Future Commerce

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We unpack the market reactions from the NikeSkims turnout, the fantastical and terrifying future of gene editing, and Howard Lutnick’s first moves as Commerce Secretary. PLUS: Future Commerce is headed to Shoptalk! Phillip and Brian bring the heat from Palm Springs!

Coming Up: Don’t miss our coverage of Howard Lutnick’s First 100 Days. Follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts, subscribe to our weekly newsletters, and join us on Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X. 

• [:03:00] Howard Lutnick sworn in – twice, for good measure – as Secretary of Commerce. Track his first months in the job, follow our series First 100 Days.
• [09:00] Nike partners with Kim Kardashian-owned brand, Skims, tapping into a new corner of the activewear market. 
• [25:00] The Los Angeles Project is the latest bold attempt at gene-editing and foresees a future where “life itself is brought under human design.”
• “There’s so much happening with Lutnick at the helm, and it’s worth keeping an eye on what the expanded responsibilities mean for commerce and beyond.” — Phillip 
• “I think Nike is making good moves. I think they're making smart financial decisions, and they're partnering with the right people.” — Brian 
• “For everything I’ve ever thought about Kim K, she continues to absolutely defy expectations as the ultimate business person.” — Phillip 
• “The first movie studio to get the dragons wins.” — Brian
• “One company has made pigs with 69 gene edits to make their organs more compatible for human transplants... But are glowing rabbits really where we need to go next?” — Phillip

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• Our take on fentanyl czars
• The Senses: I Tried Doji (But It Turned Me Into a Black Man)
• Wired: Your Next Pet Could Be A Glowing Rabbit

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Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on X, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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We peer into commerce’s self-driven future and see new frontiers arising for AV-centric city planning, (more) invasive advertisement integration, commerce-based search engines, and Meta mind control. PLUS: Phillip and Brian designate their week’s heroes and villains, and we get excited about the official Adobe x Future Commerce Shoptalk After Party!

• [9:00] News from the week: Shopify earnings, Klaviyo, bird flu, and the latest from Future Commerce.
• [15:30] Autonomous Vehicles Will Redesign Commerce: AVs will create massive changes in urban planning, retail, and logistics.
• [19:00] Amazon’s Next Big Move: The company is now allowing advertisers to drive traffic off-site, signaling its ambition to become the next big search engine.
• [23:00] Ad Takeover: Everything – even your car’s infotainment screen – eventually becomes a surface for advertisement.
• [42:00] Klaviyo’s B2C Event: Klaviyo announces Built for B2C livestream event, happening Thursday 2/20.
• [49:30] Meta Brain: Meta releases research on mind reading via magnetic therapy and AI-assisted analysis.
• [1:05:00] Heroes and Villains: Phillip and Brian’s biggest winners and losers of the past week in commerce.
• “Amazon is about to become the biggest search engine for product discovery. Google should be worried.” — Phillip
• “The Gulf of Fortune, brought to you by Panda Doc.” – Brian
• “We’ve seen heart rates submitted as evidence, truth serums outlawed by the Geneva Convention. I have to believe that things like this are not Black Mirror, but actual legitimate real things that will be used in positive and negative ways. That to me seems scary.” – Phillip 
• “I think this is going to be a retooling of the way we think.” – Brian

• Join us at Rivea for the official Adobe x Future Commerce Shoptalk After Party
• Order LORE by Future Commerce on Metalabel
• Fortune: Some Jeep owners are being hit with pop-up ads inside their cars.
• The Age of Agglomeration: Our predictions report from January.
• Netflix Bites (Good luck finding the menu?)

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• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Commerce shapes the future because Commerce is Culture™.

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When does a word become so ubiquitous it loses all meaning? Brian's sudden aversion to "culture" sparks a meandering exploration into the semiotics of commerce, just as Poppy's influencer vending machine saga becomes an unlikely metaphor for marketing's existential crisis. PLUS, we revisit a key moment from NRF 2025.

• [13:30] The Poppi fallout: After being slammed by fans around the globe for an influencer activation, Poppi juggles image repair. 
• [23:00] Poppi vs. Olipop: Controversy doubles the audience.
• [29:00] Super Bowl LIX: This year’s game was an underwhelming canvas for Kendrick’s victory and Poppi’s brief downfall.
• [35:00] One of the most impactful ads this year was creator-made, by a Doritos fan.
• [46:00] Big creative is more accessible now than ever, as displayed by big brands like Liquid Death using small but mighty budgets.
• [51:00] On this week’s After Dark episode, we unpack Kanye West’s breakdown and public rage against Ye and Shopify.
• “If you want to get attention, start a war.” – Brian
• “In the last few years, the NFL has become more participatory.” – Brian

• Order your copy of LORE by Future Commerce
• Dan Murphy, SVP of Marketing at Liquid Death on Future Commerce
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• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get ad-free episodes and bonus content, including the full recording of this podcast, by joining Future Commerce+ at futurecommerce.com/plus

• Save 20% on Future Commerce print journals and merch
• Private GPT access with Alani™ from BundleIQ
• Exclusive invites to physical events, dinners, and priority invites to industry events (SXSW, Art Basel, VISIONS)
• Ad-free episodes and bonus content!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Phillip and Brian look into tomorrow’s creator economy, shaped by the role of AI-driven agents in commerce and attention as currency. While rising generations invisibly develop instincts for algorithmic curation, Mr. Beast’s Feastables collect dust in your local Walgreens. PLUS: We bring you along to our NRF panel discussion alongside our friends from BigCommerce.

• Mr. Beast on Colin and Samir: His too many failed sidequests reveal a bigger picture about the viability of creator-led trends in the long term.
• The future of creator-driven consumer trends is agent-driven.
• Gen Alpha is a surveillance generation, and attention as currency is instinctual.
• Commerce is not just a transaction layer but an infrastructure that connects different facets of the digital world, and is the backbone for emerging tech trends.
• [00:07:40]  “If the future of the attention economy is agentic…Do creators have some role to play in agent attention?” – Phillip
• [00:08:35] “The creator economy is a form of patronage.” – Phillip
• [00:11:35] “Gen Alpha is a surveillance generation…my children know instinctively that they’re constantly being surveilled. They give negative attention signals to things they don’t like.” – Phillip
• [00:21:10] “There’s going to continue to be bots in the world, and we are going to hate them.” – Brian
• [00:18:00] “The problem with running AI as effectively an API with a brain of its own is that it becomes completely impossible to diagnose when things go wrong. And that’s going to drive people crazy.” – Brian
• [00:22:00] “There's going to be entire categories that emerge just for creators to try to find alpha and arbitrage in the system.” – Phillip

• Mr. Beast, Walt Disney, and the Promise of Payoff
• @Anuatluru on X
• Kiri Masters on Agentic Shopping
• Insiders #184: Coexist: Avoiding Agentic Ghettos

• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

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Head of Content James Mulvey joins the show to discuss Motion’s latest creative trends report, which analyzed over $100M+ in ad spend across platforms to extract top creative insights. Listen now to catch the highlights and learn how breakthrough ads are getting faster, funnier, and uglier.

Read Motion’s 2025 Creative Trends Report at Motionapp.com/creative-trends.

• Motion curated a report of the seven top creative trends to keep up with in 2025, finding that ads are getting funnier, running longer, and embracing low-fi aesthetics.
• 71% of advertisers plan to increase their use of AI in the coming year.
• 68% of advertisers plan to increase their use of UGC in the coming year.
• POV storytelling is on the rise – from entertainment to advertising.
• [00:15:10] “Authenticity and humor can be very difficult to marry.” – Brian
• [00:15:15] “–Especially if you’re not funny.” – James
• [00:21:30] “Popular media drives creator notions.” – Phillip
• [00:33:50] “The native platform experts are absorbing the source code, and then they're bringing that into the creative team…we all doomscroll to try to stay relevant, but it’d be awesome to have someone who’s job is to do this.” – James 

• Check out the Motion Creative Trends Report
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Get ad-free episodes and bonus content, including the full recording of this podcast, by joining Future Commerce+ at futurecommerce.com/plus

• Save 20% on Future Commerce print journals and merch
• Private GPT access with Alani™ from BundleIQ
• Exclusive invites to physical events, dinners, and priority invites to industry events (SXSW, Art Basel, VISIONS)
• Ad-free episodes and bonus content!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week, we’re live-reacting to battles across culture. It’s DeepSeek vs. OpenAI, Millennials vs. Gen X, and Starbucks vs. Sharpies (Sharpies won). PLUS: The Flappy Bird effect drives an aftermarket of devices with TikTok access, yuppie culture booms, and Waymo strikes again. 

• DeepSeek’s Disruption – A powerful, cheap, open-source AI from China that is sending shockwaves through the industry, challenging Nvidia’s dominance and raising economic concerns.
• The Death of Loss Leaders? – AI optimization could make it easier for consumers to game retail pricing, forcing businesses to rethink discounts and marketing tactics.
• Tech Arms Race – The U.S.-China AI competition is accelerating, with implications for policy, economy, and innovation.
• The Generational Cycle – Are Millennials the new Boomers? Phillip and Brian discuss how attitudes shift over time.
• TikTok Bans and Black Markets – The aftermarket for phones with TikTok pre-installed mirrors the Flappy Bird phenomenon.
• “If someone was able to optimize their life so that friction was removed, it would break the system.” – Phillip
• “This is ground zero of something huge. The AI game just changed overnight.” – Phillip
• “The best defense is to flood the zone. The moment you try to contain something, you lose control.” – Brian
• “The return of yuppies proves that history doesn’t just repeat itself—it evolves.” – Phillip
• “Technology enabled back.” – Brian

• In-show mention: The Cruel Kids Table, New York Magazine
• In-show mention: TimesNowNews: Phones with TikTok Pre-Installed Selling for $25,000 
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

This episode of Future Commerce is brought to you by Future Commerce Plus and our sponsors Omnisend and MotionApp.

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“There is nothing but micro trends these days. Sometimes, things bubble up, and they capture the imagination of pop culture…but then they last for a really short time. In that environment, how do you really set yourself up to influence culture?” 

In this week’s episode, Ana Andjelic graces our show with breakthrough advice from her latest book, Hitmakers: How Brands Influence Culture. Discover the secrets of updating heritage brands, keys to transporting customers into imaginative worlds, and how to amplify microtrends to position your brand within cornerstone cultural narratives.  

• Reverse-Engineering Hits: The concept of "hit-making" is about creating micro-trends and amplifying them through culture to align with the zeitgeist and resonate with a brand’s audience.
• Capturing Connection: Modern brands are focusing on attention and engagement as measures of success, recognizing that loyalty stems from deeper interactions beyond purchases.
• Brands as Cultural Contributors: Successful brands become part of a larger cultural narrative, contributing to concepts like happiness (Coca-Cola) or creativity (Apple).
• [00:6:34] - “As human beings, we never make decisions in isolation. We are always influenced by what we read, see, listen to, and each other. So in a sense, all of those interactions are narratives or they're fibers of the narrative.” - Ana
• [00:29:27] - “You have to be both sensitive to the zeitgeist and cultures, but also stay true to that innovativeness of those brands because all those founders did create something that didn't exist before.” - Ana
• [00:31:01] - “There's actually a transforming, so taking one form and putting it into a new context, which is how myth begins. It's actually at the moment of transformation.” - Brian
• [00:35:00] - “There is time and place for everything. Performance marketing works really well with brand marketing, but demand is created by brand marketing. Demand is harvested by performance marketing.” - Ana

• Buy Hitmakers on Amazon
• Subcribe to Ana’s Substack for access to the Hitmakers podcast and more
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
• Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.