Ralph Lauren posted higher-than-expected quarterly results and raised its full-year revenue outlook, though it warned that tariffs could pressure consumer spending in the second half. Amid economic uncertainty, Ralph Lauren’s performance highlights the resilience of brands that sit at the intersection of aspiration and accessibility. The company appears better positioned than some of its luxury peers to weather volatility. Its quarterly results offer a blueprint for its retail peers, showing the value of a diversified supply chain and brand equity over aggressive discounting and heavy dependence on a single market.
The news: President Donald Trump said he will enact 100% tariffs on all chips imported into the US, exempting companies that have promised to build or have begun building in the US. The plan was announced during a White House meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook, who said Apple will invest another $100 billion in US manufacturing and jobs, bringing its total commitment to $600 billion, per The Financial Times. Our take: Brands should prepare for new marketing challenges and opportunities tied to supply chain visibility, patriotic manufacturing narratives, and potentially longer product cycles if companies reshore production. Keeping an eye on where key suppliers are building and how quickly they can pivot to US-based operations will be crucial in forecasting product costs and shaping future campaigns.
The news: Instagram added a host of new features for connecting with friends. The offerings could expand brands’ peer-to-peer visibility and location-based content and boost their chances of going viral. Our take: Brands should lean into organic discovery by creating engaging, visual-driven content that encourages reposts and peer engagement. Prioritize geo-aware promotions to tap into Instagram’s shift toward real-time social discovery and exploration.
Almost half (49%) of US Gen Zers are much more likely to pay attention to ads that make them laugh or use music they like, per a June report from Edison Research and SiriusXM Media.
Dupes are being purchased at high rates among affluent consumers, even more than those with lower incomes. 70% of high-income US adults (earning $150,000 or more) have tried a dupe private label product, per April 2025 First Insight data. This outpaces the 53% of mid-income consumers ($51,000 to $149,000) and the 41% of low-income consumers (under $50,000) that bought dupes.
Snap posted 9% YoY revenue growth in Q2 2025, reaching $1.35 billion, but fell short of expectations due to a technical ad platform error that temporarily underpriced inventory. DAUs rose 9% to 469 million and Spotlight engagement surged, yet global ARPU remained flat and margins tightened. Snap’s performance contrasted sharply with stronger ad results from Meta, Google, and Reddit, raising concerns about its ability to monetize growing usage—especially in fast-expanding but low-yield regions. Snap did see promising gains in subscription revenue and AI-driven commerce ads, but must execute better on monetization to remain competitive in a rebounding ad market.
The news: Google faces another anticompetitive accusation as ad tech company OpenX becomes the latest player to challenge Google’s grip on the digital advertising ecosystem. OpenX filed a lawsuit accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the digital ad space, claiming the company’s actions “crippled competitors like OpenX at every turn,” preventing fair competition. Our take: Google’s dominance means advertisers won’t completely cut spending—but OpenX’s lawsuit is building on advertisers’ growing concerns over Google’s control of the ad ecosystem and curiosity about viable alternatives.
The news: McDonald’s delivered strong Q2 results that topped analysts’ expectations, signaling a rebound in its core US market. Our take: McDonald’s regained its footing in Q2 after posting its steepest same-store sales drop since the pandemic. While rivals like Yum Brands and Chipotle struggled with consumer pullback, McDonald’s played to its strengths by leaning into value, nostalgia, and limited-time promotions.
Demand for food delivery strengthened in Q2, DoorDash and Uber said, as more customers become used to ordering restaurant meals and groceries online. Order frequency on Uber’s delivery platform reached all-time highs during the quarter, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in prepared remarks, while volumes and profitability for the unit also hit record levels. Delivery bookings jumped 20% YoY, while revenues surged 25%. DoorDash also broke records, with total orders (up 20% YoY), marketplace GOV (up 23%), and revenues (up 25%) all surpassing previous quarterly highs. Food delivery is one area that is so far immune to uncertainty—a sign that consumers are increasingly wedded to services that offer convenience, and are willing to pay a premium (or at least a membership fee) to get food and other goods delivered quickly to their doors.
Marketers have long associated connected TV (CTV) with big-budget national campaigns, but that’s rapidly changing. As CTV technology becomes more sophisticated and accessible, local businesses are entering a new era of precise, data-driven advertising that blends digital accountability with TV’s scale.
The news: Startup ElevenLabs launched Eleven Music, a platform that gives brands and creators copyright-safe tools to generate custom music and audio. Users can enter prompts in plain English—such as “make me an upbeat disco track with background vocals”—and get a track within minutes, per The Wall Street Journal. Our take: Services like ElevenLabs can democratize music creation for video campaigns and empower smaller brands to create original campaign content with minimal effort. But with growing concern over AI’s role in creative industries, brands should remain transparent about AI use, keep human creatives on staff as backstops, and use AI when it can complement rather than replace human work.
The news: Disney announced that it will merge Disney+ and Hulu in 2026, a move that could save it $3 billion. The news came after a mixed Q3 FY25 that beat expectations thanks to high spending at Disney theme parks and growth in streaming, but saw advertising revenues fall short of analyst estimates. Our take: Disney’s future success depends on whether merging its core streaming offerings boosts advertiser appeal and a successful sports push that can compete on a similar level as rivals with access to tentpole live events like the Super Bowl.
Michael Kors owner Capri credited a sequential improvement in demand for its better-than-expected quarter and upgraded FY forecast. In an otherwise difficult quarter for luxury, Capri’s bullishness stands out. But it has a lot of work to do to revive its brands—particularly Michael Kors, which, following the sale of Versace, now accounts for nearly 70% of revenues.
The results: The US toy industry returned to growth in the first half of 2025 after a flat 2024 and a sales decline in 2023, per a new report from Circana. Dollar sales rose 6% YoY, and unit sales increased 3%. The average selling price also climbed 3%, its first meaningful increase after three years of stagnation. Our take: The toy industry is at a crossroads. While Hasbro and Mattel have both raised their full-year outlooks, short-term risks—from tariffs to economic anxiety—are building. If those pressures persist, the category’s recovery could quickly stall. To stay resilient, brands should double down on the strongest demand drivers: licensed IP and the fast-growing “kidult” segment.
The news: Cohere wants to ease enterprise concerns around AI adoption with the launch of North, its new flagship platform. North is a privately deployable agentic platform that lets companies create, manage, and deploy AI agents entirely behind their own firewall. Our take: With the frenetic pace of AI model launches and the pressure for quick enterprise adoption, data governance and security can’t be an afterthought. Platforms like North give enterprises a path to adopt powerful AI tools without giving up control over sensitive information.
The news: OpenAI is bringing its newest models to Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the first time, marking a major milestone in the ongoing battle for AI cloud dominance. Its open-weight models, gpt-oss-120b and gpt-oss-20b—available via Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker AI platforms—are able to handle complicated text-based operations and integrate into cloud-based systems. Our take: OpenAI’s models are getting easier to access, meaning lower costs and fewer technical hurdles to trying powerful AI tools. AWS customers should start testing oss-120b and oss-20b for things like generating subject lines, social copy, and campaign variations and explore ways to fine-tune the models with company data.
The news: We’ve seen TD Bank lean into comedy before to appeal to younger consumers and launch new products. It’s using a similar strategy to educate current and prospective customers about fractional investing services. Can it work? It’s a clever concept that has prompted consumers, who generally like the ad, to question the legality of using snippets of widely recognized logos, per Creative Bloq. The ad’s core strength is how it takes a complex financial concept—fractional investing—and makes it instantly understandable through a simple visual pun. This approach is highly effective in grabbing attention, especially from younger, digitally savvy audiences, who might find traditional financial ads unappealing.
The news: Huntington Bank refreshed its brand with new logos, an ad campaign, and a suite of products to meet the evolving needs of its target customers, per a press release. The details: The brand refresh is changing not only the look and feel of marketing materials but thoughtfully addressing the needs of its target audience. Will it work?: The success of the rebranding will depend on preparation as well as buy-in from employees and customers. But what stands out as incredibly strategic are its products that thoughtfully address its target customers’ life-stage-related needs.