The band is back together!

After a summer of internships and study abroad, the full team is back for the first episode of the new school year. And the Marketing world did not disappoint, with a plethora of announcements.

• Cracker Barrel and American Eagle get free PR
• Lego sees record sales - pre-tariff bump, great marketing and adulting
• Meanwhile...25,000 show up for the Pokemon World Championships
• Kraft Heinz splits into two companies - one looking for growth, one managing declines
• eBay is 30?!
• Pickles are a craze in 2025
• AI fallout - the return of the in-person job interview ... and blue books?
• The Tush-Push has an official sponsor!
• ... and more!

Enjoy!

A summer cornucopia of topics.

Mahjong - fountain of youth?

Retail experiences - Ulta, Printemps

Gap resurgence

Gen Z co-buying homes

Converse "Chuck Taylors"

2026 Super Bowl ads - $8million for 30 seconds

Live Music Concerts

Waymo coming to Philly

Thank you to brand marketers for providing us with so many interesting topics for the podcast.

Mattel - adult clubs and family theme parks

HBO - admits they were wrong (and YDW was right!)

Mattress national holiday

More experiential marketing - Comcast

AI ads, hallucinations and desire to be an influencer

Nike slinks back into Amazon

McDonald's pursues the late night consumer

Movies - MI7 and wait for it... the Whac-a-mole movie

We were looking for Sound advice? And who better to ask than a recognized expert in the area of Sonic branding, Dr. David Allan. Dave is a highly regarded professor at St. Joseph University in Philadelphia. We were very glad to have him join the podcast and share his experiences working with well-known brands on using sound to enhance branding - from memorable tones to incorporating popular songs in ads. Thanks, Dave. This episode definitely went to 11 !

Dr. Allan's website and link to his podcast: https://marketingmusicology.com/

An enthusiastic welcome to Cynthia St. Pierre, from MassMutual Greater Philadelphia*. Cynthia’s LinkedIn profile headline is as a “Creator of Extraordinary Opportunities”. And indeed that infectious enthusiasm makes it easy to see why she has been so successful. She shared her winding but always upward path that is a great lesson for the 80% of us who have strong aspirations but always don’t know exactly what we want to do early in our careers. Cynthia’s role is a blend of B2B and B2C, working with hundreds of internal clients to drive business with a consumer target group in a very competitive marketplace. She offered sound advice on how to effectively utilize Social Media. And finally, it was great to hear how Cynthia is mentoring the next generation of women in business. Enjoy!

*Local firms are sales offices of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), Springfield, MA 01111-0001 and are not subsidiaries of MassMutual or its affiliated companies.

Update: we had a number of requests to post a link to the study. Here it is!! https://rb.gy/401i0s

Welcome Kate and Irene to the podcast. They have published an amazing paper relating to the impact the use of AI is having on students. Specifically: "How Generative AI is eroding Social Interactions and Student Learning Communities"

AI is a valuable tool but it has plenty of watch-outs, especially around accuracy. But in their study, Kate and Irene found that is having an unintended effect of increasing isolation among university students. Coming on the heels of the covid pandemic, not a welcome outcome. But knowing that gives professors a clue as to what to emphasize in classes beyond course content. The interview was much more upbeat than this synopsis and we know that you will enjoy it.

Summer is here and Sheri & Jim are embracing summer activities like driving trips and summer blockbuster movies. And brands are cooperating with lots of new marketing initiatives. Enjoy!

- Buc-ee's a truly American cultural experience

- Movie refreshments have gotten so expensive, theaters should offer BNPL ($80 popcorn!?)

- AMC let's moviegoers know just how long ads and previews will last (25-30 minutes!)

- Summerween! is a thing

- Retailers preempting Amazon Prime Day

- Lululemon sues Costco for their dupes - great PR for Costco!

We were really fortunate to speak with Carla Childers while at the AMA International Collegiate Conference in New Orleans. Carla is a very accomplished Marketing Professor, with 17 years of experience. She has taught at Ohio University and for the past five years at Bellarmine University. Her entrepreneurial spirit could easily be felt as she described her journey, moving to a new university and building the AMA student chapter from scratch. Planning, engaging, recruiting, marketing, pr, selling - all the activities that a someone starting a new organization owns - Carla has done very successfully. The chapter continues to grow and excel, as the accomplishments of her students in AMA competitions have demonstrated. Enjoy!