In this (better late than never) issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at five stories to think about next week, including: Apple & Gemini, Conformity Gate & Fandoms, Reinventing or Reintroducing Work Happy Hours, Recalibrating AI & Health and whether Toned Arms Are the New Skinny?
In addition, we have ads from: Australian Lamb, Equinox, Miller Lite, David Protein and AJ Bell.
// Stories of the Week:
1.) Apple Changes the AI Landscape with Gemini.
Rumors that Apple and Google are in discussions to integrate Google’s Gemini AI into Siri may seem as if battle lines are being drawn in AI, but it may also be the start of a more interconnected AI landscape. The partnership would see Gemini power more complex Siri queries while Apple Intelligence handles on-device tasks – creating a two-tiered approach to AI assistance.
For Apple, it solves the challenge of delivering advanced AI capabilities without the infrastructure investment Google and OpenAI have made so far. For Google, it provides access to billions of iPhone users and keeps them in Google’s AI ecosystem – similar to Google’s search deal without the cost.
The deal raises several questions. Is Apple’s long-term AI strategy two tiered, with Siri powered by a mixture of best in class models or is this a stop gap measure? Currently, Apple gets to maintain its privacy-focused brand (with on-device processing) while offloading complex queries to a partner, but it also cedes control over a critical part of its user experience.
For OpenAI it raises an interesting question about what’s next? It already sits as a partner to Apple’s Siri, but is it comfortable being part of a roster or will it prioritize growing its footprint through partnerships and their upcoming device? Finally, for users, does it signal a world where multiple agents work seamlessly or will there still be a place for a preferred partner?
2.) Conformity Gate: When Fan Bases Go Astray.
Every brand and media owner wants to ‘world-build’, but what happens when the fandoms you create take on a life of their own? For every Swifty following intricate clues in Taylor Swift’s albums, there’s a DC fan who demanded the ‘Snyder Cut’ until it happened. But what happens when fans won’t let your world end?
Netflix’s finale of Stranger Things during New Years’ ended the blockbuster series to fanfare and a legion of brand partnerships. However, it also spawned the conspiracy theory of ‘Conformity Gate’, in which fans believed a secret ninth, post finale, episode was on the way. The conspiracy theorized that despite being vanquished in the finale, series villain Vecna created the ending viewers saw, leaving the main characters in limbo and driving internet theories about clues left by the creators and Netflix (in a ‘what’s coming next’ promo).
While TikTok theorized that a new episode was on its way last week, no episode ultimately materialized – leaving fans to accept a more disappointing reality: the story was truly over. With an animated series, a documentary and an unconnected anthology on the horizon, Netflix can’t risk alienating hardcore fans – but it can’t produce content fast enough to satisfy their appetite for more. Easter eggs like searching ‘Conformity Gate’ on Netflix reportedly bringing up Stranger Things, initially fed the conspiratorial fervor, but the content runway ultimately ran out.
The speed of cultural conversation has outpaced content production, forcing Netflix to disappoint fans who aren’t ready to let go. An unfortunate, but realistic reality that leaves the brand hoping they can reactivate their interest later on. While other shows with cult followings have used lower-budget, but creative methods to continue theorization post finale (like ‘Gravity Falls’ ingenious ARG continued by the show’s founder), Netflix may simply have to let this version of ‘Stranger Things’ end – whether fans are ready or not. For world-building entertainment brands and fans, it’s a reminder that while the fantasy lives in viewers’ minds, it’s still, for now, bound by studio realities.
3.) Do We Need to Reinvent the Work Happy Hour?
One of the most striking cultural differences between American and British companies is their after-work drinking culture. While the pandemic, remote work, and shifting attitudes toward alcohol have affected both countries over the past five years, a marked difference remains. Britain has largely returned to the pub – albeit with more non-alcoholic options and greater responsibility – while American work culture has arguably yet to find its own after-work equivalent.
This may seem trivial, but amid the push for Return to Office and the focus on building attractive work cultures, companies need ways to foster unstructured, informal interaction. While after-work drinking establishments carry HR risk, informal gatherings help build connections across hierarchies and foster genuine camaraderie. These don’t have to be alcohol-focused, but bars and pubs offer ideal neutral ground – separate from the office yet accessible to all.
Only time will tell whether the traditional ‘happy hour’ becomes part of post-RTO American work culture, but if not happy hour then something else has to take its place. However, it’s worth remembering what Rory Sutherland noted about idealized office life during RTO discussions: ‘the sense of collaboration, camaraderie and connection we use to describe the office was actually what occurred in the pub.’ Perhaps the real question isn’t whether people should return to the office, but whether we’re creating the right informal opportunities and spaces around it for people to additionally return to.
4.) Recalibrating AI & Health.
As stories of ‘AI Psychosis’ (where chatbot and AI usage led users into delusional or unhealthy behaviours) increase, so has the threat of health misinformation for AI companies. AI is unintentionally, but uniquely attractive to receive health questions from users, as its mix of perceived expertise and privacy allow users to talk about things they may not pursue with their doctor or peers. Without clinical objectivity, it offers answers to our health issues with less oversight or fear, trading lab coat anxiety for quick and simple – but potentially wrong answers.
Last week simultaneously saw Google pull some of its health related AI overviews, after a Guardian article found incorrect information, while OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, attempting to codify and regulate the inevitable health questions coming from users. Currently in beta, ChatGPT Health was developed in concert with medical professionals, aiming to pull in your medical records and activity data to privately inform the AI’s response to health based questions.
Facing a reported 230m weekly health questions, OpenAI has seemingly doubled down on data and context vs. restricting the inevitable tide of health questions to it. A wider question still stands however, if patients are willing to take uncomfortable answers from an AI as readily as they might from a doctor.
5.) Toned Arms, Shifting Beauty & GLP-1s.
With increasing GLP-1 access creating a new path to ‘skinny’, is ‘strong’ becoming more of an aspirational signal in women’s beauty? From Victoria Beckham swapping cardio for weightlifting to magazines featuring Dua Lipa and Padma Lakshmi flexing biceps, strength has been gaining cultural traction for years. The more weight loss drugs change our relationship with thinness, the more muscle may be cementing itself as the differentiator. Despite a complicated history with strong women in fashion, the industry’s new status symbol suggests: you can’t take a shot for sculpted arms.
// Ads You Might Have Missed:
1.) ‘Question Everything, But Yourself’ – Equinox:
Upscale gym brand Equinox is no stranger to New Year’s. From asking potential members to ‘commit to anything’ to refusing new memberships at New Year’s, the brand has a complicated relationship with a period that normally sees new memberships and ‘get in shape’ resolutions.
For 2026, Equinox taps into anti-AI sentiment, creating a campaign that acknowledges our deepfake cultural tensions and distrust of what we see online – using AI-generated fakes juxtaposed with ‘real’ fitness models. The ads ask you to ‘question everything but yourself’, a line that, while inspiring, seems to ask potential members to prefer human polish and aspiration being sold to them over a currently imperfect AI version. At $300/month, however, members may demand the choice of professionally curated, human-made aspiration.
2.) ‘Ditch the Apps’ – Miller Lite:
US Beer brand Miller Lite has taken a stand against disconnection and cancelling plans with a new creative platform and ad, featuring Christopher Walken. ‘Legendary Moments Start with a Lite’ aims to fight the increasing trend of JOMO and ‘cancellation culture’. Similar to Heineken Brazil’s recent campaign, featuring free beers as an alternative to sending long voice notes to each other, Miller Lite is doubling down on connection and IRL culture.
Interestingly, the launch ad features a man ‘ditching the apps’ at a bar and approaching a group of women at Christopher Walken’s encouragement. While the sentiment feels very on brand for modern culture, the fact he didn’t quit Tinder and join a run club may beat Walken as the least realistic part of the ad.
3.) ‘Feel Good Investing’ – AJ Bell:
We may live in very ‘eat the rich’ times, but what about accosting high society with a giant bell, slapstick comedy style? AJ Bell’s new UK campaign acts on research showing only 32% of adults see investing as accessible, while just 38% say it’s for ‘people like them’. Their plan to open investing up to more of the UK? Unleash a giant bell on the private jet flying, clay pigeon shooting, and yachting ‘investors’ among us. AJ Bell commits to the bit, soundtracked to ‘You Can Ring My Bell’, and doesn’t skimp on relatability. Where others aim to democratize while still claiming an air of elitism, this campaign can be lauded for going for broke. Whether we want a brokerage that allows us ‘into the club’ or blows the doors off it has yet to be seen.
4.) ‘The Happiness List’ – Australian Lamb:
Australia may not be in the top 10 happiest countries, but its outrage at the omission has inspired this year’s Australian Lamb ad. Australian Lamb has annually championed lamb’s power to bring the country together, and this year’s entry serves double duty as both tourism pitch and lamb industry promotion. Featuring Australian figures like Sam Kekovich wooing ‘happiness inspectors’, the ad tours the various benefits of the country before settling on something they can’t resist – lamb on a BBQ. More direct than previous years, Australian Lamb creates a love letter to the country almost everyone can agree on – aside from one dig at Canberrans.
5.) ‘Devour’ – David Protein:
Can supplements sell indulgence? Challenger brand David Protein has a history of selling thirst traps with protein bars, and its latest campaign featuring Julia Fox takes a hedonistic turn. While most supplement brands sell sex indirectly through fitness and maxxing, or bank on nostalgic flavors, David has gone all in on the indulgent nature of the product. When everything claims to have protein in it, being a protein bar is a complicated business. David Protein seems to acknowledge this by treating the protein as table stakes and the indulgence as what actually brings people in.
// Sunday Snippets
// Marketing & Advertising //
– SanDisk shows that B2B can still go internet brainrot, with a ‘decks!’ focused ad for their USB drive [Technology]
– UK broadcaster iTV taps into timeless historical truths about entertainment in its latest ad [Media]
– Blue Diamond Almonds throws GenAI powered pitches towards the Jonas Bros. in their latest ad for Almond Breeze [Food]
– ZocDoc enlists auctioneers to highlight the options users have for doctors [Health]
– Why shame based messaging for the New Year is backfiring [Culture]
– McDonalds UK spills its ‘secret’ menu [Food]
– A random internet comment sparked TopGolf’s latest promotion [Sports]
– Molson is seeking ‘Performance Enhancing Canadians’ to send to support the team at the World Cup [Sports]
– Volvo has created ‘Volvo Centum’ a font designed with drivers’ safety in mind [Automotive]
– UK pizza brand Franco Manca have tapped into Strava art, allowing users to run a route in the shape of a pizza for a discount [Food]
– Liquid Death partners for a second time with E.L.F. – launching ‘lip embalm’ [Beauty]
– LEGO’s first ‘smart brick’ set is available for pre-order [Technology]
// Technology & Media //
– The Drum puts out a (generally) useful guide on how to create and pitch stories to them [Media]
– OpenAI is asking contractors to upload ‘anonymized’ work from previous jobs to train agents [AI]
– Meta delays global roll-out of Ray-Ban Display due to high US demand [Technology]
– Is our AI future here, but just not evenly distributed yet? [Technology]
– The NYTimes looks at what drove the publishing market in 2025 [Books]
– OpenAI introduces OpenAI for Health, a suite of tools geared towards healthcare professionals [AI]
– Amazon breaks down creating reliable AI agents [AI]
– Brain scan technology trials are showing potential to turn thoughts into words [Technology]
– Walmart starts advertising in GenAI shopping agent Sparky [AI]
// Life & Culture //
– The darker side of Japan’s love of cuteness [Culture]
– How did American’s 2025 New Years’ Resolutions change? [Culture]
– DR Congo superfan Lumumba Vea leaves a mark on AFCON [Sports]
– Expectations for 2026 predictably split down US party lines [Culture]
– Are people swapping ‘Karen’ for ‘Jessica’ when it comes to pejorative names? [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!
