Future Commerce @futurecommerce

Nike has "ripped the script" for its 12-week World Cup campaign. Rather than prioritizing the glossy, social-media-curated perfection of modern sports, the global brand is embracing the chaos... and it's encouraging its community of athletes to do the same. But behind the compelling pitch is a deeper story about patriotism, cultural appreciation, and an innate love for sports. We got a live walk-through of the vision, the creative, and the products at Nike HQ in New York City. Get our initial analysis here: futurecommerce.com/posts/nike-is-…

Some social experts say the era of the "unhinged brand" is over. But we believe this is just the beginning of brands behaving badly. This is cultural marketing for audiences who no longer trust corporate smoothness and want to let their freak flag fly. In our latest zine, STRATA, we unpack why it’s such a compelling aesthetic: store.futurecommerce.com/products/strat…

Q1 results for @VictoriasSecret are in, and Hillary Super's vision for the brand is clearly actualized. Total revenue is up 15.3% YOY, with digital up 8.4%. International revenue has increased nearly 45%. And net income? That has increased a staggering 1,951%. The results are a culmination of a lot of cultural, positioning, and product work being done behind the scenes, and we got a peek behind the curtain a few weeks back. Here's our breakdown of Super's strategy: linkedin.com/pulse/how-hill…

The World Cup is 10 days away, which means brands can expect a surge in "emotional spending." New data suggests that, whether due to pride, celebration, or disappointment, moments in major sporting events can lead to scrolling and shopping. We explored this intersection with Jon Coestake of @EYnews: futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders…

The Experience Economy just crossed $1 trillion. The brands that win aren't just slapping their logos on signage... they're designing spaces that complement the moment. A social platform (@Pinterest) embraced analog, a dating app (@Seeking) brought a mechanical bull, and a B2B fintech company (@Brex) fed founders and brand execs hot dogs with caviar. A new class of brands was on the festival grounds this year, but they all measured impact in a similar way: futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders…

.@Google builds products that shape the way billions of people search, shop, work, and live. And that is not a weight that Nick Fox, SVP of Knowledge & Information at Google, takes lightly. "We realize this technology shapes society. It shapes what people do, how people spend their time," he told @philwinkle. That responsibility is now baked into every product decision, including the latest round of announcements from Google I/O and Google Marketing Live. We have the full breakdown, straight from Nick, on the pod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/liv…

The awkward phase isn't disappearing because teens are less weird. It's disappearing because online, the cost of being wrong is permanent. Everything is archived and shareable, which means teens are straying from the messy and formative years of self-discovery in favor of TikTok aesthetics. Teen media gave kids a room of their own, and we demolished it in favor of mass monetization. Alexa Phillips breaks it all down for Insiders: futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders…

10 years ago today we created this Twitter account in preparation for the launch of our forthcoming podcast. Who knew where this would all lead? Thank you for 10 incredible years 🙌 Commerce is Culture™ #MyXAnniversary

The brands that win will be the brands that "win the brainstorm." @philwinkle broke it all down while sitting in the room with @Google for Google I/O and GML.

Phillip Jackson @philwinkle

2 weeks ago

At Google Marketing Live today, one stat stuck out, and how I'm thinking about search behavior: Something that Google calls "Brainstorming Searches" is growing 30% faster than AI Mode searches overall. 1/?

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This is a great read on the loss of teen media by @futurecommerce futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders…

Google just announced Universal Cart at I/O. The vision: agentic shopping powered by Wallet, with one universal cart spanning your omnimodal shopping behavior across the web. From YouTube content, to Search, to Gemini. If this sounds familiar, it should. Amazon's Buy for Me does the same thing: an agentic AI feature that checks out on websites for you. The big difference: Amazon doesn't power almost every consumer touchpoint across search, discovery, learning, and the creator economy. Google does. Buy for Me lives inside Amazon, whereas Universal Cart lives inside the internet.

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Uncommon Creative Studio placed a rigged claw machine in the center of Manhattan to show how scarcity can be created and manipulated to convey luxury and value. With a @Hermes_Paris Birkin bag as the unattainable prize, players were taken on an emotional rollercoaster that conveyed the insatiable nature of hustle culture. It was a powerful story we've seen told through Labubus and, most recently, the @AudemarsPiguet x @Swatch launch. We unravel how these brands are retooling exclusivity in our latest zine, STRATA: store.futurecommerce.com/products/strat…

What’s the perfect combination of retail, wholesale, and DTC if brands want to grow in the future? @brianjlange will be unpacking this topic with two brands (@BollAndBranch and Bero) that are perfecting their playbook at The Lead Summit next week in NYC. We’ll be sitting front row…will you be there too?

The @Swatch x @AudemarsPiguet collaboration became a cultural phenomenon before it even launched. AI renders, fake leaks, and Reddit theories fanned the flames. But this "Multiplayer Brand" moment highlights the all-too-common disconnect between digital fantasy and physical product. Check out our full analysis with @michaelmiraflor: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ap-…

What does it take to create an in-store experience that actually sticks? One that grabs consumers by the collar and lingers in their memory for years? That is the essence of "Return on Experience." It's a way to measure how sensory, service, and emotional design work in tandem. Learn more about the framework: futurecommerce.com/posts/member-b…

The Met Gala didn’t collapse because of commerce. It collapsed because the algorithm turned everyone into a critic. The event used to be a way for fashion insiders to peacock in front of their peers. Now, they perform for feeds. If culture only exists where the algorithm can see it, can anyone afford not to participate? See our full analysis on one of the year's most discussed (and debated) cultural events: futurecommerce.com/posts/insiders…

Are humans just the "meat in the middle" of bot-to-bot commerce experiences? Or do we provide meaningful friction that makes commerce what it is? @philwinkle and @brianjlange unpack the intricacies with @mattmaher14 of M7 Innovations, including the great productivity myth secretly hurting teams. Listen now: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the…

SNEAK PEEK 👀 This is what it looks like when political figures behave like cultural critics. It's also why consumers treat products as symbols of affiliation. Brands now use specific keywords and trends to signal their political alliances, and it's impacting every decision we make. This is Commerce Nationalism in action: store.futurecommerce.com/products/strat…

May the Fourth is a case study of how brands have taken ownership of a fan-built holiday and turned it into a commercial moment. The company at the center of it all, The Walt Disney Company, has designed it to create a continuous cycle of consumption, connection, ownership, and participation. Are they borrowing the moment and honoring it for the fans, or are they monetizing it until we feel nothing at all? Our latest Insiders essay explores the history and cultural tension at the center of it all: futurecommerce.com/posts/may-the-…

We trust humans to be flawed, but we expect AI to be perfect. This is the major paradox shaping when and how we use AI in our lives. We're rejecting it by role and value. Would we trust AI to be our assistant? Most definitely. Would we hand over our autonomy, allowing AI to manage our lives? Absolutely not. Gillian Katz of @HannahGreyVC unpacks this psychological nuance with @philwinkle and @brianjlange. Listen to the full conversation here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fut…