As prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket stretch their tentacles across culture, their advertising has become ubiquitous. Ahead of the World Cup, Kalshi has inked partnerships with a slew of high-profile athletes and football personalities, like José Mourinho and Lionel Messi. Polymarket, for its part, was a marquee sponsor for the UFC 250 fight at the White House earlier this month. They’re also currently under investigation for deceptive marketing practices (something for another podcast). 

But more recently, a new Polymarket spot, directed by Gabriel Moses featuring Rick Rubin, Future, and Peso Pluma, has caught people’s attention. In this episode, we break down the spot, discussing the deliberate dissonance between the ad and the product, tastewashing, if these people are too hot to be gambling, why tech seems to be the only place where brand marketing is alive, and more.

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For our second special edition pod, we spoke with Mark Stenberg, Senior Media Reporter at AdWeek, to compare notes on what people are talking about this year: AI FOBO, the proliferation of creators, and the increasingly blurry purpose of the festival itself. We get into why Cannes may be less about new ideas than consensus building, why public panels feel more PR-approved than ever, and data dissonance in the basement of the Palais. 

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This is the first of two special edition podcasts this week, recorded on the ground at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity ™️. Today, we’re joined by breakfast aficionado and friend of the show, Ben Dietz. Ben is ½ of the Hip Replacement podcast alongside our friend Kyle Raymond Fitzpatrick. 

Ben is a longtime Cannes attendee, so we pick his brain about how the festival has evolved for better (and worse) over the past decade, why the work matters less and less, Toucan Sam snorting a line of stars, a theory of brands as mammals, the queen of Cannes Sara Fischer, the Pope, Cannes vs. Cannes, and more. 

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An enduring theme of the Knicks’ historic finals run has been squabbling over who and what constitutes “a real fan,” exacerbated by astronomical ticket prices, the intrusion of Kalshi, and the Side Talkification of New York. But what, exactly, is the role of gatekeeping when you want these moments of mass enthusiasm? 

On the pod this week, we talk about New York after the Knicks’ win, why the gatekeeping discourse is almost as annoying as the kind of “GRWM to watch the Knicks at the White Horse Tavern”-type content, and avoiding a Jesse Plemmons in Civil War-style fandom litmus test.

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Youth is vanishing. In a material sense, birth rates are plummeting around the globe and older people are staying in positions of power across both the public and private sector for longer periods of time. It’s also vanishing in a cultural sense, too thanks to a steady stream of reboots, remakes, and de-aged celebrities, as studios and execs bet on proven hits vs. net-new creative.

Against this ossified backdrop, just how much is youth actually leading culture? And are we even giving them a chance? To learn more, we spoke with Samuel Moyn, a Kent Professor of Law and History at Yale University and the author of the upcoming book “Gerontocracy in America: How the Old Are Hoarding Power and Wealth—and What to Do About it.” He breaks down why gerontocracy poses one of the biggest challenges to a thriving youth culture and, by proxy, to creative risk taking. 

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Reality TV has shaped the fabric of American society, from the White House to Summer House (sorry, had to). And Bravo-lebrities are some of the hottest tickets in town: racking up brand deals and starting their own companies and media empires which succeed or fail by their on-screen reputations.

To better understand the state of play on all things Bravo and brands, we invited Gibson Johns to join us in the studio. He’s a Bravo aficionado, freelance writer, and host of the ‘Gabbing with Gib’ podcast. We discuss the Skinnygirl theory of brand building, the Bravo wink, why even the Kardashians keep coming back to reality TV, the new franchises he is most bullish on, and of course… the Summer House Reunion!

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The World Cup is less than one month away. The lead up has been marred by craven opportunism, flagrant price gouging, and worst of them all—a Jelly Roll theme song. It’s the most potent symbol of where global football is headed—endlessly mediated, ultra-exclusive, and heavily commercialized—and what it’s leaving behind: the fans. Our guest this week is Thomas Gorton, the co-founder of unk Studio. We get his take on how to ensure brand collaborations feel generative to the culture rather than extractive, gamified upstart leagues like “Baller League,” how gambling has zapped the viewing experience, and the beauty of lower league football. 

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They’ve got Hollywood ambitions, buzzy merch drops, and swarms of loyal fans (and drones). Why is Palantir, a shadowy data analytics company that many view as emblematic of America’s slide into an unaccountable surveillance state, building a brand universe? This week, our guest is Daysia Tolentino. She’s a freelance writer covering internet culture, with bylines in GQ, Teen Vogue, Vulture, and NBC News. She also writes the Yap Year newsletter on Beehiiv. We ask her about Palantir chore coats, her interview in GQ with Eliano Younes, the Head of Strategic Engagement at Palantir, and why tech’s pursuit of “good taste” is in bad faith and won’t work. 

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