In this (belated mid-week) issue of Sunday Strategy, we look at four stories to think about next week, including: the Shifting Sell for GLP-1s, Ivy Leagues & Rethinking the Middle Class, Claude’s AI Momentum and Should We Combine Strategists & Creative Directors?
In addition, we have ads from: Pepsi, Budweiser, Ramp and Quili.ai.
// Stories of the Week:
1.) Brands Shift on Selling GLP-1s
GLP-1s aren’t just changing our attitudes towards food and diet, they’re changing the dynamics of how health, want and weight are being thought of culturally. The cost of GLP-1s has injected a new element of class into cultural conversations and healthcare brands are evolving their message accordingly.
Feeling similar to Ryan Murphy’s new show ‘The Beauty’, Hims & Hers’ Super Bowl ad highlights the shift towards democratizing health, giving mainstream consumers a greater opportunity to buy wellness.
With stigmas around drugs like GLP-1s breaking down, previous campaigns like Ro’s Charles Barkley & Serena Williams work are less necessary. The new risk isn’t that consumers will feel ashamed to say they’re using GLP-1s, it’s that they can’t access them.
After decades of weight being seen as a combination of factors we can and can’t control, GLP-1s are increasingly making it seem controllable – for a cost. The stigma of ‘GLP-1s as cheating’ looks to be short lived. The stigmas of obesity and GLP-1 access as an economic and class indicator, looks to be beginning. We’re more likely to shame economic disparity than health disparity, a looming risk that Hims has already anticipated.
2.) How the Ivy League and the Simpsons Are Rethinking ‘Middle Class’.
What does being ‘middle class’ mean in a modern economy? While a steady amount of Americans consider themselves middle class (54% of Americans in 2024 identified with the term), a decreasing amount of the population actually are (51% were found to be ‘middle class’ in 2023, down 10% since 1971). The shift behind this gap has played out in data and popular culture – with the Simpsons famously moving during its 30+ year run from a working class vision of life to something increasingly aspirational (and singing about it). If that surprises you, try finding a family home on a single family salary, with a yard, a pool and convenient public transport access – you might change your mind!
Against this economic backdrop, Yale’s recent announcement that it will go tuition free for students of families making up to $200k suddenly makes more sense. Following moves from other elite institutions like Harvard and MIT, the move shows that how we think of ‘middle class’ can’t be synonymous anymore with comfort or greater socioeconomic possibility.
We may be witnessing the emergence of a new economic vocabulary: the “stretched middle” earning solidly above median but struggling with costs once considered manageable, and the “squeezed middle” with median incomes priced out of traditional stability markers. For brands, understanding which “middle” they’re actually serving, and what financial reality that group faces, may matter more than the label itself.
3.) Is Claude Winning the AI War?
Has a vibe shift just happened in AI platforms? As Claude Code pushes a vibe coding cultural moment, followed by moves from competitors like OpenAI’s Codex and similarly named projects like Clawdbot (subsequently Moltbot and now OpenClaw), the long term dominance of ChatGPT looks more in question than ever. Recent data posted by Mercury shows Anthropic overtaking OpenAI in the first model chosen by users.
Anthropic’s brand looks built to tackle a move towards pragmatic productivity and its Claude Code and Cowork features are backing it up. With more people talking about doing something meaningful, not just doing something, with AI, Claude’s momentum is giving it a chance to embed itself in new productivity routines and foster long term growth. It doesn’t need to win out, it just needs to win share of the use portfolio. OpenAI’s rumored IPO and other moves may accelerate to try and win back the conversation, but we may be seeing a potential world where AI succeeds and OpenAI doesn’t.
4.) Should We Combine Strategists and Creative Directors?
Advertising agency Block has appointed a strategist as Creative Director – a move that doesn’t just merge lanes, it may ask questions about how we structure roles in agencies overall. The best creatives do both, it’s an uncomfortable truth made very clear to any strategist who has had creatives patch up a rough brief. And the best strategists understand what needs to be created, not just what needs to be said. However, the messy overlap between both has always been firewalled by responsibilities, craft skills and, in the case of some traditional agencies, walls or whole floors.
AI is arguably allowing each discipline to move further into the other. New tools lower the barriers to producing work and creative execution, while greater automation of data analysis, research and cultural monitoring similarly pushes in the other direction.
However, the ability to do more jobs, doesn’t necessarily mean you do them all well. Creating great work and creating great insight aren’t something easily done, even in isolation. Tools may help all of us get to good strategy and work with less people, but there still requires a leap to making it great.
If anything, culture and the people using the tools are the more interesting forces that may merge these two disciplines. The Block has a unique operating model, but as more micro, small and mid agencies pop up, others will too. As more people are pushed into self employment, freelance and wider roles, more responsibilities exist and talents are appreciated. Technology may be enabling strategy and creative execution to overlap more, but culture, a broader definition of creativity and the market will make it feasible. We may be seeing a world where strategy and creative merge, while specialisms on either side simultaneously pull further apart – leaving people to choose to put a foot firmly in one camp or to embrace a new hybrid opportunity.
// Ads You Might Have Missed:
1.) ‘Analog Intelligence’ – Quili.ai:
While AI isn’t going away, better AI habits and understanding of its environmental and cultural impact are more necessary than ever. One community, living on the edge of Santiago, Chile – has taken an analog approach to highlighting the impact of the data centers and water used to power AI. Quilicura is facing a looming data center boom, impacting surrounding wetlands.
To push back, 50 residents of the town are providing a one day alternative to a datacenter, using ‘analog intelligence’ to answer queries from users. Artists, teachers, content creators and others have volunteered to step into the role of AI, inviting people to have a day without it. While the inevitable tide of AI use won’t be stemmed by this, it highlights the wider costs of AI use and reminds us to balance humanity and technological potential.
2.) ‘The Choice’ – Pepsi:
Doing your competitors’ work for them is claimed to be one of the cardinal sins of advertising, but Pepsi tends to regularly ignore it. From the 1980’s ‘Pepsi Challenge’, which set the challenger brand up as a peer to Coca-Cola, even if it didn’t win (though its taste profile benefitted from a few sips vs. Coke), to delivery drivers defecting – the brand likes to compare against the competition. Its Super Bowl ad continues this streak, using big game media to show Coca-Cola’s famous Polar Bear preferring the other brand.
While the use of Coca-Cola’s ‘distinctive brand assets’ has sparked conversation in industry channels, it bears (no pun intended) remembering the occasion and history of the brand. Pepsi can’t keep away from mentioning Coca-Cola and the Super Bowl isn’t your normal ad buy. Whereas many brands should shy away from picking a fight they can’t win (I’m looking at you any brand that tries to hijack Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day), this isn’t Pepsi’s first rodeo. Coupled with an over engaged viewing audience and this just continues Pepsi’s intent to always be the ‘other’ to Coca-Cola. Could it aim to be more? With Dr. Pepper reportedly surpassing Pepsi in US popularity, even parity with Coke might be a good outcome.
3.) ‘American Icons’ – Budweiser:
Can you make a play for American pride at a time when the country feels divided and in turmoil? Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad aims to play up its 150th anniversary by claiming its ‘Made of America’, putting its iconic Clydesdale horse against various elements of American iconography. The result is a study in iconography without context and may successfully thread a difficult needle.
The ad sees its horse discover a young bird, who with time becomes a bald eagle, resulting in a ‘horse / eagle’ silhouette that is hyperbolic enough to skew more 90s monster truck rally than MAGA. Similarly its use of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s ‘Freebird’ as the soundtrack, recognizes that the song’s ubiquity has detached it culturally from any partisan affiliations of the band itself – resonating as much for use in Call of Duty ads or TikTok as 70’s Southern Rock. It’s an attempt at patriotism without heavy partisan coding – all the elements come together to suggest an affiliation with Americana, while at best loosely suggesting where it might associate on the American political spectrum. Whether a brand is allowed to make that claim without taking a stance is another question.
4.) ‘Multiply What’s Possible’ – Ramp:
Fintech brand Ramp has returned to the Super Bowl with a new entry featuring US ‘The Office’ actor Brian Baumgartner. Switching from last year’s expense focused effort, featuring Saquon Barkley, this year goes all in on the platform as a ‘force multiplier’, not just a convenience factor. Featuring hundreds of Baumgartners in action, the brand hopes that productivity – not just pain points, become an actionable message on game day. The focus on finance and nostalgia looks to thread a needle with CFOs and their teams watching the game, but can the moment make B2B decision makers rethink critical parts of their banking stack?
// Sunday Snippets
// Marketing & Advertising //
– Ken, as in ‘I’m Just Ken’ fame, has become Expedia’s new brand ambassador [Travel]
– Michelob Ultra goes 80s training montage in a Super Bowl ski fest [Food]
– Bloom & Wild reframes what it means to have an ‘empty nest’ [Retail]
– Columbia marks the Super Bowl by making beer from bear poop. Instantly ranking mid table amongst IPAs [Food]
– Garage Beer takes on the sh*ttier side of Budweiser beer advertising [Food]
– Le Creuset brings Pokemon into kitchenware [Home]
– IKEA’s famous meatballs may be getting competition from new hot dogs, including a half meter version. That’s like a whole Lack bookshelf [Food]
– ALDI Ireland asks uncomfortable questions of its competition [Retail]
– FC 26 enlists Toni Kroos to convince players to upgrade to a version of the game that includes him [Gaming]
// Technology & Media //
– The BBC announces a plan to produce Gen Alpha content for YouTube [Media]
– HBR asks how to prepare your brand for Agentic AI [AI]
– Is Waymo’s reported $16B raise a sign autonomy is entering its scale-up era? [AI]
– Can X save itself by going all-in on creators or does Grok make that harder? [Social Media]
– Are critical infrastructure hacks becoming a mainstream trust and brand story? [Technology]
– ChatGPT ads pricing is set at $200k minimum [Media]
– Meet the biologists treating LLMs like aliens [AI]
– dcdx looks at Gen Z’s screen time in their 2026 report [Media]
// Life & Culture //
– VML has released their 2026 ‘Future 100’ report [Trends]
– Why do our brains crave ideology? [Culture]
– Tommy Hilfinger’s new collaboration with Liverpool FC was unveiled after their win against Newcastle FC at Anfield [Fashion]
– Planning for retirement should be as much about personal wellbeing as financial [Retirement]
– NYC’s ‘Heated Rivalry’ look-a-like contest shows the inevitable conclusion of any modern pop culture trend [Culture]
– A new video game allows players to repatriate stolen artifacts from European and American museums [Gaming]
// 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!
