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In August 2024, a customer's social media post about her mother's 25-year-old dress caught the attention of millions. Now, Japanese fashion brand Felissimo is once again selling the iconic garment. The reproduction, described as exemplifying 'Heisei elegance,' is being released as part of the company's 60th-anniversary celebrations.

The idea was sparked when Nao Masunaga shared that she treasures and wears her mother's Felissimo shirt dress from the 1990s. The post and its intergenerational story caught the attention of the brand's planners, who worked with pattern makers to recreate the dress. While maintaining the original design's essence, they updated it by replacing the original lining with a separate slip better suited to today's hotter climate.

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An inflation-driven market is making brand loyalty increasingly elusive, but the Felissimo dress exemplifies how emotional connections can transcend purely transactional relationships. By responding directly to a customer's social media post and collaborating with her on details like color names ('misty morning gray' and 'dewy sky blue'), Felissimo demonstrates that empathy throughout the customer journey — even decades after an initial purchase — can bolster allegiance. Could your brand similarly leverage heritage, family stories and emotional bonds?

Long queues outside stores. Topping US app charts. No, it’s not a new iPhone or sneaker drop — it’s Pop Mart, the Chinese collectible toy brand now valued at USD 34 billion — more than the makers of Barbie, Hello Kitty and Transformers combined. That’s a global takeover fueled by blind boxes, toothy dolls and a fiercely loyal fanbase.

From Rihanna’s bag charms to Selfridges’ vending machines, Labubus is everywhere. Labu-what? The furry, snaggle-toothed figurine first caught fire after Lisa from BLACKPINK (aka Mook from White Lotus) showed hers off on Instagram. Pop Mart’s latest major drop, Labubu 3.0, triggered long lines, resale frenzies and added USD 1.6 billion to its CEO’s net worth — in just one day.


Collectibles aren’t new. So what’s fueling the frenzy?

🫳 Physical, not digital. From blind boxes to magazines, the act of buying, unboxing and displaying is the point. In an era of endless screens, tactile matters again.

👜 Luxury-adjacent, not kiddie-core. Pop Mart lives in the kidult zone: nostalgia meets high design. Think Pokémon meets Bottega. Custom outfits, rare drops and aesthetic cred drive demand.

👯‍♂️ Communal, not commercial. Collecting Labubus isn’t just shopping — it’s signaling. It’s membership. From themed runs to resale platforms, it’s a decentralized fandom with a shared language of cute and cool.


Collectibles are the new coupons!

But instead of discounts, they offer identity, community and cultural currency. They’re memories. Badges. Stories. Objects that live online and IRL. In an age of fragmented fandom, ask yourself: which elements of your brand can people latch onto, both physically and emotionally? How might your products or campaigns earn a place in someone’s personal narrative?

Pop Mart isn’t just making toys. It’s building a fandom-led world. And in 2025, the most magnetic brands aren’t selling products — they’re selling belonging in a box.

GoodNews recently accepted an unconventional yet decidedly human form of currency: gossip. At one of its Spanish stores, customers were offered free beverages in exchange for a bit of (over) sharing. Coffee for a rumor, matcha for a bit of gossip, and a coffee and cookie for anyone willing to divulge a personal secret.

Gossip-for-beverages joins other initiatives the brand has playfully implemented to foster real-world social interaction at its locations in Barcelona, Paris, Madrid and Amsterdam. Earlier this year, for example, GoodNews launched a local book club, offered free drinks for joining a barista-led conga line and handed out drinks to customers who could get the next person in line to laugh at a joke they told.

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The Spanish chain is tapping into a growing cultural pushback against digital perfection and algorithmic interactions. As AI-generated content saturates social media feeds, consumers increasingly seek authentic, messy human connections, and GoodNews appears to be positioning itself as a physical space for genuine human exchange. With digital fatigue setting in across demographics, brands can make their mark by sparking moments of emotional authenticity and unfiltered human connection.

Beer brand Stella Artois is inviting travelers to view a delayed flight as an opportunity for an unexpected breather. Developed by GUT Miami, the "A Delay Worth More" campaign draws on the fact that approximately 30,000 flights are delayed globally every day, affecting around 6 million travelers.

Rather than commiserating with stranded passengers, Stella's approach celebrates these moments of limbo, of time both lost and found. The brand created an algorithm that feeds real-time flight data into digital airport billboards, generating context-aware messages like "The 4:15 PM flight to Toronto is fortunately delayed" alongside imagery of a perfectly poured Stella Artois.

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The campaign reframes what's typically a source of traveler annoyance and anxiety into an opportunity to savor a premium beer. By offering that perspective shift, Stella positions airport delays as serendipitous moments for reflection and enjoyment — all while driving footfall to airport bars.

Stella Artois is tapping into people's growing appreciation (and desire) for unstructured, spontaneous moments. The brand is encouraging travelers to reclaim the 'wasted' time of flight disruptions as a gift: an unplanned invitation to slow down and find a moment of pleasure.

Britain's National Trust recently partnered with Nowadays On Earth and Pitch Studios to present Glitch, an augmented reality platform aiming to bring blossom trees to younger and more diverse audiences. By merging technology with ecological education in an immersive digital experience, the collaboration offers a new way for London residents to connect with nature.

Using AI, machine learning and LIDAR technology, Glitch allows users to visualize five different species of blossom trees in their local environment through their smartphones. The platform features cherry, plum, damson, apple and hawthorn trees, all native to Britain. Through a conversational interface with a 'cyberbug' guide, users answer questions about their neighborhood before generating and virtually placing trees in areas they believe need revitalizing.

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The collaboration addresses multiple converging challenges: declining biodiversity in urban spaces, limited access to green areas in cities, and the need to engage younger generations in conservation efforts. By adding a layer of play to the experience of learning about native flora, the National Trust and Glitch are creating an accessible entry point to gardening and environmental stewardship. As Nowadays On Earth points out, "If we're going to face the polycrisis head-on, we need more than urgency — we need imagination and tools that invite people to grow another world."

In what seems to be a world's first in sports marketing, ASICS has signed Felix the Samoyed as an official brand ambassador, acknowledging the role of dogs as exercise influencers. Felix, who has 1.2 million Instagram followers, will "champion his love of walks, runs and even zoomies." The move is backed by research showing that 65% of dog owners cite their pets as their primary motivation to get moving, surpassing the influence of family members, celebrities and personal trainers.

Additionally, ASICS' survey of 28,000 people across 14 markets revealed that dog owners are 31% more likely to meet recommended physical activity guidelines. They also boast mental wellbeing metrics that are 18% higher than those of non-dog owners. Professor Brendon Stubbs of King's College London, who analyzed the research, notes that dog owners average 210 minutes of exercise weekly, with 81% reporting that moving with their canine companion improves their mental wellbeing.

Beyond Felix's appointment, ASICS is inviting dog owners to nominate their own pets for a chance to become official 'Mind's Best Friend Ambassadors.' The brand is also leveraging the campaign for social impact; each post shared with #MindsBestFriend before 12 July 2025 will raise funds for mental health organizations, including Mind in the UK, Mind Us in the Netherlands and NAMI in the US.

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ASICS is recognizing something millions already know: dogs aren't just companions — they're facilitators of healthier lives. As consumers seek holistic wellness routines, dogs are a natural fit, innately combining movement and mood support.

Mind's Best Friend also builds on the trend of brands using virtual or non-human personalities (from animals to AI-generated characters like Imma and Lil Miquela) to sidestep influencer fatigue. Felix the Samoyed offers both algorithmic appeal and a dog's unfiltered joy and authenticity.

Newly launched, Philips' Fixables initiative addresses the limited repair options available to consumers. Rather than requiring customers to go through the hassle of sending products back for servicing, Philips is offering open access to 3D-printable replacement parts for select personal health products. The premise? If buying a replacement takes just one click, repairing a product someone already owns shouldn't be much harder.

Fixables is the result of a collaboration with 3D printer manufacturer Prusa Research and creative agencies LePub Amsterdam and LePub Milan. Philips sees the project as part of its wider circular business strategy, and as a response to people's growing frustration with electronic waste and throwaway culture.

At the core of Fixables is a digital library of 3D-printable parts. Users can download and print parts at home or through certified partners. The pilot kicked off in Czechia, with global access via Printables, an online platform for 3D printing owned by Prusa. Just one part is available at time of launch (a replacement comb for a beard trimmer), but additional parts will be added over time.

Since early April, it’s been tariff turbulence. But now? A 90-day truce. The US and China just agreed to dial back duties, with US tariffs on Chinese goods dropping from 145% to 30%, and China cutting duties on US imports from 125% to 10%. For now...

As prices surge and profit margins tighten, brands are turning tariffs into marketing moments — from pre-tariff flash sales to tariff price labeling. According to ThredUp, 59% of US shoppers are turning to more affordable options — like secondhand fashion — in response to Trumps' chaos economy. That number jumps to 66% among Gen Z.

Meanwhile, ‘buying local’ is taking center stage. Consumers' desire for locally-made products has evolved from a niche preference to an economic and political statement. Escalating trade tensions mean that the appeal of ‘local’ extends beyond authenticity, with provenance becoming a way for consumers to express both political values and cultural identity.

For brands, this shift necessitates a rethink of heritage and supply chain stories in ways that build economic resilience while appealing to increasingly discerning buyers. How will you cater to consumers who leverage their purchasing power as an expression of solidarity and defiance?

According to EY’s March 2025 Future Consumer Index, based on 20,000+ consumers across 26 countries, brand recognition alone no longer cuts it.

🚨 The loyalty lag
In a climate of shrinking wallets and endless choices, loyalty has become a luxury:

→ 88% say brand messaging doesn’t reflect their needs or values
→ 36% no longer factor brands into their purchase decisions
→ 54% only buy branded products if they’re discounted
→ 67% say private labels meet their needs just as well
→ 36% of those who’ve switched to private labels don’t plan to go back

⚡ Relevance > recognition
Consumers aren’t abandoning brands, they’re reprioritizing. What matters now is relevance, reliability and real value:

→ 48% would return if quality, taste or performance improves
→ 42% are skeptical of innovations that feel like shortcuts
→ 68% expect brands to take meaningful action on sustainability

🔍 What now?
This isn’t a loyalty collapse — it’s a relevance reset. To stay in the game, brands must shift from storytelling to signaling clarity. Prove your worth through visible quality, transparent pricing and sustainability with substance. Don’t just say your brand is better – prove it, consistently and clearly. In a market shaped by abundance and anxiety, the brands that solve real problems, deliver real value and stay in sync with shifting expectations are the ones consumers will return to.

According to new global research by Heineken, surveying over 17,000 people across nine* countries, adults now spend an average of 5 hours and 48 minutes a day on their devices. Behind the screen:

📈 59% say their phone use has increased over the past year
📉 Time spent socializing IRL has dropped 35% over the past 24 years
🔋 51% say their social battery is drained by online communication, rising to 62% among Gen Z
😔 62% admit they sometimes feel lonely, despite being constantly connected, 75% among Gen Z
📵 64% wish they could go back to a time when people socialized without smartphones

Aiming to grant that wish, Heineken launched its new campaign — Get Social, Off Socials — with an IRL event in New York City headlined by Joe Jonas. The activation dramatized what happens when people step away from social platforms: their social feeds go quiet, but their social lives light up.

The campaign also features creators like Dude With Sign, Lil Cherry and Paul Olima, turning the irony of empty feeds into a rallying cry for presence over posting. It builds on Heineken's long-term commitment to fostering offline connection — including its Boring Phone, Forgotten Beers campaign and a GBP 39M investment to revive 62 pubs in the UK.

💡 As screen fatigue deepens and IRL nostalgia rises, brands that help people disconnect digitally and reconnect meaningfully will tap into a powerful emotional and social undercurrent — and perhaps usher in a new kind of social capital.

* 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇸🇻🇳🇿🇦🇧🇷🇩🇪🇮🇳🇦🇪

Having trudged through years of burnout and work-centered identities, millennials are now diving headfirst into leisure pursuits with unprecedented intensity. In an essay published earlier this month, writer Anne Helen Petersen identified this phenomenon as 'Millennial Hobby Energy' — characterized by ambitious expansion, resistance to monetization and a distinctive aesthetic sensibility that transforms simple pastimes into branded experiences.

Petersen traces this pattern to millennials' formative experiences, where activities were valued primarily as achievements or resume builders rather than sources of joy. Now in their thirties and forties, many are rediscovering hobbies only to find themselves unable to approach them casually. From growing 500 dahlias instead of four to transforming a couch-to-5K program into marathon training, millennials tend to make their hobbies "big and ambitious," while simultaneously fighting the internalized pressure to monetize. The result is a contradictory relationship with leisure — one that's both liberating and exhausting.

While hobbyists have existed across generations, the millennial iteration reflects the unique pressures of life in the 2020s. As Petersen explains, millennials pursue their passions "under the long, lingering shadow of Covid, amidst the rise of local and global fascism, dependent upon yet resentful of digital technologies," alongside financial precarity and climate anxiety. This context transforms hobbies from simple pastimes into emotional lifelines — activities that make life "feel large" in an era characterized by uncertainty and constraint.

For brands, understanding this relationship provides insight into how leisure activities function as counterbalances to modern stressors. If emotional benefits — calm, flow, wonder, mastery — are now the core product, which fresh avenues does that open up for your brand? How will you adapt your storytelling, customer service and community engagement?

Across Europe and the US, 79% of workers are clocking serious unpaid overtime — logging the equivalent of two full extra workdays every week. That’s over two months of free labor per year. 😵‍💫 In the US, workers average 60 hours of unpaid overtime per month, followed by the UK (40 hours) and Germany (31 hours).

Why? Because 84% say they feel pressure to work overtime — and 72% say it’s only worsened since the pandemic. Always-on devices, blurred work-life boundaries, and an ingrained hustle culture have made clocking off feel like a rebellious act.

🥥 Enter Malibu, teaming up with Succession star Brian Cox (TV’s most infamous workaholic) in a surprising turn as the poster man for logging off. In the brand’s latest Do Whatever Tastes Good campaign, Cox trades boardroom barks for roller skates and a pink blazer — skating away at exactly 17:01 to celebrate the radical joy of finishing work on time. This follows Cox’s collaboration with ASICS promoting 15-minute breaks to combat desk-bound burnout.

To drive the message home, Malibu unveiled a ‘Clock Off Fountain’ in London, where overworked pedestrians could toss their phones (safely sealed) into the water, freeing themselves from after-hours messages in exchange for a Malibu Piña Colada. 🍹💧

🛼 This campaign isn’t just cheeky fun — it hits a cultural nerve. With Gen Z logging the most after-hours comms and unpaid hours, brands that position themselves as advocates for leisure, laughter and life beyond the inbox will win hearts and hours.

Samsung New Zealand has partnered with online content filtering platform Safe Surfer and the Auckland Normal Intermediate School on The Worst Children’s Library, a pop-up experience showcasing the harmful online content children face daily. During the first weekend of April 2025, the Auckland Normal Intermediate School library’s collection of regular books was replaced with over 1,000 fictional titles representing real digital threats — think self-harm, hate speech, toxic beauty standards and more. The topics were curated based on global legal, academic and media data of actual harmful content kids have experienced online.

The exhibition, attended by parents, teachers, and government officials, aimed to bridge the awareness gap between adults and the digital experiences children face daily. It also spotlighted the partnership between Samsung New Zealand and Safe Surfer, which last year launched a Kid-Safe Smartphone with built-in safety features and content filtering to protect children online.

Online safety for children is receiving renewed attention, driven partly by the viral success of Netflix’s Adolescence, which has sparked conversations about the deeper effects of always-connected lifestyles. With a smartphone in every pocket, it’s harder for kids to escape exposure to harmful content or peer bullying. And often, they stay silent while parents struggle to grasp the digital world their children inhabit — leaving a dangerous communication gap that limits adults’ ability to intervene.

What role can your brand play in protecting young people online? Can you help parents better understand their children’s digital lives, or empower kids and teens with the tools they need to safely navigate today’s hyper-connected world?

Once a Saturday ritual on the high street, shopping has shape-shifted into a 24/7 digital drip — from TikTok hauls to Roblox skins to one-click Amazon finds. But in the shift from discovery to delivery, something got lost: the spark. ✨

Criteo’s latest report — The Spark of Discovery: Reigniting the Emotion of E-Commerce — dives into this exact tension. Surveying 6,000 consumers and 600 brand leaders across the UK, US, France, Germany, Japan and South Korea, it maps out the new mood in retail:

🛍️ In-store still satisfies: 40% of shoppers prefer IRL experiences, with sensory appeal (71%) and practicality (64%) topping the list of reasons why.

📦 E-com: All speed, no spark? 54% want joy from online shopping, but 76% say the experience lacks surprise or delight. Also, 79% find it lonely, 78% overwhelming and 29% say it feels like a chore. Still, efficiency (63%) and convenience (61%) keep it relevant.

🛒 Impulse still hits: 50% of consumers make unplanned purchases, mostly in-store (36% vs. 13%) – #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt numbers excluded? 🧐 Anyways, 36% say the unexpected find is missing online and 49% feel most satisfied when they stumble across something unplanned.

With 61% of brands saying discovery is the biggest barrier to engagement, emotion is the missing layer. So, how can digital touchpoints recapture the magic of the unplanned and unforgettable?

🕹️ Enter at unexpected moments: Walmart meets shoppers where they already are, like Minecraft Discords. It’s not a storefront; it’s a fandom touchpoint.

🧠 Use AI for emotional design: Google’s new AI tools let users describe a vibe and get matched with curated beauty and fashion items — less scroll fatigue, more creative spark.

🏬 Reimagine retail as experience: If joy can’t be scaled digitally, bring it to life physically — like H&M’s Berlin portrait pop-up celebrating self-expression, or Glossier’s perfume launch, featuring AI-generated poetry and an immersive confetti cloud.

Following its premiere last week, A Minecraft Movie has quickly become a box-office hit. It earned USD 313 million globally in its opening weekend, making it the biggest debut of the year so far, and the highest-grossing opening weekend in US history for a video game adaptation. Its success is especially notable against recent high-profile disappointments such as Captain America: Brave New World and Disney’s live-action Snow White.

Minecraft is massive — it has 300 million copies sold and over 140 million monthly players — and the film's strong performance is driven by the original IP's immense fanbase. At a glance, the film’s popularity reflects a familiar truth: give consumers what they love, and they’ll show up. But in a landscape where studios keep churning out franchises and reboots that regularly flop, Minecraft’s success underscores a crucial gap between executive decisions and genuine consumer preferences. It’s a timely reminder for brands in every industry: how well do you understand your audience, and how many of your initiatives are truly consumer-centric?

On a deeper level, the movie illustrates how culture continues to drive commerce. Tapping into a beloved IP can unlock immediate engagement, but only when handled with authenticity. A Minecraft Movie is packed with easter eggs and deep-cut references — from ‘chicken jockeys’ (a rare in-game NPC) to the fan-favorite ‘yearn for the mines’ phrase. These moments, delivered with gusto by Jack Black, have gone viral and inspired enthusiastic audience response, transforming the film into more than entertainment — it has become a cultural moment.

At a time when media consumption is deeply fragmented, cheering in unison with a theater full of strangers over an inside joke becomes something rare. It invites consumers into a shared, communal experience and extends a sense of belonging. The memes might move on, but the lesson stands. What shared cultural moment could your brand spark? And when the next one comes around, will your brand be ready to join the conversation?