For many people, golf used to be that thing your dad would do way too early on a weekend morning with his shirt tucked into a very unfashionable pair of khakis. But Dad might just run into Justin Timberlake and Travis Kelce or LeBron and Bronny James the next time he hits the links.

That’s right—golf is officially cool. The sport, which was long associated with the Caddyshack-esque image of men at country clubs, has in recent years been drawing a more diverse group of players and fans.

• In 2025, it seems to have rocketed firmly into pop culture, with new movies and shows about the sport on major streaming services, golf content all over social media, a growing fashion scene, and superstar athletes from other sports swinging up a storm in their downtime.

With the Ryder Cup, already known as a unique and somewhat rowdy tournament by the golf world’s standards, coming to New York this weekend, golf’s new image is sure to be on full display.

It’s “going to be like the Super Bowl of golf,” Kevin Hopkins, SVP of events at Excel Sports Management, told Marketing Brew.

Welcome to the simulation: Golf is nothing new for pro athletes across sports; it’s a relatively low-impact activity. But some have gotten invested in the sport beyond a hobby.

Continue reading here.—AM

Creators may be celebrities in their own right, but attendees of YouTube’s creator event Made on YouTube in New York last Tuesday were in for a surprise visit from a more traditional star.

The singer Dua Lipa appeared onstage to discuss the beginning of her career when she first started using YouTube as a creator. Years later, YouTube and Dua Lipa have both changed plenty, and YouTube announced several new AI, creator, and live features at the event as it continues to seek to capitalize on an increasingly lucrative creator economy.

We rounded up some of the big announcements from the event below.

Tech whiz: Sick of hearing about AI? Well, then stop reading here, because YouTube Shorts is being integrated with Google DeepMind’s Veo 3 Fast, according to a press release.

• The integration allows users to generate clips or video backgrounds complete with sound, and users will be able to add props or motion to the content they create and to restyle videos.
• The feature is rolling out now to creators in the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and further experimentation on these features is expected to start in subsequent months.

Continue reading here.—JS

At one point during day three of the remedy phase of United States v. Google LLC, taking place in a federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema said that her favorite words are “we settled.”

The DOJ’s and Google spent the day discussing the technical aspects of potential remedies. Marketing Brew has compiled key moments from Wednesday’s proceedings below.

Two sides of the same coin: While Google is against divesting its ad exchange AdX or DFP, the DOJ sought to drive home why it might be needed. It called Harvard economics professor Robin S. Lee to the stand and probed him on proposed remedies.

• Lee seemed to have proposed that those remedies might not resolve the persistent competitive harms that the company poses.

However, during Google’s cross-examination of Lee, he appeared to suggest that a divestiture of AdX or DFP might not prevent market monopolization on its own.

Take it easy: If the court does order Google to divest some of its ad products, the level of ease with which such a transaction could be executed was disputed. Both sides questioned Paul Crisci, a former UBS banker and an M&A advisor, about how that might work.

• Crisci appeared to suggest that both AdX and DFP would be attractive M&A targets.

Stay tuned for Marketing Brew’s coverage of Thursday’s proceedings.—JS

Tracking brand health in a low-engagement space like insurance requires more than surface-level metrics. In this webinar on Oct. 2, Kantar reveals the benchmarks and tools you need to understand what drives affinity—and how to measure equity that lasts.

Real jobs shared through real communities. CollabWORK brings opportunities directly to Marketing Brew readers—no mass postings, no clutter, just roles worth seeing. Click here to view the full job board.

• Associate Marketing Manager at Cellcom (in person)
• Marketing Specialist at Sheryll Law, PC (in person)
• Marketing Project Manager at an undisclosed organization (hybrid)
• Marketing Consultant at Dick Broadcasting Company Inc. (in person)
• Marketing Campaign Specialist at Kirtland Federal Credit Union (remote)

Stories we’re jealous of.

• Business Insider wrote about micro-drama apps that show vertical, soap opera–esque clips and are expected to make $3 billion in revenue this year.
• Bloomberg looked at how American films are losing their global box-office dominance as China invests more in the film industry.
• Ad Age wrote about Tylenol manufacturer Kenvue’s mounting crisis as the Trump administration levies attacks against the pain med.