The news: Mastercard and Visa reported strong revenue growth in their most recent quarters. Visa’s net revenues rose 14% YoY in its fiscal year Q3 (ended June 30, 2025). Mastercard’s net revenues for the period rose 17% YoY. Our take: Both Visa and Mastercard understand that they need to innovate to keep their infrastructure competitive in light of the explosion of alternative payment rails—most recently stablecoin initiatives, made possible by the recent passage of the Genius Act.
The news: PayPal posted net revenue growth of 5% YoY at $8.3 billion due to strong performances of Venmo, its debit card, and Braintree, per its earnings report. Our take: PayPal is leaning into its branded experience and tech innovations to power its way through 2025.
The news: JPMorgan Chase is reportedly in late-stage talks to take over the Apple Card portfolio from Goldman Sachs, per The Wall Street Journal. Our take: Apple needs a stable financial partner after a rough road with Goldman Sachs’ regulatory scrutiny and failed experiment with consumer banking.
Amazon shrugged off tariff concerns in its Q2 earnings report, after reporting growth ahead of expectations. But the retailer’s Q3 forecast was murky, suggesting that while consumer demand remains resilient, uncertainty from tariffs and trade policy—along with extensive investments in AI—could weigh heavily on its bottom line. Amazon’s strong quarter and Q3 sales guidance help dispel some fears about the health of the consumer. But its decision to once again offer an unusually broad profit range for the next quarter shows considerable uncertainty about the impact the Trump administration’s trade policies will have on retailers’ costs.
The news: Last week, credit unions and their customers participated in the annual #ILoveMyCreditUnion social media campaign, per America’s Credit Unions. During last year’s campaign, over 1,000 organizations across all states and 15 countries reached more than 4 million people. Our take: The industrywide social media blitz underscores the importance of collective action and unified messaging. In a competitive landscape where individual credit unions often lack the marketing budgets of large banks, coming together for a coordinated campaign can amplify their reach exponentially. This collaborative spirit is a core differentiator for credit unions, helping them demonstrate their unique, member-centric value proposition to millions of potential new members.
Meta’s Q2 2025 earnings showed the company thriving despite softening engagement in mature markets. Revenue surged 22% YoY to $47.52 billion, largely driven by better ad pricing, AI-optimized performance tools, and growing monetization via WhatsApp. Although user growth was modest, Meta demonstrated strong pricing power—especially in North America and Europe—and continues to see big potential in Asia-Pacific. Operating margins remained healthy at 43%, even with record AI investments. As Meta extracts more value per user and expands monetization across platforms, its performance proves that engagement isn’t the only growth lever—it’s how well each session gets monetized.
The news: The UK’s Online Safety Act triggered an immediate surge in virtual private network (VPN) downloads, reflecting public resistance to mandatory age checks, per Wired. Proton VPN reported a 1,400% spike in UK sign-ups after the law took effect, per PCMag, and NordVPN saw purchases jump 1,000%. Our take: Age-check laws, though designed to protect minors, are reshaping how all users interact with content—and how marketers can access these users. VPN adoption is both a privacy signal and a marketing blind spot. Brands that respect digital autonomy while adapting strategy will be best positioned to reach—and keep—their audience.
The trend: Inflation ticked higher in June as the impact of tariffs began to reach consumers. The personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index—the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge—rose 2.6% YoY, slightly above the 2.5% analysts expected and up from 2.4% in May, marking the highest level since February. On a monthly basis, it climbed 0.3%, in line with forecasts. Core PCE, which excludes volatile food and energy items, increased 2.8% YoY, ahead of the 2.7% analysts expected, and 0.3% MoM, in line with expectations. Our take: Inflation remains the top economic concern for US consumers and pressure is building. Companies ranging from Procter & Gamble and Kraft Heinz to Mattel, Stanley Black & Decker, and Walmart have all signaled plans to raise prices. With many households already tightening their budgets, even modest hikes could spur further pullbacks in spending, making an already tough retail environment even harder to navigate.
Microsoft reported $76.4 billion in Q2 revenue, up 18% YoY, as cloud infrastructure, productivity software, and embedded AI drove strong performance. Microsoft Cloud grew 27% to $46.7 billion, and Azure's annual run rate surpassed $75 billion, overtaking Google Cloud. Enterprise adoption of tools like Dynamics 365 continues to rise, reinforcing Microsoft’s role in AI-powered operations. Following the report, Microsoft’s market cap crossed $4 trillion. The company plans to spend $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to expand its AI infrastructure, while showing capital discipline. Microsoft is positioning itself as the foundational enterprise platform for the AI era.
Consumer goods giants Kraft Heinz and Unilever are moving to stimulate demand in a challenging sales climate by increasing marketing spending on their most popular products. Both companies are betting on marketing to spur demand and improve brand equity in a slower-growth climate. But the question is whether stepped-up marketing will be enough to overcome rising consumer caution, particularly in categories like snacks and personal care, where purchases are more discretionary in a tariff-driven environment. Increased investments in promotions could pressure margins in coming quarters.
The news: Best Buy is testing a store-within-a-store concept with Ikea, aimed at helping customers more seamlessly integrate its appliances into Ikea-designed kitchens and laundry rooms. This marks the first time the Swedish retailer has offered services and products within another US retailer. Our take: Pairing two well-known, purpose-driven brands around a shared customer use case—home design and functionality—is a smart play. The in-person branded experience should provide value to shoppers and offer a win-win path to renewed relevance and growth for both companies.
The news: CVS’s Q2 earnings topped estimates, buoyed by solid performance in its retail pharmacy segment and signs that its health insurance division is finally turning things around. Our take: CVS may not be thriving compared with earlier in the decade, but it’s in a good position relative to most of its rivals. That’s largely because of its diversified footprint across healthcare (pharmacy, insurance, PBM) that prevents the company from being overexposed in one struggling sector. CVS’ ongoing company turnaround could be a good sign for the similarly structured UnitedHealth, DOJ investigations notwithstanding.
The news: More than 60 healthcare and technology players, including Amazon, Apple, Google, UnitedHealth Group, and OpenAI, signed a voluntary pledge put forth by the Trump administration to make it easier for consumers to access their medical data. Our take: It’s not the first time that industry players have pledged to improve health data sharing—but we haven’t seen enough progress due to a lack of accountability or enforcement. Many consumers also likely have concerns about how tech companies will use and protect their personal information.
The trend: Older consumers pick up their prescription medicines in person more often, while Gen Z looks to buy Rx drugs online, per M3 MI’s Consumer Health Study of over 20,000 US adults. The takeaway: Drugmakers can lean into tailored marketing efforts that match age demographics and retail preferences. Amazon Pharmacy doesn’t take ads, but pharma companies can show young people getting Amazon Rx deliveries. On the flip side, feature older actors or promote vaccine messages via retail media in grocery stores.
The news: Edison Research’s Q2 2025 “Share of Ear” report revealed key trends in ad-supported audio and what channels are winning. The conclusion? Radio is still dominating in time spent across age groups—and while podcasts are gaining ground, the shift is slow. Our take: Strategies that focus solely on podcasts at the expense of radio will fail to capitalize on the full potential of ad-supported audio. Brands that combine radio’s enduring reach while accounting for podcasts’ ability to engage and drive action will unlock the best outcomes.
The news: Figma’s high-profile IPO—valued at $19.3 billion—lands it squarely in the league of top-tier software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms and indicates renewed competition in cloud-based tools that agencies rely on for their campaigns. Our take: Instead of being subsumed by Adobe, Figma is now free to chart its own course. Going public gives it the independence to scale, expand its ecosystem, and challenge incumbents directly. For advertisers, Figma remaining independent gives agencies added choice. As creative tools compete for market share, expect faster innovation, more flexible pricing, and features tuned for digital-first campaigns.
The news: Microsoft’s latest earnings reflect more than just a Wall Street beat—they signal a deeper shift in how enterprises are adopting productivity software, cloud infrastructure, and embedded AI to run their businesses. It reported $76.4 billion in revenues, up 18% YoY. Microsoft Cloud made up $46.7 billion of those revenues, up 27% YoY, as cloud demand remains strong across all workloads. Our take: With strong recurring revenue, expanding AI use cases, and leadership across productivity and cloud, Microsoft is increasingly well-insulated from macroeconomic headwinds and well positioned to shape the future of work and software.
The news: More than half (51%) of customer service journeys start on search engines and third-party platforms like Google, YouTube, Reddit, and ChatGPT—rather than company websites—prompting businesses to meet customers where they are, per a recent Gartner survey. Our take: Brands need to research and identify the platforms their customers rely on and establish fast, responsive service on those channels. The goal isn’t to pull users back to official websites—it’s to meet them where they already are, with the answers they need, when they need them. Using generative engine optimization (GEO) best practices to boost customer service answers in genAI outputs could help younger consumers get digestible, fast answers in their preferred channel.
50% of US smartphone owners said they’re not willing to pay extra for AI features on their phones, up from 45% in September 2024, according to a May CNET survey.