And how food and beverage brands can react through distribution and marketing innovations — The ways in which younger consumers discover and consume food and beverage products are increasingly driven by meme culture, and increasing on-demand availability of the food and grocery delivery services and ghost kitchens are further fueling the flame. Memes are more powerful than ever, as socially driven discovery starts to…

Gen Z’s embrace of alternative social platforms is changing how they use Instagram and TikTok, and foretells a major shift in online discovery — Move over, TikTok! There’s a new social platform that Gen Z can’t get enough of — BeReal, a photo-sharing social app initially launched in 2020, is quickly gaining popularity among Gen Z users over the past few months. In recent weeks, it seems to have accumulated enough scale and started…

Brands should heed the shifting dynamics in the OTT space as pandemic-spurred acceleration in streaming growth comes to an end — What’s Up with Netflix Lately? This week, Netflix announced that it has selected Microsoft as a “global advertising technology and sales partner” to help it launch an “ad-supported tier” that the global streamer announced in April. The selection comes as a surprise, both in terms of the quick turnaround since the initial announcement and Microsoft’s…

How financial service and B2B brands can better support the next generation of entrepreneurs — With contribution from Benjamin Hone on the final section For entrepreneurs and small business owners, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. On one hand, no-code and low-code B2B services have significantly lowered the barrier to starting a business online and modernizing existing ones, creating…

And what it means for web3-curious marketers & brands — Blame the looming economic downturn, or perhaps just the bad vibes; the music seems to have stopped at web3 party this month. Since early May, more than $700 billion has been wiped out in the ongoing round of crypto market crash, the New York Times estimates, plunging crypto investors into…

Why VR is still nowhere near where it should be as a media channel despite the metaverse hype, and it will take to get there — If there were ever a time for virtual reality (VR) technologies to break into the mainstream, the past few years of pandemic-tempered mobility, combined with the resulting demand for escapist content and experience, may have been as perfect circumstances as it gets for VR. Yet, here we are, closing out…

No “RealityOS” or AR headset tease, but still plenty to dive in and chew on — Editor’s note: We typically send out special recap posts like this via our newsletter. Want recaps like this one delivered straight to your inbox earlier? Sign up for our Substack mailing list here. As is tradition, Apple brought the 2022 developer conference season to a close with its annual WWDC…

And how the rise of community-driven commerce will have brands rethinking their retail strategy — With the ascension of social commerce and the collapse of the purchase funnel, creators are playing an increasingly important role in product discovery and consideration. As brick-and-mortar retailers continue to weather through the harsh combination of continuing inflation, supply-chain disruptions, and labor shortage, savvy creators are increasingly leveraging the increasing…

And more on what brand marketers need to know from the 2022 Google I/O event — The 2022 tech conference season continues as Google kicked off its annual I/O developer event on Wednesday with a hybrid keynote session. Through the 2-hour-long presentation, Google introduced new software products and features, showcased its latest advances in AI research & development, unveiled the new Android OS along with a…