Future Commerce

You'll never guess how Pinterest achieves 80% accuracy predicting trends.   Julie Towns, VP of Ads Product Marketing joined Phillip Jackson and Brian Lange on our podcast to share how the platform uses intent data that brands often overlook.   A “save” on Pinterest is the digital equivalent of a wishlist, basically an abandoned cart but with higher intent. And that means one thing: foresight. Julie explains how these behavioral signals are giving brands new power to plan ahead, predict demand, and move from reacting to leading.   Watch the clip below and then listen to the full episode here or wherever you get your podcasts: https://lnkd.in/gPa-xpCc

The founder of lululemon tried to take down the brand, but the data tells a different story.   Chip Wilson’s full-page ad in The Wall Street Journal claimed Lululemon has lost its soul, blaming “finance types” and “Wall Street thinking” for killing creativity. But numbers from WPP’s BrandAsset Valuator show the opposite: Lululemon’s difference, equity, and emotional connection are stronger than ever.   What we’re really witnessing is a transfer of vision. The brand has outgrown the ego of its founder, trading one person’s ideals for institutional power. And that shift reveals what every modern company needs: a Chief Visionary Officer, someone to protect long-term imagination without the baggage of founder mythology.   This week’s 'Things We’re Overthinking' unpacks the drama, the data, and what it reveals about how brands protect their soul.

This art and brand book will actually make you smarter.   Don't believe us? Just ask Joseph Maxwell: https://lnkd.in/gyQhkTmA   Get your own copy here: https://lnkd.in/g2Ydv7Yq (pic via Brandon Smithwrick 🧠)

Big congrats to our friend Justin Breton, Head of Brand Marketing Innovation at Walmart, for being named one of Retail Technology Innovation Hub’s Top 100 Influencers!   Justin is quite literally building what's next in retail. From his contributions to LORE to his on-stage insights at VISIONS, he’s delivered our community fresh thinking on experience design, innovation, and the evolving role of storytelling in retail. Thank you for making retail smarter, stranger, and a little more human.

What if your next retail visit felt calm, intentional, and human again?   Kate Fannin explored the Rituals (B Corp™) store in Dublin and observed how commerce can evoke a sense of calm. Every design choice, sound, and scent is a physical manifestation of the brand’s mission: to turn routines into meaning. Associates greet you with tea, and sinks invite you to pause and try everything.   This week’s Field Notes preview takes you inside that experience and decodes how Rituals blends hospitality, storytelling, and sensory detail to create true emotional equity.   Swipe through to explore the store, then subscribe to Future Commerce Plus for the full Rituals deep dive: futurecommerce.com/plus

Many thanks to Nikki Baird, one of the industry's most trusted voices, for sharing our New Modes research in her latest piece. We have a thought or two about AI parasocial relationships and retail ethics, and we think her piece outlines some great new data about what is happening in this corner of #retail. Want to get more context from our research? We dropped the link in the comments. 👇

The internet’s weirdest fandom might just be the smartest case study in modern commerce. The Ninja CREAMi didn’t go viral because of marketing spend, it went viral because people claimed it. From protein ice cream hacks to cursed creations, fans turned a kitchen appliance into a cultural movement. As Stacy Carpenter, VP of Social Media at SharkNinja shared at Advertising Week, they didn’t need to buy attention. The community did the storytelling. When your product becomes a verb, your customers become your marketing team, and you build cultural capital. Our latest Things We’re Overthinking explores what every brand can learn from SharkNinja: how to build systems that invite play, remix, and participation. Because fandom is the ultimate form of authenticity.

What happens when the future of advertising takes place inside an abandoned mall?   At Advertising Week 2025, commerce and culture collided literally and metaphorically. From PepsiCo and VaynerMedia reinventing agency models around shared KPIs, to SharkNinja proving that cultural capital can outsell paid media, one theme echoed across every session: creativity alone isn’t enough. Brands must now master both hearts and machines.   We’re entering a new era of marketing symbiosis, where community, content, and commerce merge. The phrase “speed of culture” was uttered so many times that it might as well have had its own panel. (We lost count after the 47th mention.) Yet behind the buzzwords, there was something real: brands are dismantling silos, merging creative with production, and chasing cultural connection faster than ever.   Read more of our takeaways in The Senses: https://lnkd.in/gvrgSVtG

Pop-ups thrive on stickiness. Gucci, SKIMS, Coach, adidas, and CHANEL have all mastered this: creating spaces that feel fleeting yet unforgettable. Kate Fannin draws a perfect parallel between retail pop-ups and food trucks. Both thrive on novelty, mobility, and repeat desire. The first visit may be driven by curiosity, but the second is built on trust. When done right, these “temporary” formats help brands test markets, spark UGC-fueled stories, and reveal what customers actually want more of. That’s what we call Return on Experience (ROE). Watch Kate’s insight below and explore more cultural takes on retail and brand storytelling at futurecommerce.com

In this Substack piece by Matt Klein and Remi Carlioz, we get a new language for understanding our current cultural psychosis: a world optimized for spectacle over meaning.   Dashboard Culture: loud, measurable, algorithm-friendly, and optimized for visibility at any cost. Camouflage Culture: quiet, private, encrypted, existing beyond the feed.   The irony? Both are coping mechanisms for the same disease: the collapse of critical distance. Everything has to be seen, quantified, or monetized to matter.   Quoted in the piece is our Co-Founder Brian Lange, who offers a different path forward: “Keep secrets. Speak in rhymes and riddles. Communicate in scents and touches.”   Maybe mystery is the last true rebellion. Are we still capable of cultural critique without fear, or do we all live on the dashboard now?   Read it: https://lnkd.in/gaAnvmnW