Federal student loan borrowers may be prioritizing student loan repayments ahead of their credit cards and personal loans as the threat of wage garnishment creeps closer, per a TransUnion survey. Issuers need to offer products to help mitigate additional stress for embattled younger consumers, through expanded card-linked installment options that help cardholders avoid lofty interest rates as they pay down debts.
Amazon agreed to a $2.5 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, including $1 billion in civil penalties and $1.5 billion in customer refunds, over allegations it misled users into Prime subscriptions and made cancellation intentionally difficult. The FTC argued Amazon’s “Iliad” cancellation process violated consumer protection laws, requiring excessive clicks to exit. Under the deal, Amazon must simplify cancellation and clearly disclose pricing and renewal terms. While the settlement forces operational changes, it represents just 5.6% of last year’s $44.37 billion Prime revenue, leaving the program’s dominance—and Amazon’s market lock—firmly intact.
Consumers are increasingly receptive toward digital ads and generative AI in marketing, per Kantar’s Media Reactions 2025 report. While consumers increasingly see digital ads as the norm, advertisers must work harder than ever to cut through the clutter and deliver relevant, memorable experiences that drive action.
The US economy grew 3.8% year-over-year in Q2, its fastest pace in nearly two years, driven by stronger consumer spending, according to new government data. While spending resilience supports the Atlanta Fed’s 3.3% growth forecast for Q3, cracks are showing as retail hiring cools and risks of a government shutdown loom. Uneven unemployment rates and tariff-driven price pressures add strain, making holiday sales particularly vulnerable. We believe growth will slow sharply to 1.2% from last year’s 4.3%.
OpenAI is preparing to turn ChatGPT into an advertising platform, posting a new role for an engineer to build systems for ad integration, campaign management, and attribution. The move could position ChatGPT as a new challenger to Google, Meta, and Amazon’s ad businesses. Already a major driver of referral traffic to retailers like Walmart, Etsy, and Target, ChatGPT has clear potential to evolve into a commerce and ad engine. But execution will be critical: Poorly integrated ads risk undermining user trust, even as AI-driven ad formats are projected to grow at triple-digit annual rates in the coming years.
The Klarna Card crossed 1 million signups after 11 weeks, per a press release. Affirm and Klarna need a firmer plan to combat consumers’ preference for card-linked installment plans, which can offer lucrative rewards that BNPL firms’ margins can’t support. Until Klarna and Affirm can find a way to increase their margins to compete on the level of issuers, they’ll be hard pressed to take meaningful share from incumbents.
Citi and Dandelion, a digital wallet network, partnered to deliver near-instant cross-border payments, per a press release. With PayPal’s digital wallet-based PayPal World’s simplifying money transfers for 2 billion users across its partner wallets and networks, Citi’s partnership with Dandelion is a necessary step to keep up with fintechs and meet consumer preferences.
Global ad spending is now expected to rise 7.4% to reach $1.17 trillion in 2025, driven by social media and digital investments, per WARC’s updated forecast. Advertisers aren’t slashing budgets, but instead rethinking spending as economic uncertainty accelerates the shift to digital channels, performance campaigns, and newer formats like influencer marketing.
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the UK’s biggest carmaker, was crippled by a cyberattack that has shut down production lines for three weeks and counting, per The New York Times. JLR halted production at several major factories, with up to 1,000 cars a day not being built. The company’s 33,000 employees were furloughed or sent home, per the BBC. Brands can’t afford to wait until the next breach to act. Companies should invest in cybersecurity insurance to shield themselves from devastating losses and supply-chain shocks. Equally important, they must build brand marketing strategies around recovery to protect brand equity.
Starbucks said it would lay off about 900 workers and close 1% of its US and Canada stores—including its flagship Seattle Roastery—as part of a $1 billion restructuring plan. Turning Starbucks around was always going to take time, due to its sheer size as well as the magnitude of its problems. Niccol’s strategy banks on restoring the chain’s reputation for stellar customer service—an advantage that could help it stand out in a space increasingly oriented toward convenience. But the company remains vulnerable to upstarts like 7 Brew and Dutch Bros that are more tuned into beverage trends.
Bristol Myers Squibb is expanding D2C drug sales with the launch of a new telehealth platform and a steep cash-pay discount for its psoriasis treatment Sotyktu.. The rise of drugmakers' telehealth platforms is reshaping the traditional path to prescriptions. However, the opportunity for pharma is building direct ties to consumers via affordability and convenience, while also navigating Trump administration involvement and regulatory scrutiny. Drugmakers need to design simple, transparent D2C telehealth websites that follow the letter of the law, minimize consumer confusion, and earn patients’ trust.
Eli Lilly quietly cancelled a clinical trial for an experimental drug to slow muscle loss in obesity patients taking its GLP-1 weight loss drug. Lilly’s kiboshed trial is a reminder that weight loss drugmakers need to look beyond drug solutions and support patients’ efforts to maintain muscle mass. They could proactively package fitness coaching and strength training downloadable apps for GLP-1 users, or partner with physicians and employers to support their GLP-1 behavioral programs with compliance-safe resources around lifestyle needs like fitness and nutrition.
Capital Rx, a company looking to disrupt the pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) space, raised $400 million, including a $252 million Series F funding round. More employers are jumping from one of the Big 3 PBMs to a smaller disruptor that promises pricing transparency and a greater share of rebates. The recent growth of PBM startups like Capital Rx and Rightway will give other players the confidence to enter a previously impenetrable market, particularly as scrutiny of the Big 3 intensifies.
Oura Ring sales have surpassed 5.5 million since first being offered in 2015, with over half of those sales coming since June 2024. Oura could leverage its vast market appeal and endorsements from mega-celebrities to develop a wrist-worn device that would help the company compete against Apple, Samsung, and Google/Fitbit in the broader health wearables space. But Oura could be at a disadvantage against those companies if it’s going to lean on its smart ring as a do-it-all health-tracking product, since some of those capabilities (e.g., displaying pace, distance, and heart rate during a run) are more conducive to having a device with a screen.
US LGBTQ+ viewers are more likely than the general connected TV (CTV) audience to cite exclusive content, ad-free content, and easier content discovery as reasons they prefer streaming, according to June 2025 data from LG Ad Solutions.
Jimmy Kimmel’s return to Jimmy Kimmel Live! drew 6.3 million viewers, the show’s strongest 18–49 demo ratings for a regular episode in more than a decade, despite being blacked out on affiliates covering nearly a quarter of US households. His free speech monologue went viral, surpassing 19.7 million YouTube views to become his most-watched segment ever. The moment underscores both the enduring ability of linear TV to deliver tentpole audiences and the necessity of digital distribution to sustain reach. By amplifying his message, tactics to cancel Kimmel ultimately expanded his audience—proving digital video is now essential to late-night relevance.
Target is pushing to reclaim its place as a premier destination for affordable fashion. The retailer is turning its small-format SoHo store into a design concept that showcases its apparel and beauty assortment, the company told Axios. Target also relaunched its Target Style Instagram account earlier this month, which will offer up both outfit inspiration and shoppable content. Target’s ability to regain its fashion authority goes hand-in-hand with its ability to reverse its declining fortunes.
As online financial crimes and fraud attempts surge, customers are wary of new brands and frequently abandon transactions over a lack of trust. Over two-thirds (69%) of US adults have abandoned an online transaction or sign-up process due to distrust, per Liquid Web’s 2025 The State of Digital Trust report. In today’s online marketplace, brands need to convince consumers not only of their product quality, but of their company’s legitimacy. Unlike industry-level reputation, which brands can’t control, CMOs can shape digital trust by focusing on transparency, clarity, and responsiveness across the shopping journey.
On today’s podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of September, with a twist. This month ‘The Committee’ (Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Emmy Liederman) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight most interesting back-to-college campaigns and activations. In this month’s episode, Committee members Analyst, Arielle Feger and Senior Director of Content, Becky Schilling will defend their list against Analyst, Rachel Wolff and Senior Analyst, Blake Droesch, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.