Advertising’s biggest day has come and gone, and we’ve been all abuzz with what went on between game action last night (because let’s face it, anything was more exciting than that snoozefest of a game). Super Bowl LX blessed us with all types of ads, such as ads for AI, ads making fun of AI, and even ads for AI that made fun of AI. But despite the AI excess, there was still a wide range of advertising approaches — from absurdist humor and celebrity cameos that capture the cultural zeitgeist, to cinematic restraint and concept-driven storytelling.

We asked three of our writers to share their standouts — exploring how today’s brands are balancing big entertainment with uncommon brand impact.

Big Stage, Bigger Pivots 

The spotlight of the Super Bowl is a perfect excuse to double down on your brand identity. And whether it’s the annual Budweiser Clydesdale show or the latest chapter in Dove’s campaign for body confidence, this year’s edition definitely played some of the hits we’ve come to expect. But I couldn’t help but notice that it seemed like more brands than usual were pushing something new: new markets, new products, new category pivots. Is using the biggest night in advertising as a brand transformation milestone a smart play, or is it a gamble that might be regretted a year or five down the line? The following brands have a lot riding on the answer.

Fanatics

Video Source: YouTube / Fanatics

What better way to grab eyeballs for your sports betting product than during the biggest sports betting event of the year? Fanatics, better known for its sports merchandise and collectibles, showed up big on Sunday with 90 seconds of a self-aware Kendall Jenner poking fun at the “Kardashian Kurse” meme and reinforcing Fanatics as a shiny, new-ish face on the sportsbook block. It’s a bold splash, and a major bet that it can successfully leverage its existing sports fan relationships to continue making a dent in a very crowded category. Luckily, the spot itself hits, with laughs, glitz, and a single, high-concept idea (a Big Game rarity these days) that effortlessly speaks the language of the target audience — and made the less sports-inclined at the Super Bowl party sit up and take notice.

Kinder Bueno

With a $100 million spend between the Super Bowl and World Cup this year, Luxembourg-based confectioner Ferrero is making no mistake: it wants to become a household name on this side of the pond. The 30-second buy at the Super Bowl was Kinder’s biggest U.S. cultural investment to date as the company seeks to compete with Hershey and Mars in the long-entrenched American candy landscape. But did the spot itself, for the Kinder Bueno chocolate bar, pay off? Starring media personality Paige DeSorbo and Guy-Who’s-In-Stuff William Fichtner in a chaotic sci-fi disaster, it was a bit of a mess — but at least the campaign tagline “Yes Bueno” (a play on “no bueno”) nods nicely, if not accidentally, to the multicultural origins of the brand. Chocolate does, after all, taste the same in any language.

Liquid Death

Liquid Death participated in its second straight Super Bowl — just in time for its largest category expansion ever. The beverage disruptor is betting that its “better-for-you” energy drinks, which hit the market last month, can capture energy drinkers who are already loyal to the brand. But how did its irreverent brand voice translate into the hype-fueled and crowded energy drink market? Pretty well, actually. By calling out how its Sparkling Energy drinks have, well, a normal amount of caffeine versus the overloaded competitors via a fun exploding-head metaphor, Liquid Death is showing that its brand voice is deft enough to flex to a more mainstream audience — while still retaining its edge. 

Celebrity Voice, Meet Brand Voice

Much of Sunday’s ad lineup was a celebration of silliness, slapstick, and shtick, as absurdist escapism and social media-esque “brain rot” continue to infiltrate corporate strategy. And the vehicle of choice? Celebrities. Lots of celebrities.

Listening closely, I’ve noticed that the most effective shenanigans share a common thread: scripts built around the distinct personas of the celebrity(s) in the spot. When the humor aligns with their reputation, it helps justify why they’re in the ad to begin with. These spots also land best when the punchline connects back to the brand or product strategy cleverly and clearly.

Hellmann’s

Video Source: YouTube / Hellmann’s

Choosing a known-for-nonsense comedian for a full-fledged parody makes total sense, so I see where Hellman’s was going with this one. However, as I listened to Andy Samberg, AKA “Meal Diamond,” belting out punny lines like “sweet sandwich time” and “ham touching ham,” I felt the spot begin to drown in its own chaos. The product itself got lost somewhere between the joke lyrics and the escalating spectacle. By the time I reached the endline, “it’s sandwich time,” it felt as ancillary as the two-second Elle Fanning cameo. Looking back, I couldn’t help but think last year’s “When Harry Met Sally” reference depicting a mayo-fueled foodgasm “hit the spot” a little more clearly.

Bud Light

The teaser introduced its celebrity trio and established the campaign’s voice. In a wedding guest carpool, Peyton Manning, Post Malone, and Shane Gillis fall into an easy, conversational rhythm that feels more like a podcast than a commercial. It’s loose, unfiltered, and uncensored, creating humor that’s driven by personality — not plot. Post brings a breezy goofiness — “tapping the keg” — that sets the playful baseline. Shane adds comedic riffs like “a little tippy tappy,” giving the dialogue a scrappy, improvisational feel. And Peyton’s earnest, dad-next-door delivery (“my favorite part right here”) grounds the trio with a tone that’s warm rather than polished.

In the prime-time spot, “Keg,” the brand trades in bro-down banter for situational absurdity, as the entire wedding party hurls itself down a steep hill after their light beer supply. And while dialogue is minimal, personalities stay sharp: from Peyton’s sincere “First beer of the wedding” toast to Shane’s dry “I give it a week” close. The spot grounds slapstick chaos in an established chemistry that not only pays off the escalating absurdity, but makes the tone feel cohesive and unmistakably Bud Light.

Instacart

Where Bud Light’s ad felt tailor-made for its cast, Instacart’s “Half Brothers” approach to voice felt only half-natural. On one end, Ben Stiller’s character plays something like an ‘80’s-era cocktail of his Dodgeball and Zoolander personas — bold, clueless, and self-absorbed. Meanwhile, Benson Boone’s presence, though loosely tied to his sense of showmanship, feels more like a generational nod to younger viewers than a true match with Stiller’s unbridled energy. Add the accents and stage-trick flip-off, and the connection to the brand drifts even further. The message of “Choose your bananas” gets swallowed by slapstick spectacle and unrelated chaos — no matter how impressive the gymnastics might be.

When Less is More (Memorable)

As Hannah and Spencer noted, we saw a lot of celebrity cameos, musical performances, stunts, and shock value — often, all at once. Many brands took a maximalist approach to attention-grabbing, one that I worry prioritizes the “wow factor” over a winning message. Despite star power, color, and chaos, when you blur your eyes, it’s easy for one ad to bleed into the next. The tradeoff of this nonsensical maximalism is “attribution loss.” Viewers remember the joke or the celeb, but not the brand.

Amid the sensory overload, emotional storytelling with cinematic restraint became radical. Those who stripped away the spectacle to focus on a singular, driving concept may have a higher chance of brand recall in the days to come. Or better yet, audiences might even be compelled to make a purchase. From talking toilet lids to heartfelt intergenerational moments, a few players caught my eye — not by doing the most, but by doing less with more conviction.

Anthropic – Claude

Video Source: YouTube / Anthropic

I had high hopes for the OpenAI spot this year, but instead, its rival’s Super Bowl debut caught my attention. Anthropic chose the biggest advertising stage to poke fun at how annoying advertising can be. No celebrity or showmanship, just a clearly scripted competitive dig. The spot hinges on the simple insight that ads in AI conversations aren’t fun. In fact, they’re pretty dang disruptive. By parodying a typical chat conversation interrupted by unrelated marketing schemes, Anthropic positions Claude as the anti-ad chat service. I do wish they kept the spot to the single defiant promise from the pre-released versions, “Ads are coming to AI. But not to Claude,” rather than adding the slightly longer explanation, “There is a time and a place for ads — and AI conversations aren’t one of them.” Regardless, this spot is a great reminder that sometimes it’s just as effective to highlight what you don’t do to position your brand favorably.

TurboTax

I’m not suggesting that cameos and cinematic restraint are a tradeoff. Especially when casting makes sense for the brand. In its teaser, TurboTax led with (and repeated) a singular message: “I can handle that for you.” And in the aired spot, Academy Award-winning actor Adrien Brody brings the drama, preparing for his new role as a tax expert. But to Brody’s confusion, it’s revealed that TurboTax takes the drama out of doing your taxes. The juxtaposition of a serious drama actor trying to make sense of drama-free taxes resonated. And this core idea, central to its brand identity, is repeated in various ways (à la, “We take the pain out of taxes, remember?” or “Sorry Adrien Brody, now taxes are drama-free.”), making it stick. Will more people turn to TurboTax this tax season? I’m curious to see.

Budweiser

In my mind, Clydesdales = Budweiser. And the brand returned again to its go-to symbol in this year’s spot. While it may be expected, the brand isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, Budweiser continues to cement its reputation for heritage, quality, and tradition as an “American Icon,” tying its own iconography to the bald eagle. Using the musical backdrop of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” and a cinematic Americana aesthetic, the spot shares an emotional story of two “buds” growing up together. This unlikely friendship makes sense for the brand. And despite no copy or voiceover until 50 seconds in, the simplicity, emotional resonance, and brand fit made the “Made of America” message memorable.

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The biggest mistake luxury brands can make in 2026 is assuming AI only matters to younger customers. In reality, AI is reshaping consumer behavior across all generations, though its influence varies by age group. Brands must therefore keep pace with these shifts to stay relevant.  

Since 2018, we have been exploring the impact of AI on luxury brands as part of our bi-annual “Premium and Luxury Study.” Each wave surveys a representative sample of 1,000 German consumers, from Gen Z to Baby Boomers who regularly or occasionally purchase premium and luxury products.  

Our goal is to track how generational values and attitudes influence high-end buying behavior and purchasing decisions across age groups. Here are some of our findings from this year’s study. 

How Generations Like to Search

Search habits differ sharply across generations. Google is still firmly Baby Boomer territory, regarded as very important or important for 67% of respondents in this group, compared to only 41% of Gen Z. In contrast, 54% of Gen Z use social media for product searches, compared to only 29% of Baby Boomers.  

Millennials (40%) are the strongest users of retail platforms, such as Mytheresa and Net-a-Porter, for purchase decisions, compared to Gen Z (34%) and Gen X (38%). 

AI-Powered Convenience

The uptake of AI is making shopping much simpler, driven by the need for speed, simplicity, and ease of use. 78% of the total survey base actively uses AI regularly or daily, up from 73% in 2024. About 52% of all generations agree that AI will positively enrich their lives in the future. 

64% of Gen X and 61% of Baby Boomers say they actively follow developments and educate themselves on AI, compared to only 51% of Gen Z. One reason behind this response may be that Gen Z uses AI more intuitively. In contrast older generations feel the need to study to keep up with the changing trends. 

Convenience is a huge factor across all generations, with rapid AI adoption rates notably among older generations, being used to simplify forms and processes. Surprisingly, Baby Boomers (49.5%) value it more than Gen Z (44.5%). 

AI search driven by convenience plays a major role across all stages of the buying cycle, from inspiration to search and decision-making, and it is catching up with traditional tools. While consumers still rely on familiar channels such as brand websites (54%), Google search (55%) and social media (45%), we found a growing adoption of AI: 44% regularly use Google AI and 45% turn to platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity. Given that search engines have dominated for over 15 years, this narrow 10% gap highlights the remarkable pace at which AI is gaining ground. 

Building Trust With Buyers

Trust plays a major role in consumer behavior. When asked which channels were most important for inspiration, research and comparison, and purchasing decisions, Baby Boomers showed the highest trust in official brand websites, with more than 60% considering them important. In contrast, Gen Z is more skeptical of official channels, with less than 50%, and prefers decentralized information on social platforms. 

When it comes to letting an AI agent make a purchase decision, there’s a noticeable openness across all generations: Gen Z (41.5%) and Millennials (42%) are almost on the same level and even among Baby Boomers, roughly one in three (32%) expresses willingness.   

Likewise, 43% of respondents trust AI in decision-making, such as using AI agents. A slight increase from 41% in 2024. Whereas, younger generations show 42% approval compared to Baby Boomers (27%).  

Both points signal reluctance but a growing interest among senior audiences, which has knock-on effects for brands.  

Since 2024, trust and data privacy concerns in AI have fallen from 51% to 45% across age groups. When asked about concerns regarding AI ethics, Millennials are the least concerned  (31%), followed by Gen Z (42%), Gen X (42%) and Baby Boomers (45%). 

One important lesson: Brands must harness AI for personalized inspiration without compromising privacy. It is also important to address ethical and data concerns proactively, as trust remains a key lever in brand leadership. 

Future-Proofing Luxury

Our analysis shows the real risk isn’t overlooking AI; it’s assuming its impact is limited to select customer segments, especially younger consumers. The implication for premium brands is that they can’t afford to dismiss AI’s universal impact. Likewise, they need to mitigate generational blind spots, as viewing AI adoption through a single generation’s lens creates a constrained understanding of how others think and engage with technology. 

With the rapid rise of AI-based search, generative engine optimization (GEO) is becoming a key driver of traffic and brand visibility. This will impact how luxury brands show up on platforms, differentiate themselves and resonate with audiences across generations.  

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Fred Ehle is no stranger to big brands, bold ideas and transformational growth. With leadership roles at McDonald’s, Redbox, Pulte and Rocket Mortgage, he has lived the tension between long-term brand building and short-term performance and has strong views on how marketing must evolve to truly drive enterprise value. 

In this candid conversation with Scott Davis, Chief Growth Officer at Prophet, Fred shares insights on the CMO’s changing role, aligning the C-suite around brand, the real impact of AI and how Rocket’s “Own the Dream” campaign came to life at the Super Bowl. 

Let’s start with your journey. What led you to Rocket Mortgage? 

Fred Ehle: I’ve had a great run across both agency and client-side roles. When the opportunity with Rocket Mortgage came up, it was a compelling moment. The company was already a major player in the category, but they were looking to evolve from a high-volume lead-gen machine to a modern, full-funnel marketing organization. 

Jonathan Mildenhall had recently joined as CMO, and he was setting out to build a marketing function that could drive both brand and business results. The chance to help shape that transformation — and to bring together brand, creative and growth under one roof — was too exciting to pass up. 

Many reports suggest that CMOs are losing influence — shrinking budgets, short tenures and fading confidence in the role. What’s your take? Is this cyclical or something deeper? 

FE: It’s something deeper. Marketing’s been losing ground in the C-suite for a while — and in some cases, we’ve done it to ourselves. As I often say, Marketing has a marketing problem.  

First, we’ve allowed the definition of marketing to get fuzzy. The function has blurred into areas like digital and IT, making it harder to define our value clearly. Then there’s our own jargon — terms like “growth marketer.” What does that even mean? Shouldn’t we all be growth marketers? 

Second, many CMOs don’t control all the levers of growth – pricing, product, distribution — and yet we’re still held accountable for outcomes we can’t fully drive. That disconnect erodes credibility. 

Third, there’s often a lack of alignment between business strategy and marketing KPIs. Too often, we’re measuring activity, not outcomes.  

And finally, some CMOs lean too heavily into communications without commercial sensibility. CEOs want profitable growth. If the CMO doesn’t understand how the business makes money, or doesn’t speak the language of finance, then the seat at the table becomes very fragile. 

So, what does good look like? What’s the silver lining? 

FE: It comes down to alignment. At Rocket, we had that rare moment where business strategy, brand strategy and marketing execution were completely in sync — from the CEO to the board to every team member. We had real clarity around who we were targeting, what our value proposition was and the resources to bring it to life. 

The “Own the Dream” platform we launched at the Super Bowl wasn’t just a campaign. It was the manifestation of that alignment. We built it from segmentation up: deep customer understanding, clear value prop and a singular creative idea that laddered all the way to business impact. 

And we proved it. Our brand health metrics tied directly to lead generation and revenue. When the brand score moved, leads followed — six months later.  

Brand marketing often struggles to win over CFOs. How do you make the case for investment to build trust? 

FE: Data and testing. We ran small-scale full-funnel experiments that demonstrated clear efficiency gains. At Rocket, nothing got funded unless it tied to measurable KPIs — brand health, leads, conversions, or share growth. 

By connecting brand health scores to downstream business results (like share gains six months later), we created a line of sight from brand to revenue. That kind of evidence earned CFO support and unlocked real investment. 

Let’s talk brand and demand marketing. That debate is louder than ever. How do you approach it? 

FE: It’s not either/or — it’s both/and. That sounds simple, but the execution is hard.  

The reality in our business is, up to 95% of your potential customers aren’t in-market at any given time. If you spend all your dollars chasing the 5% who are, you’re ignoring tomorrow’s demand. 

The key is balance. In some businesses, it’s 60/40 brand-to-performance; in others, 40/60. But leaning too far into performance just drives up customer acquisition costs as competitors bid on the same eyeballs. That was happening at Rocket before we pivoted to a more balanced approach. Full-funnel marketing ultimately proved more efficient, not less. When people recognize your brand and trust you, the funnel gets more efficient. But you have to prove that with data, especially to the CFO 

Let’s rewind to the Super Bowl campaign. “Own the Dream” was a big swing. What made it work? 

FE: We had a powerful emotional insight: 91% of people want to own a home, but 53% of first-time buyers cry during the process, and not tears of joy. 

That insight drove everything. Our creative agency brought us “Own the Dream,” and it clicked. It honored that tension—between aspiration and frustration — and gave us a rallying cry. 

The Super Bowl spot itself was powerful, but the in-stadium activation was the magic. Fans singing along to “Take Me Home, Country Roads” created this emotional, collective moment. It generated over a billion earned impressions. Social sentiment was 90% positive, cutting across demographics and political lines. And it felt like Rocket — authentic, optimistic, human. 

What role does AI play in all of this? 

FE: AI is an enabler, not a strategy. But it’s a powerful one. 

At Rocket, we used AI to remove friction from the mortgage process. We already allow customers to refinance without talking to a human if they choose. That’s real transformation. 

From a marketing lens, AI helped us get to insights faster, segment smarter and personalize at scale. But again, it’s not about the tool — it’s about what you do with it. 

But AI doesn’t replace critical thinking. AI can surface a trend. It can write the first draft. But it can’t feel what will resonate. That’s still the human job. 

Last question. What advice do you have for fellow CMOs trying to lead through this complexity? 

FE: Three things: 

1. Don’t abandon fundamentals. Segmentation, positioning, emotional resonance, they matter more than ever. 
2. Get close to your CFO. Tie brand health to business outcomes. Don’t just show marketing metrics — show impact. 
3. Be the Voice of the Customer. Bring the outside in. Share insight with your peers. Help the business make better bets. 

And one bonus: Run small tests. When you’re at odds with your CEO or CFO, don’t argue — test. Let the market decide.  

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This year’s ANA Masters of Marketing Conference felt a little different. As Adweek put it, “The Masters of Marketing conference is trying to pivot away from case studies toward forward-looking action.” 

That shift — from looking back to moving forward — was palpable across the main stage. And it resonated deeply with us at Prophet, where our purpose is to help clients unlock uncommon growth — growth that is faster, smarter, more human, actionable and sustainable. There are many ingredients which marketers can turn to— customer insights, brand, creativity, data, human-centered use of technology like A.I.

Prophet is a flagship sponsor of the new ANA Brand Practice. Our team was in Orlando, and here are five big themes we took away: 

Image: Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu, Global Brand Officer at LVMH

1. Uncertainty is Opportunity in Its Rawest Form

The Excitement of AI Spills Into Our Everyday

Author and innovation expert Peter Hinssen opened the week with a challenge: “Innovate when you can, not when you need to. If you wait, you’ll be too late.”

In his keynote on the never normal, Hinssen reminded marketers that innovation follows a familiar rhythm — slow, fast, then normal again — but today’s cycle due to advances in AI is accelerating. His advice: make the “never normal” your friend. 

His formula for thriving amid uncertainty felt tailor-made for today’s leaders: Anticipate. Adapt. Build resilience. 

Because uncertainty, he said, isn’t chaos — it’s opportunity in its rawest form. 

The next day, Shelly Palmer, founder of Palmer.ai, offered a complementary — and more provocative — take. His talk framed AI not as a technology problem, but a leadership challenge. 

He walked the audience through the evolution from AI to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) to ASI (Artificial Super Intelligence), warning that machines are already outpacing humans in narrow domains. But the bigger story, he said, isn’t fear — it’s focus. 

“The language of code is English,” he quipped. “And every morning, you wake up in a world where technology is a little better than it was yesterday.” 

As automation continues to eat away at operational and executional work, leaders must reclaim what is uniquely human: strategy, storytelling and systems thinking. Palmer’s point was clear — the power is not in the algorithm, but in how we choose to direct it. 

Then he ended with a deceptively simple question that hung in the air: “In the future — who gets this email?”

Together, Hinssen and Palmer reframed the week’s mood: this is not a moment to fear disruption; it’s one to design for it. 

2. Humanity Is the Antidote to AI

Why Emotional Connection Still Reigns 

Despite the relentless pace of AI talk, the most powerful stories in Orlando were deeply human. Time and again, the brands that stood out were the ones that built intimacy, trust and meaning — not just efficiency. 

Timothy Ellis, CMO of the NFL, reminded everyone that even the biggest brands need to stay personal. With access to massive budgets and cultural reach, Ellis could easily lean on spectacle. Instead, his focus is on humanizing the league — literally by “unhelmeting” players to show who they are and what they care about. 

By spotlighting their personalities, passions and causes, Ellis has deepened emotional connection between fans and players — and even more strategically, between new generations of fans and the sport itself. “Our sweet spot,” he said, “is reaching people before they turn 18.” 

He also took a refreshingly mature stance on brand voice in a divided culture: “I have 200 million fans,” he said. “I’m not going to make them all happy all the time.” 

Hernan Tantardini, CMO at Pepsi, brought a similarly human lens to scale. He spoke about creating intimacy with consumers by knowing “every cluster” of them — across needs, moods and micro-occasions. It’s not about one big brand story, but a mosaic of connections built from deep empathy and insight. 

From the B2B world, Mimi Turner and Jann Schwartz from the LinkedIn B2B Institute made the case that “radical humanity” is just as critical in business marketing. Their research on buyability revealed a surprising truth: 40% of B2B deals get stuck not because of weak propositions, but because the buying team can’t agree. Fear of messing up outweighs fear of missing out. 

Their point: understanding human emotion — even in committee — is as vital to conversion as any feature or benefit. 

And then there was Mathilde Delhoume-Debreu, Global Brand Officer at LVMH, who took the crowd on a visual journey through The Art of Crafting Dreams. Through stories from LOEWE, Hennessy, Tiffany and Belvedere, she shared LVMH’s “4Cs of Luxury”: 

• Exceptional Craft
• Elated Customer
• Extraordinary Creativity
• Elevated Culture

Her message was elegantly simple: “In luxury, you can’t simply meet customer needs — you must surprise and elate them.” 

Her presentation was a love letter to imagination, proving that even in a data-saturated world, aspiration and artistry still matter most. 

Finally the theme echoed in Todd Kaplan’s session from Kraft Heinz, The Case for Brand Building in a Data-Driven World. His rallying cry: “There’s a human behind every click.” 

Kaplan warned against mistaking precision for persuasion. “Data can tell us who we reached,” he said, “but not whether we truly connected.” 

Together, these leaders reinforced a truth marketers sometimes forget in their pursuit of optimization: the more digital marketing becomes, the more human it needs to feel. 

3. Move Fast — and Don’t Break Things 

Culture, Creators and the New Rules of Agility 

If there was one theme that had both energy and laughter, it came from Maggie Schmerin, CMO of United Airlines. Her talk, “Move Fast and Don’t Break Things”, was a masterclass in how to balance speed with integrity. 

“We can’t break things,” she said, flashing the now-legendary “United Breaks Guitars” video to a knowing audience. “We learned that the hard way.” 

Since then, United has rebuilt its brand around the mantra Good Leads the Way. Schmerin shared how that philosophy informs every creative and cultural decision. “Post-pandemic,” she said, “we came back like Michael Jordan returning to basketball — different.” 

United now operates with an internal model that embeds legal, creative and communications together — allowing the team to move quickly and stay aligned. The results speak for themselves: contextual, culture-driven work like “Mean Girls” Day activations and collaborations with Travis Kelce’s podcast that feel both timely and true to brand. 

The power of cultural fluency also came through in Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits’ story. CMO Dan Kleinman described the challenge of connecting with Gen Z and millennial drinkers who view wine as either intimidating or irrelevant. Their solution: start with deep insight, then innovate with both rigor and playfulness. 

They launched Josh’s Seaswept, a light, accessible wine designed for casual, small-group moments. Then they went all-in on creators — embedding their message inside micro-communities rather than broadcasting from above. The payoff? Authenticity, reach and even a viral moment: a limited-edition Josh wine backpack that sold out in six hours. 

Meanwhile, the creator economy itself is exploding. Nicola Mendelsohn, Head of Global Business Group at Meta, stunned the crowd with numbers: creators now generate 2 trillion minutes of content across Meta platforms every year, and the sector is projected to grow by $500 billion over the next four. 

She was joined by top creator Hailey Bailey (Kalil), who gave an insider’s perspective on the new creative ecosystem. “Every brand is different,” she said. “How we work together depends on what you’re trying to achieve.” 

Her advice for marketers learning the new rules of the game? 

“Scroll.” 

Spend time in the ecosystem you’re trying to influence. Observe how people talk, behave and share. The key to cultural marketing is participation, not prescription. 

And yes, Meta also provided a little magic. During Thursday’s lunch, Christy Cooper demoed the new Ray-Ban Gen 2 AI glasses — and lucky attendees found golden tickets under their seats to take home a pair. 

4. Transformation Demands IQ, EQ and CQ 

Reimagining How Marketing Gets Done

Transformation was a constant refrain throughout the week — not just as a buzzword, but as a lived experience. Marketers shared stories not about adopting new tools, but about changing how the work happens. 

Norm de Greve, Global CMO of General Motors, described GM’s creative rebirth as both operational and emotional. Once “the Apple of its time,” GM had lost some of its swagger. Its comeback began not with data, but with rediscovering its soul. 

By shifting from buyers of marketing to makers of marketing — building in-house capabilities across brand, creative, and analytics — GM has regained control of its story. The results: 

• +20% brand consideration for GMC in under a year 
• Cadillac now the fastest-growing luxury brand in the U.S. and #1 in luxury EVs 

At Newell Brands, Melanie Huet, President of Home, showcased a different angle: their AI-powered iHub innovation center has tripled their innovation funnel while saving hundreds of thousands in research costs. 

Huet explained how Newell uses synthetic personas and generative design tools to test and refine ideas faster — proving that automation and creativity can coexist beautifully. “AI doesn’t replace imagination,” she said. “It accelerates it.” 

Rahul Malhotra of Shell and Kayall Mai of Esquire Bank added another layer, emphasizing that transformation is also a human journey. Both leaders spoke about hiring and development practices shifting away from “what people know” to “how people work.” 

They underscored the importance of soft skills — influencing, collaboration, resilience — and argued that as AI automates rote marketing tasks, the premium will increasingly be on empathy and orchestration. 

As Malhotra put it, “AI can teach skills. Leaders must nurture behavior.” 

Across industries, a new equation for capability is emerging: 

• IQ for data and systems 
• EQ for leadership skills, empathy, resilience 
• CQ for creativity and cultural intelligence 

Mastering that balance, the speakers agreed, is what will define tomorrow’s marketing organizations. 

5. Think Like a Superhero: The Brand Multiverse 

Building Interconnected Ecosystems That Grow Stronger Together 

One of the week’s most imaginative metaphors came from Bill Leiser, CEO of WPP Media, who suggested that brands should start thinking more like Marvel. 

“Brands need to move from tactical activation to interconnected ecosystems of stories,” he said. “Not a campaign — but a universe.” 

It’s a metaphor that works on multiple levels. Like Marvel, great brands have consistent characters, recognizable voices and clear codes — but they evolve through fresh, interconnected stories that reflect the culture around them. 

Marc Pritchard of P&G reinforced that lesson. He urged marketers to resist the temptation to constantly change direction, pointing to enduring platforms like Charmin and Old Spice that have expanded their worlds over time without losing their core. 

The takeaway: brand consistency isn’t about staying the same — it’s about staying true. 

And for the first time, measurement may finally enable this vision. Bill Tucker, CEO of Aquila, unveiled the ANA’s ambitious Cross-Media Measurement (CMM) initiative — an advertiser-owned platform backed by Google, Meta, Amazon, TikTok and others. 

The new solution aims to fix two chronic blind spots in the industry: 

1. Understanding unique reach across platforms to reduce wasted frequency. 
2. Measuring true impact across walled gardens. 

“When the industry measures together,” Tucker said, “the industry moves forward.” 

Why it matters? Because better measurement unlocks better growth — through more efficient media spend, improved ad experiences and superior outcome data. 

As Tucker put it, “When the industry measures together, the industry moves forward.” 

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Why Scenario Planning Is Essential for Modern Marketers in 2025

Today’s marketers often feel like they’re operating in patchy fog. Is a recession looming, or will the economy stabilize into a soft landing? Will “do more with less” be the corporate mantra for just a few quarters, or indefinitely? And what about emerging disruptions—from AI advancements and geopolitical shifts to volatile consumer behaviors?

The practical answer remains: modern marketers must embrace scenario planning to build agile, resilient strategies.

Scenario planning works. While marketing leaders and CMOs can’t predict the future, they can, and must, prepare for a range of potential outcomes.

The disruptions of the early 2020s underscored the importance of scenario planning. While few could have precisely forecasted events like a global pandemic or today’s rapid technology shifts, the companies that pivoted quickly—whether in media channels, messaging strategies, or customer experiences—came out ahead. For example, at Prophet, we advised a client to shift from out-of-home advertising to digital channels almost overnight, and counseled another to pivot from in-person incentives to free shipping and virtual experiences. Scenario planning workshops gave our clients the ability to anticipate these shifts and act nimbly, not reactively.

Today, uncertainty is a given, not a glitch. Markets, technologies, customer expectations, and competitive landscapes are evolving faster than ever. Scenario planning has evolved into a crucial strategic muscle that can mean the difference between surviving and thriving when new curveballs come.

Scenario Planning 3.0: A Modern Approach 

No one has a crystal ball. That’s why scenario planning has been around for ages. But marketing leaders who regularly scenario plan are better equipped to face ever-changing circumstances and drive more effective, efficient and resilient marketing plans.    

We used this approach to help Scoperta! launch its brand into the market with a buzz-worthy digital strategy. Our team brainstormed, deliberated and developed proactive solutions to ensure the business was prepared for scenarios as diverse as low site traffic, site traffic that didn’t convert, and even traffic that was converting but perhaps needed to spend more per transaction.    

We knew what we would do for each of these scenarios, even if we didn’t need to do it. And because we prepared for these potential outcomes from the onset, we were also better positioned to optimize the campaign for success.    

Modern scenario planning allows companies to proactively address scenarios that may jeopardize the ability to reach any prioritized goal. And each step of the scenario-planning approach leads to strategic outcomes that will help the marketing strategy thrive despite uncertainty.  

Three Steps to Take When Scenario Planning Your Next Marketing Strategy 

Think of scenario planning as a game. We developed a game board to help our clients develop effective scenario plans to help workshop specific scenarios and prepare for potential outcomes.

Here are three steps to take when scenario planning your next marketing initiative: 

1. Draft possible Scenarios for an Initial Discussion 

We recommend defining a short list of critical priorities for a specific marketing initiative rather than trying to scenario plan for every single objective. To ensure you are tapping into the right preferences, you should collaborate with a cross-disciplinary team of stakeholders across marketing, sales, customer experience, operations and product.   

Some common considerations include:    

• Low site traffic or site traffic declining    
• Site traffic is not converting to sales   
• Sales are resulting in low revenue    
• Slow velocity to conversion    
• Low customer engagement    
• Lack of return customers    
• Smaller size or value in shopping carts    

2. Add and Prioritize ideas Across Levers to Address Scenarios 

Once you have identified your key priorities, address the potential levers you can pull. Some examples for marketers include:    

• What would happen if we increased or shifted media spending?   
• If we changed the messaging, would that improve customer engagement?  
• Might we offer audiences different or more personalized incentives and offers?  
• Would a shift in loyalty and rewards make a difference?   
• Could we consider other channels, working with new influencers or product aggregators?  
• How about new content and social strategies?   
• Would increasing the number of touchpoints improve lead nurturing? 

3. Codify and Socialize the Contingency Plan 

How these initial plans are shared throughout the organization is essential. But it doesn’t stop there.  Additional sessions are often needed to follow up on hot topics and assign owners to chosen levers.   

Next, you should schedule a contingency planning session at the end of an agreed-upon time frame to evaluate performance data to date. Leaders might integrate the scenario decision process into regular performance reporting sessions, similar to how leaders integrate optimization sessions in conventional campaign management.   

During this phase of the scenario planning process, internal communication channels become critical tools. It’s essential to ensure all stakeholders, from supply chain partners to investors, are current on pivot-ready strategies.   

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