Heinz says sorry, PepsiCo revamps Doritos plus Ben Horowitz's dual support says a lot

Issue #28

Weekly Exhale

The opening speech at the IPA Effectiveness Awards—by far the most prestigious awards in marketing—apparently had the audience cheering. But reading it cold? It seemed like a marketer had just hit their head on a toilet, only to realise that the world had moved on to smartphones and the internet. The winning brands? Chips and chocolate. The data scientists behind the entries are the best in their field, but the whole thing carries the weight of a bygone era.

Time is a strange beast. You wouldn't know it to look at me, but my teenage hair was a masterpiece. Long, dark and flowing. Today? Gone. Even my beard is turning invisibly white. But my moustache? Untouched by time. I can grow a bushy handlebar in days. And luckily for my son, he inherited the gift. At 11, he's already rocking the fuzz on his upper lip like Tom Selleck in Magnum PI.

This week, after his bath, we both noticed something else—a small tuft of hair, just above Twinkie and the Twins. He'd taken another step from boy to man and I felt a punch to the gut. A sudden sinking feeling. All I could think was, I'm running out of time. I love him so much but my days with him as a little boy are coming to an end.

A few weeks ago, Tom Selleck (78) caught up with Ted Danson (76) on a podcast, reminiscing about their TV days. They laughed about when Ted first realised he was going bald during an overhead shot. In that chat, they made one thing clear: Hair doesn’t matter, but being a gentleman does. And while time flies, all we can do is grab onto the moments—and hope they're full of love and memories.

Let’s rise together with every issue. 🧡

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Market Movements

Reeves weighs capital gains tax hike to plug UK Budget gap | Financial Times

UK business confidence dives ahead of Budget | Reuters

The Fed is finally cutting rates, but banks aren't in the clear just yet | CNBC

Brand Beat

Ocado launches aisle exclusively for female-founded brands | The Independent

Waitrose's new S Club 7 advert is tacky and cringe | Daily Mail

How Kraft Heinz's new CMO Todd Kaplan is defending creativity | Digiday

Meanwhile, Heinz apologises for an ad featuring black family | The Metro

These reader's letters teach us more about the Heinz ad than marketing folk | The Guardian

The CEO of Reckitt focus on 'power brands' as industry gets leaner | Fortune

The menopause: Are Brands trading on desperation? | Marketing Beat

A new era—IPA Effectiveness Awards opening speech | IPA

H&M defines a new, music-focused marketing direction | Glossy

Bauer urges action over social media and mental health | The Media Leader

Old-school magazines are brands' new favourite tactic | Business of Fashion

New Report: How performance marketing cost brands trillions | Marketing Dive

Retail media networks under scrutiny amid calls for transparency | Digiday

PepsiCo reformulates Doritos to make them non-HFSS | The Grocer

Who won fashion month on social media? | Vogue Business

System 1 picks silly singalong for PayPal for ad of the week | System 1

Starbucks, Tetley, Jaguar, Land Rover: Remembering Ratan Tata | BBC

Is Better Brand shutting down, once valued at $170m? | Snaxshot

Trending: Hiyo creates alcohol alternatives that mood-boost | Thingtesting

Starting Up

Kind Humanoid will be the iPhone of cyborgs | Fast Company

xFarm raises €36m to build superapp for farmers | Sifted

Meet the VC firm championing parent-founded startups | Forbes

Founders, stop negatively impacting your growth | Growth Waves

Tech Tidbits

Kind Humanoid will be the iPhone of cyborgs | Fast Company

LinkedIn says 10m people have signed as freelancers on services marketplace | TechCrunch

Amazon dreams of AI agents that shop for you | Wired

Google break-up could turn big tech into medium tech | Financial Times

Tesla's "Cybercabs" are about to be unveiled | Reuters

It's time to stop taking Sam Altman at his word | The Atlantic

Venture Vibes

Moving the dial on inclusion and diversity, a profile of Ada Ventures | Maddyness

71% of women fear returning to work in VC after maternity leave | Sifted

SpaceX alums raising $550m first deep tech fund | TechCrunch

Ben Horowitz's dual support for Trump and Harris says a lot | Fast Company

Is private equity out of control? | The Guardian

Design Driven

Lloyds launches new design refresh | Creative Review

Mountain Dew's new logo returns to Appalachian roots | Fast Company

Where did it all go wrong? Instagram's new sonic logo | Creative Bloq

Hello, Happiness

Headspace launches new empathetic AI companion | Yahoo! Finance

Tap into "Hemingway effect" to finish what you start | Big Think

Tom Selleck and Ted Danson catch up after a long while | Team Coco Podcasts

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Stay gold 🙏🏻

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