It's Monday.
More shoppers are actually reading cookie banners now, and 44% say they trust brands more when data use is clearly explained. Privacy-led marketing isn’t just about compliance anymore – it’s a real growth lever.
Everyone’s chasing Prime Day – but not everyone’s playing Amazon’s game
Amazon stretched Prime Day to four days this year. And just like that, everyone else followed – with their own spin.
🛒 Walmart: Deals now run 6 days (up from 4)
🎣 TikTok Shop: 13-day promo with price-matching and Venmo perks
🎯 Target + Dick’s: Daily drop-style offers
📚 Bookshop.org: Longer sale window
But here’s the twist – these aren’t just copycats. Most of these events are open to everyone (no Prime membership needed), and some Amazon sellers are pulling back due to costs and logistics headaches.
What’s smart:
Walmart brought deals into stores, knowing in-store pickups often trigger more spend
Target added loyalty perks for early access
TikTok is going all in on livestream commerce with price-match guarantees and gamified promos
What to watch:
How TikTok builds habit through interactivity and cashback
Whether shoppers start burning out on “fake” Prime Days
Who wins AOV and new customer share by mixing online and in-store
🤝 Supported by impact.com
Their hybrid model—$36 sample packs + 10–30% commission—turned creators into a high-ROI growth engine.
With impact.com, they screened partners, automated promos, and tracked everything in one place.
📈 982% ROAS. 200% growth.
Search is breaking. Here’s how smart brands are adapting
AI-led search is changing the funnel. Tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews are answering questions without sending traffic. Brands that once lived on search visibility are now pivoting fast.
🔻 Commercetools: 20% CTR drop after Google’s AI update
🔻 EGC clients targeting Gen Z: 5% drop in paid CTR, 20% in organic
🔺 Kendra Scott: Added 8,000 AI-written pages – now 5% of traffic, 27% on page one
How they’re adapting:
Cutting bids on long-tail keywords likely to trigger AI answers
Rewriting search copy for new user behavior
Boosting earned media (LLMs love third-party mentions)
Rebuilding site structure to better feed AI models
Some are even shifting metrics – Commercetools is now tracking “share of model,” not just clicks.
What smart brands are doing:
Investing in top-of-funnel brand campaigns
Creating content with AI discoverability in mind
Treating SEO as model training, not just keyword stuffing
This isn’t panic time. But the brands who adapt now will be the ones that still show up tomorrow.
The Waterboy Tulum trip: Vibes, backlash… and record sales
Waterboy flew top creators to Tulum. The content? Boozy, unpolished, and barely showed the product. TikTok marketing heads called it a mess.
Then sales spiked.
The CEO said it was their best week ever – across Amazon, Target, and Walmart.
What went wrong:
No clear creative strategy
Weak brand-product link
Looked more like spring break than a marketing play
Why it still worked:
It drove massive awareness
The trip dominated For You Pages
The backlash turned into EMV – and drove conversions at retail
Takeaways for brands:
Don’t lose the strategy to vibes
Work with creators who match your brand
Make the trip part of a broader campaign, not a standalone stunt
Balance aspiration with clear product tie-ins (see Reformation’s “Ref in Residence”)
Brand trips can still work in 2025 – but only if they connect content to conversion.
