HEADLINE ACT

Filipino pop is having a festival moment. Weeks after BINI made history as the first Filipino act to perform at Coachella—and drew the kind of online attention that’s usually reserved for much higher-billed acts—SB19 are gearing up to perform at Lollapalooza. Novelty bookings these are not: BINI’s 2026 world tour includes stops in the US, Europe, and Asia, while SB19 reached 1B Spotify streams at the start of the year. 

BINI and SB19 are perhaps the highest-profile examples of a broader shift: across Southeast Asia, local-language artists, homegrown formats, and culturally specific stories are rapidly gaining ground. This isn’t one ‘wave’ replacing another, rather the emergence of multiple local scenes with increasingly engaged audiences. 

While previous SEA exports like NIKI and Rich Brian saw international success singing and rapping in English, these newer acts are finding global audiences while performing in their own languages. There’s still a place for global culture, but SEA consumers are becoming more confident that what’s made close to home belongs on the biggest stages.

OUR TAKE

Interest in local acts is intertwined with the evolution of K-pop. As the genre’s focus has shifted towards global audiences—think English-language releases, multinational line-ups and international training systems—it’s become both a global template and less of a geographically fixed category. But this has also allowed for the idol infrastructure to be adopted and remixed across SEA, as the all-Indonesian girl group NO:NA reveals. Although trained in an idol pipeline, they’re distinctly ‘local’, with gamelan, Balinese cymbals, and music videos set in rice terraces.

Meanwhile, the systems around these emerging local acts are also being built locally, through a mix of government funding, major-label investment, industry bodies, and international competition formats. Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency is in year three of Music Exchange, a program that’s seen 95 artists participate in 64 international festivals. In Vietnam, Sony Music took a 49% stake in YeaH1 Group’s music production unit to build a ‘direct pipeline’ for V-pop to reach international charts. And this November, Bangkok will host the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia .

Of course, consumer interest in local acts predates export programs or investment, but now the scale is almost impossible to ignore. OPM’s share of Spotify’s Philippine daily Top 50 rose from 44% in 2023 to 63% in 2026 (note that we’ve been tracking this since budots crashed brat summer in 2024). Meanwhile in Thailand, daily music charts are a mix of K-pop and T-pop and Thai hip-hop, with Jeff Satur (the second most-streamed Thai act on Spotify globally) touring arenas across Asia and Latin America. Homegrown Malaysian acts like K-Clique are building a dedicated regional fanbase. And while Singapore remains an outlier, with K-pop, Western pop, and Mandopop still dominant, interest in local stories is surfacing in other formats.

Single x 35, a manga set in Singapore, recently went viral with fans praising the depiction of MRT commutes, bidding wars for in-demand apartments (brutal), and career stagnation. It sits alongside other webcomics like Woke Salaryman and Indonesia’s Tahilalats as an example of homegrown IP built on everyday anxieties and humor that—crucially—don’t need to be explained to the audience. Brands are starting to get it, too. Airbnb’s partnership with MILLI turned the Thai rapper into a cultural translator who guides travelers through Bangkok’s creative neighborhoods. Using an artist as an access point into a place and a culture works because MILLI’s credibility with that audience is earned.

For years, the safe bet for brands in SEA was to borrow cultural credibility from global acts. More recently, attention has shifted closer to home, but a partnership with BTS, BLACKPINK, or similar was still a bet on the biggest name in the room. Now, with local talent seeing chart success (at home and abroad), those ‘safe’ choices are starting to look less like the smart ones.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

PARTY IN THE U.S.A

The recent release of Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special on Disney+ has sparked much fanfare, from watch parties in bars to fervent introspection from Gen Z and Millenial fans of the Disney Channel tween sitcom (2006-2011). The series follows a classic double-life: regular kid Miley Stewart is actually pop sensation Hannah Montana but still deals with school-time shenanigans. Child actress Miley Cyrus eventually became a bona fide pop star, and the anniversary special is part concert, part reminiscence of the series’ impact on pop culture and fandom.

OUR TAKE

Brands have tried to harness nostalgia in many ways. Past products are re-released constantly, with messaging invoking the good ol’ days. When done haphazardly, brands run the risk of being seen as only capable of rehashing previous greats, with no capacity for creativity and innovation. Every brand has some level of heritage and history, but how might one utilize the past without being burdened by it?

We believe the key is deep understanding of what makes the brand tick and smart story-telling. The Barbie movie surprised audiences with its combination of tongue-in-cheek humor and the modernisation of Barbie’s image to authentically reflect the multifaceted nature of womanhood. Easter egg moments were also fun nods to old fandoms, as viewers could point out their favorite discontinued toy character depicted on screen. We’ll be watching to see how the Masters of the Universe film and the hotly awaited Harry Potter HBO Max series will fair.

It’s important to use these throwback moments with thought to feel fresh. The CHANEL 25 Handbag Campaign is a short film-esque commercial directed by French filmmaker Michel Gondry, featuring actress Margot Robbie (again!) set to Kylie Minogue’s beloved track “Come Into My World” (also in time for the 25th anniversary of the song). The film follows Robbie’s character going through a day in her life, and doesn’t beat audiences over the head with the fact that it actually recreates the old music video – a true IYKYK moment.

The way your brand uses nostalgia is about how you speak to consumers. It’s a question of brand longevity and whether your story can be seen as evergreen — can you resonate with both existing and new fans?

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

A WORLD OF STORIES

In the last Culture Wire, we briefly talked about book merch—logoed T-shirts and caps that signal niche literary interests, letting readers wear the story. This week, we found something that goes even further.

The Boyfriend Book Box reframes each $497 subscription as a ‘gift’ from the male lead in a dark romance, filled with items designed to bring the character to life. More than 20,000 people are already on the waitlist.

Fans don’t just want to consume stories; they increasingly want to inhabit them. In China, romance narratives are moving off the page and into real life. In a fast-growing offshoot of the murder-mystery roleplay format jubensha, players spend hours acting out tragic love stories alongside paid ‘love companions’. The wider industry now spans roughly 168,000 companies, with 72,000 founded in 2025 alone—up 16% year-on-year.

And remember Love and Deepspace? New updates allow characters to call players by name, creating a more personal experience. Some players are even extending character relationships into ChatGPT and DeepSeek. At the far end of the storytelling spectrum, character.ai users are building companions from scratch.

OUR TAKE

To frame this cultural shift as pure escapism misses the point.

Fictional worlds don’t just entertain—they’re where people go to feel understood, explore connection, and experience emotions everyday life doesn’t always deliver. Some Love and Deepspace players say the game fulfills emotional needs they didn’t even realize were unmet.

Back to books. In Indonesia, where the Reading Interest Index jumped from 66.77 to 72.44 in a single year, BookTok is helping revive reading and turn it into a social identity marker. More than half of readers (62.5%) now discover books through social media.

As reading becomes social, spaces are evolving. Jakarta’s Gramedia Jalma bookstore is designed as a third space blending bookstore, coworking space, and café. Singapore’s National Library Board just launched Chapters, a collectible card game that turns 30 years of library history into a playable narrative.

We’ve previously explored how people are pushing back on frictionless consumption in search of meaning. Narrative is what ties it all together. BookTok, bookstore third spaces, and AI companions may look different, but they point to the same shift: in an uncertain world, people want stories they can enter, extend, and shape—not just watch or read.

Referencing literary culture is easy. Building a narrative people want to step into is harder but far more valuable for brands in the long-term.

In China, Mixue turned sales receipts into serialized fiction, sparking a viral craze. Alipay Alipay partnered with novelist Liu Zhenyun to create a Convenience Store Literature Corner, where everyday people co-create stories. Dr. Seuss reframed reading itself as travel with a faux travel agency where every ‘booking’ leads to a book.

The opportunity for brands is clear: move beyond storytelling, and build worlds people can participate in. Because if anything is clear from BookTok to AI companions, it’s that the demand for stories people can live inside is only accelerating. 

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

WHERE’S EVERYBODY GOING?

“Revenge travel” has now become TRAVEL (all caps, no cap), as Klook’s Travel Pulse 2026 illustrates just how primed people are to take trips this year. 88% of Millennial and Gen Z travelers plan to maintain or up spends, with those in Asia Pacific 50% more likely to spend more, compared to their European and US counterparts. 

At this scale, the popular image is of mainland Chinese tourists propping up overseas luxury shopping. But that would only be one facet of the 2026 Traveler. Klook’s study shows that it’s actually Singaporeans who index most highly on travel, even outspending the rest of Asia Pacific on long-leisure trips. Singaporeans are choosing experiences over just hauls, with a high willingness to spend on specific interests such as outdoor activities and theme parks.

OUR TAKE

We’ve previously mentioned how consumers utilize their Culture Wallet—spending in service of their passion points to reinforce identity. Gen Z now faces economic turmoil and societal structural changes that Boomers and Gen X didn’t have to deal with, where big-ticket “I’ve made it” items (e.g., hefty mortgages) are out of consideration. What is still possible, and where Gen Z consumers are checking off the boxes, is smaller-scale luxury in the shape of hobbies and interests to self-actualize and signal identity. 

This can often be beauty or clothing, which is categorized generically (and unfairly!) as non-essentials. Looking at the spending habits of Indonesian Gen Z, the largest in SEA and a market maker—they prioritize lifestyle spending (beauty and personal care come first) over essentials. They’re not just chasing one feel-good moment either. They’re actually closely examining which brands align with their personal values before purchasing. 

As the Culture Wallet is so closely tied to expressions of identity, young people make statements about their individuality and personal brands viscerally through small items, such as DIY charm-encrusted combs that are heavily personalized. Affordability remains important, but the size of a consumer’s Culture Wallet isn’t always directly tied to their bank account. Time and effort spent are also flexes, illustrated by how the 2026 Traveler is heavily reliant on trawling social content and AI tools to craft max-ROI itineraries. There is a clear appeal to signal IYKYK, as seen in the surge in popularity of smaller off-the-beaten-path cities. 

Once derided as the lowest common denominator of signalling identity, even the logo-emblazed t-shirt is now being considered with thought and nuance, in the form of merch to showcase a love of reading, small-batch bookstores, and an enthusiastic community. At the end of the day, consumers want to reflect their passion points and POVs out to the world in an authentic way. If brands show that they get this mindset, people will definitely respond.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

NEW YEAR, NEW APP

Move over, WeChat. This Lunar New Year, some of China’s biggest tech companies turned a cultural tradition into an install prompt, tying red envelope campaigns directly to their AI apps. Alibaba’s Qwen chatbot offered bubble tea at ¥0.01 as part of a ¥3 billion ($431 million) campaign, processing over 10 million orders within nine hours of launch (yes, it was chaotic for the delivery drivers). Tencent’s Yuanbao AI assistant ran a ¥1 billion red envelope promotion with users invited to share links with contacts to win cash prizes; meanwhile Baidu’s Wenxin AI followed with its own ¥500 million push.

Converting curiosity into engagement was also Duolingo’s play at the Super Bowl. The brand launched Bad Bunny 101 ahead of the rapper’s historic halftime show, encouraging fans to learn Spanish phrases from his songs. After 140 million people tuned in to the performance, Duolingo saw a 35% week-on-week jump in Spanish-language learners.

Clearly, there’s no shortage of brands inserting themselves into cultural moments. But there is a gap between using shared moments as a user acquisition funnel and actually earning a place inside those moments. Ramadan is the next test case, with global brands increasingly turning to local artist collaborations, commissioning poets, illustrators and street artists to shape the creative direction from the outset, rather than just endorse a finished product. 

OUR TAKE

Tying red envelopes directly to AI tools to seed adoption at scale paid off: Qwen processed 120 million orders in six days and surged to the top of China’s App Store, while Yuanbao unseated ByteDance’s Doubao. WeChat dominated China’s app ecosystem for years. Now, these AI companies are using the country’s biggest cultural moment to come for WeChat’s crown – and not just among early adopters. Nearly half of Qwen’s orders came from county-level and rural areas, while 1.56 million people aged 60+ made their first-ever online purchase through the app. Now the bigger question is, can that engagement outlast the moment?  

As we’ve previously explored, rituals (such as red envelopes) and seasons help people anchor themselves in uncertain times. But that means that the stakes for brands entering those spaces are considerably higher. Ramadan – the major cultural event for 25% of the world’s population – is a case in point. In both Indonesia and Malaysia, heartfelt family storytelling ranks as the strongest marker of authentic Ramadan advertising, above discounts, influencer campaigns, and celebrity endorsements. 

Ferragamo’s Threads of Light with Emirati poet Fatima AlJarman and Lacoste’s collaboration with Indonesian illustrator Yfana Khadija Amelz (who designed the brand’s full local Ramadan campaign) are examples of brands trying to meet that bar. But this is about more than partnerships with local talent, it’s about when they’re brought in. Inviting an artist to approve a finished brief isn’t enough – when they’re involved from the start, the finished campaign gains a credibility that can’t be faked. 

Brands have always inserted themselves into cultural moments. What’s changed is consumers, who are better able to spot tokenism and quicker to reject it. The seniors using AI chatbots to make purchases, the consumers who put storytelling above discounts and the surge in Spanish learners post-SuperBowl are all part of the same story: familiar moments and traditions can lower the barrier to unfamiliar brands or technologies. Of course, that all depends on the brand earning a place in the moment, rather than just showing up for it.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

I WOKE UP LIKE THIS

From the frenzy of year-end festivities to the upcoming Lunar New Year period (never known as a stress-free holiday), the signs of emotional wear and tear on the psyche continue as people seek out balance. Fashion has always been a reflection of our own psychology, and our yearning for calm can now be channeled into low-energy dressing. On the surface, this would suggest that on the min-max scale, our appearance to the rest of the world has reverted to Minimum Viable Product as energy levels run empty.

OUR TAKE

The end look, when viewed in isolation, may suggest emotional decline or a complete void of joy and feeling. But the mindset and methodology indicate far more dynamism and self-assuredness than what the name alone might convey. Softer, quieter colors and silhouettes can indicate confidence, an acceptance of identity that is unshackled by a million different details—or a million different algorithms. From our perspective, low-energy dressing and friction-maxxing are both tools for people to take back control from chaotic socio-economic forces and chronic digitization. Completing these small tasks aid the search for equilibrium and connection, and inject a bit more meaning into our lives.

Products and brands still have a part to play in these habits and rituals, but the overarching desire for holistic wellness and belonging is clear. It’s no longer just about correcting a flaw, but creating a healthy approach to everyday life. The increasing global awareness and popularity of Thai beauty (T-beauty) is a result of Thai brands and providers flexing legacy wellness traditions and ingredients as commercial differentiator. Kim Kardashian’s Bangkok clinic playbook goes hand in hand with acclaimed brand Pañpuri. Modern wellness methods intertwine with age-old practices. Even the Chinese government is pouring money into scaling traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with AI and technology.

The enthusiasm for rituals is especially present as a trend in food, with fashion and beauty brands taking note of the preference for sensory experiences and everyday “guided rituals” as a path to balance. Sensory comfort can also be attained in the form of mini analog tasks such as using punch cards to hit one’s goals, far more satisfying than using the Reminders app and a vehicle for self-expression on social media.

For consumers, the search for meaning remains a constant, and brands should take heed as we head into another heavily commercialized holiday. What sort of evergreen ritual can your brand cultivate?

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

 BRAND HOST WITH THE MOST

Everyone’s looking for a place to just be, and brands have taken notice. In the past few months, we’ve seen Coach open its first restaurant at Jewel Changi Airport, building on an NYC-inspired bar that had previously opened in Singapore. Porsche is also bringing hospitality to Jewel with a lifestyle-led concept store that includes Café Carrera, developed in partnership with Baker & Cook. Meanwhile, Recess and Aesop just unveiled a bathhouse in Montréal—complete with a communal sauna and hydrotherapy.

This isn’t exactly new territory. Ralph Lauren’s Ralph’s Coffee debuted in New York in 2014, and the first international MUJI cafe opened in Singapore in 2015. But the retail-hospitality crossover is accelerating, with brands betting that time spent is worth more than a transaction.

Is this soft-selling with a cocktail menu? Maybe. But the consumer pull is real: many people are looking for offline, collective experiences that give them a reason to meet others (and, ideally, put their phone away). Younger consumers in particular show interest in ‘shared room’ moments—2025 saw a 25% increase in cinema attendance among US Gen Z, while Gen Alpha increasingly say they prefer the big screen to watching at home .

OUR TAKE

Brands aren’t only competing for consumers’ wallets anymore; they’re competing for consumers’ time. That’s an important distinction; one that explains why the race to build third spaces is heating up. These are environments designed to sit between home and work, places where lingering—and not purchases—is encouraged. The metric that matters isn’t conversion. Instead, brands are measuring dwell time. How long do people stay? Do they come back… and do they bring their friends?

In fact, community is becoming more valuable than conversion. Nearly nine in 10 consumers say being part of a like-minded brand community strengthens their connection more than influencer marketing ever could. The same survey found that almost a third of consumers first discover a brand through community interactions rather than ads or feeds.

We’ve previously discussed how younger consumers in particular are tiring of dopamine-fueled microtrends, algorithmic spectacle, and constant novelty. That same exhaustion is pushing them toward brands that offer something slower: narrative depth and a sense of belonging.

Something else we’re noticing. Third spaces are increasingly being linked to adjacent interests, most notably health and wellbeing. Dior’s growing portfolio of branded spas extends the brand further into daily rituals, while New Balance’s Run Hub—which landed in Malaysia in November—blends retail with a gathering space for runners.

The brands that get this right won’t just earn visits. They’ll become part of how people structure their weeks. But it requires building a space people actually want to return to, not just another backdrop to scrolling.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

STRANGER THAN FRICTION

Two weeks into 2026, and everyone is cashing their circle-back dues. Going from 0 to 100 has some people experiencing functional freeze and sleepwalking their way through daily activities. But the new year gives us a chance to reset, and to decide on what type of energy to face new opportunities with.

Might we suggest friction-maxxing? This approach is the polar opposite of seeking out another algorithm or subscription service to nominally ease the load. Instead of reducing friction, you increase it. This could mean instead of going to ChatGPT, you look up recipes in the cookbooks you’ve perpetually used as coffee table books. Or instead of adding shows to your Netflix queue (which just turn into backlog), you catch a movie at the local cinema. The key is to embrace doing these small tasks “the old way”, and to build a tolerance for the analog.

OUR TAKE

We recognize the irony of the term. The suffix -maxxing implies ruthless optimization at all costs, with its roots in game theory and plenty of misuse by incels (see “looksmaxxing”). Friction is usually not appreciated–isn’t the purpose of all these superapps and tools to free up time for us to do something more meaningful?

And that’s precisely the goal – the search for meaning. Being timepoor and resource-stretched drove us to these apps and services in the first place. But the more we got swept up in an aggressively digital landscape, the easier it was to lose sight of what feels important and meaningful. The instant gratification of having all types of content available online at your fingertips is one thing, but it can now feel fleeting. For a while, “IRL” was considered too much work (e.g. the point of using a delivery app is so you don’t have to speak to a human being), but IRL can bring more tangible, longer-lasting significance, especially in the form of community. Previously dismissed as quaint, community gatherings in the form of knitting clubs and reading groups are back in trend – even “bookmaxxing” is a thing.

Brands have a special opportunity here. People strive to create meaning for themselves, to be inspired and have something spark within them, and brands can do just that through IRL experiences. This is especially successful in more analog, more in-person activations. The opening of The Library by BookXcess (the ‘X’ is no coincidence?) in Kuala Lumpur, Southeast Asia’s largest 24-hour bookstore (that also functions as a library), aims to be a beloved community space. On the other end of the spectrum, as a counter to the trends of people drinking and clubbing less, an establishment inspired by the Japanese host club has opened in Singapore. Male staff sing and engage in conversation with the clientele, who are demographically varied but are all seeking attention and the human touch.

Maybe 2026 is the year of big feelings? Trend predictions already spotlight playful creative swings. As brands build out their strategies, just be mindful not to make your consumers feel like they’re just another thing to be -maxxed.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

CAN I MEME THIS?

Is it a meme in and of itself to talk about the current day AI sloppification of memes? To long for when actual human beings would apply finishing touches to the thinking man’s meme? This is one of the questions behind the Great Meme Reset, a call to action that snowballed on TikTok for memes to harken back to our shared humanity, come 1 January 2026. Memes used to serve more as ciphers, with layers of meaning, allusion and backstory to be unpacked. Nowadays, meme-craft can be turned over to AI meme generators that go heavy on throwaway, meaningless imagery to elicit quick bursts of emotion that are then forgotten.

The backlash against pump-and-dump content comes and goes, but it’s clear that people want to feel something again – as well as see the actual human-made qualities of what’s being consumed. This is paramount for story-telling in the entertainment industry, but also for brands that don’t want their customer outreach to get lost in noise. Brand-building is akin to story-telling, and customers want more than just the reductive and sensational.

OUR TAKE

There have never been more ways for brands to engage with customers, but it still feels like everyone is competing for tiny slices of attention pie. Each customer touchpoint becomes a permutation of screens – someone is watching a program on streaming while playing a mobile game and also browsing through TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. There are industry murmurs that streaming executives wonder if content needs to be dumbed down, to outslop the slop. Does this spell the end of prestige TV? Is this why people are nostalgic for prestige memes?

Microdramas can get the short end of the stick, especially when compared to the “serious business” of prestige TV and auteurs. The dramatic plot twists and AI enthusiasm in the visual effects are easy to dismiss. It would be myopic though to forget about why people are drawn to this content  – the emotional beats of the characters and storylines coupled with accessible formats equal a thriving fandom. We’ve covered this before in a previous edition of CultureWire! Microdramas speak to consumers and the love for stories, and shouldn’t all be painted with the same brush.

At the end of the day, people will always be drawn to impactful story-telling. This especially pertains to the reviled advertisement format. Brands are experimenting with cinematic story-telling and movie-making tools to create ads that are short films. Watching ads in theaters before the actual movie starts used to be fun, until the ads got too long. But what if it were a 33-minute story with Hollywood talent and an idiosyncratic director? It no longer feels like just product placement, but a story that feels purposeful and makes it fun to engage with the brand. Thus the ad playbook continues to evolve, as these formats aren’t a magic bullet and won’t guarantee audience engagement. Who knows, movie-rating service Rotten Tomatoes may end up passing judgement on these ads.

Consumers might be as distracted as ever, but the yearning to feel something and feel spoken to remains. Brands have a plethora of tools (this includes AI!) at their disposal – what are you going to say next about your brand?

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!

 STAYING ALIVE

“Create epic s–t.” This is Nike’s new battle cry and employee mandate, courtesy of Phil McCartney, the sportswear giant’s new Chief Innovation, Design, and Product Officer.

In the face of revenue decline, share price obliteration, and accusations of an innovation drought, Nike has taken former Adidas partner Ye’s (formerly known as Kanye West) hit song “Stronger” to heart: “Harder, better, faster, stronger.” This includes a C-suite overhaul and internal reshuffling of more than 8,000 employees, product launches brought forward by 12 months, moonshot projects (remember when tech companies did those?), and robotics-forward footwear like Project Amplify.

OUR TAKE

In the attention economy, it’s more complicated than ever for brands to stay relevant and compete for thinning wallets. Nike now has to fend off classic rival Adidas (whose strategy is to be even “more American” than Nike) alongside rising challengers like On and Hoka.

With new product innovation, brands must consider relevance to their target demographics. In the age of woke keyboard warriors and pilates princesses, we’re seeing a strategic shift as brands aim squarely at Gen Z and their robust, multi-hypenate lifestyles. Starbucks, for example, now lets customers add protein to almost any beverage, tapping into health and wellness trends. Gym brand Amino has rebranded itself as a “super-boutique,” combining classes, retail, F&B, and coworking spaces to give Gen Z a new kind of hybrid experience, as every location is now a destination and a lifestyle.

Marketing playbooks continue to evolve as brands turn to culture in search of the consumer sweet spot. Hobbies once seen as niche—like writing and collecting—now command scale and dollars. In China, bubble tea brand Mixue harnessed the power of juicy plotlines by printing fanfiction about its mascot, Snow King, on customer receipts. Other beverage brands are tapping into microdrama tropes like “CEO romances” or inviting fans to write their own endings through social media activations.

Experimentation with IP and collaborations has become a marketing staple, with cross-cultural partnerships helping brands amplify their message and move fast. South Korean entertainment giant HYBE recently partnered with the Los Angeles Football Club (new home of South Korean soccer star Son Heung-min), starting with sponsorship of the Audi 2025 Major League Soccer Cup Playoff and K-pop activations during games.

From sports to arts, brands are also getting their feet wet in controversial cultural moments that shape public opinion. One great example is the Louvre robbery, which dominated the public consciousness—sparking pro-heist sentiment and appreciation for the well-dressed “detectives” on the scene (who, caveat, were probably neither detectives nor AI-generated). The company behind the freight lift allegedly used by the thieves launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign in response, which drew mixed reactions. Netflix subtly joined the conversation, heroing heist-related content and quietly tweaking its algorithm to push anime like Lupin and Detective Conan all over your homepage.

And since everyone now has fine jewelry on their minds, when better for Tiffany & Co. to collaborate with Netflix on Frankenstein? The partnership includes a reskin of Tiffany’s Fifth Avenue flagship store and a London exhibit dedicated to the lore and craftsmanship behind both the jewelry and the original novel.

With this growing appetite for cultural experiences, brands are seeking out new touchpoints and moments to connect with shoppers. Whether you’re a legacy brand or new to the game, you need to be firmly embedded in culture to tell your story.

For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’

Scroll to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!