Established companies like Pepsi only embraced social-first marketing after agile competitors like Liquid Death and Prime used it to attack their market share. The tangible pain of losing business, not the promise of innovation, was the ultimate catalyst for legacy brands to finally change their strategies.
In an uncertain job market, the best career move for new graduates is to get as close to the core of their desired industry as possible, even if it means working for very little pay. This proximity to "the action"—like an internship at a top firm—provides experience and connections that are far more valuable long-term than a slightly higher salary in an irrelevant job.
Major brands are technically capable of creating AI-powered Super Bowl ads today. However, they refrain due to a powerful social stigma. The fear of public backlash from a society anxious about AI's impact on jobs makes brands too risk-averse, similar to the stigma surrounding online dating in the early 2000s.
CMOs should urgently focus on live social shopping, which Gary Vaynerchuk calls the "QVC of social media." Proven by its half-a-trillion-dollar success in China, this trend is now rapidly growing in the West on platforms like TikTok Shop and Whatnot. The economics are so compelling that major players like YouTube and Meta are expected to enter the space soon.
A high-cost TV ad shouldn't be a standalone bet. Instead, it should be the central play surrounded by dozens of low-cost, purposeful social media ads. This approach allows marketers to target different segments strategically (e.g., Star Trek fans vs. seniors), gather valuable qualitative data, and avoid the high-risk "pray" approach of traditional broadcasting.