Does the Death of the Penny Kill $.99 Pricing? Can AI Kill Brain Rot? + More

May 25, 2025
By DuBose

In this issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at five stories to think about next week, including: the removal of the penny vs. $.99 pricing, AI slop vs. brain rot, new grads’ wild card moment’ and can anything replace our phones?

In addition, we have ads from: Paddy Power, Apple, Progressive, Doom and Toblerone.

If you’d rather listen to this week’s issue, check out the podcast episode below:

// Five Stories of the Week:

1.) Take the Penny, Leave $.99 Pricing?

The United States announced it is phasing out the penny, joining Canada, Australia, New Zealand and others in eliminating the 1c increment from currency. While the move makes financial sense, as it reportedly costs $.04 to produce the coin with $.01, what does it mean for pricing? Will retailers round up or try to find an alternative? In an increasingly cashless world, does anything change?

$.99 prices are perceived to be much lower by consumers than ‘whole dollar’ pricing and in markets where the penny was eliminated, retailers faced the choice of keeping the price (but forcing consumers to pay a cent more) or rounding up (to .00) or down (to .95 or even .90). Canadian research showed that consumers respond to the ‘displayed price’, not the posted price, so retailers are able to keep the price and its effect. Additionally considering greater non-cash transactions, where $.99 pricing is still viable, and we may see little to no change from many retailers.

For those that do change, previous markets have shown that prices may see a ‘rounding effect’, negating consumers from paying more on average – as $.99 prices rounding to a $1 are offset by those that round down. In fact, research has shown at $.95 shows a similar effect in value perception as $.99, which may push retailers changing prices to drop further in search of a positive price effect.

Read More Here.

2.) AI Slop vs. Human Brain Rot

‘Brain Rot’ social content has sparked discussions about mindful screen time and critical thinking as a social media diet, but what if GenAI content unintentionally breaks our brain rot social content addiction., However, what if the solution to our content worries comes from an unlikely place – infinitely more AI slop content?

Google’s new Veo 3 model has shown itself adept at recreating the common formats used by social content, from fake unboxings, to man on the street interviews. With the ability to create an infinite amount of common social media content on the horizon, will human content creators shift their focus to less ‘brain rot’ formats?
Read More Here.

3.) New Grads: From Grunt Work to Wild Cards.

What do entry level jobs look like when we’ve automated the grunt work away? LinkedIn’s ‘Chief Economic Opportunity Officer’ paints an interesting picture in his NYT piece. We don’t know the full impact of AI on the job sector yet, but it looks to disproportionately hit those starting out. However, can new employee’s fresh perspectives become their core value?

If AI can take away the grunt work that eats much of entry level time, and provide context to make new joiners hit the ground running – what’s left is learning quickly and pointing out what others miss. The vision this lays out doesn’t give grads anywhere to hide in their first jobs, but it does still offer an opportunity to start to climb if they can be a useful wild card to increasingly automated work.

Read More Here.

4.) Can Anything Replace Our Phones?

As research shows 88% of US teens own an iPhone, its logical that Google’s new Android chief is focused on prying use away from Apple. While competition exists within the smart phone category, expansion of AI devices into cars, smart glasses and new devices like OpenAI’s recently announced ‘screenless phone’ are increasing competition outside of the category. Can anything realistically break our use of phones or will we see a wider ecosystem build around it? Is the largest threat to Apple an Android phone or something else entirely?

Existing phone centric device ecosystems, like those found in smart watches, imply that continuing this model is more likely than replacing it. OpenAI’s recently announced device is still nascent, but it looks to build on top of existing phones for interaction vs. supplanting them. Smart phone market share will dictate the focus for many new device manufacturers, so not only will phones continue for the foreseeable, leading brands continue to have an advantage.

Read More Here.

// Chart of the Week:

Recent Gallup research shows that young men (15-34) are significantly more lonely than the rest of the country in Iceland, Denmark and most markedly, in the US. The report shows American young men are also more likely to be worried (+9%) and stressed (+9%) vs. other OECD countries.

// Ads You Might Have Missed:

1.) ‘Escape with Paddy’ – Paddy Power:

Not everyone is happy with this year’s premier league season, especially Manchester United fans facing the reality of a rough season, a Europa final loss and a Liverpool title win. Paddy Power’s incisive view on football continues with their latest promotion, offering fans a chance to ‘escape’ the end of the season to the Faroe islands, where football is easier to avoid. Part travel ad, part football piss take – Paddy Power shoes how a simple, fast moving idea can resonate with football fans in funny and subtly antagonistic ways. Paddy Power ends the season with a focus on avoiding football on remote islands, contrasting Guiness’ ‘Eriskay Island’ ad to start the season with the story of a team on a remote island.

2.) ‘Mac Goes to College’ – Apple:

Apple’s latest student focused campaign uses college situations as a foil to show the problems Apple’s products can solve. From AI to Airdrop, Mirroring and Magnifier, each video takes a slightly different view of university, but each has a difficulty solved by Apple at the core. Apple’s ads are often well made product demos, but what’s intriguing about this campaign is the feeling of Student and Apple vs. Education. From professors to librarians and class work, each ad has a distinctly challenging and almost sinister element to it, which tees up the brand to fix. Putting a face to each makes the demo a little more compelling, even if it won’t win any favors in the Dean’s office.

3.) ‘Chocolate Like No One’s Watching’ – Tolberone:

The idiosyncrasies of how consumers use a product is part of the magic of it. From how consumers store sauce packets to how they rip into eat a product, the more integrated a brand is into someone’s life, the more their little quirks attach to it’s use. Tolberone taps into this with its latest ad, celebrating the different joyous ways that someone can enjoy the seemingly stayed product and in the process, makes a case for more moments of enjoyment.

4.) ‘Progressive Ranch’ – Progressive:

RVs, Jetskis and Fourwheelers are polarizing. Own one and you probably love it. Don’t own one, and you’ll most likely look at confusion or bemusement, like a Jet Skis’ role as a comic foil in Marvel’s Loki TV series or the last scenes of pandemic classic, Tiger King. However, insurance brand Progressive’s latest ad gives these noble devices the respect and insurance cover they need. ‘Progressive Ranch’ features spokeswoman Flo operating a reserve on the range for RVs, Jetskis and more to roam free, balancing enough earnestness and comedic touches that it’s funny without making owners of these the butt of the joke.

5.) ‘Doom the Dark Ages Garden’ – Doom:

Can you sell a video game at a flower show? Bethesda seems to think so, launching a themed garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower show to promote the launch of Doom the Dark Ages. Are gardeners and flower enthusiasts Doom fans? Given the franchise is 32 this year and many players were in their early teens onwards at launch – there’s bound to be a few (though I’ve never seen Alan Titchmarsh in the death match).

Taking a different approach to plants than Diablo’s poisoned flowers campaign of last year, the brand created customized fire pits and a themed garden amongst the plots of other contestants. Seed kits and mini-fire pits were also distributed to influencers. While campaigns are expanding in scope, following the ubiquitous approach of films like Barbie, few seem to have made it into the world of horticulture. Someone should phone up The Alnwick Garden’s owners (home to the poison garden where every plant is deadly) before the next blockbuster game launch.

// Sunday Snippets

// Marketing & Advertising //

// System1 breaks down testing of Rivian’s latest ad [Ads]

// Iris Worldwide have rebranded with a new logo (a boar) and a latin motto (Participa Aut Peri / Participate or Perish). How very apocalyptic and Game of Thrones – right for the times. [Agencies]

// Trader Joe’s, Patagonia and Microsoft top the 2025 Axios Harris Poll’s 100 US Reputation Rankings [Research]

// Taco Bell wants to use their bags for fashion resale [Ads]

// Samsung’s new S25 is using fashion to anchor their slim design [Marketing]

// Whatsapp uses a seemingly butt dial focused ad to talk about privacy [Ads]

// Fast food brand El Pollo Loco rebrands itself and ‘loco’ with its new campaign [Brands]

// UK train line ‘South West Railways’ is nationalized and rebranded as ‘Great British Railways’ [Travel]

// Breaking down the continued rise of US fast food in the UK [Food]

// A new report says 75% of US restaurant traffic is takeaway [Food]