Gaps in the market exist. So do gaps in transit. Makeup and skin-care brand The Ordinary was hoping to fill both. In May, New Yorkers were surprised with the news that the brand intended to solve a longstanding transit problem in the city: the lack of a direct transit option between Brooklyn’s Williamsburg and Prospect Heights neighborhoods. The Ordinary Bus began running daily between Domino Park and Prospect Park on May 26 with plans to continue through June 9 at no cost to riders. That dream, however, was cut short when the brand announced on Instagram on May 29 that the route had been suspended until further notice. “We are sorry for the inconvenience this pause causes,” the post read. “We are working hard to get our bus up and running again soon, fingers crossed.” According to the New York Times, the city shut the bus down due to a lack of permits. When asked about plans to address any issues or reinstate the service, The Ordinary declined to comment beyond its public post. Prior to the bus launch, Jesper Rasmussen, global brand president at The Ordinary’s parent company Deciem, told Marketing Brew that the brand, whose bestselling products cost anywhere from $6 to $33, seeks to exhibit accessibility and quality in its marketing. Last spring, when a dozen eggs averaged $8.15, the brand sold $3.37 cartons at its NYC stores. But unlike selling groceries, it seems transportation issues can be harder to solve. Continue reading here.—KH |
|
|
|
|
Marketers know the drill: Run a referral program, reward customers for reviews, pay influencers, launch rebates, incentivize demos, then somehow track every payout without turning the budget spreadsheet into a haunted house. Tremendous helps teams send incentives to win and keep customers, minus the admin cardio. Its dedicated incentive platform brings global gift card and payout options, automation, real-time dashboards, and built-in security together in one place so loyalty programs, cash-back promos, sign-up offers, and affiliate payments don’t become fun little projects that tank your Friday afternoon. Teams can see what’s working, reduce fraud risk, and manage incentives across markets without needing 17 tabs and a motivational mug. Because rewards should feel rewarding, not like the end of qtr marketing with confetti. Download the guide to learn why incentives deserve their own platform, not just a corner of your CRM wearing a fake mustache. |
|
It seems like just last week marketers were only using AI to brainstorm ad copy. But in 2026, despite rising AI costs, they’re using it for a lot more. Marketers from Anthropic, financial ops platform Ramp, and other brands came together in New York in late May for content engineering platform AirOps’s Next conference to discuss how AI is transforming various aspects of marketing, including AI recommendations, martech, and hiring. Regarding go-to-market strategy broadly, “what’s also interesting to me is maybe five, six years ago, the focus was on sustainable growth, and now it’s top-line growth at all costs,” Kexin Chen, VP of marketing at the startup Harvey, which is focused on the competitive legal AI field, said onstage. Stay agile: While many marketers are well aware of SEO’s transformation amid the growing development of answer engine optimization (AEO), that practice, too, is rapidly changing. Some marketers have been focused on getting mentioned organically in Reddit conversations to boost brand visibility in search, but now, YouTube is also a growing factor, Kevin Indig, a growth advisor to brands, told attendees. Another strategy is adding a “last updated” date to a webpage when new information is added; Indig said that one of his clients, the site Product Hunt, saw a “threefold increase in citations” after doing so. While getting cited online is important to search ranking, brand trust still beats rank, he said. “When people see an AI answer, the first filter that they will apply is trust. They will check if they trust the source or the citation, and only then will they ask themselves, ‘Does this actually answer my question?’” he said. “Trust is a scarce resource that is gaining more value in this new AI world.” Read more here.—JS |
|
|
|
|
Etsy’s ChatGPT strategy is focused on being “bold” and “early,” as the company experiments with new ways to blend conversational AI with online shopping, according to Chief Product and Technology Officer Rafe Colburn. The company that sells handmade and vintage items and also connects artists to shoppers, is beta testing the Etsy app inside ChatGPT. After OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature didn’t quite land, the company appears to be building out its shopping experience more like an app store, and has been partnering with companies like Instacart and Target to test shopping via newly constructed ChatGPT apps directly inside ChatGPT. The way Colburn described it, the app experience is a true two-way integration. “I think we’re going to understand how people interact with our inventory conversationally in a much richer way through the ChatGPT app,” he said. Etsy is also testing a conversational agent to assist with gift searches (like Amazon’s Rufus and Walmart’s Sparky) on the platform. Colburn talked to Retail Brew about how Etsy wants to work with tech companies like OpenAI and the broader AI reset in retail. Read more on Retail Brew.—VC |
|
|
|
|
Sponsored By Triple Whale
Your ads could be hurting your budget. Without you even knowing it. Meta’s Andromeda algorithm rewards creative diversity. Repetitive ads can leave performance on the table. Triple Whale’s free Creative Diversity Score (using the same engine as Moby 2—their AI e-commerce operator) spots the gaps instantly. Just enter a URL and see where you stand. |
|
There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.
Road to victory: Tips on building an effective case study when submitting to awards like Cannes Lions.
Happy Pride: Eight TikTok creators to pay attention to as part of the platform’s Pride Month programming.
Views versus value: How to evaluate whether influencer partnerships are driving results in sectors like healthcare, CPG, and gaming.
Pay attention: From referrals to rebates, marketers use Tremendous to manage incentives without spreadsheet gymnastics. Automate payouts, track ROI, prevent fraud, and download the guide—before rewards become unpaid emotional labor.*
*A message from our sponsor.
|
|
|
Sports, reality programming, movies, and now, the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show—Netflix has it all, and that’s what the streamer emphasized at this year’s upfront presentation. Accompanied by a starry ensemble on stage, learn how executives made the company pitch to advertisers, which centered around bringing brands close to the IP that audiences love. Check it out |
|
|
Stat: 18 out of 80. That’s how many World Cup ads Lionel Messi is starring in, according to an analysis of campaigns in the US, UK, and Messi’s home country of Argentina from audience measurement platform System1 cited by Adweek. Quote: “Remember, cinema is a young medium, only around 125 years old, so we have to be open to how it can evolve.”—Martin Scorsese, in a statement to the New York Times about why he decided to back an AI image-generation company Read: “Substack wants to have its HBO moment. Here are its plans to crack TV” (Business Insider) |
|
|
 Share the Brew, watch your referral count climb, and unlock brag-worthy swag. Your friends get smarter. You get rewarded. Win-win. Your referral count: 0 Click to Share Or copy & paste your referral link to others:
marketingbrew.com/r/?kid=77999182 |
|
|
ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP // FAQ
Update your email preferences or unsubscribe .
View our privacy policy .
Copyright © 2026 Morning Brew Inc. All rights reserved.
22 W 19th St, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10011 |
|
Comments
Post a Comment