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Gone are the days when marketers can think in five- or 10-year plans. These days, its about tomorrow, not the next 16 months, because culture and what captures consumers’ attention is changing faster than ever. Today, its Love Island and Traitors reality TV star Rob Rausch posing shirtless on a giant billboard in Times Square for MAC Cosmetics. And tomorrow, its Punch the Monkey holding on to his plush doll. (And if you know what were talking about, congrats, you are chronically online and in tune with the culture. If you dont, youve got some work to do, but thats why were here.) The state of brand building in 2026 looks vastly different than what any veteranor newmarketer remembers from even two years ago. Consumers have pulled back on purchases, with retail sales falling 0.2% in January, according to Commerce Department statistics. More consumers have mixed feelings about the economy than overall negativity, says global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. in its February research report. But consumers are still buying, whether it’s “little treat culture” or bigger luxury products at both retail shops and the grocery store. Its how we convince them as brands to keep buying with us thats changing. And thus, the state of brand marketing in 2026 is bornits fast, its weird, and honestly, at times, it makes no sense. But for those of you in the room making decisions on how to engage consumers, it could be the time of your life, as long as you keep your finger on the pulse and move quickly and intently with these principles in mind. KPIs are cringe: Instead, understand the data, but dont rely on it To be a responsible marketer, you need to understand any data a campaign or activation provides. But besides that, execute without key performance indicators, or KPIs, in mind. (To us, this term is cringe in 2026.) Its about gut calls, vibes, and how anything is going to make someone feel in order for them to buy with their heart, not their heads. Vibe marketing is resonating with consumerswe know, because some of us started that trend. At the organic infant formula company Bobbie, we led the first breastfeeding billboard in Times Square with cookbook author Molly Baz; we also empowered mothers to parent with confidence by naming artist Cardi B chief confidence officer. At Poppi, our Super Bowl campaign with Charli XCX and Rachel Sennott was all vibesit did not take itself too seriously, which is exactly how the company operatesleaning into top-of-funnel marketing moments for our highly captive audience of women and Gen Zers. All of this changes depending on your marketing budgets, of course. But reaching people doesnt always take a multimillion-dollar campaign. Its surprising and delighting your community with moments that were once exclusive to media and influencers; its engaging with your comments sections and turning those into campaign moments, or simply a touchpoint to send someone merch “just because.” Leaning into your community and who your consumers already are will help you develop the best messaging for your brand: Whats the story you want people to tell your brand when theyre talking to their friends, family, and neighbors? Say something, do something Culture isnt the only thing thats rapidly evolving. With escalating geopolitical and domestic issues, consumers are looking for their favorite brands to weigh in and stand by their values. Its important to stress that not every brand has to take a stance if its not in its DNA, and thats okay. However, many companies have always been purpose-driven. But its no longer enough to have a random web page with a vague statement. Consumers want to see companies put their money where their mouth is by donating or partaking in some sort of advocacy work. It doesnt always mean launching a new product or campaign with the hopes that someone purchases your product. At Bobbie, we just released our Paint the Hill Green docuseries, which shows our efforts to bring the Black Maternal Health Momnibus Act back to Congress. Our workalong with countless othershas resulted in the bill being reintroduced to Congress under this administration for the first time. We didnt just sign a petition or pledge to do something. We put in the time and work and brought our community along with us. For SolComms, our communications agency has advised countless brands on when they should enter a political conversation. We assess the risk and a brands right to win within a certain issue, and then we execute. For example, with August, the sustainable period care company, we helped them work to fight the tampon tax by refunding customers whove paid a sales tax on menstrual products. And for Blueland, the sustainable cleaning product brand, we assisted in introducing a bill in the New York City Council to ban the distribution and sale of plastic detergent pods and sheets in NYC. Both efforts were actionable and on-brand, and resonated strongly with their respective target audiences. Stay true to your customers Whether its social media, email, or even direct mail, consumers are being sold to at every single possible moment. And theyre over it. Theyll let a brand know if they dont believe in their product and post on social media to tell peoplewhere it can quickly take off and turn into a nightmare that no one saw coming. Instead of working on crisis communications, brands should stay true to who they are and what their products are about. Continue to make sure your products have the best quality. If youre marketing to a certain generation, stay the course, and theyll most likely stay with you. Drunk Elephant has become another example of this in practice. The company enjoyed an uptick in sales and awareness from Gen Alpha tweens who would stock up on the brands $79 serums and $66 moisturizers. The pivot to relying on this generation meant leaving behind older consumers. Tweens are fickle consumers, however, as theyre quick to chase whatever the latest trend might be. And soon Drunk Elephant was not at the top of their list. The companys sales dropped 65% year over year in the first quarter of 2025. In January, Drunk Elephant announced a new brand direction along with a Please Enjoy Responsibly campaign. At Poppi, we thought we had to gain more audience, so we signed a bunch of creators and influencers, and expanded our reach into sports because we wanted to reach more men. We didnt see any positive results from these initiatives, so we pivoted an found that talking to our female customers is how wed get to men. Its easy to get obsessed with other audiences and not your core audiences, in order to chase the shiny new generation. But the smarter strategy is to go deeper into your core audience. Its easier than ever to get distracted by the hundreds of signals we think we should be followingwhether its AI, community building, LinkedIn posts, flashy out-of-home advertisements, activations at every single major music festival, and the list goes on and on. But the brands that are capturing a consumers attentionand dollarsare the ones thinking about them, and only them, and what they want. Those are the brands receiving $2 billion exits, major retail exposure, and organic love from consumers; those are the companies well still be writing about 20 years from now, and that will eventually become the rare, coveted 100-year-legacy brand.
Category:
E-Commerce
My new favorite creator on TikTok is Apple. Yes, that Apple. On March 4, Apple launched its newest product, the head-turningly affordable $599 MacBook Neo. That same day, the company also deleted all of the content that once populated its TikTok page and started over. Its new videoson view there are now 15run the gamut from a clip inspired by Steve Jobss original introduction of the 1984 Macintosh to a cutesy animation of the Mac finder icon giggling and blushing. The videos have consistently debuted in batches of three, each corresponding to one of the brand colors associated with the Neo. This TikTok refresh is a clear play to cater to the audience that Apple knows is most interested in the Neo: Gen Z. The new laptop model, powered by the same architecture inside your iPhone, is targeting a younger user base with its unprecedentedly low price point and aesthetic color options, which tap into Gen Zs long-demonstrated obsession with retro-tech. So far, the new TikTok strategy seems to be working. Based on a Wayback Machine capture from February 28, Apple was sitting at 7 million followers and 21.9 million likes before the change; figures that have now jumped to 7.8 million and 31.6 million, respectively. Apple also recently debuted a secondary Instagram account called @helloapple, which will be dedicated to news, product marketing, and customer stories. This account has a decidedly more corporate feel than the brand’s TikTok, but demonstrates the company’s broader desire to expand its presence on socials. Apples new TikTok page works because it takes an amalgamation of trending aesthetics and blends them with Apples high design point of view, turning every silly video into a loopable work of art. Why Apple’s new TikTok is genius Plenty of brands have experimented with how to best capture Gen Z on TikTok, and Apples team has evidently taken notes out of multiple playbooks. The company is experimenting with everything from brain rot content to y2k nostalgia, ASMR, goofy branded songs, and creepy edits. Ordinarily, such a wide range of aesthetics might make a brand seem cringeworthy and pandering. For Apple, though, the meticulous creative execution of the launch ties everything together. Take, for example, one 14-second clip of a woman opening and swatching a pink blush, referencing the Blush-hued Neo. The concept is simple, but every detail of the video has been optimized to tap into Gen Zs love for y2k aestheticsfrom the models striped top and the pink shag rug to the custom blush container, featuring Apples logo, that appears to be an allusion to the colorful plastic shell of the 90s iMac G3 computer. This mash-up of nostalgiacore with a direct reference to a recognizable Apple product of the era makes the video feel authentic, not forced. The posts engagement reflects that: as of this writing, its notched more than 64 million views and nearly 35,000 comments, most of which are begging for Apple to bring back some of its beloved colorful hardware. In a similar vein, other clips cleverly pair Apples signature sonic design with eye-catching visuals, like a 3-second video of the sun rising to the Mac startup chime, or a juicy mash-up of citrus fruits choreographed to an edit of various notification sounds. The account is also testing some videos that brush into brain-rot territory, a social trend we’ve described as a form of digital marketing that embraces head-turning, often nonsensical choices, like fried visuals, abrasive design, and unsettling storylines. These include clips like a slightly unnerving compilation of people with their hands dyed blue (presumably as a reference to the Indigo Neo), a custom brand song dedicated to Apples fingerprint recognition software, and a silly clip of a lemon facetiming a lime (mimicking the colors of the Neos default background screen). While other brands like Duolingo, Nutter Butter, and Brita have taken similar brain-rot strategies to the extreme on their accounts, Apples twist on brain-rot demonstrates that it understands what makes this content resonatea combination of irreverence and unexpectednessyet also knows to keep its approach restrained and aesthetically pleasing, giving it a distinctly Apple feel. Its Steve Jobs-meets-brain-rot, in the best way possible.
Category:
E-Commerce
I was walking down the street with my partner in Londons Camden neighborhood on Wednesday night when we saw an ad that said, This app was designed to keep you hooked. A finger could be seen tapping Instagrams app icon above a claim reading, 45% of teens say they spend too much time on social media. In theory, this was all straightforward messaging, but the ads final note in the corner threw us: From Meta, logo and all. We turned to each other in confusion, trying to make sense of it. The ad looked so professionally designed that we wondered, could Meta Platforms, a company that has repeatedly denied responsibility for its users mental health, be advertising it? [Photos: Mad Youth Organise] No. In short, Instagram and Facebooks parent company has done nothing of the sort. Instead, the ad is from Just Treatment, a U.K.-based health justice group started in 2017. The organizations latest campaign is Mad Youth Organise, a push to improve accessible, quality mental health care for young people. The ad we saw was one of eight that activists have plastered guerrilla-style across London, Just Treatment told Fast Company. A similar design to the one we saw features a photo of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg smiling. If you feel worse, its working, it says. Other ads are plastered with statements such as Our anxiety is exploited by Meta and Were more lonely with Meta. Each includes a statistic to back up these claims. The campaign launched Wednesday and included a group of young people blocking Metas London office with another ad that bluntly stated: The youth mental health crisis, sponsored by Meta. The individuals involved in the protest believe social media has pushed them into mental health crisis, according to Mad Youth Organise. Young activists whove lived with adverse mental health have run and designed the entire campaign, Just Treatment says. Alongside Meta, Mad Youth Organise has also targeted TikTok. One sign reads, Eating disorders start on TikTok, while another says, Misery starts on TikTok. Both also cite a statistic claiming 46% of teens feel social media makes them have a worse body image. Fast Company has reached out to Meta and TikTok for comment. We will update this post if we hear back. What does the Mad Youth Organise campaign want? Mad Youth Organise is pushing for a Big Tech Tax, a 4% tax on tech companies earning over 500 million ($663 million) globally. The money raised would be put toward funding youth mental health services. Its also insisting that Big Techs social media monopoly be severed, among other demands. How bad is social media for young people? Its no secret that social media has been shown to cause adverse effects. A high-profile social media trial in the U.S. held closing arguments on Thursday: TikTok, Meta, YouTube, and Snap have been accused of knowingly designing products that are both addictive and harmful to young peoples mental health. These social media companies have all taken the same approach to these accusations: Deny. Deny. Deny. TikTok and Snap previously settled with the plaintiff, identified only by her initials KGM. She claims that early social media use made her addicted to technology and exacerbated her depression and suicidal thoughts. However, this is the first of a consolidated group of cases for over 1,600 plaintiffs, including families and school districts. Research has consistently found evidence of social medias harm to young peoples mental health. A 2025 survey from Pew Research found that 48% of U.S. teens aged 13 to 17 believe social media sites have a mostly negative effect on their age group. This figure is a significant jump from the 32% who felt the same in a 2022 survey. Participants also listed social media as the most negative influence on teen mental health (22%), higher than bullying (17%), pressure and expectations (16%) and school (5%). Young Minds, a U.K.-based charity for young peoples mental health, reports that 34% of young people feel trapped on social media sites. Meanwhile, 22% report receiving distressing content on social media at least weekly.
Category:
E-Commerce
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