Like an elementary school classroom in the ’90s, X was full of Joshes last week.

The social memes, which focused on Josh Cellars’s wine, took off like wildfire and consisted of everything from puns to lyrics and jokes about the approachably named wine. At one point, someone joked that Josh’s marketing team was probably as hyped up as NASA was when the Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

Dan Kleinman, chief brand officer at Josh Cellars’s parent company, Deutsch Family Wine & Spirits, confirmed that the team was, in fact, thrilled, but it wasn’t a group of men who were celebrating: “Our team is a collection of incredible women that are driving the success of this brand and responding and having all the fun with this,” he said.

While January tends to be a quiet period for the alcohol industry with post-holiday cutbacks and Dry January, Kleinman said Josh had a great start to the year. In the two weeks since the memes began circulating, the brand saw a 79% increase in Instagram and Facebook followers, and sales are up 6.2% compared to the 11 weeks prior.

Even for an established brand, Kleinman said the online attention has also been great for brand exposure to new customers and generating brand affinity.

“I think what these memes are doing, especially because so many of them are positive, is creating valuable social credibility for the brand,” he said. “Friend-to-friend recommendations and recommendations from real people versus advertising is an incredible way to get people interested.”

Continue reading here.—KH

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Much like in previous years, NRF’s Big Show featured many hot topics, including retail media networks and AI in the industry.

But one panel led by Hilary Milnes, executive Americas editor at Vogue Business, focused on a subject that’s captivated retailers and companies big and small for years now: What does the Gen Z consumer want and how do you give it to them?

And while this generation’s preferences probably change more rapidly than the weather in New York, we know that if there’s one thing that’s constant, it’s that Gen Z is a digital generation.

Caleb Pearson, VP of US customer engagement, McDonald’s

Some of the things we’ve learned across the last three years with this group that I found interesting is one, who they trust is completely different than past generations. They have the least amount of trust in political figures. I’m not sure if anyone has trust in them anymore, but [Zoomers] really trust people who are like them, who are within their generation—and they’re YouTubers, your Instagramers. They also are massive content creators and content consumers, particularly in the digital world.

The most interesting is Gen Z’s rejection of this false perception of dichotomies. They want to save, but also want to splurge. Gen Z can want digital experiences, but they also want real-life experiences. Gen Z can want to be activists and have their voice heard and drive social change, but they can possibly have moments of pacifism and peace in their lives. Most importantly—maybe most important for us—is that they can love local brands and local food. They can also have an appreciation for big brands and for the convenience and the value that those brands bring to their lives.

Read more on Retail Brew.—JS

Each week, Marketing Brew recaps what people are talking about on social media, the trends that took over our feeds, and how marketers are responding.

Ceratonin: Why exactly was actor Michael Cera walking down the street with two massive bags of lotion? It turned out to be a CeraVe marketing stunt. Creator @haleyybaylee posted a sponsored “run to the pharmacy” video where Cera was shown writing his name on the brand’s lotion bottles so that they read Michael CeraVe. Another creator, @lukasbattle, posted a video of a gift box he received from the brand that contained CeraVe products with Cera’s name and likeness on it. Someone thought of this pun and ran with it, and frankly, we (as well as other viewers) respect it.

A new approach to layering: Ugg is advertising its Classic Ultra Ultra Tall boots—and people are losing their minds online. For the low, discounted price of $420, you can get a pair of Uggs that are reminiscent of those zip-off sweatpants people wore in the 2000s and are also somehow attracting comparisons to candy corn. Some people are buying the boots just to show what they look like in real life. Whether virality was the intent with the ads or designing the boots in general, we have to imagine Ugg has seen a sales bump on these things as a result.

Double take: People are sharing scammy video ads they’ve encountered on their timelines that appear to feature celebrities like Jennifer Aniston and Selena Gomez offering things like $10 MacBook Pros and Le Creuset sets available “due to a packaging error.” Some speculate that the videos could be AI. Whatever it is…it definitely seems questionable.

Another thing that’s icky? Having enough brand gift boxes to fill a closet (or possibly an entire room) like creator @darcymcqueenyyy does, as she recently shared in an unboxing video to end all unboxing videos. Based on the comments and stitches, let’s just say people seem less than impressed with the behind-the-scenes look.

Read more here.—KH

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Stories we’re jealous of.

• The Verge wrote about how Netflix seems to be on the fast track to becoming…cable?
• The Wall Street Journal wrote about why bank-owned cafés and other branded third places are popping up in cities across the country.
• The Atlantic wrote about the Stanley tumbler phenomenon and how the water bottle’s popularity is likely just an example of good ol’ fashioned consumerism.