Future Commerce

Most Super Bowl ads failed before they aired. Dr. Marcus Collins explains why. We break down the Super Bowl as a cultural spectacle: the ads, the Bad Bunny halftime show, and the Levi's strategy that no one is talking about.

• Why Marcus felt bad for every marketer who ran a Super Bowl ad this year
• The Lay's ad was beautiful. Marcus saw a father handing his daughter a lifetime of debt.
• How Levi's turned a 30-second spot, a stadium, a popup, and a halftime show into one integrated play
• "This is not a 32-second ad. This is a constellation of nodes that together tell the story only Levi's could."
• What Anthropic understood about the group chat that OpenAI and Google missed
• Bad Bunny performed for 120 million viewers at home, not the 70,000 in the stadium, and that was the point

• Catch our Super Bowl ad analysis in our Things We're Overthinking newsletter.
• Follow From the Culture, hosted by Dr. Marcus Collins and Amanda Slavin
• Buy For the Culture on Amazon
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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!

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LIVE from Manifest 2026: Shipium CEO Jason Murray reveals why AI transformation isn't about making old processes faster but fundamentally rethinking workflows. From turning three-day analytics tasks into minutes with Orca to exploring adjacent areas such as auditing and consulting, Phillip, Brian, and Jason unpack how domain-specific AI creates competitive moats in an era when traditional advantages are dissolving.

• AI works when you rethink workflows, not optimize existing ones
• Domain-specific AI beats general LLMs through context and reduced hallucinations
• Speed of experimentation matters more than prediction accuracy alone
• Adjacent spaces, like auditing, are now accessible through AI-powered digital twins
• Traditional moats are dissolving; data and ecosystem relationships become key

• Learn more about Shipium
• Learn more about Manifest

• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus 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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Join us at SoCom 2026, the Social Commerce Conference. February 26 in Venice Beach and save 20% with code FCSC2026

Damon Berger, Head of Consumer Digital Engagement at Gap Inc., joins the show to share the strategy behind the brand's comeback. He unpacks the playbook for rebuilding an iconic brand, why it worked for Barbie, and why creator capital is the new north star. Plus, he reveals how Gap moved from "chasing relevance” to driving it, and why brand distinction is the new survival strategy against the sea of AI slop.

• Creators are the cultural conduit, building conversational capital through authentic audience relationships
• Gap's KATSEYE campaign sparked participation, not just viewership, enabling fans to own the moment
• Purpose-driven brands live their values quietly rather than preaching them publicly
• Brand distinction becomes a survival strategy when 50% of internet traffic is bots
• Get Blue partnership scales Gap's influence to address global water access for 200M people

Damon Berger [03:33]: "Creators are the conduit to what is kind of cool out in the world...the idea for us is that we have a variety of relationships with them."

Damon Berger [12:14]: "That was really why one of the reasons that it was so popular and shared and viral...people started taking that video and doing all their own dances and doing their own interpretations to it and expressing themselves and joining a larger conversation."

Damon Berger [15:14]: "We were just being ourselves. We were just living our own brand values, where we believe in the value of diverse voices. We believe in people being themselves no matter what."

Damon Berger [29:26]: "In the sea of sameness and the sea of AI slop and all of these worlds of not really knowing who you're buying from…[brand distinction] is what people care about, and that's how we've won over the last couple of years."

• Gap's "Better in Denim" Campaign - Viral campaign featuring "Milkshake" by Kelis
• Get Blue Initiative - Partnership with Gap Inc., Amazon, Starbucks, and Ecolab

• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
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• Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
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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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Andrew McLuhan (The McLuhan Institute) and Paulo Ferreira (co-founder, Baroes Brand Publishing) join us to dissect the seismic shift from persuasion to publication. As institutions crumble and audiences demand transparency, brands are discovering they don't need platforms—they need publishing strategies. From Brazil's brand publishing revolution to venture capital as the ultimate gamble, this conversation explores how commerce and culture collapse into a single, trust-driven narrative where every brand becomes its own campfire.

• Brands must shift from persuasive advertising to informational publishing
• Brand publishing empowers direct audience relationships, cutting out middlemen
• Context and transparency build trust, but objectivity is increasingly seen as a myth
• Well-informed consumers strengthen brands, while fear of knowledge signals weakness
• Storytelling is the new sales department and remixability drives cultural power

"A good brand doesn't fear a well-informed client. A good brand wants a well-informed client." — Paulo Ferreira [00:58:52]

"With our new media, people have the freedom to find it themselves. Brands are becoming their own campfires, allowing people to crowd around and exchange stories." — Andrew McLuhan [00:10:11]

"‘The medium is the message’ was telling radio people to calm down about TV. Being obsolete doesn't mean death, it means rebirth." — Andrew McLuhan [00:23:53]

"Trust is built through transparency. The scroll is infinite now. The stakes have never been higher for laying our cards on the table." — Andrew McLuhan [01:00:22]

• Learn more about The McLuhan Institute
• Learn more about Baroes Brand Publishing
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus 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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Theory meets tarmac. Sushmitha "Sushi" Radhakrishnan runs finance and operations at Birddogs, the men's apparel brand born from a Shark Tank moment that's now selling through Dick's Sporting Goods. She breaks down what cash flow actually looks like when summer—not holidays—is your Super Bowl, tariffs hit mid-growth, and every trend cycle could make or break a season.

• Seasonal brands need capital access during revenue troughs, not just peaks
• Multi-channel operations demand different buying cycles—wholesale plans months ahead while DTC converts in hours
• Speed separates winners in apparel—trends change faster than traditional finance approval loops
• Small teams need executive-level spend control with rapid scalability for growth moments

Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:14:49]: "Because we are a seasonal business, having access to credit cards like a Brex where we have charge cards—in those situations when we're in our cash flow troughs, having that extra flexibility is really critical to us. There's a six month period where we have to have really good months because that's what funds the business in the lower months."

Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:20:28]: "This is my first foray into apparel and selling it online and trends change so quickly. A winning product—it's definitely a very dynamic environment to operate in."

Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:18:12]: "We move really fast. Getting that feedback loop shortened is really important when we're managing cash. That's been refreshing with Brex—the support we're getting from a credit card provider. I don't have that same level of one on one service with American Express."

Sushi Radhakrishnan [00:23:22]: "People buy apparel based on emotion, not just because they see it come across their Instagram reel. It's really important that we continue to appeal to our buyers in a way that's more than just selling the value prop of our product."

• Learn more about Brex
• Learn more about Melio
• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus 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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The old retail calendar is dead. Between TikTok virality, celebrity sightings, and ChatGPT-powered discovery, brands face a new reality: commerce runs on culture’s clock. Nicole Thomas (Brex) and Anand Mehta (Melio) break down how this shift from predictable peaks to perpetual possibility demands radical financial agility.

• Retail shifted from twice-yearly peaks to monthly cultural spikes brands can't predict
• Cash conversion cycle reveals hidden supplier payment leverage beyond inventory optimization
• Credit card float extends working capital without compounding traditional loan debt
• Liquidity separates trend leaders from trend chasers regardless of business size

Nicole Thomas [00:06:27]: "Seasonality is kind of taking shape in the way that it's less of like these ebbs and flows maybe twice a year to maybe once a month. If your product goes viral or if a celebrity endorses something, your consumers are now expecting to get those products when they want it."

Anand Mehta [00:22:17]: "Costco managed to have a very low, if not negative cash conversion cycle because their store is the warehouse. They've already sold and converted their inventory to cash before they even have to pay it out."

Nicole Thomas [00:37:06]: "Commerce is definitely making a big shift to flattening out, but not flattening out enough to where you can actually predict those peaks and valleys. We're definitely shifting from a calendar economy to more of a cultural economy."

Anand Mehta [00:32:14]: "This use case of extending cash flow isn't just for businesses who are struggling. If you're a brand that is very liquid, having that cash buffer allows you to be a brand that's jumping in on a trend in the early stages of the trend, not chasing a trend."

• Learn more about Brex
• Learn more about Melio
• 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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Cash flow isn't just spreadsheets—it's survival. In an era of tariffs, currency swings, and supply chain whiplash, small businesses face a paradox: grow fast while everything shifts beneath you. Corinne Boonstra (Brex) and Aharon Naveen (Melio) unpack how payment independence becomes the ultimate competitive advantage.

• Tariff volatility forces brands to message consumers directly about pricing pressures
• Small businesses gain agility advantage by switching suppliers faster than competitors
• Payment independence decouples cash flow from vendor relationship power dynamics
• Technology stacks need finance-novice friendliness, not just CFO sophistication

Corinne Boonstra [00:08:11]: "Brands are having to reach out to their consumer base to communicate with them why prices are increasing or using that as kind of a pivotal point of, say, buy these goods now while they're this price."

Aharon Naveen [00:12:06]: "Switching vendors is complex. It comes with an operational overhead of different net terms, different currency conversions, different shipping time, different payment acceptance."

Aharon Naveen [00:19:45]: "Giving the control back to small business, putting them in a position that they can overcome the relationship dynamic or the power dynamic of a new vendor—that is what technology brings to play."

Corinne Boonstra [00:23:10]: "These tools need to be able to be leveraged by your CMO, your head of digital, your founder—whoever is ultimately making these decisions might not have an accounting background."

• Learn more about Brex
• Learn more about Melio
• 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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CEO of Optimove, Pini Yakuel, returns to explore the roots of positionless thinking and how AI pushes us to visionary methods over specialization. We explore how breaking departmental siloes unlocks 88% faster campaign cycles, and why a refreshed mindset will be your strongest tool in 2026.

• Positionless marketing drove 88% campaign efficiency gains in 2025
• AI accelerates range; humans provide judgment and validation
• 70% of consumers unsubscribed from 3+ brands in 3 months
• Mindset change precedes technology adoption in successful AI integration

[00:09:20] "The biggest compliment you get is something called ‘rosh gadol’...It means, I want your head to think about more things than it's currently thinking.” – Pini Yakuel

[00:21:26] "Consumption and making decisions are the work. If you can't make decisions for yourself, you can't work with AI." – Brian Lange

[00:28:44] "We have access to knowledge on every field...we have the best personal tutor in our pockets available 24 over seven." – Pini Yakuel

[00:38:10] "It's very, very difficult to scale personalization. That's the bottom line. It's almost impossible to scale it." – Pini Yakuel

• Optimove Connect (March 2026)
• Optimove + Forrester Study: Closing the Gap Between Promise and Performance
• Optimove Marketing Fatigue Report

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

• 🆕 Access to our newest analysis feature for members, Field Notes, our retail space analysis briefing. Featuring brands like Swatch, Printemps, and Skims.
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• Save 15% on Future Commerce print journals and merch
• Exclusive invites to physical events, dinners, and priority invites to industry events (SXSW, Art Basel, VISIONS)
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Fresh from the Javits Center, Phillip, Brian, and Alicia unpack NRF 2026's dominant themes, from AI's omnipresence to its curiously low adoption among the very professionals championing it. The conversation moves beyond technology theater to explore what truly drives commerce: cultural connection, intentional brand heritage, and multiplayer engagement that treats customers as collaborators rather than data points.

• AI saturation at NRF contrasts sharply with minimal executive adoption
• Successful AI integration preserves brand heritage rather than replacing it
• Multiplayer brand engagement becomes reality through tools like Taco Bell's Fan Styleplatform
• Analog intimacy resurfaces as consumers fight against  digital fatigue
• "Who here has used AI to search for a product that you would like to buy? Not a single hand went up. Three out of 300 people had used ChatGPT to search for anything." — Phillip
• "The point isn't the technology. The point is building a memorable experience that connects people to people." — Brian (referencing Taco Bell's Dane Matthews)
• "How do you take a brand that is as beloved and known for being a merchant and design-led company and use technology in a way to just add to it and not try to over modernize it?" — Alicia (on Ralph Lauren's approach)
• "Maybe people are just figuring out where they want their time and how they want to spend their time... getting back to our roots through things like mahjong, board games, and very simplified intimate spaces." — Alicia

• Future Commerce Holiday AI Report, produced in partnership with Cimulate
• More details from NRF 2026
• Our official recap of Phillip’s conversation with Dane Mathews
• Shop Future Commerce's Multiplayer Brand book

• Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
• Check out Future Commerce Plus 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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