Headlines:

• TikTok 【ꚠ】 introduces ad free subscription tier, £3.99 per month, this is super interesting to see TikTok move away from a purely ad based revenue model 💰 and diversify into a subscription model. It might be reflective of a decrease in overall marketing spends or forecasted cuts GOOD IDEA HERE

  

• Saudi PIF sell football ⚽︎ team Al-Hilal, shedding 70% of the club to Kingdom Holding Company run by a member of the Saudi royal family. This news comes only weeks after PIF withdrew funding from LIV Golf, which has effectively left the competition largely in limbo whether it will continue or not GOOD IDEA HERE

• Sony Music Publishing is acquiring 🔄 the music rights portfolio of Blackstone managed fund, Recognition Music Group for reportedly 💳 $4B USD. This was the music catalogue originally built by Merck Mercuriadis for Hipgnosis GOOD IDEA HERE

• AI voice generator software 🤖 ElevenLabs closed a $550m Series D fundraising round with Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria and Hwang Dong-hyuk (writer/director of Netflix hit series 🦑Squid Game) named. Given none of the above currently license their voice for the platform and Hwang doesn’t need to, thats a punchy investor list and says a lot about their business model GOOD IDEA HERE

  

Where did all the fans go? In an IP-rich world, entertainment still treats the fan like the last point on the agenda 🏆

With hundreds of IP-rich sports, music and gaming brands out there in the world it still feels like there is a huge disconnect between the IP and the fan engagement. At one of the stick there’s sports. Which has historically protected their IP so fiercely it stifled creativity and along with it technological advancements which could important the fan experience. Look at the F1, sending cease and desist letters to all creators using their logo and name on their channels despite overwhelming evidence that this is precisely where younger, and more importantly the next generation of F1 fans are spending their time.

On the other end is music♫, full of talent desperate to earn because the music itself pays so little, that they compromise the quality of the brand. Artists eager to cash out will attach their name to any brand deal or sync which comes their way. Once upon a time a sync with film or TV would be a five or even six figure sum, now it’s more likely to be around £1-2k if they’re lucky. Korean boy band, BTS, at one point simultaneously endorsed McDonald’s, Samsung, Hyundai, Puma, Louis Vuitton, LG Electronics, Baskin Robbins, Tokiopedia, KB Kookmin Bank and Coca-Cola.

The reality is, in these situations the IP has immense value, not because of the logo on the jersey or the face on the music video but because of the fandom it creates. It’s the connection to community 👥which generates the value. That inherently gets missed once the commercial partnerships 🤝 team starts drafting deals. So, how do we fix this?

Get back to community, think about what they want, connect with them properly. If an artist takes a brand deal, make the community a central part of the campaign. If a football team needs to grow fandom with Gen Alpha, go to where they exist and live there (Discord most likely…). Plant the seeds of fandom and slowly harvest them over years, it will cost less and add far more ROI. IP-rich entertainment brands who seek out quick money, cut their audience out of the decision making entirely, ultimately devaluing the very thing that gives them value.

Noteworthy numbers:

(Discord might be the platform built by gamers for gamers, but IP-rich brands need to get on there fast)

• 231m monthly active users

• 32.6m active servers

• 67/32 gender split men/woman

• 54% of users are non-gamers

• $575m in revenue generated in 2023 (most recent numbers available, as that was a near 29.2% increase from the year prior this number would be substantially larger)

• 21k amount of gaming servers, which is the largest amount of public servers

  

What i’m listening to:

According to the LTA, Padel has an annual growth rate of over 43% with over 890 courts in the UK, which is a steep increase since 2016 when there were only 40 nation wide. Occupancy of the courts is also above 85% which is exceptional. Many of the courts open late into the evening, some closing as late as 1am and most recently Nuneaton Padel tennis court has just applied for an alcohol license from 12pm. Padel uses a smaller court to tennis which makes it more sociable and engaging. In the US, the data is even more striking, in 2019 there were 19 courts across the country and flash forward to 2025 and there is over 650 courts.

So what?

If you’re a brand looking for some open space, Padel offers a clear opportunity to connect into communities in with local detail. Jewellery brand Mejuri and Mecca Beauty have already stepped into the space but there doesn’t seem to be major brand play in the space yet outside of a few traditional racquet brands.

Marketeers have a huge opportunity to target the sport on a local scale, but globally. The crucial thing is that every campaign, activation and execution needs to be tailored to the community. Personalisation is a key for effective youth marketing, so delivering personalisation authentically on masse to local communities is the win. Smart marketing teams should be targeting local communities nation-wide.

References:

https://www.marketingbrew.com/stories/2026/04/09/soccer-local-world-cup-campaigns

https://www.estatesgazette.co.uk/news/what-padels-speed-of-growth-means-for-the-leisure-market/

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/booze-bid-made-nuneaton-padel-043300806.html

https://www.swlondoner.co.uk/sport/17052025-lta-reveal-padel-participation-has-increased-by-over-2500-since-2019

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2026/01/03/padel-why-you-should-try-one-of-the-worlds-fastest-growing-sports-in-2026

SportsVerse

How Fashion and Beauty Can Win in Sports in 2026

Hi everyone, welcome back to SportsVerse, my twice-weekly newsletter that tells stories you can’t find anywhere else about the intersection of sports, fashion, business, and culture…

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3 months ago · 32 likes · 1 comment · Daniel-Yaw Miller and The Consumer Collective

Headlines:

• Fenty Beauty launched “Rose Amber”, a custom WhatsApp AI advisor, as a step towards D2C messaging, the beauty brand is doubling down on alternative commercial channels GOOD IDEA HERE

• MrBeasts’ ‘50 Streamers’ competition drew over 1bn total views within the first 72hrs, with 1.75m live concurrent viewers across YouTube and Twitch for the Easter Sunday grand finale. The competition was for 50 streamers to compete for a $1m cash prize GOOD IDEA HERE

• Urban Outfitters has developed and launched a creator campaign using 100 influencers to target their community, the only catch? They have to have less than <10k followers GOOD IDEA HERE

• Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) withdraws future funding of LIV Golf after the 2026, there’s significant question as to whether the brand can survive without it after more than $1trillion in investment already from the PIF GOOD IDEA HERE

Three major trends we are seeing shifting in real time

1. The end of the big influencer campaign and the rise of the community. Urban Outfitters are leading the charge but there is no doubt about it, that smart brands will follow. Developing creator networks with lower follower count but a richer community connection is the way forward - less than <10k followers is the new mega channel. “We’ve long seen the era of the follower dying,” said their head of brand marketing Cyntia Leo. “We’re focused on resonance, not scale.”

2. Did Spotify kill the album? Who knows, I doubt it but new releases are slowing dying in popularity so something is to blame. If new music dies then the industry goes with it and I fear this is all driven by lazy marketing. Social media is inherently set up to look backwards, with algorithms created to keep feeding us what we already like. Inevitably this leads to a flood of nostalgia driven content, therefore, marketeers who rely on AI will be suggested content that reflects what has already worked, all of a sudden we have a self fulfilling prophecy. We need bold marketing, brave brands and progressive record labels.

(Source: Chartmetric)

3. No phones is the new event flex The Masters are leading the charge, as Augusta National strictly bans phones, tablets, laptops and any similar electronic device during Masters Tournament play. They’re doubling down on the experience, it’s the same reason you can only buy merchandise inside the patron shop. Lets hope more sporting franchises adopt this. It’s the charm, allure and glamour which keeps fans coming back.

Noteworthy numbers:

(Reddit is no longer the niche tech bro forum, but the biggest untapped audience for brands and here is why…)

• 121m monthly active users on Reddit.

• 88% growth in the UK on Reddit. Half the audience is women.

• 4.8m members on the r/SkincareAddiction community channel dissecting ingredients at a granularity which no focus group could ever have reached

• 47k members on Running app Runna’s own dedicated community, and they have never paid for a single platform ad

What i’m listening to:

1. Creators: The Front Door to Community

In a landscape defined by “doom scrolling” fatigue, audiences aren’t switching off—they’re becoming hyper-selective. Creators remain the most potent lever for brand connection because they possess the one thing brands struggle to manufacture: authenticity.

• The Strategy: Don’t build campaigns for or around creators; build them with them.

• The Result: Moving beyond simple touchpoints to establish creator-led campaigns as the primary entry point for genuine brand relationships.

2. Radical Transparency in the Age of AI

As AI becomes ubiquitous, the ultimate differentiator is being human. While AI is a powerful tool for functional amplification, it is not a replacement for soul.

• The Vibe: Lean into the imperfect and the honest.

• The Execution: Be transparent about how technology is used. Optimise for deep engagement rather than mass appeal. In a world where 97% of people cannot distinguish between AI and human-made music, the “real” and the “unpolished” become luxury goods.

3. Breaking the Echo Chamber

Social media algorithms have created a cultural “rear-view mirror,” constantly serving what we already like and causing stagnation across fashion and music.

• The Opportunity: Brands must be braver. Break the feedback loop by introducing the unexpected. To stand out in a stagnant feed, brands must stop reacting to trends and start proactively seeding new ones within micro-communities.

4. Digital Tools for Offline Desires

The paradox of 2026 is that we are using digital tools to escape the digital world. We are witnessing a massive surge in “analog” hobbies and IRL (in real life) gatherings:

• The Stats: * 79% of Gen Z and Millennials are seeking unpolished, offline events.

  • 51% are planning a digital detox this year.

  • Specific interests are skyrocketing, from US coffee-crawl run clubs (+233%) to UK flower arranging (+282%).

People are craving connection; they are simply using the internet to organize it. Brands that show up to facilitate these offline moments—giving meaning to action rather than just selling a product—will win the decade.

1. Creators as Partners: Treat them as the ultimate brand touchpoint.

2. Honest Innovation: Use technology to add value, not to hide.

3. Cultural Bravery: Create the “new” to break the algorithmic stagnation.

4. Digital for Physical: Use online platforms to fuel offline community.

Share

References:

https://investor.eventbrite.com/press-releases/press-releases-details/2025/Eventbrites-New-Report-Reveals-Emergence-of-Fourth-Spaces-As-Gen-Z-and-Millennials-Look-to-Bridge-Their-Digital-and-Physical-Worlds/default.aspx

https://www.axaglobalhealthcare.com/globalassets/about-us/mind-health-report/mind-health-report-2025.pdf

https://www.ogilvy.com/ideas/social-trends-2026-social-substance-return-real

https://system1group.com/the-creative-dividend

https://www.ft.com/content/0d963580-eabd-40e2-8805-776893b61cc6?syn-25a6b1a6=1

https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/gen-zs-favour-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-as-digital-fatigue-hits.html

https://newsroom-deezer.com/2025/11/deezer-ipsos-survey-ai-music/#:~:text=Deezer%2FIpsos%20survey%3A%2097%25,transparency%20and%20fairness%20for%20artists

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/our-insights/future-of-wellness-trends

Headlines:

• Paddy Power 🐎 meets Paris Fashion week 🛍️ with the Cheltenham Collection S/S 2026, it’s equal parts ridiculous and good fun, but particularly good marketing GOOD IDEA HERE

  

• La Liga ⚽ retro weekend to honour the history of their clubs and the generations of fans, 38 clubs will wear retro jerseys and vintage kits in April, all unveiled March 17 and 21 (note Real Madrid and Barcelona are missing!) GOOD IDEA HERE

• Indie artists launched a law suit ⚖️ against Google due to copyright infringement by training it’s new music-generation ♫ model of Lyria 3 on existing works without permission GOOD IDEA HERE

• McLaren Racing 🏎️ is venturing into golf with the launch of McLaren Golf ⛳, this is the first step the brand has taken to move out of motorsport more generally and take the brand into global sporting brand territory producing golf equipment GOOD IDEA HERE

• Skincare 💄 brand Evereden has given equity to three Gen Alpha creators as part of it’s social program. Removing the paid to post influencer model which often misses long-term alignment and commitment. GOOD IDEA HERE

• European Parliament has adopted a series of recommendations 📖 to help protect creative industries from AI ֎, specifically artists and rights holders. It’s as a 360 since 2025, copyrighted work will now be prohibited from use when training AI models. GOOD IDEA HERE

• Mid-length content 🎥 is going viral on TikTok 📡 thanks to Brad Bradie. He’s capitalising on the TikTok creator program which only allows monetisation 💰 on videos longer than 60 seconds and posting 8 minute videos which are going viral. Don’t believe the short form hype. GOOD IDEA HERE

Can we please stop using the phrase Gen Zalpha

When talking about younger generations it’s easy to assume they’re the same, but when you think about the differences between yourself and someone a decade your junior (or older) they’re often significant. Some bright sparks coined the phrase Gen Zalpha and I would like to set the record straight on it. Gen Z and Gen Alpha are uniquely different, and the nuance needs to be understand to communicate, target and market to them. If you treat everyone who is ‘younger’ as the same, the results will fall flat. Both generations are shaping culture, technology and society in different ways.

Gen Z (born 1997-2012) and Gen Alpha (born 2013 onwards) have been born into entirely different digital eco-systems which impacts their social habits. This is important for marketeers because if they want to target younger generations it needs to focus on where the audience spend quality time. A key difference, their communities socialise in different places.

Gen Z care about mental health issues and climate change, they have taken a strong stance on these positions because the global narrative has unfolded during their lives. Work for them can be more flexible and entrepreneurial, it’s not linear. They’re far more digitally and tech focused when it comes to socialising with their social circles in Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok.

Gen Alpha are still developing their position on these topics. Climate change is not something to fight for, it’s a normal part of the communication so sustainable living is an expectation. This generation show a preference for communication in person and spending time with friends, arranged digitally but experienced IRL. AI and gamification are normal parts of their technology usage, not an advancement - immersion is part of their DNA.

An interesting example of how this has played out in culture is through the rise of K-Pop in Western culture. For Gen Z, they discovered K-pop through YouTube and TikTok and found groups like BLACKPINK and BTS and fell into the genre. For Gen Alpha, it’s a part of their upbringing so the language difference doesn’t bother them, Kpop Demon Hunters is already pop culture. If you’re a foreign band or brand in theory, it should be a lot easier to target Gen Alpha who are comfortable with multilingual music first and then let Gen Z discover it.

Noteworthy numbers:

95% of Gen Z own a smartphone

58% of Gen Alpha own a smartphone

3-6hrs spent online daily for Gen Alpha

7-9hrs spent online daily for Gen Z

59% of Gen Alpha prefer to spend their social time watching a movie with friends (40% for Gen Z)

What i’m listening to:

With that in mind, Attention Culture, did a qualitative survey of 14-16year old British children to garner some insights from Gen Z first hand. Details of our findings are below.

1. There is still huge opportunity for fandom to be won for drivers, teams and brands. Younger generations are completely open to being persuaded to switch teams, particularly if there is a strong pull such as nationality or gender which means the F1 Academy has a lot of opportunity too.

2. Teams can monetise fans further, almost all respondents wanted a t-shirt but they overwhelmingly all owned caps… activations in communities where younger generations exist could be utilised better to entice monetary spend (hello Discord)!

3. The community element of the sport is fundamentally in its infancy still. F1 is still set up for the upper echelons of society to be able to afford to participate, with a small minority of younger generations having attended a race. This is a necessary change to bring in new generations, that doesn’t mean changing the ticket price either. Teams can utilise channels where younger generations are already building communities to extend this further and bring fans into their brand world, creating innovative ways to get them to the races or engage. Teams need to appear where the communities are for these fans, offer value, bring them further into the brand world.

Teams and drivers with a strong heritage or legacy can flex further to win ground with younger fans, but teams without it just need to show up in the right places and connect into the communities (which is what Attention Culture does!). GLHF.

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• 63% of respondents watch F1 (Gen Z)

• McLaren was the most popular team (37%), followed closely Red Bull (21%), but the only other teams mentioned were (Williams, Ferrari and Mercedes).

• There was an equal split in following between the Team or the Driver - there is still fandom to be won!

• Common themes as to why they liked it were “Speed”, “Fast Cars” and “Pace” with many respondents highlighting how “cool” the car designs are

• Common themes as to why they disliked it were the “length”, frequently citing it as “boring” and “repetitive”

• 47% of respondents own merchandise (mostly caps)

• All respondents wanted to own a t-shirt or a cap

• Only 5% of respondents have attended a race live

Share Only Good Ideas

GWI also did a survey which delivered a few interesting nuggets:

• 585M global internet users directly interested in F1 (Q1'25 to Q4'25 | 54 Markets)

• 👤 The fans are more uniquely placed to be targeted by brands
  +52% more likely to be high income
  2x more likely to be brand loyal
  +46% more likely to be interested in tech
  +71% more likely to travel internationally

• Gen Z (29% of fans) and female fans (42% of fans) are evolving the traditional sponsorship category mix (Charlotte Tilbury Beauty and ELEMIS)

  

• Hamilton leads when it comes to global driver preference (32%) although some markets show more local preference (i.e. Australia and Piastri)

• Ocon and Lawson are the currently the only drivers on the grid with a fan base which is >50% female

• Gen Z love an underdog and are highly responsive to mid-grid teams (like Alpine and Racing Bulls) if off-track content matches on-track ambition.

  ---

Quotes:

“I like the passion, the speed, the precision, and the dynamics of F1” (male, UK, 14)

“I would like to see more sustainable energy usage especially for the future as climate change becomes a big part of everyone’s lives and as f1 uses a lot of fuel” (Female, UK, 15)
“Races can be predictable, not enough overtaking - especially up front.” (Male, UK, 15)

“I like how drivers have to train to become an f1 driver and how each driver helps the other in their team even though you wouldn’t think of it to be a team thing “ (Female, UK, 15)

“I like the pace, everything can be going so well and one wrong move could ruin you entire race “ (male, UK, 14)

“It does get a bit repetitive after the 10th lap and then it heats up by the pit window and then it begins to be repetitive till the end” (Male, UK, 15)

“I dislike how expensive tickets are to watch it “ (Female, UK, 15)

“Ferrari because their cars are unique and special and the legacy that comes from Ferrari. I also like the drivers.” (Male, UK, 15)

The responsibility is with government, regulators, teachers and largely with the parents, to educate children better. Government and regulators will do never little to balance voter concerns with red tape because big tech still run the world. Technology companies are richer than most countries - the Magnificent 7 (Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla) hold more financial power than most G20 nations. Governments will be reluctant to persecute any company with that kind of firepower, which means they are likely to go slow with making any kind of significant change. That’s not to say they shouldn’t do anything, but I don’t believe any changes they make will have significant impact. If a 13 year old wants a TikTok account, they’re going to find a way onto the platform, regardless of the law - particularly if 95% of them have it in their palm already.

Education needs to come from parents and teachers, they need to become more educated themselves on what is acceptable and set socially agreed upon parameters. Most of the pressure parents face is from concerns their children will become ostracised from the broader social community if their children don’t have access to what other kids do. The onus needs to be on the parents within the community to agree as a majority and unify, set boundaries which children respect and give them alternatives. Campaigns like the Smartphone Free Childhood are genuinely the closest thing we have to a solution. Jon Haidt and his marvellous Substack just published a fantastic piece about how parenting can do with a course correction.

After Babel

The Parenting Trap

While it is well documented that social media poses significant risks to youth mental health, the long-term cultural trends that inflated its influence have received much less attention. I argue that a decades-long shift to permissive parenting created a governance vacuum — an absence of necessary rules and expectations — that left Gen Z uniquely vulnerable, providing the ideal environment for a screen-based childhood to take hold and compound the prevailing mental health challenges of adolescents…

Read more

3 months ago · 262 likes · 41 comments · Jonathan T. Rothwell

As parents, guardians and educators we need to provide tools and techniques to manage the social challenges. If we push children off social media through regulation, if it comes in full force, it will only steer children into darker parts of the web we don’t fully know or understand, making unregulated platforms even more dangerous.

Gen Z have declared 2026 “the year of analogue” with a mass digital detox gaining momentum. The Economist reported that The Brick which is $59USD grey cub no bigger than the size of an airpods case can reduce screen time by up to three hours a day (on average). Downloads of the Brick app are up 600%YoY since Jan, with the most significant demographic being Gen Z (20-35yrs). According to a study from EY, 47% of 18-34yr olds believe that their online behaviour is becoming disruptive and not beneficial to their well-being. As anti-algorithm socialising gains popularity with Gen Z the message feels clear, for those that know what social media can do, they’re choosing a different path. Our children don’t fully understand this yet, it’s everyones responsibility to change this - least of all parents.

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Headlines:

• Logan Paul makes trading card 🂱 history with £13M Pokemon card sale

  Ϟ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)⋆ GOOD IDEA HERE

  

• Paris Saint-Germain ⚽ launches run club, PSG Running,🏃‍➡️ with the return of the We Run Paris signature 10k race with Mo Farah as the global 🌎 ambassador GOOD IDEA HERE

• Roblox game Volleyball Legends 🏐🤾 has reportedly been acquired by Double Black Capital for 💰 $30M USD GOOD IDEA HERE

  

• British 💂heritage sneaker brand, Gola,👟 has been acquired by Japanese conglomerate Marubeni GOOD IDEA HERE

• New Harry Styles album “Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally” 🪩 coming March 6th, pre-save because hopefully it’s good fun GOOD IDEA HERE

Women’s football needs a new strategy and the teams are responsible

There are wild statistics circulating about women’s football (a few of which you’ll find below). The most startling is that the majority of attendees are one and done, with 68% of families attending one game only. Some of the reasons cited are limited safe zones, the lack of entertainment for families around the game and the poor food and drink options (assuming the need for suitable or healthier food for younger children). Some of those challenges are so simple to fix and would do a whole lot to encourage more families to the women’s game. The key reason this is happening is because teams are treating men’s and women’s games the same.

Men’s football is all about tribalism, but to some fans that can feel aggressive and intimidating. 80% of teams inherit fans through family tradition, it’s the legacy of a parents or grandparents team which creates the fandom and makes the ties to that team strong. That cult following breeds the hooligan behaviour which can make fans feel intimately tied to a team, creating the ‘them vs us’ culture. The women’s games are completely different, there are less teams and many only started up within the last decade so they feel friendly, relatable and community focused.

Replicating the experience and marketing which works for men’s games will not result in the same loyalty for the women’s games. The teams need to incentive fans to keep returning to the women’s games, delivering a day out, player and team storytelling and community events. Right now, the experience of going to a women’s game, does not match the investment which then creates further hurdles when the teams are selling brand partnerships at a premium.

The value proposition is easy, inspire younger girls to play sport by seeing people who look like them on the pitch. That’s a strong motivator for any parent. But the teams seem to be following the same blueprint for the men’s games as the women’s and totally missing the reason behind why the audience is attending in the first place. A recent survey from the Fourth Lane, said that 3/5 fans said they are unlikely to take their children to a game again until they are at least 10 years old. Most children are developmentally ready to start organised, competitive sports between 6-8 years old.

The results are already being felt at some of the biggest women’s games, Tottenham hosted Chelsea at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which holds a mammoth 68,000 capacity - with reportedly 9,000 attendees who were largely sitting behind the goals. For the fans watching the highlights on the BBC, it looked like a Covid game with an empty stadium - I would hate to think how the players might have felt, let alone the brand partnerships teams who are invested. If the teams don’t deliver the experience, the fans go elsewhere, then the brands go and we’re back to to 1921 when the FA banned women’s football altogether. Surely, they can do better.

Noteworthy numbers:

40% average stadium utilisation of women’s football games in the 2022/2023 season

33% average stadium utilisation of women’s football games in the 2024/2025 season

-28% decrease in average match day attendance 2024/2025 season if you exclude Arsenal and Chelsea’s women’s teams

£830M UEFA’s investment commitment over the 2024-2030 period for women’s football

£55M investment from Barclay’s Bank into women’s football in the UK

What i’m listening to:

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The content calendar is officially dead. Long gone are the days when you schedule a social media calendar around endless hype, equally gone are the days when you simply badge content with product placement. We’re in the age of curation, experience and consciousness.

Social media is producing an endless barrage of AI generated slop which everyone is aware of but few brands have the foresight and know how to pause and consider the broader strategy. For marketing teams the onus remains on them to deliver ROI but with even less to work with. Throwing more content into the machine won’t serve the algorithm, making quality paramount. Here we see the shift in how marketing needs to evolve in 2026. Winning, requires thinking about creation, conversation and community. Creation of content which adds value, being a part of the conversation, and joining the community in a way that establishes the brand within culture.

This plays out in a strategic and tactical approach, focusing on micro-communities, steering away from traditional media and saying yes to everything. Engaging in formats which are A-typical for a brand is likely to serve them well. Micro-communities with multiple entry points provides a cumulative benefit to the brand, proving authenticity. How? Show up everywhere the community does repeatedly with reference and context.

For example:

If the target audience is 16-24 year old young adults, it might be prudent to consider Fortnite which has 100-225million active monthly players and 60% of the audience is that target range. But the next step is where brands trip up, it’s not about just showing up in Fortnite with a big, expensive immersive experience, it’s about showing up on X, in Discord and on Twitch streams regularly. An in-game activation is a shallow attempt at brand placement, but consistently showing up where the micro-communities are will get attention.

Younger generations are turning away from design and are focused on counter-culture, making lightweight content production repeatable and easy and speaks to the audience. Layer in some mini-serialised content and there’s a story to follow. Remember storytelling? It’s something we used to do before social media, and it still matters. Entertainment is as much about life now as it is about how it’s shared. Life is about being real, so think about micro-communities, cultures and traditions to form genuine connections.

Giving fans real life experiences counts more than ever. Social media is in an ongoing state of decline, peak social media tapped out in 2022 and it has slowly been dwindling since, and Gen Z are at the cutting edge of this decline. What that means for brands is they need to think about showing up with experiences which can’t be replicated.

Everyone is trying to create buzz, enter culture with authenticity as though showing up in the right place at the right time will instantly make their brand ‘viral’. But those activations are small fry, they never land the way they should and often end up costing a lot of time and money. A slow burn with lower, incremental investment often reaps bigger rewards.

So let’s not just show up in culture in 2026, that’s only half the conversation. The other half, crucially is being aware of how you show up and what you stand for. Do something that matters, say something that creates meaning for others. Be intentional.

I am also adding a section which is focused on subjects worth thinking about with a bit more depth and curiosity. Whether thats current affairs, big changes in the industry or even just a topic discussed around my own family kitchen table. Sparking some discourse is always healthy, regardless of the context.

Happy reading and lets go get it ✨!

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Headlines:

• Only 24% of sports organisations know their fanbase, according to The Anonymous Fan Index, this is a seismic growth opportunity for sports brands💰 GOOD IDEA HERE

• Sports dominated the US most watched telecasts 📺 of 2025, with NFL 🏈 being the most watched in the top 200 spots, followed by college football GOOD IDEA HERE

• NBA European League 🏀 is gaining momentum, and coming to Europe as early as 2027 with a 16-team league, with 10 permanent teams. Bayern Munich, PSG, Barcelona, Real Madrid have all been name dropped but not confirmed GOOD IDEA HERE

• Pokémon x Natural History Museum 🦖 revealed it’s ‘Pokécology’ theme and products for its sold-out Pop-Up and it’s simply magic. Tickets booked 🎟️ and wallet at the ready 🦕 GOOD IDEA HERE

  

• Cadillac preview’s their first F1 car at Silverstone 🏎️💨, great new entrant for the sport and to bring a new brand onto the grid GOOD IDEA HERE

• Netflix announced it is releasing a video podcast 🎥 which is the first of it’s kind, the host will be Pete Davidson from his garage 🚗 GOOD IDEA HERE

  

2026 is the year of the creator brand campaign

In 2026 we’re going to see creators and influencers turn to in-person live events. The reality is, the connection with fans in person will always be deeper than anything online 🫠🤌🏻💗. The community can gather and build online, but IRL is where the magic happens. This is a winning opportunity for brands to drive up ROI and brand love. The sentiment of brands being able to facilitate those moments for creators is a huge value add. Given how fast and far brand spend is reaching into the creator sphere, this should come as no surprise.

Influencers will probably aim to do the same but the hunch is they just won’t deliver in the same way because the community focus isn’t as strong. The quicker brands learn and differentiate their creator strategy from a branded influencer strategy, the faster they will see measurable impact on their investment. Influencers simply don’t hold the keys to the community kingdom in the same way. Audiences are tiring fast of being sold to, they want to be connected with. Part one is differentiating and turning up in the right community, part two, arguably the more important part is how.

Noteworthy numbers:

$260-$314b estimated value of the total creator economy in 2026 🚀

20-26% yoy growth in the creator economy 📈

40-50% of the total creator revenue comes from brand partnerships and sponsored content, 25-30% from creator tools and platform monetization, and the final 10-15% from merchandising 📊

What i’m listening to:

1. Creation 👩‍🍳

   Content creation is at the heart of all cultural marketing, it all starts here, sometimes in unison with an audience or a brand. Content creators are inspirational, they motivate us to behave in a certain way because they’re on our level. According to a report from 2025, 78% of consumers are more trusting of brands if a relatable content creator recommends them, leading to significantly higher trust for creator-lead content. User generated content is 2.4x more trusted than brand-created content alone (source: Nielsen Trust in Advertising, 2023). The best cultural brands, amplify fan creations.

   

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2. Conversation 📲

   Great content results in conversation, that engagement between fans is where culture grows. Brands need to not only resonate in a positive way, but engage in a two way conversation whilst understanding the meme’s and slang. 73% of sports fans say authenticity drives their engagement with content (source: Deloitte Sports Fan Insights, 2024).

   Conversation gives a sense of experience, whether thats digital or in person but the outcome is the same, there is an opinion and discussion around your content. TikTok accounted for 27% of all live-stream watch hours globally in Q1 2025 with live formats and social engagement as the fastest growing segments. Live fan reactions increase social content completion rates by 52% (source: WARC Creative Effectiveness Report, 2024). The Death by Duo campaign saw the hashtag #RIPDUO used 45,000 times in the first fortnight. Fans turn participation into consumption.

   

3. Community 🧑‍🧒‍🧒

   The audience who keep showing up to watch and engage in the content, are the community. They are what give culture any value, and create a sense of belonging. Brands need to show up in the content, the conversation and the community. How? Once a brand appears in the content, make it a two way conversation, do something for the community, give them a reason to believe the brand is actively interested. Simply badging content is one dimension. 46% of Gen Z reported being part of a community as ‘very or extremely important’ to both their sense of identity and their well being. According to Deloitte, brands who deeply engaged with communities saw a 10.2% increase in annual revenue, compared to less mature brands. Think meme’s, slang, easter eggs, and secret drops.

References:

https://influencermarketinghub.com/state-of-marketing/

https://www.britopian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Report_-Creator-Marketing-for-Consumer-Brands_-2024-Trends-and-2025-Outlook-1.pdf

https://motionplaystudio.com/blog/live-streaming-statistics-latest/

https://deloitte.wsj.com/cmo/how-social-first-brands-earn-share-of-culture-3-principles-to-follow-53cd5ddd

If you could please forward this email to one person you think might find this enlightening, marginally interesting, good fodder and ask them to subscribe I would be grateful. If you do this, then my newsletter subscribers double 🎁 .

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On that note, thanks for reading this year and let me know if there’s anything you find particularly interesting or suggestions for next year. Until 2026 🎅 🎄✨.

Bucketsquad 🪣 and 100 Thieves launch capsule 💊 collection

100 Thieves do a epic job of traversing competitive esports team and super hype brand. Once again they’ve launched an awesome capsule collection, this time with BKTSQD. They’re always doing something which is finger on the pulse ــــہـ٨ــــــ and this is no exception. It’s nice to look at.

Good idea here:

Sony Music Entertainment’s ten biggest recorded albums of Q3 2025 in order of global revenue 💿

30% of the highest earning albums for Sony Music in Q3 are from years ago, including the #2 biggest earning recorded album from SZA.

1. Bruce Springsteen, Tracks II: The Lost Albums (2025)

2. SZA, SOS (2022)

3. Tyler, The Creator, DON’T TAP THE GLASS (2025)

4. Bad Bunny (Rimas Entertainment), Debí Tirar Más Fotos (2025)

5. Tate McRae, So Close To What (2025)

6. Tyler, The Creator, Cherry Bomb (2015)

7. Beéle, BORONDO (2025)

8. Fuerza Regida, 111XPANTIA (2025)

9. Michael Jackson, Thriller (1982)

10. Sleep Token, Even In Arcadia (2025)

Good idea here:

YouTube ▶️ Creator Sponsorships Increase over 50%

YouTube have seen a 54% year-over-year 📈 growth in creator specific sponsorship, according to a Gospel Stats new report.

By tracking 65,759 sponsored videos in H1 2025, the report was able to show these videos generated 19.1 billion total views 🚀📈.

Other highlights include →

• The top sponsors are Ground News, Squarespace, BetterHelp, and DraftKings.

• Mid-tier creators are driving ad conversion over virality, with the average video reaching approx 100-500k per video 🌱

• Unsurprisingly, the top creator by views on sponsored videos was MrBeast, (2nd was The Ramsey Show and 3rd Linus Tech Tips).

Good idea here

Roblox rolls out age 🎂 verification for all users from December 2025

Roblox are rolling out facial age checks as a requirement next month as well as age-based ⏳ chats to limit communication between minors and adults. This will begin as a voluntary feature on Roblox and then become enforced in select markets such as Australia, The Netherlands and New Zealand with the US set to be enforced from January 2026 📆.

These safety precautions come in response to recent lawsuits filed against Roblox regarding child safety concerns and over 10,000 signatures from parents, guardians and grandparents for more to be done 🔞. It’s about time 🦸‍♂.

Most wonderful idea here:

Noteworthy Numbers

2.85b monthly active users on YouTube

$500bn USD estimated value of the global creator economy

27.9% YoY increase in views on Sponsored YouTube videos

25k-100k view range content added over 12,000 sponsored videos, meaning brands are valuing mid-tier creators more

Wrap your ears around…

1. Creators are repositioned as storytellers not as influencers 📖

   The rhetoric around creators driving ROI will soften and the distinction between influencers and creators will become clearer.

   • Influencers are aspirational, people who’s fame generates a level of sway over consumer purchases. They influence culture.

   • Creators are inspirational, people who create content whilst building and connecting with their community. They live in culture.
     
     Subtle branding of creator content generates conversation not immediate conversion. Normal people talking with normal words create conversations and that leads to brand love because it has cultural relevance. Influencers are not ‘normal’ people. This distinction will become clearer and will result in the ROI creators drive, being positioned more realistically.

     

2. Editorial strategy will mirror art 🎨, making brand experiences 🎡 the winner
   It’s no longer about the quantity of content in the feed but the quality. This will shift the long-term strategy for how brands market themselves and to who, forcing brands to be more creative, artistic and considered. Time poor audiences will develop stronger relationships with stories and give longer form content and in-game experiences more time, if it’s of a high quality. Brand experiences will become king 👑 as a result.

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3. AI as part of the marketing stack 🥞, less fear 🧟rhetoric
   Conversation around AI taking all the marketing jobs will simmer down and the conversation will turn to which AI stack teams use. For cultural marketers this will mean using AI as a way to speed up and support the mundane tasks, freeing up more time for creativity and moments of cultural relevance.

4. Brands will invest in long term gaming strategy 🖲️ as a marketing channel not a one off activation 🕹️

   In the years post covid, plus with the cost of living crisis, marketing and sponsorship budgets were pulled and the one off gaming activations which flooded the marketing in 2020-2022 disappeared. Few brands remained consistent and most did the bare minimum.

   It’s now time for the cycle to start again and confident, progressive brands know they need to be connecting with younger generations to build share of brand love. Brands need to be in gaming with a dedicated long-term strategy to execute with impact and see it as a marketing channel. When quantitative ROI 💰is hard to achieve, qualitative impact 💥is all about share of brand love ❤︎.

5. Community 🧑‍🧒‍🧒 leads to conversion 📲, with time

   Since 2022 (peak social media) people are spending less time on social media, scrolling but not connecting. Platforms like running club app, Runna, have become insanely popular with over £15m in investment and a subsequent acquisition by Strava, because people want to connect in person. Running clubs are a way to meet people.

   

   Creating community within culture is where brands can build love, once community exists then conversion can become a focus but thats further down the funnel. In our Bladerunner-esque dystopian world, where the average person scrolls mindlessly between tube rides viewing between 4,000-10,000 marketing ads per day, the ability for brands to create real communities within culture will generate the right result. It just needs time.

(Source: FT, Oct 2025)

Full WME roster opt out of Sora, Open AI’s video generation tool

Leading talent agency, WME 🚀, has opted out of all clients having their likeness used in the latest version of Sora, released Sept 30th. Sora creates hyper-realistic video’s of people, including voice which has raised concerns of deepfakes of celebrities 🎬 without their consent. The update to the AI video 🎥 tool, includes dialogue and sound affects, one of the key updated features is called “cameos” in which allows users to appear in an AI-generated video.

Good idea here

Daft Punk ♫ gain 138.6% increase in monthly Spotify listeners due to Fortnite hub world

Fortnite owners, Epic Games 🎮 launched the Daft Punk Experience which is arguably their biggest music ♫ experience to date. On released it peaked at 1.5m concurrent players, which could also be considered the biggest Daft Punk concert to date. The hub world 🌍 style game is a move away from the 15minute virtual concert which we’re used to experiencing within Fortnite.

Given the band announced their split in 2021, there are definitely players who had never heard of Daft Punk experiencing the band for the first time. It’s been called out for being the best in-game music experience (even though Epic Games refused to make it easily discoverable through their homepage). There’s a mini-concert then players are transported into a hub world, with different modes, mini-games and littered with Easter Eggs 🐣.

Good idea here

Pokémon Ϟ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)⋆announces four massive anniversary orchestra performances for 30 year anniversary

2026 marks the 30th anniversary for the cult video game series Pokémon and the first announcement of the celebrations are starting to be made. Expect more to follow, all very interesting and super curious to see how this impacts the brand:

🦖 Pokémon x Natural History Museum pop-up in London (SOLD OUT)

👟 Adidas Originals multi piece collection of footwear and apparel

𓏠 Lego multi-year partnership

🍫 Hershey’s Kisses featuring 151 Pokémon

🎢 Pokémon theme park PokéPark Kanto at Tokyo’s Yomiuriland

ϞϞ૮(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)ა

Noteworthy Numbers

47%+ increase in YouTube video views for Daft Punk compared to previous month

66%+ increase in Wikipedia views for Daft Punk compared to previous month

271%+ increase in Daft Punk Spotify growth

25million+ monthly active listeners of Daft Punk on Spotify (which is the highest they’ve ever been)

38% of US children under 2yrs interact with smartphones

62% of toddlers in the USA watch YouTube (a 38% increase in 5 years)

Wrap your ears around…

Set the stage for yourself, you’re a 13 year old girl/boy and you’re playing Fortnite regularly online with your friends. Turns out you’re getting really good and some of your friends suggest you enter a cash cup. You win. You then enter another one. You win again. This is going great. Then an adult from a leading brand or agency, slides into your DM’s and tells you they’ve been watching you (weird👀), you’re really good at playing Fortnite and they want to pay you tens of thousands of pounds to do something for them.

They might be from a management company or agency who want to represent you and pay you to use a certain product on stream or the brand directly, who want to badge your channels and get you to use their products.

🚨🚨🚨

The most concerning part of this scenario is how common it is. Often brands don’t even ask the question of safeguarding, they have a junior marketing executive or influencer manager reaching out to gamers or creators. Have these people been DBS checked? Have they been trained on safeguarding? Does the child’s parent know and are they involved? The first question anyone should be asking that gamer is if they can have their parents contact details - but I guess that’s not so cool, is it?

There are tools parents can implement such as parental controls or limited screen time to try and protect children generally but the reality is, these situations don’t account for that.

Outside of Fnatic (where I was involved in the development and publishing of a safeguarding policy) no one in the industry at the time was talking about it, times haven’t moved on. In physical sports, no one would speak to anyone under age without a parent or guardian aware but online is treated differently. When major brands and big money is involved, brands need to be even more risk adverse. Risks can be significant; grooming, misleading contracts, abuse, harm, harassment, approaching children who are at risk with mental health issues.

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Brands need to be engaging with the younger generation in the places that they are building friendships and communities - we know that gaming offers a huge opportunity. Brands should also be actively putting in processes to DBS check their teams, streamline their communications and navigate contracts to make sure the younger generation of gamers are protected and safe whilst still a part of the community.

If you’re unsure of how to navigate this, you can always send us a message at Attention Culture.

References:

https://fnatic.com/news/fnatic-publishes-safeguarding-policies-esports

https://www.safesportinternational.com/2025/02/safeguarding-in-e-sports-and-phygital-games-creating-safe-spaces-in-emerging-sports-gordon-gogo/

https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/game-on-short-term-slowdown-long-term-play/

There are very few areas where fandom, opportunity and a religious dedication to teams and players exist. Unless you’re a top tier musician ♫, 99% of musicians now largely lack the type of cult following that sports so easily harnesses - every football team draws a crowd, not every musician does. For whatever reason, sports brands are leaving cash 💰on the table and many are failing to take new and innovative steps to capitalising on this following. Teams consistently go for the easy, tried and tested approach. Fandom is the biggest lever any brand, sports or otherwise, has to pull and sport brands command a loyalty worthy of making the most of… Here are, 3️⃣ easy wins for sports brands to consider:

⚭ Fan engagement can become far more interactive for fans. Rewarding the loyalty of fans in multiple ways will start to win bigger as fans now have more options when it comes to choose a team to support. If that’s too much, then at the least capturing special fan stories better with unique once in a life time moments will do some of that work!

🎯Partnerships are often one dimensional and prescriptive, let the talent lead the partnership and the results will inevitably be better. This will make it far more effective for brands and the communities. If the talent can’t lead, then find talent who can!

🛡️Create a safe and welcoming environment for younger generations to engage, comfortably, and free from bullying. You don’t need to be the most loved team, or the most hated, in fact if you’re neither then there is likelihood you offer something for everyone. That inevitably leads to a bigger, more diverse audience.

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Arcade Media seeks external investment 📈

Arcade Media, The Sidemen’s management company, have raised an external investment of seven-figures for a minority stake in the company from Lumina Media. Details are fairly vague but the money is said to accelerate expansion across EMEA and make capital and strategic investments.

The Sidemen have launched six businesses, a series of longer form content for YouTube ▶️ and Netflix and a fan membership platform. They’re arguably the most progressive creators on YouTube, despite being entirely male heavy 👦🏻👦🏻👦🏻👦🏻👦🏻👦🏻👦🏻 in their demographics.

Good idea here:

INEOS and Manchester United ⚽ partnership starts paying dividends

Within the first year of the INEOS partnership, Manchester United has returned to profitability, with merchandising revenue buoying +16% yoy 🛟. This is also helpful given the near term transfer needs of the club. 18 months ago Manchester United was low on cash reserves and loss making 💵, but under the stewardship of INEOS and cuts of around 20%, the club finally seams to be above water 🌊.

Good idea here:

Spotify removes 75million ‘spammy’ tracks in a bid to get a handle on AI 🎵

Spotify have created a new framework in it’s bid to tackle AI 🤖 created music, as part of this they have removed 75 million tracks from its library. The three key policies 🚀 target different aspects of the challenges the business is facing from AI:

1. Improved enforcement of impersonation violations ⛔

2. A new spam filtering system, and 🚨

3. AI Disclosures for music with ‘industry-standard credits’ ©️

This is all in a bid to strengthen their position for artists, producers and songwriters. I may or may not have googled whether ‘spammy’ was actually a word 📖…. (it is…).

Good idea here:

SZA joins Vans as Artistic Director 🎨

Slightly older news but it didn’t get a mention previously, a new multi-year partnership will see SZA actively participating in the development of campaigns and special collections for Vans 👟, bringing her own unique perspective to the brand. A long time fan and wearer of the Knu Skool, she wants to bring joy, community, and creativity showing how fashion can remain intersectional.

This is a well trodden path (Pharrell Williams is Creative Director for Louis Vuitton menswear, DJ Khaled is Chief Creative Officer of Snipes, rapper Future is Creative Director of Lanvin etc 🛍️) but the collaboration might be interesting at least.

Good idea here:

Noteworthy Numbers

130m people have subscribed to The Sidemen’s YouTube channel

40b people have viewed The Sidemen’s YouTube content

£250m is Manchester United’s estimate wage bill for 2025/2026 season

Wrap your ears around👂… Tyler, The Creator made this album to be moved to, not to sit and listen - run, dance, play. He said it was because his friends had become scared to dance because they were worried about being filmed. So get moving…

1. TikTok podcasting 🎙️ - the creator community is finding new perspectives

A growing trend for content creators is TikTok podcasting 🎙️, engaging and enhancing your community through short form video podcasting. This is all about connecting with the existing engagement from creator communities directly in spaces where online they are hanging out and starting conversations. 30% of podcast listeners aged 13-24yr engage with TikTok to listen in which is a marketable increase from 26% in Q4 2022.

Podcasting creators are focusing on direct conversations with their communities where they exist - that’s tapping into cultural marketing, a space where brands could easily play. But this isn’t just limited to TikTok, in fact there’s a whole new wave of platforms which are focused on building communities where this type of connection already exists; Substack, Reddit (welcome back) and LinkedIn are the new homecoming for community engagement.

2. Commercial opportunity women’s sport 🤸🏼‍♀️ is astronomical

Women’s sport is a huge movement in marketing and specifically cultural marketing opportunities, with a projected $2.5bn to be generated from rights holder within the next 5 years (+16% growth yoy) 🏃‍♀️. There’s a significant pivot moment happening in women’s sport which we’re seeing commercially that’s no where near it’s peak 🏋️‍♂️. Brands have long steered away from the commercial value of women’s sport with a strong bias towards men’s sports, but we’re finally seeing that shift in a way which makes the opportunities for change real in branded sponsorships, ticketing, broadcast rights and merchandising. Women’s sports today 🚴‍♀️ is estimated at 2% of the total US sports market (total value is $75bn), when women’s sport comes to realise it’s full potential the value will be immense and the first players (pun intended) 🏄‍♀️ will definitely reap the rewards.

Think bigger than a logo badging or ambassador exercise 💥🏋‍♀🧘🏽‍♀️🔥💪🏼. The data speaks for itself, brands need to jump get in on this, the very real immediate opportunity ⛹️‍♀️.

3. YouTube ▶️ channels being used as a modern form of broadcasting rights 🏈

It’s a fairly radical idea for sports to overhaul the existing broadcast arrangements and hand media rights to content creators to stream on their social media channels but that’s exactly what Bundesliga, amongst others, have done, and frankly I’m here for it. Sky Sports has been the traditional rights owner, airing the German 🇩🇪 football league since 2021 and will continue to show all the fixtures, shoulder programming and highlights 🏉.

However, given the Bundesliga’s reach outside of Germany isn’t as strong, and the UK is so well known for it’s football fandom, the concept of giving a YouTube rights was an excellent decision on behalf of the sport. A new multi-platform strategy towards media partners traversing traditional broadcast 📺 (Sky Sports), digital platforms (Amazon) and content creators is a clever way to connect with more audiences across the market. Hopefully a step in the right director for other sports to follow.

References:

https://onefootball.com/en/news/official-bbc-sky-sports-the-overlap-thats-football-and-amazon-to-be-the-uk-home-of-the-bundesliga-this-season-41537734

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/closing-the-monetization-gap-in-womens-sports-a-2-point-5-billion-dollar-opportunity

https://www.edisonresearch.com/how-many-ears-does-podcasting-stand-to-lose-without-tiktok/

https://www.thedrum.com/news/2025/09/15/women-s-sport-boom-continues-where-are-the-unheralded-marketing-opportunities

In 2025 the Influencer marketing industry is worth approximately $32b and we’re starting to see this evolve. The engagement is still strong within the influencer communities but trust is diminishing from consumers who might feel brands are paying their way into visibility. This is forcing brands to turn to bigger, more trusted influencers to represent their brand.

Equally the influencers with stronger communities ties are now commanding larger remuneration and control over the campaigns because there is more to lose if they lose the trust of their community. Their audiences are more powerful than ever, whether that is Mr Beast, Mo Salah or Dua Lipa, if their community doesn't believe that the brand is a genuine fit for the individual, it hurts the individual as much as the brand. As the power of social media and traditional influencer marketing evolves, moments of cultural relevance become the main way brands can tap into communities.

Younger generations are actively shying away from social media, with 50% of all consumers having turned off notifications for at least one of their apps, and 1 in 3 Gen Z’s having deleted a social media app within the last 12 months . Brands and marketers have a growing struggle to become meaningful and memorable whilst also being protective and conscious of how they show up when they do for younger generations.

Why is there hesitation from brands in cultural marketing?

First mover advantage is real, particularly when entering a new audience where consistency and continuity are necessary for success. Many brands targeted the gaming audience early with big investments in owned IP within platforms like Minecraft, Fortnite, Zepetto or Roblox only to be burnt by the lack of Return on Investment (ROI). The gaming audience offers exceptional engagement numbers compared to traditional below the line marketing, yet the ROI can be harder to measure and track. Only since recent in-platform ecommerce advances have been made, can sales now become attributed to gaming campaigns. As ROI can be difficult to quantify still, many of those brands who invested heavily early, are reversing the hockey stick of investment. This is the wrong step, and leads to 2 challenges;

1. Brands who did invest, have pulled out investment and are no longer turning up for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Building brand loyalty within any community requires consistency to maintain and build an engaged audience.

2. Brands who chose not to invest hear horror stories of huge spends with no ROI and steer away from these channels for fear of being burnt with poor results.

Neither outcome serves brands and even less so the audience who now see those brands as unauthentic and transparent.

We are seeing first hand how this plays out with the F1 audience. A third of their audience is now under 30 years of age, due to the popularity of Netflix series Drive To Survive and the fastest growing segment is females aged 18-24 years. Even more impressively that audience is more likely to take home more than 200% of the median national wage. The challenge for the sport is how do you bring those younger generations closer and make them lifelong fans of the sport, team and drivers. Even more so for the teams, the bigger hurdle is how does a team like Ferrari, capitalise on turning a Lewis Hamilton fan into a lifelong Ferrari fan? (Lewis being in pole position with a 47% majority as the most popular driver).

Which channel should you choose?

Gen Z and Gen Alpha are naturally into gaming, and with new integrations from Shopify the ecommerce solutions for brands makes these platforms a no-brainer. Younger generations are building communities in game, any brand wanting to tap into those online communities need a concerted and strategic approach.

Brands need to think about long term consistent activity across multiple channels of entertainment. Gen Alpha are making decisions now on what brands they want to follow and why, they also have more sway in decision-making within the household than their millennial parents did making them an important consumer. In all cases, data is your friend when choosing the right platforms, and avoid getting pulled into the on-trend platforms that are already congested by brands.

How do I measure success?

Measuring success with cultural marketing can be a challenge but it is becoming easier to quantify if brands focus on more than simply ROI. Soft Key Performance Indicators like brand awareness, consideration and loyalty are good measures of early success. Bear in mind that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are young and it will take multiple brand touches to form meaningful, life long connections with those brands. The best response marketers can hope for from the younger generation is acceptance and participation, which grows favourably. Balancing how you connect with younger generations is as much about how as it is about where. As we see a shift in real-life connectivity and a desire for physical in person experiences, brands can redefine the digital experience on and off the screen for these generations, through purposeful cultural marketing. Most importantly, if you are unsure of how to get started, start small and look for dedicated external support who can help you with your Gen Z and Gen Alpha marketing strategy.

Soraya Selinger is co-founder of cultural marketing agency Attention Culture, we future-proof brands through conscious digital experiences.

Incase you missed it, read the first part here:

References:

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/user-friendly-s8e1-marketing-to-kids.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Generation-Alpha

https://www.gwi.com/blog/gen-alpha-characteristics#:~:text=Technology:%20They're%20having%20an,spending%20time%20away%20from%20screens

https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/creative-industries-growth-jobs-and-productivity/

https://www.wpragency.co.uk/2024/08/gen-alpha-characteristics-in-pr/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1092819/global-influencer-market-size/

https://hbr.org/2024/05/why-the-influencer-industry-needs-guardrails

https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/about/press-room/gen-zs-favour-social-media-ban-for-under-16s-as-digital-fatigue-hits.html

https://business.yougov.com/content/52040-do-british-formula-one-fans-follow-teams-drivers-or-both-plus-opinion-of-lewis-hamiltons-ferrari-move

https://www.gwi.com/blog/gen-alpha-characteristics#:~:text=Technology:%20They're%20having%20an,spending%20time%20away%20from%20screens

Snoop Dogg joins Swansea FC as a celebrity investor

If Ryan Reynolds can do it, why not Snoop Dogg? Swansea City revealed that the US artist, having sold multi-platinum records and featured as the face of Just Eat, is the new celebrity investor in the club. Piggybacking off the success of Ryan Reynolds and Wrexham (which lead to a dramatic rise of commercial sponsorship income from £1.9m to £13.2m 💰 since joining the club) Snoop Dogg has invested into the club with a remit to increase visitors and investment.

Celebrity endorsement, not only benefits the club but the entire city bringing tourism and obviously fandom 🤑.

Good idea here

New Balance is going all-in on NBA and Tennis

New Balance 👟 is turning a corner, having previously been seen as a dad shoe, it’s hard not to see their last decade of marketing efforts becoming fruitful. The most impressive of late is signing the biggest NBA Draft sensation of the season, Cooper Flagg, amongst heavy competition for reportedly $13m. New Balance reportedly won 🥇 out because of the quality of the product more than anything else. The brand has doubled down on entering new sports including baseball ⚾, basketball 🏀, football ⚽ and tennis 🎾 and seen a 27% increase in revenue as a result.

Chasing down top talent endorsement is a no-brainer brand move, every brand does it, but some do it better than others. What really matters is the quality of the product and that’s how New Balance set themselves apart. The brand boasts a healthy roster of champions including NBA stars Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murry and Tyrese Maxey, plus Roland Garros’ 2025 winner, Tennis champ Coco Gauff.

The secret? They go after the next big talent, not the number 1 talent at the time, that is not buying your way into success but building it hand in hand. It rewards the athlete by making them seen not bought, which in turns brings around quality partnerships.

I recently returned from a trip to the French Riviera 🦢, whilst at the airport I noted everyone was wearing either New Balance or Asics… that’s real proof of a sea change.

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Next humans to walk on the moon will be wearing Oakley’s, yes really

Professor Brian Cox eat your heart out 🤟🏼, whilst only 12 people 👩🏼‍🚀 might have landed on the moon to date, it’s lucky number 13 who will go down in history… as best dressed. Oakley have partnered with Axiom Space to co-design the new eye protection for the 2027 scheduled Artemis III mission to the moon. The first lunar landing since Apollo 17 in 1972, will be sporting a Prada co-designed spacesuit.

As for the rest of us plebs here on earth, we’ll have to resort to the Oakley Holbrook wrap-arounds 🕶️.

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Messi really is the latest sports tycoon off the pitch

Everyone knows the name Messi, but beyond the pitch he has built a business empire to sunset his post football ⚽ career. Obviously he earns far more than 99% of athletes, and his Inter Miami contract is due to expire at the end of 2025 although the club seems confident he will resign so his football career is not ending imminently.

What is interesting about Lionel Messi is that he also gets a share of revenue from Apple’s Major League Soccer subscriptions, which (the overall deal) is reported to be around $2.5bn over 10 years. It gained 110k subscribers on the day it announced the deal, but a 300k increase the day Messi backed the platform. This type of subscription deal royalty is unheard of for any type of league.

He earns lifetime profits from Adidas merchandise, comparable to Michael Jordan ⛹🏿, who has an estimated payout of $2.35bn since 1984 or put another way, 80% of his career earnings.

Messi is creating an empire of assets which will pay post career. This type of thinking is the dream for most athletes to protect their sunset 🌅 out of sport, whether that be by choice or injury but it still remains remarkably uncommon or at least reserved for the elite. It also seems to be heavily focused within sport and seen far less in film and even less in music stars. Seven-time Super Bowl champion, Tom Brady, reportedly owns a stake in multiple football teams (although he certainly doesn’t have stake of the broadcast) but his portfolio doesn’t seem nearly as extensive or lucrative. It’s a wonder why more talent don’t try and replicate this type of deal, albeit the success required to make it lucrative needs to be out of this world.

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Noteworthy Numbers

$7.8bn revenue posted by New Balance in 2024

$51bn revenue posted by Nike in 2024

12 people have landed on the moon within a 3 year period, but no one has been back for 56 years

8 amount of platinum albums by Snoop Dogg

17 amount of platinum albums by Jay-Z

Wrap your ears around…