BRAND STRATEGY

Hinge

Sometimes you have to hear it to believe it.

For the third year in a row, the dating app Hinge is bringing back its “No Ordinary Love” campaign, which tells the stories of real-life couples who met on the platform. While past campaign stories were entirely in written formats, this year is all about audio, Tamika Young, chief marketing and communications officer at Hinge, told us.

It’s part of Hinge’s efforts to further target Gen Z daters by reaching them where they are. Last year, Hinge introduced a brand newsletter into the campaign that has also included physical books and zines; this year, the brand is adding an audiobook in response to younger audiences’ growing appetite for the medium.

“It’s a space where you’re able to tell deeper and more emotional stories,” Young said. “We wanted to expand in that format so we can tell those stories more widely.”

We spoke with Young about the campaign and why it’s going all-in on unconventional storytelling to reach younger audiences.

Continue reading here.—KH

      

Sponsored By The Ibotta Performance Network

Grocery shopping doesn’t just happen at the store anymore. Delivery apps changed the buyer journey in a big way—and by extension, CPG marketing strategies.

Ibotta looked into the top changes to grocery shopping and their ripple effects. One of the biggest is the “buy-it-again economy.” Since digital platforms are optimized for convenience, features like saved baskets and “buy again” buttons encourage repeat familiar purchases.

At the same time, these features tend to discourage exploring new purchases. That means CPG brands are competing against a consumer’s established routine, rather than just other products on the shelf.

Curious how marketers are disrupting these automatic shopping behaviors? Find out in Ibotta’s report.

SOCIAL & INFLUENCERS

Amelia Kinsinger

While the creator lifestyle can appear glamorous, most creators are not making the big bucks.

According to a new State of Creators report from the influencer marketing platform CreatorIQ, a survey of more than 5,000 creators found that the majority (about 67%) make under $10,000 a year from content creation, while less than 5% made more than $100,000. Content creation also continues to be a side hustle for most creators, with 63% of respondents saying that it is not their primary source of income.

And for those that do strike higher-paying contracts, it’s not their engagement rate that’s bringing in brand interest. According to the report, higher creator pay still most often correlates with higher follower numbers, despite some brands reporting that creator fit and suitability is the most important factor when selecting creators to work with. Views, or content performance, is also more closely associated with creator pay than content engagement, according to the report.

Jennifer Cho, chief customer officer at CreatorIQ, said that brands have been looking more closely at engagement rates as creator measurement programs have evolved, but the figure may still not represent the ROI they’re looking for, especially depending on the goals they have in working with creators in the first place.

“[With] engagement rate as a standalone, if you look at the audience makeup of a creator, it might not be the audience that you actually want to engage with your brand. There’s also sentiment analysis that comes into it,” she said. “[There are] different KPIs and metrics and selection criteria to be able to convert your brand at that final stage [of the marketing funnel] versus…broadening your reach.”

Read more here.—JN

      

SPORTS MARKETING

Caraa

While many brands spent the summer focused on the World Cup, women’s accessories brand Caraa is looking forward to the 2028 Summer Olympics as part of its growth strategy.

Co-founder and CEO Aaron Luo, a lifelong fencer, is banking on a passion project to spur growth for the over 10-year-old brand, which has revealed a partnership with USA Fencing in the lead-up to the Los Angeles Summer Games. The partnership kicked off with a capsule collection incorporating fencing motifs and styles for Caraa’s premium bags, and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the USA Fencing Foundation.

“The idea is that we wanted to learn from the community, hear the feedback, and then iterate from there,” Luo said about the ongoing partnership. “This will be one of the few [products] that we hope to launch before the Olympics, during the Olympics, and, of course, after the Olympics.”

As the US fencing network is relatively small compared to other sports participating in the Olympics—according to USA Fencing, it had just over 45,000 registered members as of August 2025—Luo is leveraging his connection to the community for the partnership. He hopes the collections appeal to both fencing enthusiasts and sports fans more broadly.

“Because this is something that we care [about], because we want to give back to the community, we want to really give [customers] something that’s really cool,” he said. “The end product ends up being something that is special, and that’s something that we learn from the design standpoint that we’re going to translate more into other designs that we’re going to do.”

Read more on Revenue Brew.—LI

      

Sponsored By Zoom

Your audience can spot what’s fake. So use your real human voice to set your brand apart. Zoom can help. They know that authenticity is key, especially when it comes to your virtual events. Let AI handle the busy work of production while you focus on making real connections. Host an event they won’t forget.

VIRTUAL EVENTS

Morning Brew Inc.

Turns out the best growth strategy isn’t always another email. Join Marketing Brew and Smartpress on August 19 to learn why print is earning a bigger role in today’s marketing mix and how brands are using it to create confidence, clarity, and stronger customer connections.

french press

Morning Brew

There are a lot of bad marketing tips out there. These aren’t those.

To buy or not to buy: Insights from Reddit on how the platform influences purchasing decisions after products are recommended by AI.

Advice column: Women marketing leaders recognized by Ad Age share outdated advice and updated guidance for early-career pros.

Measure up: How to best quantify ad effectiveness from TV and digital ads, per iSpot.

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Pinterest

Learn what Sara Pollack, Pinterest’s VP and global head of consumer marketing, had to say about the social media platform growing with a daring take on encouraging users to get off their phones.

METRICS AND MEDIA

Stat: $6 billion. That’s about how much ATG Entertainment, the company that owns several historic Broadway and West End theaters, was valued at as part of Hollywood executive Ari Emanuel’s Mari Group’s planned acquisition of the company. Emanuel said the deal is “a long-term bet on where live goes next,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

Quote: “If people are getting hurt, if they’re not trusting it, they’re going to stop using it and tell other people.”—Tarek Mansour, Kalshi CEO, speaking to the the New York Times about the company’s approach, including why he says the company is “pro-regulation” of prediction markets

Read: “Is Gen Z really saving Hollywood?” (The Atlantic)