People do some pretty crazy things in the gym. But none feels quite as crazy as competing in a Hyrox race.

Some fitness enthusiasts might already be familiar with the format: Competitors run one kilometer, then complete a workout station including sled pushes and pulls, burpee broad jumps, and wall balls. Then they run another kilometer, then complete another workout station, for a total of eight repetitions in the race.

Sound hard? It’s actually designed to be achievable for people of all fitness levels, according to Enno Eller, global sales director at Hyrox—the course just might take some competitors longer than others to complete.

“It’s a sport for everybody, and every body, and every body composition,” Eller told Marketing Brew. “People used to go to the gym saying, ‘Fitness is my sport,’ but they never really had a chance to compete…Our sport became very famous and is so accessible because it’s basically relying on the seven basic movements of the body.”

Hyrox got its start in Germany in 2017 and started spreading out around Europe in subsequent years, Eller said, but it didn’t truly find a toehold in the US until around this year, after being named to the Time100 Most Influential Companies of 2024. The organization, he said, forecasts that about 1.5 million participants will compete during the 2025–26 season, which will cap off with the World Championships in June.

The fitness industry, both physical and mental, is booming, and consumers are increasingly participating in amateur sporting events, whether that’s Hyrox or lacing up their running shoes to compete in marathons or even Ironmans. Amid the growth, brand marketers are looking for ways to cash in, and some are turning to Hyrox as the next frontier in fitness marketing.

Continue reading here.—AM

Want a respite from the constant scrolling and nonstop notifications? Looking for some good, old-fashioned fun? Go on a cruise—specifically a Carnival cruise.

That’s the message of Carnival Cruise Line’s latest campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day NY. The campaign, which stars Nick Offerman, leans into the actor’s tough-yet-genial persona to showcase how fun on a cruise can bring out a person’s playful side. It’s the first new brand platform for Carnival Cruise Line in seven years.

Amy Martin Ziegenfuss, Carnival Cruise Line CMO, told Marketing Brew that the aim of the new brand platform is to emphasize the importance of making time for fun, especially when there are plenty of obstacles to doing so.

“Everybody needs fun. It’s a human need. But I think in today’s day and age, it’s ever more difficult to prioritize it,” Martin Ziegenfuss said. “We have these lovely devices and every kind of technology helping us be more efficient and connected and all those things, but it also sometimes keeps us from connecting on a more human level.”

The resulting brand platform and campaign are aimed at encouraging people to care about letting loose—without their phones distracting them. In the spot, Offerman takes a sledgehammer to his endlessly pinging phone before finding some screen-free, laugh-out-loud fun on a cruise.

Read more here.—KM

When it comes to adopting AI, live shopping platform Whatnot’s Chief Product Officer Tom Verrilli says it is ahead of legacy e-commerce platforms simply because it was born at the right time.

“We’re still new enough that most of the systems we’re building are new and therefore stand to gain immensely from powerful new AI tools,” Verrilli told Retail Brew.

Last month, Whatnot rolled out four new AI tools, two to support product listings and two to support fulfillment. Sellers can use their phone camera to generate product listings in less than five seconds with Snap List and add new items during a live realtime with Live List, the company said. To speed fulfillment for merchants, Automated Shipping Profiles pick the right shipping label from a photo, and Proof of Drop Off lets sellers scan labels at drop-off.

The platform, founded in 2019, operates in nine countries and sells items across more than 140 categories. Weekly livestream content on Whatnot has reached 20 million minutes, while viewer watch time has tripled YoY. The growth extends to top sellers too—the number of merchants earning more than $1 million in lifetime sales has more than doubled in 2025, Verrilli said.

Verrilli spoke with Retail Brew about how Whatnot is thinking about AI and the evolution of liveshopping as AI embeds itself deeper within e-commerce.

Continue reading on Retail Brew.—VC

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• Public Relations Manager at Expedia Group
• Associate Media Manager, Paid Search at The Home Depot
• Manager, Paid Social Media at Quad
• Marketing Manager, Oncology at AbbVie
• Marketing Director at Master Builders Solutions

Stories we’re jealous of.

• The Wall Street Journal wrote about how small museums are mastering social media.
• Bloomberg wrote about the state of AI deepfakes and how it’s changing everything from copywriting to video calling in the name of proving humanity.
• The Hollywood Reporter wrote about Hallmark’s push into live events and experiences as it looks to further transform its business outside of greeting cards and holiday movies.