’ innovative ability to engage fragmented viewers will become increasingly important as the market expands.
The news: Roblox will expand its age-checking procedures to all users by the end of the year, per a press release, building on its efforts to protect children online. Users will need to verify their age to access many features—including Party Voice and chat without filters—by submitting either a selfie or government-issued ID. Roblox will then analyze the selfie’s facial features to estimate the user’s age. The platform is rolling out new systems that limit communication between adults and minors unless they already know each other in real life. Our take: Roblox’s stricter age-verification policies stress the growing need to balance reach, compliance, and trust on youth-focused platforms. Marketers should prepare for smaller, more segmented audiences as age checks filter out unverified users and privacy-conscious adults. Long-term success may depend on building campaigns rooted in creativity and authentic value over hypertargeting.
The news: Atlassian—maker of Jira, Confluence, and Trello—willbuy Arc and Dia creator The Browser Company for $610 million in cash, per TechCrunch. The deal could transform Arc from a niche experiment into an Atlassian-owned gateway for enterprise work, much like how Chrome became a container for Google’s services. Our take: Chrome’s continued dominance could lead to a more concentrated browser market—pushing competitors to seek smaller niches to control. With over 300,000 customers worldwide, Atlassian has the reach to seed Arc across enterprises as the “work browser.” If it succeeds, the shift could pressure Chrome’s dominance, at least for business use, and signal a broader redefinition of browsers from neutral gateways to productivity ecosystems.
Cracker Barrel’s short-lived rebrand—and its rapid reversal—has quickly become a cautionary tale for heritage brands navigating change.
Resale platform Depop launched its biggest US marketing campaign to date as it looks to expand its audience beyond its core Gen Z user base and capitalize on surging demand for secondhand goods. Growing global demand for resale presents challenges and opportunities—both for marketplaces that trade in secondhand goods, like Depop and eBay, as well as for traditional retailers.
NBCUniversal has sold out all advertising inventory for Super Bowl 60 months earlier than expected, marking record demand for football advertising. Digital sales tied to the game are up 20% YoY as brands invest across NBC, Peacock, and Telemundo. Prices held at $7–8 million per 30-second spot, aligning with Fox’s 2024 benchmark. NBCU’s 2026 slate—which also includes the Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star, and FIFA World Cup—positions the company to capture significant share of sports ad budgets. With ROI on Super Bowl ads nearly doubling since 2020 and consumer enthusiasm rising, NBCU’s cross-platform dominance highlights live sports’ unmatched ad pull.
The news: Apple will reportedly launch an AI-enabled web search tool powered by Google’s Gemini, potentially accelerating long-awaited software improvements and helping Apple enter the AI search race, per Bloomberg. The “answer engine” would be integrated with Siri and could help Apple compete with OpenAI and Perplexity. The feature, internally called World Knowledge Answers, will aggregate information from across the web into AI Overviews-esque summaries. It may eventually be added to Safari and Spotlight. Our take: Apple’s pivot toward external AI partnerships highlights how unready it is to compete head-to-head in foundational AI or search. While a Gemini integration could improve Siri and add powerful search capabilities, it could threaten Apple’s core advantage: total control over the user experience.
Some 35% of US retail advertiser spending on Meta in Q2 2025 went to Advantage+ shopping campaigns, up from just 19% two years ago, per a July Tinuiti report.