Tom Fishburne

Labels are fading. Experiences are taking center stage. Today’s consumers aren’t just buying products; they are buying experiences. The Coca-Cola Company is testing label-free Sprite bottles to make recycling simpler, according to Javier Meza. No label, no distraction, just a direct, sensory interaction with the product. This is experiential marketing in action, where the experience is baked into the product itself. When labels disappear, design and experience become the real brand storytellers. The future belongs to brands that can create meaningful experiences at every touchpoint.

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Unilever just backed Dove's refillable launch with £7.5M. Less than one year after buying Wild for £230M. They don't spend that kind of money on a hunch, they spend it on data. Dove launching nine refillable deodorant SKUs is a bet on the future of the entire category…Unilever clearly sees that future as sustainable. Whether driven by consumer demand or incoming government policy, sustainability isn't a nice-to-have anymore. It's inevitable. Wild proved the concept. Dove is here to scale it. This launch means Unilever has done the research. They've segmented the market. They've identified gaps Wild couldn't fill. Maybe it's price point. Wild skews premium. Dove could democratise refillables for the mass market. Maybe it's age. Dove has 70 years of brand equity and appeals to demographics Wild has never cracked. Maybe it's distribution. Dove already owns the shelf space and retailer relationships that took Wild years to build. The insight here is simple: there's an untapped market for refillable deodorant that Wild alone couldn't capture. Some will say Unilever bought Wild to remove a competitive threat. Maybe, but I think it's simpler than that… They bought Wild because sustainability is the future. And they needed to own it before someone else did. ♻️ Repost this if it resonates 🛎️ Follow Lottie Unwin (she/her) for more marketing leadership ✍ Sign up to my newsletter for deeper insights

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Insightful morning read by Bo Sacks: 💡 The publishing industry is a tough place to be, and the "one-size-fits-all" and cheapening of products isn't the route to go. Consumers want VALUE, unique "customized" products, and they want you to find them on the channels they're at...build status, trust, and relationships, and you'll live to see another day. Bo Sacks (https://lnkd.in/gSGWs6Bb) most recent newsletter hit the nail on the head: First, SEO-driven generalism is gone, rank for everything, make pennies on remnant ads, then watch the bots hoover up the value. If your work isn’t cited or indispensable, you’re background noise, like elevator music in a skyscraper that’s missing most of its tenants. Second, chasing social-referral highs is a game for those who enjoy disappointment. The Facebook sugar rush is over; the next algorithm shift leaves you stranded in the content desert, clutching a cracked compass and reminiscing about reach that once was. Smart publishers diversify, moving into Reddit, Pinterest, newsletters, and direct feeds, like survivalists planting edible gardens after years of eating empty carbs from someone else’s pantry. Third, the dream of one-size-fits-all subscriptions deserves its place next to paper hats in the museum of bad publishing ideas. “Plus” sounds great in a board meeting but means about as much to readers as a punch card at a laundromat. Hearst’s own brand-native memberships get this right, serving unique perks to distinct tribes. Miss this lesson, and the spreadsheet turns into a napkin sketch fast. Fourth, if your print product looks like it’s time-traveled from 1995, you’re offering nostalgia with a whiff of staleness. The mass-market, ad-heavy, stack-’em-high model is fading; what survives is print with a pulse, niche, collectible, packed with purpose. If it’s not worth the paper, it’s a habit, not a product.

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When Stitch lands, he doesn’t land alone—he brings the full Disney ecosystem with him. As Lilo & Stitch gears up for release, Disney is once again showing how cross-division integration becomes a marketing amplifier—not just a campaign. This time, the film’s rollout is woven into the Disneyland 70th Anniversary celebration, merging fan nostalgia with real-world magic in a way only Disney can. This isn’t just synergy. It’s strategy. We’ve seen that when Disney fully aligns divisions—theme parks, retail, streaming, and theatrical—the lift is measurable: ⌙ The Little Mermaid (2023) saw a +17% boost in marketing-driven box office tied to in-park activations and resort integration. ⌙ Haunted Mansion (2023) drove a 2x lift in awareness among Gen Z and millennial parents during its Disneyland overlay. ⌙ Encanto’s resurgence was propelled by a Disney Parks presence that reignited demand long after the initial theatrical run. Key takeaway for marketers: ⌙When content becomes experience, marketing moves from exposure to immersion. And no one builds immersive IP moments like Disney. Huge congrats to Industrial Light & Magic, Disney Experiences and The Walt Disney Studios. #Media #Disney #Licensing

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“Dr. Bronner’s call for stricter standards in B Corp certification resonates deeply with what we believe at Dip. Certifications can be a useful tool for consumer trust, but they can also be manipulated as marketing shields rather than meaningful indicators of sustainability. The reality is that not all B Corps are created equal. Some brands go all in on sustainability, while others use the certification as a PR move without ensuring full supply chain accountability. At Dip, we’ve seen firsthand how certifications can fail brands that are actually trying to do the right thing. We went above and beyond to invest in a certification that promised consumer ingredient transparency, only to have the company quietly sunset that part of their business without informing us. We believed in the mission, spent valuable resources securing the certification, and, in the end, it was meaningless because the certifier itself wasn’t accountable. That experience left us burned by the certification process, and we decided that investing in certifications isn’t worth it if consumers increasingly feel they have been "watered down" and co-opted by big corporations. Instead of chasing labels, we put our efforts into real transparency and impact. Our focus is on salon-grade, plastic-free haircare that delivers exceptional results while prioritizing the environment, not because a certification tells us to, but because it’s the right thing to do. For consumers, B Corp and similar certifications only matter if they enforce full supply chain accountability. Until then, we encourage people to look past labels and dig into what brands are actually doing. That’s where the real impact lies.” Thank you Beauty Independent & Rachel Brown for bringing this topic to the surface and asking some of me & some of my favorite beauty entrepreneurs: What do you think of Dr. Bronner’s’ action and demand? Do you think B Corp makes a difference to consumers? How can B Corp and other certifications like it be relevant in today’s beauty market? ✌🏽 https://lnkd.in/eAkZYysZ

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Here's my "pair of socks" theory to why smaller companies make decisions faster than the industry titans... and beat them to the punch on both innovation, trend and macro-level shifts in consumer behavior. Think of decision making in a scenario where you're pulling 2 PAIRS of socks out of a dryer. The Large Company Sock Assessment - The large company had to standardize their thinking long ago. When you get to a certain size, it's almost inevitable that operational protocol is put in place - often stifling but also very helpful in preventing inefficiencies, mistakes. So, when confronted with 2-PAIRS of socks, that company has a rulebook. 1) Count all socks. 2) Categorize each sock. 3) Once all socks are counted and categories L and R, sort by pair. The Smaller Company Sock Assessment - The smaller company trusts it's instincts. Often, the original operators are often still at the helm - or - there are few enough people where everyone is 1 or 2 degrees of separation. This company knows it will rarely (if ever) beat the bigger companies unless it moves faster, and it's willing to make small mistakes for big wins. So, when confronted with 2-PAIRS of socks, that company knows that it can't wait. It has to make a decision well before the larger company counts, categorizes and pairs. TO WIN, the smaller DOESN'T NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING about SOCK 3 or 4 to have 100% certainty after it has pulled the 2nd sock out of the dryer. Sock 1 - You pull the 1st sock. You know it's LEFT (L) or RIGHT (R). In this case it's (L). Sock 2 - You pull the 2nd sock. If it's (L), then you know with 100% certainty the two socks still in the dryer are both (R). You can match the socks, knowing only 2. If it's (R), then you know, it's the matching pair with the 1st sock you pulled. And you also know the 2 socks in the dryer are also matching pairs. And, THIS is the point of entrepreneurship. You can NOT afford to remove all uncertainty from your life. You can NOT wait. You MUST make decisions faster. And, you learn to trust your GUT. Remarkably, some decisions that appear like gut decisions are 100% CERTAINTY with only 50% of the global information provided. You will NEVER beat a global monster unless you are novel in your approach, you are practical and great at assessing risk, and you trust your instincts. But, if you can set aside fear, you can win. Trust your instincts. Act fast. Don't count all the socks. You don't need to. Much love, Happy Holidays, Jeremy Padawer

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TREND ALERT:  Hyper-Personalization Through AI and Community-Led Co-Creation Consumers want to feel seen, heard, and in control. The “one-size-fits-all” era is over. From flavor profiles to nutrition benefits, buyers expect products to reflect their unique preferences, identities, and wellness goals. What’s powering this shift? AI technology, first-party data, and a new wave of creator economy tools that let fans co-create the brands they love. https://lnkd.in/gYjk54kq

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I often smile when I hear the CMO described as "the voice of marketing in the room." It sounds flattering, but it misses the point. The CMO of the future must be a systems builder, strategic translator, and steward of trust. In an increasingly digital world, the job is as much about explaining as executing, bridging the gap between short-term sales and long-term brand building. When I stepped into global roles, I learned fairly quickly that creativity and brand affinity, while essential, weren’t enough to sustain influence.  I learned fairly quickly that creativity and brand affinity, while essential, weren’t enough to sustain influence. These weren’t “nice to have.” They became part of the language required to lead. What’s become more apparent over time is how much of the CMO’s role is now educational. Marketing is one of those disciplines everyone feels familiar with, often because we experience it daily as consumers. But that familiarity can be misleading. Much of what people “know” about marketing comes from their own lens rather than the reality of the 18- or 25-year-old audience a brand may be trying to reach. This gap shows up even more clearly on a global stage. The issue is rarely that a brand lacks quality or meaning. More often, it’s that the systems, strategies, and stories haven’t been adapted to fit different cultures, contexts, and moments of consumption. Whether introducing K-food to new markets or translating brand purpose into everyday relevance, the challenge is turning complexity into clarity, imperfectly at times, but intentionally. That's why I believe the CMO of the next decade is less "chief storyteller" and more "chief integrator," building the systems where stories, strategies, and sustainable growth can evolve and endure. #CMOInsights #GlobalMarketer #BrandBuilding #LeadershipCulture

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