$17.3B in one day. Here's what actually worked.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
📊 TREND WATCH

Three things we’re paying attention to this week:

1. “Founders as influencers” is eating traditional brand marketing

Poppi’s CEO went viral dancing with her product. AG1’s founder does a podcast. The pattern is clear: people trust faces more than logos. If your founder isn’t posting, you’re leaving money on the table.

2. AI-generated UGC is getting scary good

We’ve seen three brands this month quietly test AI avatars for “creator” content. The ethics are murky, but the economics are tempting: $50 vs $5,000 per video. Expect this conversation to get loud in 2026.

3. TikTok Shop is printing money for ugly products

Seriously. The weirder the product, the better it performs. Snail mucin. Portable bidets. That pink sauce. TikTok Shop rewards novelty over polish. DTC brands taking notes.“Show, don’t code: if a robot can learn your workflow from a video, your process is a product.”

🔥 THE BIG STORY

Cyber Week Broke Records
(But Shoppers Are Getting Stingier)

The numbers are in and they’re big: $17.3B in global Cyber Monday sales (Salesforce) and $44.2B across the full Cyber Week window (Adobe). Online-first shopping isn’t a trend anymore, it’s just how people buy stuff now.

But here’s the twist: consumers were hunting for deals like their rent depended on it. Discounting was aggressive. BNPL usage spiked. The “I’ll pay full price because I love the brand” energy? Not really there.

What this means for you: The brands that won Cyber Week weren’t just running ads, they were running offers. Creative that leads with value (”40% off” > “premium craftsmanship”) outperformed vibes-based branding. If your Q1 plan doesn’t have a clear promo strategy baked in, you might be bringing a knife to a price war.

Macy’s basically confirmed the mood: they posted a surprise profit but warned that holiday shoppers are cautious and promo-hungry. When legacy retail is nervous, DTC should be paying attention.

The lesson: 2026 is shaping up to be “prove the value or lose the scroll.” Your creative needs to answer “why now?” faster than ever.

SOCIAL MEDIA
🖼️ VMC CREATIVE DROP

This week: AG1

Every week we’re dropping a poster inspired by a brand doing interesting things in the ad game. This week it’s AG1, the greens powder that somehow became a status symbol for people who wake up at 5am.

“The daily ritual. Always running.”

The visual: their signature green drink, alone in a misty forest, looking like it’s about to narrate a documentary about wellness. It’s giving main character energy. It’s giving “I have a morning routine and a therapist.”

Say what you want about AG1’s pricing, but their brand world is tight. Every touchpoint feels like the same universe, calm, aspirational, slightly intimidating in a “this person definitely journals” way.

Want to see more ads from AG1? We track their entire creative library on Atria. Explore AG1’s ads →

CREATOR ECONOMY
🎯 AD BREAKDOWN OF THE WEEK

Oatly’s “Wow No Cow” Campaign Keeps Winning

Oatly has been running the same “Wow No Cow” creative concept for years now, and somehow it still feels fresh. The latest executions lean into absurdist humor, think weird illustrations, self-aware copy, and an energy that says “we know this is an ad and we don’t care.”

Why it works:

• Consistency builds brand. They’re not chasing trends. They picked a lane (weird, confident, anti-corporate) and they’ve stayed in it for years.

• The copy does the heavy lifting. No fancy production. Just words that make you actually read the ad, which is rare.

• It’s polarizing on purpose. Some people hate it. That’s fine. The people who love it really love it.

Steal this: You don’t need a new campaign every quarter. You need a point of view you’re willing to commit to. Oatly proves that consistency + personality beats novelty every time.

TOOLS
⚡ QUICK HITS

Stuff worth knowing, speed round:

• UK bans Nike, Superdry, Lacoste ads for greenwashing. “Sustainable” without proof = banned. ASA

• Anthropic reportedly talking IPO for 2026. AI is becoming a public market story. FT

• OpenAI in “code red” mode to improve ChatGPT. Competition is real. The Verge

• Macy’s beats earnings but warns on holiday demand. Shoppers are cautious and deal-hungry. Reuters

🧪 THE AD LAB

This Week’s Experiment: The “Value-First Hook” Test

Cyber Week data is screaming one thing: price-sensitive shoppers need a reason to click. Test this in your next creative batch:

The experiment: Take your best-performing ad and create 3 variations where the first 2 seconds lead with explicit value:

1. “50% off today only” — straight discount

2. “Free shipping + free returns” — risk reversal

3. “Rated #1 by 10,000+ customers” — social proof as value

Keep everything else the same (product, format, CTA). Let them run for 7 days with equal budget.

What you’re looking for: Which value framing resonates with your audience right now? The winner tells you something about your customer’s current headspace—are they discount-driven, trust-driven, or risk-averse?