This is Contagious

Why is a fashion brand behaving like an entertainment company, a retailer making a talk show for an AI audience, and a video generator covering people in spaghetti? In this episode, the Contagious team explores why Gap is trying to become a pop-culture brand, how John Lewis is trying to make celebrity chat useful to bots, and why Runway is turning AI video into a game of one-upmanship. Plus, could AI finally get the films that never got funded made or will it just flood the world with crapslop? Along the way, we’ll examine: Why Gap has hired a chief entertainment officer and partnered with a boy band Whether Louis Theroux will solve John Lewis’s agentic retail challenge Why shoppers who use AI interact with three times as many touchpoints How AI is dividing filmmakers over what counts as creativity Why giving an AI agent access to your inbox could expose other people’s emails, too If Aaron Sorkin is right about attitudes towards human creativity If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Five million followers but only 500 likes? The algorithm has (again) changed the rules and brands can’t rely on fans seeing their posts. Rachel Karten, creator of the Link in Bio newsletter, joins This Is Contagious to unpack why Instagram is increasingly about the meme you send a friend in your DMs, why brands need to tell stories only they can tell, and why the smart move is to focus on tension over attention. We also get into the murky waters of why the people paid to keep us online are increasingly questioning whether that’s good for us and whether they want to be part of it. We’ll explore: Why five million followers no longer guarantee five million views Why 44% of social marketers feel their boss doesn't understand their job The risks of relying on AI-generated creative and rage bait for attention The reason treating Instagram like a mood board no longer cuts it What libraries know about social media that brands don’t Why Mr Rogers should be an avuncular role model for brands The perfume brand turning wild roadside apples into cinematic social films If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

What does it take to become a brand people actually want to spend time with? The Contagious Brands Report 2026 brings together 45 brands finding unconventional answers to some of marketing’s biggest challenges - from earning attention and building communities, to making products more desirable, embracing AI and responding to affordability concerns. This episode reveals some of the standout brands in the report, from sunglasses sold in art-gallery-like spaces to tractors-as-a-service, AI film festivals and a pickle brand turning students into creators. Along the way, they explore what marketers can learn from brands finding new markets, new opportunities and new ways to keep people coming back. We’ll explore Why destination retail overindexes on ROI per square foot How brands are designing products to generate stories and attention Why some brands are turning employees and students into their marketing department How brands can turn customers into communities, and communities into value Why reframing value can be as powerful as changing the product Why the thrill of potentially owning crab-soup sake is attracting Gen Z in Japan If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Becky Owen, CMO at social agency Billion Dollar Boy, joins Contagious to challenge the received wisdom about how brands should work with creators – from the three-second rule to the idea that good content is all that matters. Drawing on new research, the latest Contagious podcast explores how brands should work with creators, from using emotion and microdramas to build audiences, to deliberately creating imperfection to fight AI slop. We also look at why creator fandom can now come before the streaming deal, and how brands are having to rewire themselves to keep up. We’ll explain: Why the three-second rule may be tanking your campaign performance Why creators are deliberately embracing messy bedrooms and mistakes to prove they're human How the same emotion can boost performance in one category and tank it in another How creators have become data-driven marketers, not just media channels Why some brands are exploring equity and longer-term relationships to make creators genuinely invested in their success How social creators are using micro-pilots to build fandom before getting picked up by streaming platforms Why Argos turned everyday kettles into gallery-worthy objects If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Dirty mattresses. Giant hairballs. Bad Bunny. The Pope. This CFO-friendly episode explores how brands can overindex on impact by investing in creativity rather than throwing money at the problem. The Contagious team analyse some of their favourite low-budget marketing campaigns, unpacking the creative principles behind them and asking how brands can turn tiny budgets into big ideas, big conversations and even bigger earned media. We’ll explain: How to weaponise your audience as a media channel Why withholding information can be more powerful than broadcasting it How an ick factor can make out-of-sight products impossible to ignore Why the WTF factor works so well in outdoor How to turn existing infrastructure into emotion and engagement How one tiny physical change can become a huge media event How shoplifting can become brilliant PR If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Mary Kish, Head of Community at Twitch, joins Contagious to break down why people are flocking to Twitch – and why brands should care. As a streamer herself, Mary doesn’t just work at Twitch, she lives the culture. In this conversation we explore why experiencing things together matters more than ever and how participation kicks the ass of passive viewing when it comes to building engagement. We also explain: How Twitch builds community in a world that feels lonely The power of ‘I was there’ The origin of ‘rizz’ How a falcon rehabilitator found her people through Twitch The main character energy of ‘chat’ The golden rule for brands on Twitch If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Tracing a line from Tolkien to Mattel’s toyetics, the Contagious team explores why brands are moving beyond storytelling to create richer, more immersive worlds. We look at the rules that make fictional worlds believable and how worldbuilding can help brands escape commoditisation, fuel always-on creativity and give people something to believe in, belong to and buy into. Along the way, we explore: How Jellycat’s worldbuilding whimsy helped drive 66% revenue growth Why the story is in the world, not the other way around The toyetic rules that make Barbie Land believable How Disney’s underground Utilidors keep fantasy intact When a brand should act like a character, not a company How Trader Joe’s became a tiki-themed grocery store and why Londoners carry its tote bags Why your brand might need a map more than a sales strategy If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Kory Marchisotto, the president of E.l.f. Brands, joins Contagious to unpack how a scrappy startup selling premium cosmetics at affordable prices evolved into a beauty powerhouse. This episode explores the ideology, marketing and organisational culture behind E.l.f. Beauty’s explosive growth. We dig into how its biggest innovations were led by its community, how the company encourages healthy conflict and why its mantra is ‘anything is e.l.f-ing possible’. We also explain: Why E.l.f. started selling empty bottles to its fans The difference between shaping and leading culture Why people were clamouring to get financial advice from a beauty brand How girls dropping out of sports could impact their future career success How to create the workplace conditions necessary for innovation to thrive Why E.l.f. maintains ‘zero distance’ between its C-suite and its fans. How to jolt people into awareness around important issues If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

AI companions. Lonely cities. Yakult Ladies. In this episode, Contagious investigates the rise of loneliness and why brands as diverse as Heineken and Games Workshop are winning by becoming the new facilitators of human connection. Along the way, we explore lonelygenic cities, discover what brands can learn from 19th Century Parisian architecture, asking whether boyfriends are embarrassing and whether we’re trapped in the Me Operating System. We’ll explain: Why the real world is becoming a brand's biggest advantage How cities and environments shape social behaviour The real reason teenagers are using AI companions What’s fuelling the social skills apocalypse The hidden health impact of loneliness Why technology creates the illusion but not the value of connection Why Taylor Swift has done more for social cohesion than Mark Zuckerberg If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

The Contagious team returns from Cannes Lions 2026 to deliver our sunburnt take on the awards, the talks and what it all means for the industry. Hot from the Croisette, we find out whether How Brands Grow is a brutally boring read, why the UN needs marketers more than ever, how the industry's best work is turning problems into opportunities, and how creative treasure can be found everywhere - from a dot-matrix printer receipt to a 12-tonne chocolate heist. Along the way we delve into: How to navigate the AI bifurcation without losing your humanity The psychology behind humorous responsibility Why lived human experience is becoming marketing's biggest moat How the biggest award winners turned problems into creative opportunities Why the marketing funnel is giving way to communities, conversations and participation How to tell if your CEO has no imagination If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Budgets will be wasted. Brands will be ruthlessly filtered out. The real game starts after full time. James Kirkham, founder of Iconic and ex-head of Copa90, joins Contagious to unpack why the 2026 World Cup is fundamentally different to previous tournaments - and what brands need to do about it. This episode explores the new playbook for World Cup marketing, where winning isn’t about owning the biggest moment, but creating the conversations, emotions and cultural ripples that keep spreading long after the final whistle. . We’ll explain: Why the best metric right now is goosebumps The reason creators are better value than athletes How Gen Z are different to previous generations of football fans Why group chats are the new stadiums The power of conversations that happen after the game Why the Village People were the canary in the cultural coalmine If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

In this episode, Contagious investigates what happens when content supply completely outstrips human attention, and how brands can win in a world dominated by infinite scroll, clip farms, AI slop and algorithmic overload. Along the way, we’ll explore why Universe 25’s infamous rodent utopia experiments feel eerily relevant to modern media, why today’s attention panic may simply be history repeating itself, and why the real problem might not be shrinking attention spans but a zero tolerance reaction to boring content. We’ll explain: How brands cut through in a world of infinite noise The rise of workslop and clip-farm culture Why repetition, memes and cultural ad stock drive effectiveness How TV became a mood light for distracted audiences The difference between delivered abundance and accessible abundance Why choice paralysis is becoming a major media problem Why craftsmanship and human creativity still break through online How a TikTok witch helped create cultural impact for an underwear brand If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Pokemon. Meatball lollipops. 17th Century silk traders. In this episode, Contagious explores weird and wonderful brand collabs, why they’re so effective, how to use them as a shortcut to cultural relevance and which brands are doing them well. Discover the psychology behind ‘optimal incongruence’, how brands like Supreme and Crocs turned collaborations into a business model, and why technology has raised the cultural bar for collabs. Along the way, we dive into: The science behind why bizarre collaborations capture attention The rise of ‘luxury fan fiction’ and AI-generated fake collabs How music and fashion pioneered modern collaboration culture Why some collabs fail while others become cultural phenomena The most unlikely brand collabs, from logistics streetwear to cheese jewellery What are the hidden risks, failures and audience backlash brands often underestimate The connection between Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Betty Crocker and Rick Rubin If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

Nostalgia. Cultural déjà vu. Kidulting. Why are so many people desperate to escape the present? In this episode, Contagious investigates everything from why adults are rebuilding their teenage bedrooms, to landlines for kids and the return of the iPod, and revealing why the past has become one of culture’s most powerful refuges. Along the way, we unpack Happy Meals for adults, the psychology of anemoia, and why brands are increasingly selling comfort, tactility and emotional safety. We’ll explain: Why the past is haunting the present and how it stops us imagining the future The data and drivers behind the analogue tech comeback Why the nostalgia cycle is shortening How a sunscreen brand has created a sensory portal back to the 1980s Why Gen Z feels nostalgic for decades they never experienced How the Proust effect works and why it’s slightly more disgusting than you assumed Why the Prime Minister of Canada might be wrong about strategy If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.

If you work in marketing, you should almost definitely subscribe to Contagious IQ - an intelligence platform that helps brands and agencies supercharge their creativity by learning from the world's most impactful brands, campaigns and trends.