The news: Over 40% of US consumers are comfortable with AI managing investments, and 89% are open to new technology, seeing it as trustworthy for financial advice, per a TD Bank survey. However, current AI-driven personal finance management (PFM) tools often lack human oversight, leading to poor or misleading advice, especially for vulnerable users. Our take: FIs should differentiate themselves from fintechs by highlighting the crucial role human expertise still plays in their offerings—making them more trustworthy than their competitors.
The news: Walmart-owned Sam’s Club is raising prices on select products in response to cost pressures from the Trump administration’s tariffs, The Wall Street Journal reports. Our take: Sam’s Club is on a roll. The retailer is generating record-high membership levels and plans to accelerate growth by opening about 15 new stores each year while remodeling existing locations. But how Sam’s Club handles tariff-driven price increases could determine whether its momentum continues—or stalls. The retailer faces a delicate balancing act in deciding when to absorb rising costs and when to pass them on. The stakes are high. A misstep could either erode profit margins or drive a decline in membership renewals—both of which are essential to its business model.
The news: YouTube unveiled Open Call at Cannes Lions 2025, a new platform-native feature allowing advertisers to post campaign briefs that monetized creators can directly respond to with self-produced content. The initiative removes the need for traditional influencer matchmaking, giving brands centralized control over content submissions, approvals, and performance via Google Ads. Our take: As costs rise and brand safety concerns mount, Open Call could tilt the branded content ecosystem in favor of marketers. It simplifies creator discovery, improves ROI measurement, and could lead to longer-term omnichannel partnerships. YouTube’s move positions it as a central hub for scalable, data-informed influencer marketing.
E.l.f. SKIN is blending product marketing and comedy with “Sunhinged,” a comedy special that doubles as a PSA for sun protection.
The news: Prescription drug approval timelines will shrink under an FDA pilot program that will reduce the approval timelines from a typical 10 months to just 1 to 2 months. Our take: Speedier reviews and new AI programs for drug developers are good ideas, but pharma companies should remember the COVID-19 vaccines speed-to-market backlash and weigh the time benefit against whether their drugs will gain trust with physicians and patients.
The trend: Women see and hear more health-related information than men, especially when it comes to weight loss drugs and anti-aging treatments. Our take: Pharma and healthcare marketers need to more effectively reach women. Instead of marketing to all women, market to mindsets like self-care via social media influencers’ tips and advice, or motivations like caregiving and prevention by tapping into mammogram screening advocacy and resources that support overburdened women who care for loved ones.
The trend: Younger generations continue to prioritize wellness more than older consumers and are purchasing products across a range of health and well-being categories. Our take: Sharing practical tips and advice is helpful, but brands and marketers can further stand out on social platforms by replying to users’ comments and questions within a post. Building partnerships with wellness influencers is essential, and it’s important to find creators who have real-life experiences that are relatable to the targeted audience.
The news: Oura is partnering with Maven Clinic to integrate smart ring data with providers’ care and treatment plans. Our take: We think it will take a while for providers to incorporate device data into the decisions they make for patients, which are typically based on clinical research studies and medical literature. Oura shouldn’t bet too heavily on securing doctors’ trust, and instead home in on the recent advancements it’s making on using AI to drive a better consumer experience.
The news: US adults are increasingly dependent on digital platforms for news, with social media and video overtaking traditional news outlets for the first time. 54% of US adults get their news from social media, per the Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report, compared with 50% from TV news and 48% from news websites and apps. Our take: Linear platforms could offer personalized news digests and mobile- and social- friendly content to reengage younger users, while advertisers should diversify their campaigns across social media platforms to follow fragmented user engagement.
The news: Podcasts are becoming a popular way for brands to reach engaged audiences, with viewership mounting and new platforms throwing their hats in the ring. Podcast viewership is thriving, reaching over 140 million US listeners in 2025, according to our forecast. Listeners will surpass 150 million by 2027. Our take: Podcasts are shaping up to become a strong contender in media consumption, with nearly 70% of US adults ages 18 to 24 listening at least one per month, per our forecast. As platforms battle to be the leading home for podcasts, advertisers need to pay attention and tailor strategies.
TV networks rely on Netflix for distribution: A deal between Netflix and French broadcaster TF1 is a clear sign of how video power dynamics have shifted.
The insight: Walmart sees a (near) future where customers will shop directly from their smart TVs—preferably one powered by Vizio, which the retailer purchased for $2.3 billion last year. Our take: Shoppers are gradually becoming more comfortable with the concept of shoppable TV. Whether those occasional behaviors become habit will depend on platforms’ ability to offer ads that are personalized and relevant. That puts Walmart at an advantage, given its troves of first-party data—although it faces tough competition from the likes of Amazon and Roku.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how retailers are approaching their DEI initiatives under the current administration, the impact of staying quiet this Pride Month, and where the discussion around DEI goes next. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Principal Analyst Sky Canaves, Analyst Paola Flores-Marquez, and Dr. Marcus Collins—author and Professor of Marketing at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
The situation: White-collar employment at US public companies has dropped 3.5% over the past three years, per Live Data Technologies data cited by The Wall Street Journal. The trend comes as companies face mounting pressure to cut overhead amid economic uncertainty—prompting executives to increasingly turn to automation to boost efficiency. Our take: White-collar job cuts, combined with rising tariffs and broader macroeconomic uncertainty, are creating an increasingly challenging environment for retailers heading into the second half of 2025—and likely beyond.
The news: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said AI-driven efficiencies will reduce the company’s headcount. “As we roll out more generative AI and agents …we will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs,” Jassy said in a letter to employees. “In the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.” Our take: Companies that pursue an AI-first mission by laying off employees risk lower team morale, a resistance to AI adoption among workers, and damaged consumer trust. Still, Amazon’s scale, deep pockets, and cloud infrastructure dominance may insulate it from backlash or major fallout.
The news: OpenAI is discounting enterprise ChatGPT subscriptions—but only if customers agree to buy more AI products. Microsoft is unhappy, as it rarely offers discounts for its competing services aimed at enterprise users, per The Information. Key takeaway: Business leaders should anticipate potential shifts in AI pricing resulting from fraying alliances and increased competition between OpenAI and Microsoft. Lock in longer-term pricing and negotiate for essential services while pushing back on expensive add-ons. Diversifying AI vendors and solutions reduces reliance on single entities and provides opportunities for testing of models from different sources, some of which may be more easily customized for specific use cases.
68% of US LGBTQ+ adults say all or most companies participate in Pride Month to boost business, while just 16% believe it’s driven by genuine support, per a January survey from Pew Research Center.
Cannes Lions, an annual opportunity for advertisers to score accolades for their creativity, is refining its agenda to acknowledge how that work drives business.
The news: Sovos will automate Shopify’s sales tax returns process for merchants. Our take: Reclaiming time and reducing risk for merchants helps position Shopify as a stronger commerce platform and partner.
Major financial institutions like Bank of America are exploring issuing their own stablecoins, viewing it as a crucial strategic move. Tokenization, the underlying technology, enables payment transactions to settle in seconds, automating compliance and cutting costs significantly (e.g., 40-60% in bond operations). This transforms static financial instruments into dynamic, programmable assets, appealing to a broader, potentially younger, customer base through innovations like fractional ownership. Failing to lead in tokenization risks U.S. banks losing their global market dominance, especially if retailers develop their own digital currencies, bypassing traditional payment systems. Smaller institutions can participate by partnering or leveraging existing stablecoin services from larger players.