In this issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at four stories to think about next week, including: how to manage infinite potential, the return of toys in cereal boxes, the need for the brand enemy and speedrunning college.
In addition, we have ads from: Airwallex, Pedigree, Burger King UK and Heinz.
// Stories of the Week:
1.) How Do We Manage AI’s Infinite Potential?
The promise of AI work is that we become exponentially more productive. The reality is less clear. Bosses and companies expect AI to be raising productivity, despite mixed evidence on who it actually helps, how AI projects scale, and how it intensifies work in new ways. That gap is where ‘productivity paranoia’ has crept in. The sense that you have to do more with platforms like Claude Code has paradoxically left AI-amplified workers doing longer hours or multitasking in new ways, while creating a guilt that more could still be done. A recent MIT report found that 95% of organisations that have tried AI report seeing zero return on that investment and yet the expectation that AI must be making us more productive holds firm regardless. The result is a workforce less clear about what productivity should even look like, on the verge of burnout.
In the absence of a real measure, substitute metrics and memes have crept in. TikTok’s about waiting for Claude limits to reset or late night coding sessions disrupting relationships abound. Claude Code’s habit of quoting the ‘hours’ it would take to deploy new output (usually done in seconds or minutes) is indicative of the larger challenge – when output that took 30 seconds is described as eight hours saved, the unit of productivity has lost meaning. Enhanced expectations for Claude’s speed have even uncomfortably birthed a ‘virtual whip’ for users to deploy on it. Tokenmaxxing, where organisations rank and brag about the level of input and output used with AI, has emerged as a flawed stop-gap. Even the value of AI output itself — potentially the best metric for productivity — is unclear, as ‘workslop’ takes hold in the corporate lexicon. Stanford and BetterUp Labs research found 41% of workers have encountered AI-generated content that masquerades as good work but lacks substance, costing nearly two hours of rework per instance. Varying levels of scrutiny on AI output leave what one team calls a polished AI slide deck as another team’s worthless slop.
It’s not surprising we’re feeling the pressure to do more and meet an infinite benchmark. Until AI’s productivity has a consistent unit of measurement again, ‘more’ will keep filling the vacuum. The cost of that gap will land on the people doing the work, not the dashboards measuring it.
2.) The Return of Cereal Box Toys.
WK Kellogg has announced that for the first time in a decade, toys will be included with some of its breakfast cereals – including special editions of Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, AppleJacks and Corn Pops. Through a partnership with ‘Toy Story 5’, the brands have taken the opportunity to reintroduce toys that were once a nostalgic mainstay of American childhoods. While they nominally fell victim to a combination of cost cutting, choking hazard worries and marketing issues, Fast food brands continued inclusion in children’s meals where many have become cultural touchpoints and collectables (from Pokemon to K-Pop Demon Hunters. So are we set to see cereal box toys take a similar route? The initial partnership implies that leveraged IP will create something more relevant than ‘binoculars’ or a ‘flute’, but only time will tell if the brand sees toys as a cultural play or a nostalgic one.
3.) Every Brand Needs an Enemy.
Modern marketing arguably feels a lot more collaborative than what came before it. Between brand banter, partnerships and collabs – it’s easier to ignore that marketing is still a zero sum game. Consumers or customers only have a set amount of resources and usually, someone else is trying to take them from you. While it sounds too aggressive to some, every brand still needs an enemy – a Salieri to your Mozart, a Betty to your Veronica, a Moriarty to your Sherlock or a Tom, to your Jerry. As the Adweek piece below outlines, a rival helps to drive you forward, keep you committed and help you achieve greater heights. Without Joe Frazier, would Muhammad Ali have done as much? Without Ronaldo, where would Messi be?
Choosing a rival and respecting their talent gives a brand focus. A rival might not even be in your category (a beverage brand I used to work on fought ‘water’ for ‘share of mouth’) or even be a brand (sometimes doing nothing or the default is your biggest competitor). Finding a capable enemy you respect isn’t just a defensive move, it should be something that drives you forward. Not because of hate or ill-will, but because it gives a face to the competition you’re in, even if modern marketing would sometimes like to say otherwise.
4.) The Self Defeating Risk of Speed Hacking Degrees?
As higher education evolves to provide greater value and access in an uncertain job market, it may be facing an existential risk of its own making. Online colleges allowing students to take unlimited courses on their own time, often with flat-rate pricing and competency-based testing, have created concerns about ‘speedrunning’ degrees, a growing secondary market in degree coaching and the risk of devalued credentials.
Undergraduate degrees have traditionally taken four years in the US to complete, and master’s degrees closer to two. Yet many students at programs like the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) are reporting completion in months, and sometimes weeks. UMPI’s YourPace program charges a flat $1,800 per eight-week session and lets students take as many courses as they can complete in that window. Of the nearly 300 students who earned a YourPace bachelor’s in fall 2024, more than 1 in 4 finished their entire course load in a single eight-week session. For context, NCES data shows 44% of US students finish a bachelor’s degree in four years – though the federal stats don’t even track shorter intervals, because shorter intervals haven’t historically been a category. With no class meetings, group discussions or weekly assignments, nothing forces the learning to unfold over time. The format, bolstered by a market of coaches helping optimize to the assignment, may also shift learning from exploration to pure certification.
That shift is where the issue lies. With degree coaches now offering programs to help students pass certification quickly, and employers increasingly looking for credentials they can defend in a hire, speed becomes attractive on both sides of the transaction. Defenders point out that competency-based programs require demonstrated mastery (typically at a ‘B’ or ‘Proficient’ threshold) and that YourPace is fully accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education – the rigour, they argue, is in the assessment, not the calendar. The harder question is what happens to the signalling value of a degree once speed becomes more known. A credential that took four years used to signal time, sacrifice and selection alongside knowledge, though it was also functionally exclusionary. A credential earned in eight weeks signals the knowledge alone – which may be the more honest claim, but it isn’t the one the labour market built its hiring practices around. The risk isn’t that fast degrees are fraudulent and the benefit is clear in access and cost. It’s that the same desire to get a credential quickly may quietly devalue what the credential is supposed to mean.
// Ads You Might Have Missed:
1.) ‘Who Are Ya?’ – Airwallex:
B2B sports sponsorships are historically a mixed bag. Part badging exercise, part commercial deal and very rarely emotional or compelling at the same level as their consumer-focused counterparts. Fintech brand Airwallex commits to its Arsenal FC partnership, as the ‘official finance software partner’ for the club, with a video that brings everyone from superfan Spike Lee, to club legends like Thierry Henry, Martin Keown and current players like Kai Havertz to a London pub. It throws in a combination of club culture, cockney rhyming slang and a description of what Airwallex says and does.
Striking a messaging heartbeat between club and sponsor, the video recognizes that few outside of the Arsenal fandom will engage – but those who do will appreciate a variety of references. In a partnership that is arguably about greater credibility in a competitive fintech space, the ad ingratiates the brand into the fandom well. While B2B decisions aren’t usually made on club allegiance, Airwallex achieves a dual ambition of credibility from the move at scale for wider audiences, and some emotional preference for potential customers in the fandom.
2.) ‘Good Then, Better Now – Pedigree:
There’s the 80s/90s nostalgia marketers flirt with daily and then there’s the really powerful stuff – like your childhood dog. Pedigree’s latest campaign anchors heritage in arguably the most powerful thing it can authentically touch – the dog you owned as a child. Making the claim that ‘Pedigree was good then, and it’s better now’, an integrated campaign led with a Polaroid tinged TVC evokes memories that lay claim to then, before twisting to now. The strategy is powerful, but leaves an open question – if heritage brands can credibly talk about simpler times, while still being relevant in more ‘complex’ current markets? Does nostalgia come at the cost of current performance perception or can you have both?
3.) ‘Whopper of a Finish’ – Burger King UK:
They say running a marathon is a lot like childbirth in many ways (NB: I don’t say that – so please take up any complaints with the NIH). Both have been theorized to be remembered as less painful than they were and both have now been the focus of Burger King UK’s ‘foodfillment’ campaign. Following up on 2024’s work that showed women post-partum enjoying a Whopper, this year’s work features marathon runners (complete with recent finisher medal and heat blanket) replacing calories burned with a burger. The new campaign was timed perfectly for this year’s London marathon. Both sets of executions lean viscerally into the enjoyment of the burger and both feel real, authentic and relatable in their art direction.
The campaign does indulgence well, but it also positions the product as beyond the everyday. By dialling up the indulgence to 11 and tying it to extraordinary moments, it trades a frequency message for impact. Everyday nutrition and calorie concerns are pushed to one side for a sense of fulfillment that looks enjoyable enough to make non-runners and Moms decide to try it as well.
4.) ‘Mr. 57’ – Heinz:
The NFL draft has evolved over the years to a multi-day cultural event. From the first pick, Fernando Mendoza in this year’s draft, to precipitous skids (last year’s Shedueur Sanders drama), the last pick (deemed ‘Mr. Irrelevant’ and sending the player on a multi-year redemption journey as well as to his own small celebration) and the in person fan experience – the draft creates different moments in US sporting culture.
Heinz is aiming to build on these moments with their own, rewarding the 57th pick in the draft, Iowa Center Logan Jones, with a lifetime supply of ketchup (referencing the 57 on their bottles and fulfilling their role as the “Official Condiment Partner of the Draft – lest Mayo gets a foothold). In a video fronted by a previous 57th pick, Devin Hester, the brand tries to combine the quirkiness of sports with the opportunity to entertain in the middle rounds of the draft itself. While Jones hadn’t heard about the campaign before his pick, it apparently went well, given his reaction was to say ‘Let’s go Ketchup!’.
// Sunday Snippets
// Marketing & Advertising //
– Not to be outdone by Burger King, Vaseline protected the nipples of this year’s London Marathon runners [Sport]
– New Zealand mobile brand 2degrees has taken a simple approach to remind you to call someone you care about [Culture]
– Crisp brand Lay’s is rolling out a 40 flavour global collection inspired by World Cup teams [Food]
– McDonalds NZ taps into the mullet to make its cheeseburger stand out [Food]
– IKEA uses contextual media to offer storage solutions to other brands [Home]
– Valvoline celebrates potential World Cup road trips in their latest campaign [Sports]
– ULTA beauty partners with Google to launch AI powered shopping [Beauty]
// Technology & Media //
– 5 AI models tried to scam me, some were quite good [AI]
– Gen Z spend more time with shopping carts online than other generations [E-comms]
– Thanks to devices like ‘The Tin Can’, landlines are still alive and kicking [Media]
– Can AI ever crack taste? [AI]
– SF tech founders are testing how an AI could run a convenience store [Retail]
– What does information look like in the modern landscape and who will monetize the truth? [Media]
– Breaking down how to mine YouTube comments with Machine learning [AI]
– Inside the surprising surveillance machine at the heart of Madison Square Garden [Tech]
// Life & Culture //
– The video for Storm from Gener8ion and Yung Lean looks to have a long term presence in mood boards and design decks for the next year [Music]
– Drinks are becoming so expensive, that more adults are pregaming like they did back in college [Culture]
– Patta previews their World Cup pre-match gear for the Netherlands and it is a strong look [Fashion]
– Football leagues to be allowed one game abroad a season under new FIFA proposal [Sports]
– In the run up to the US worldcup, a new report shows demand to play soccer is increasing, but NYC facilities lag far behind [Sports]
– In a more low tech version of prediction market fixing than normal, France is investigating a man who may have used a hair dryer on a weather sensor to win a Polymarket bet [Culture]
// Until Next Sunday
As always, let me know what you think by email (dubose@newclassic.agency), website or on LinkedIn.You can also listen to an audio summary and discussion of each week’s newsletter on Spotify. We’re also on TikTok!
