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Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be.Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill.This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash already hit much of the East. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C. residents walked around in shorts in record-breaking 86 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 Celsius). On Thursday, it snowed.“All of the country, even if you’re not necessarily seeing extremes, are going to see generally changing from cold to warm, or warm to cold to warm,” said meteorologist Marc Chenard of the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.Former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue said he expects extreme weather in all 50 states. Triple-digit heat persists in Southwest A heat dome will form early next week and park over the Southwest, baking temperatures to triple digits that haven’t been seen this early in the year, Maue and Chenard said.Some forecasts see 98 (almost 37 Celsius) in Phoenix on Tuesday, followed by 103, 105 and two days of 107 (almost 42 C). In 137 years of record-keeping, Phoenix never hit 100 before March 26 and usually hit its first 100-degree day in early May, according to the weather service, which warned people: “Since we are not acclimated to this level of heat this early in the year, it will be more impactful than usual.”It has already started in Los Angeles with unusual 90-degree March weather that had people in shorts and tank tops seeking shade anywhere they could get it, even if it was as slender as a light post.Shane Dixon, 40, usually runs about 5 miles near his home in Culver City without much effort, he said, his face glistening with sweat and his T-shirt tucked into his shorts. But Thursday was hard because of the heat, and he had to cut it short.“The back of my neck was melting,” he said. But he preferred it to the cold and snow that will hit elsewhere.“I could go literally soak myself and walk out in the sun and I’ll make it home fine. If it was freezing cold I could not do this,” he said. Single-digit cold invades North Around the same time as the heat starts blasting Phoenix, the polar vortex a system that usually keeps frigid air penned up near the North Pole is forecast to send its chill deep into the Midwest and East, even bordering some of the Southeast, Maue saidMinneapolis will hover around zero for a low, and Chicago will be in the single digits Tuesday. The next day “temperatures in the teens and 20s in the northeast and 20s in the Mid-Atlantic,” Maue said. Even Atlanta could drop to the 20s. One-two snowstorm punch Two storm systems in a row one Friday, then another Sunday into Monday will chug along the country’s northern tier and Great Lakes and between them could dump 3 to 4 feet of snow in places, Maue said.That bigger second storm system will see its barometric pressure drop so quickly and sharply meaning it is intensifying and winds are strengthening that it will qualify as a bomb cyclone, which is quite unusual to develop over land. Normally bomb cyclones get their energy from warm ocean waters, but this one will draw power from the polar vortex. Even Alaska and Hawaii aren’t quite right Maue said Hawaii is getting an atmospheric river that will have such persistent heavy rain that flooding will be a major issue. Oahu is under a flash flood warning.And Alaska is normally frigid now, but it will be about 30 degrees colder than usual, he said.It is “the time of year where we can see stuff like this,” Chenard said. “But this does seem even anomalous from what you would typically see. I mean, some of these areas will be setting records. Record-high temperatures for March and maybe multiple times.”In the past week or so, tornadoes have killed at least eight people in Oklahoma, Michiganand Indiana. The forecast for severe storms doesn’t look as big or widespread for the next week, but dangerous thunderstorms could pop up “anywhere from the Mississippi Valley toward the East Coast” on Sunday or Monday, Chenard said. The jet stream goes nuts Underlying this is a jet stream gone wild, Maue and Chenard said.The jet stream is the river of air that moves weather from west to east on a roller-coaster-like path. Usually the plunges are as mild as a kiddie roller coaster. But now that jet stream is going on near-vertical, scream-inducing drops following by straight-up ascents.“Which means you get a lot of extremes next to each other,” Maue said. Storm fronts coming from the Pacific hit that high pressure heat dome in the Southwest and are pushed north to climb that mountainous jet stream peak, “grab access to that cold air reservoir up there” and bring it back down south down the other side of the hill, he said.Numerous studies have connected unusual jet stream and polar vortex activity to shrinking Arctic sea ice and human-caused climate change.But there is hope.“The first day of spring is 20th (of March), and then after that we get recovery,” Maue said. Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda contributed. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer
Category:
E-Commerce
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
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