In this issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at ten stories to think about next week, including:
– Creators Now Have to Win Over Machines
– Who Counts as Working Class Now?
– More Media Is Being Watched Alone
– China Turns AI Tokens Into Loyalty Rewards
– A Food Recall Now Damages the Whole Category
– Tennis Coaches Are the New Ad Inventory
– Accounts Now Move Without a Pitch
– Planning for the Worst vs. Optimising for the Ideal
– The Rise of Retrofuturism
– Gen Z, TikTok and Reels
In addition, we have ads from Castle Milk Stout, Caesars Sportsbook, Johnsonville, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Whistles and NASCAR.
// Stories of the Week:
1.) Creators Now Have to Win Over Machines
Creator marketing has often been bought on reach, with follower counts and views, or human influence potential. However, another factor is quickly shaping how creators are selected for campaigns – AI visibility. A recent Digiday article saw Tinuiti say that six to eight months ago, AI visibility was roughly a tenth of the factors it weighs when building a creator strategy, and that it is now closer to a quarter. Jellyfish says more than 90% of the marketers it works with now list AI’s impact on discovery and sales as a top three concern.
The factors driving this are clear as AI isn’t just citing influencer videos, it’s citing specific moments within them. BrightEdge has found that half of AI Overview queries citing a YouTube video point to a specific timestamp, with the cited segment averaging 40 seconds, while ChatGPT tends to cite the whole video closer to a purchase decision. Briefs are changing to match the opportunity, as Dept now gives creators exact product names and verifiable claims to script from, builds chapter markers around the questions people actually ask and insists on clean transcripts rather than auto-captions. Trevant’s Kristina Coughlin says requests for AI visibility tracking come up “in nearly every pitch we’re doing now.”
The lingering challenge is whether influencer briefs can still provide authenticity and human influence, while hitting the ‘marks’ given to deliver a secondary AI impact.
This story is part of a trend Airgo tracks: Agent-Legible Branding
2.) Who Counts as Working Class Now?
The term ‘working class’ has always been more than a description of income or occupation, also serving as a cultural identity. Now, new Pew research shows how many Americans ascribe it to themselves – as 60% of Americans now describe themselves as working class, up from 54% in 2024, including half of upper-income adults and half of college graduates. Traditional lines on what qualifies as ‘working class’ are blurring, as the label shifts to describe how economically secure someone feels vs. what they do for a living. As Gallup finds a record 47% of Americans want labor unions to have more influence, with 71% approving of unions overall, traditionally ‘blue collar’ codes and beliefs are seeing a wider relevance and approval.
3.) More Media Is Being Watched Alone
Media has often assumed a ‘shared experience’ from its impact – with traditional TV advertising built around the living room, as families and friends watch the same screen at the same time. However, the IPA’s latest Making Sense study shows this shared moment may be fading faster than assumed.
The share of commercial media time spent alone has risen from 34% in 2015 to 44%, and among 16-34s it has nearly doubled from 25% to 46%. Smartphones now account for 34% of commercial media time, level with TV, while TV’s share for 16-34s has fallen from 32% to 21%.
The shift highlights fundamental changes in how channel planning is done. Ads designed to spark a conversation on a sofa are increasingly seen by one person on one screen, so conversation needs to be fostered online, in comments and group chats vs. in person. Planning for an audience of one doesn’t necessarily mean isolation, but it does mean a more distributed shared experience.
4.) China Turns AI Tokens Into Loyalty Rewards
In an age of AI use, loyalty programs that have traded on points, miles and cashback may be considering AI tokens. Rest of World reports that a Kimi credit card with ABC and American Express earns AI tokens, while China Telecom sells 10 million tokens for 9.9 yuan a month and China Mobile offers 400,000 tokens for one yuan. The shift is off-line as well, as a Beijing bar is offering free DeepSeek use with a drink and a dumpling restaurant is handing out 10 yuan of tokens after a meal.
As AI access becomes a perk attached to everyday spending, it starts to behave less like software and more like added value in everyday life. While it may be a while before ‘AI tokens included’ becomes as ubiquitous as ‘free shipping’, it shows a way that businesses are adding value alongside the AI news cycle.
5.) A Food Recall Now Damages the Whole Category
Amongst a summer of food recalls in the US, new warnings and withdrawals are looking to damage whole categories as consumer confidence erodes. New GS1 US research suggests 67% of respondents avoided an entire food category after a recall, up from 60% in 2025, and 59% threw food away even when their region wasn’t affected. Confidence that recalls protect public health has slipped from 85% to 80%. As recall confidence erodes, the sense that the risk may be greater than what’s been announced has increased. With greater blowback from a recall, loosening food safety regulations look to be a greater category risk, even for brands that play it safer.
6.) Tennis Coaches Are the New Ad Inventory
Tennis players are tightly limited in what they can wear in Grand Slam tournaments, with a cap of two logos plus apparel marks. However, a new opportunity has arisen as the people sitting in their box aren’t. Front Office Sports reports that coaches have become a new ad spot at the US Open, with Carvana sponsoring Madison Keys’ coach, as well as the teams around Jovic and Ben Shelton, MacPaw backing Elina Svitolina’s team and IM8’s logo on Aryna Sabalenka’s coaches.
The coaching box tends to be on camera during the most tense moments of a match, and with it, valuable screen time sitting outside rules written for players. As sponsorship rules tighten around the main player, brands are finding value in the people standing next to them.
7.) Accounts Now Move Without a Pitch
While business has always moved without a pitch, recent pitchless shifts are showing how changing standards are affecting agency relationships. PepsiCo moved its global media, estimated at nearly $2 billion, to Publicis after a “media capabilities review” rather than a pitch, ending OMD’s more than two decades on the account in the US and UK, while Publicis withdrew from Coca-Cola’s review. LVMH is moving its Asia-Pacific media from WPP to Publicis without a pitch from January 2027, and Microsoft’s roughly $700 million account moved from Dentsu to Publicis the same way in April.
While a specific reason hasn’t been given for the lack of a pitch in many of these situations, it points towards the rise of capability conversations. As agencies are evaluated more on their platforms, AI and tools – the need to prove the output is shifting. Gartner’s Andrew Frank described the Microsoft move as a shift toward “platform integration with data-driven AI at the core.” With more agencies acting like software companies, it’s not surprising that the language and process around buying them has shifted in a similar direction.
This story is part of a trend Airgo tracks: Consolidation Bet
8.) Planning for the Worst vs. Optimising for the Ideal
Do you plan for the worst or optimise for the best? In marketing strategy and wider life, we often make plans based on the optimal scenario, but it may be worth remembering that anticipating challenges in planning pays off in practice. Arsenal football coach Mikel Arteta has shown this in practice, as his preseason preparation for his team involved delaying meals, restricting access to massage beds, changing transport and generally planning disruption as training. While it may seem trivial, Arsenal’s five-hour flight delay to Naples for a recent Champions League match, where they won 1-0, may have these tactics to thank.
9.) The Rise of Retrofuturism
Why has modern marketing fallen in love with the past? With technology companies like OpenAI embracing a ‘Retrofuturism’ aesthetic and products like SKIMS standing on the shoulders of classic brands like Spanx, the future is looking a lot like the past. However, this nostalgia may not simply be catering to a wish for a simpler time – it also looks to be a strategic brand play to make an uncertain future feel more familiar.
This story is part of a trend Airgo tracks: Nostalgia Economy
10.) Gen Z, TikTok and Reels
Is the panic over ‘Brain rot’ content any different than previous outrage around ‘screen time’, ‘comic books’ or ‘video games’? It has many of the hallmarks of generational handwringing around content and its impact on young minds, but as the NYT highlights, it may have a self-awareness that other examples lack. Interviews with Gen Z internet users about consuming ‘brain rot’ content on social media show that they know it’s empty of ‘intellectual calories’ – instead making that the point. Whereas video games or comic books were there to provide greater content and expression, ‘brain rot’ is being positioned as a push back against constant marketing and commercialized attention. In a world where everything is competing to capture and monetize your gaze, ‘brain rot’ may be serving as a protest glance.
// Ads You Might Have Missed:
Castle Milk Stout – “Sign Your Clan”
In South Africa, clan names like Zulu, Seate, Nkuna are part of history, lineage and belonging, but despite Sign Language becoming the country’s 12th language three years ago – there was no way to sign these. South African beverage brand Castle Milk Stout has worked for two and a half years with experts to develop the world’s first ‘clan signs’, giving 4m deaf and hard of hearing South Africans a way to sign their clan names.
The activity brings to life the brand’s ‘Savour Your Richness’ positioning, bridging cultural values with contemporary innovation, showing how to add value beyond a simple inclusion message for a social brand.
This ad is part of a trend Airgo tracks: Accessibility Mandate
Caesars Sportsbook – “We’ve Had Some Work Done”
To highlight its new and upgraded gambling app, Caesars Sportsbook has given former NFL linebacker Clay Matthews a looksmaxxing makeover. Through practical prosthetics rather than AI, the ad borrows from internet aesthetics and self-improvement trends to take ‘maxxing’ into UX.
This ad is part of a trend Airgo tracks: Looksmaxxing
Johnsonville – “Sausage for Dinner”
With the US midterm elections looming, sausage brand Johnsonville has taken to running a campaign of its own. In election coded messaging, the brand is running on ‘Sausage for Dinner’, promoting the brand in a parody campaign that aims to make sausage the unity candidate. Using an AI generated ad and parody red and blue yard signs promising “A Sausage in Every Air Fryer” – the brand is betting that election fatigue will be the mood of the moment. However, if the midterms prove to be an engaged moment for political change, the brand may find itself resonating more heavily with certain sides of the political spectrum vs. others.
Alzheimer’s Research UK – “The First One”
While charity advertising often fundraises on risk and sadness over hope, Alzheimer’s Research UK has taken the opposite route, with an ad that asks if the first person cured of Alzheimer’s is here today. In an ad featuring a single unbroken shot through a busy park, soundtracked, fittingly, by The Cure, the charity uses a sense of a last mile to the cure to drive donation. It turns a cure from a distant ambition into a person you might walk past, and makes hope the reason to give.
Whistles – “Designed for an Open Mind”
Women’s fashion brand Whistles has marked its 50th anniversary with a new platform and campaign – ‘Designed for an Open Mind’. The brand launched it by putting up fly-posters across London asking women what open-mindedness means to them – more than 2,000 replied and 50 women aged 19 to 72 replaced models in the campaign. Despite being a landmark moment for the brand, its platform pushed it to put the focus on the women wearing the clothes.
NASCAR – “Swear Jar”
Most sports fine athletes for swearing, but NASCAR is turning bleeps into a business case. The NASCAR swear jar is a promotion that adds $5 to a virtual jar every time a driver swears on the radio during the 10-race playoffs. Fans are invited to guess the race’s swear count for a chance to win the money. The Southern 500 opener alone produced 223 profanities and $1,115.
As the brand says “Others fine, we pay.” – the unfiltered promotion subtly injects an edge and humor into the sport, creating a spectacle out of something normally seen as an annoyance by organizers.
// Sunday Snippets
// Advertising & Marketing //
– Morning Consult found only 14% of the 2,800 brands it tracks grew purchase consideration in 2026, a five-year low. [Branding]
– Careem paid 20% cashback on food ordered from any delivery app in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, rivals included, credited to its own wallet. [Retail]
– ThaiHealth made a makeup-style palette that caps sugar, chilli and fish sauce at a quarter teaspoon. [Health]
– LG Electronics launched a virtual K-pop girl group to sell a washer-dryer, with each of its five AI-generated members standing for a product feature. [Technology]
– Zurich Malaysia’s new campaign tells a couple’s life in reverse, from old age back to the day they met, under the line “Ready for Every Change”. [Finance]
– Parents who use social media, search and AI to shop plan to spend $737 per child on back-to-school, nearly double the $381 of parents who use no technology. [Retail]
// Media & Technology //
– GPS also keeps power grids, telecoms and stock markets in sync through its timing signal, and BBC Future visits the Arctic test where engineers jam and spoof it on purpose to see what breaks. [Tech]
– 83% of US likely voters would rather pace or pause frontier AI development than speed it up, and 65% would slow down even without a deal with China. [AI]
– US CD revenue rose 58.6% in the first half of 2026 to about $171 million, though vinyl is still the bigger format at $544 million. [Media]
– Checking your phone in frequent short bursts predicts overload more than total screen time, according to a study of 277 people and more than 13 million phone events. [Tech]
– Gen Z made up 48% of online betting activity in July, ahead of millennials at 40%, and one in five bettors calls sports betting an investment. [Finance]
// Lifestyle & Culture //
– A Berlin REWE is selling salad grown on its own 2,760 square metre rooftop farm, in a greenhouse heated by waste warmth from the store’s cooling units. [Food & Drink]
– Twenty-five years on, a third of Americans under 35 rank 9/11 among the most important events of their lifetime, against about half of older adults. [Culture]
– Gallup finds 64% of Americans say 9/11 permanently changed how people live, while 28% say it changed them personally. [Culture]
– Researchers expected “intensive parenting” to be pushing birth rates down, but a Swedish study found people who hold those standards are more likely to want children. [Culture]
– S&P 500 companies led by Republican CEOs run strategies about 18% more similar to their competitors’, and firms of both kinds do better when strategy matches the CEO’s politics. [Work]
– 67% of US job seekers have changed parts of their personality to fit workplace culture, rising to 80% of Gen Z. [Work]
– NIL money has moved US student athletes from dorms to mansions. [Sports]
// 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!
