This story is the latest in a series exploring how brands craft standout social media strategies. If you’d like to chat about how your brand is approaching social, Katie Hicks wants to hear about it. Reach out to her at hicks@morningbrew.com.

Nothing’s being watered down here.

Liquid Death, which began as a canned-water company in 2017, has amassed more than 14 million followers across TikTok and Instagram, which Dan Murphy, the brand’s SVP of marketing, attributes to a commitment to making people laugh. In recent years, the brand has put out memorable campaigns like “Kegs for Pregs” and casket coolers in an effort that goes beyond standing out from other brands.

“We’re competing with the feed,” Murphy told us. “We’re trying to be the funniest thing in your feed that day.”

For Liquid Death, it’s comedy at all costs—often quite literally—with stunts that toe the line of realism and often make fun of the exact industry they’re participating in: advertising. Last year, the brand gave away a $400,000 fighter jet in a stunt inspired by the now-infamous Pepsi campaign that resulted in a lawsuit against the beverage company. The brand has also sold skateboards infused with Tony Hawk’s blood, as well as pit diapers” for concertgoers headed into a mosh pit—moments that have been geared toward social and have amassed millions of views across platforms.

“Everything we do is try to satirize advertising because we all hate ads,” Murphy said. “But those tropes, those jingles, the setups are so embedded in our consciousness, so when you can take this familiar thing and twist it and make it funny or unexpected, there’s tremendous bang for the buck.”

Despite the brand’s pricey stunts, its growing product lines, and a recent $1.4 billion valuation, Murphy said his in-house team remains intentionally lean, with only enough members to “fit in an SUV, legally.” We spoke with him about the ways in which his small team is pulling off mighty feats online.

Continue reading here.—KH

Denver Summit FC has yet to make its debut on the pitch, but the club has been years in the making.

The Summit, one of the NWSL’s two expansion teams for the 2026 season, wasn’t officially awarded its bid for a franchise until last January, but fans and other stakeholders had been organizing around women’s soccer in the city since at least 2022. By the time the franchise was announced last year, fans were so involved that they went on to help shape the brand of the team, from its name to its ethos, Jen Millet, president of the Denver Summit, said.

“Soccer, I feel like more than any other sport, is very community-minded,” Millet, who was previously COO of Bay FC, told Marketing Brew. “That is definitely true here in Denver, and so really leaning into this community, in a sense, to help crowdsource our visual identity, but also our brand values, [made sense]. The upside of that is being able to put forward a visual identity and a brand narrative that resonates with people, because they were part of the creation of it.”

Given the passion that’s typical of many sports fans, branding or rebranding a team can be a difficult task that risks provoking outrage, as the NWSL community well knows. So far, though, Millet said Denver Summit ticket and merch sales indicate that involving fans in the process can pay off.

Read more here.—AM

Throughout 2025, retail media continued to outgrow, well, retail.

Case in point: WPP recently expanded its commerce-driven ad revenue reporting to include travel and financial services media networks in the network’s recent advertising forecast, reflecting retail media’s evolution into commerce media as brands from more categories have joined in. The agency’s forecast predicts that commerce media will account for 15.6% of total ad revenue in 2025 and 17.2% by 2030. That 15.6% represents about $178.2 billion in ad revenue, bringing the spend above that of total TV ad revenue for the first time.

“One of the most significant shifts in 2026 will be the redefinition of what ‘retail’ actually means,” Nick Van Sicklen, CEO of luxury marketing agency Interluxe Group, told us in an email, noting that he expects luxury brands to grow their own efforts in the space. “Travel, hospitality, automotive, and experience-led brands are increasingly behaving like retailers, owning first-party demand signals and transaction data.”

To understand how the retail, er, commerce media landscape will continue to evolve in 2026, we caught up with experts in the space to understand what could be coming next, be it consolidation or disruption.

Continue reading here.—KM

Small, adorable, and irresistible—mini products are taking over shelves and social feeds. From luxury handbags to snacks and beauty, brands are using minis to hook new customers, spark viral moments, and deliver “try-before-you-buy” thrills. Discover why tiny items are making a huge impact on shopping and social media.