2025 was a transformative year for marketing and advertising. Businesses need to know that what worked even a year ago may not work today.

There's been a complete shift in the marketing landscape. Most of this is due to skyrocketing CPMs, AI, the economy, and competition in the marketplace.

In this episode we breakdown what changed in 2025, and how to adapt in 2026.

It’s a Friday-afternoon roundtable with Adam, Richard, and Emerson—covering what’s actually top-of-mind in business, marketing, and culture right now.

We start with the “Super Bowl vs. The Big Game” trademark nuance (and the surprisingly fun debate: are there 1,000 U.S.-born adults who don’t know what the Super Bowl is?). From there, we break down why alcohol brands are largely sitting out this year’s Super Bowl—and what that says about Gen Z drinking trends, category saturation, and whether Super Bowl ads are truly “underpriced” like Gary Vee claims.

Then we pivot into one of the wildest brand collabs in recent memory: Costco’s Kirkland x Nike SB Dunk. Is it a hype play or a volume play? Who approached who? And what can any business learn about scarcity, licensing, and collaborations—especially if you’re in a commodity category?

We close on two personal reflections: the way everyday people are starting to trust ChatGPT like it’s “Google with confidence,” and a real conversation about time—work, family, attention, and why audiobooks might be the ultimate “found time” hack.

Plus: quick Super Bowl predictions, and a candid sidebar on politics + celebrity brand risk (Nicki Minaj, Kanye, apologies, and the difference between PR and sustained change).

Topics we cover:

• Why brands say “The Big Game” instead of “Super Bowl”
• Are Super Bowl ads actually underpriced?
• Why alcohol brands are pulling back this year
• Kirkland x Nike: scarcity, resale culture, and brand lift
• Why collabs can outperform big ad spend
• ChatGPT adoption + trust (in the real world)
• Time, attention, family, and “reading” via audiobooks

The traditional social media advertising formula is broken for most businesses. CPMs have made the cost advertising much more expensive. Increased competition has made advertising noisy. And most smaller brands aren't seeing success with social ads. We've spoken to so many entrepreneurs who have been frustrated they're not seeing the same results they were on social media from years back.

The good news is there's a new way to do social advertising that blends organic and paid.

In this episode we break down the formula step by step.