Edition 121.

5 brand plays worth knowing:

🥊 Everybody’s trying to outfold Apple

Apple dropped its first foldable iPhone, and the brand battles ensued. PRWeek counted *10* brands jumping in. Each trying to “outfold” the next. Duolingo playfully flagged the Duo name. Merriam-Webster reminded us dictionaries have folded since 1828. And Samsung said Apple was “reheating our leftovers.”

Takeaway: If you’re riding a brand wave, find the joke only your brand can make.

🏈 DICK’S is winning on youth sports

DICK’S recently pitched “sporthood families” at a media network showcase. Because youth sports shape the family routine: what they snack on, where they eat, where they travel and even what they drive. 63% of U.S. parents have kids in youth sports; 84% of sports parents say sports influence what they buy. And the play is working for the brand. Reports cite the company’s revenue has “roughly doubled.”

Takeaway: Follow the audience beyond your category and across the media they use.

📺 Creators are the new commercial stars

Creators are moving from sponsored posts into the commercial break. A streaming network for creator-led programming (Creator TV) a just launched a service that lets brands hire creators to concept, produce and *star* in 15- or 30-second TV commercials. The same creator then extends the campaign on social.

Takeaway: Creator partnerships can now stretch through the commercial break.

📸 BTS, welcome

Instagram’s VP of fashion partnerships gives this brand advice: document more of the process in real time.

For fashion, that means fittings, backstage moments, events and community. But it works for any category. Take the US Open. The BTS tennis moments racked up views.

From player practices, viral lemonade-stand bits and staffers leading player chants from the bleachers. One practice-court clip topped 2 million views. Works for tennis. Works for fashion. And probably your brand category, too.

Takeaway: Plan content for the moments before, between and around the marquee moment.

🛍️ AI’s moving up the holiday shopping list

Heads up: 1 in 4 holiday shoppers plans to start their product and gift hunts with AI. Google says AI shoppers encounter 12.1 touchpoints versus 4.2 without it.

Ironically, AI may be complicating the shopper journey.

But my move: publish crawl-able holiday content early: gift guides, FAQs, comparisons and use cases.

Keep product descriptions and feeds detailed, too. SEO still matters because AI needs clear, current information to retrieve and recommend.

Takeaway: Give AI useful, current brand information to find before holiday demand peaks.

More brand bytes next Sunday at 5!