BRAND STRATEGY

Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Adobe Stock, Unsplash

A gray, drab supermarket? Not in Mamanistan.

This spring, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration asked branding and design firms to submit ideas for a “vibrant, cohesive brand” for the city’s first municipal supermarkets, ranging from the in-store looks to private-label branding.

An information session in June attracted more than 600 registrants representing 480-plus different design organizations, according to It’s Nice That. In September, the NYCEDC announced the project lead: creative agency Gander, which is behind the branding for trendy CPG brands including Graza olive oil, Yellowbird hot sauce, and Banza pasta.

“It’s kind of the dream project for us,” Mike McVicar, co-founder and creative director of Gander, told us. “[It’s a] convergence of social good, New York City, and food all coming together.”

In addition to overseeing the research, strategy, naming, and branding of the municipal grocery stores, Gander is working with a consortium of design partners made up of brand consultancy Librarie, creative studio Noble Signs, and grocery-store design firm Seven Roots to help develop the overall visual identity.

The first grocery store is set to open in the Bronx as early as next year, and McVicar said Gander and the consortium are hard at work and in constant communication to get things ready in time. We spoke with him about the current state of the project and the creative vision driving the consortium now through 2029, when the final store is slated to open.

For more on Gander and the consortium’s work on the branding and how they’re looking to balance local communities and a five-borough identity, continue reading here.—KH

      

Sponsored By BAMKO

Offline activity is notoriously difficult to track. Branded merch is no exception, making it hard to defend when budget time comes. Enter BAMKO, the branded merch company that builds in success metrics before anything ships. BAMKO connects physical touchpoints to your CRM so you can walk into your next leadership meeting with performance reports ready.

But data only matters if your team actually uses the product. BAMKO pairs the craft of a creative studio with the scale of a global manufacturer to make merch people actually want to keep. Design, sourcing, and delivery is handled by one team, so the product you approved is exactly what’s delivered.

The best part? Your brand looks like your brand everywhere it shows up.

Talk to a BAMKO strategist about your 2027 program.

AGENCIES

Richard Drury/Getty Images

The girls are fighting.

In a post on its official Instagram account last week, Publicis Groupe shared a message directed toward WPP CEO Cindy Rose, seemingly in response to comments Rose made during the holding company’s Q3 earnings call, in which she criticized the trend of agencies obtaining business through what she called “this pitchless CEO handshake thing.”

In Publicis’s 16-paragraph-long response, the holdco, which has won several accounts outside of the traditional pitch process, addressed Rose, writing that her remarks were “an insult to clients’ intelligence” and that its business wins are the result of work and testing done by its teams, not due to a “friendly espresso.”

The post also alluded to Microsoft, where Rose was previously employed and whose business Publicis won—reportedly without a pitch—in April.

“You know its leaders really well, and your comments sell them remarkably short,” the post read. “They would never have entrusted us with a task of this magnitude on a wink and a handshake.”

Skip the pitch? The traditional agency pitch project has long been fraught due to concerns about the time and effort required. On the call, Rose said as much.

• “You are not going to find anybody that says, ‘I love pitching,’” she said, adding that “the cost and burden of the process seems to be increasing.”

“Out of touch”: While brands sometimes pick fights in an effort to gin up buzz and attention, some in the industry were not amused by this particular back and forth. Mo Said, founder and chief creative of the indie agency Mojo Supermarket, said that the holdcos should “just shut up already” amid an industry rife with consolidation and other challenges.

“It feels like you have these massive corporations getting this publicity for their own politics, and that’s not what clients hire us for,” he said.

For more on the barb-trading and how some in the industry are actually feeling about it, continue reading here.—Jasmine

      

Sponsored By Roku Ads Manager

What’s the skinny on CTV? Find the answer in our recent article. In partnership with Roku Ads Manager, we surveyed marketers about all things CTV: how’s the reporting, what are the costs, and what kind of channel it actually is. Give it a read to discover what marketers revealed and where streaming stands.

AI

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Adobe Stock

While it’s true shoppers are getting increasingly comfortable using AI to shop, when it comes to handing over their credit card details, things have changed.

According to Feedvisor’s 2026 Consumer Behavior Report, 16% of respondents said they began their shopping journeys on ChatGPT to research products, while just 10% reported using the platform to make a purchase.

And even when AI recommends a product, only 5% of consumers purchase it immediately. Most do their own research first, with 24% turning to Google and 18% checking Amazon before buying something.

The study, which included responses from 1,006 US customers, also found that men are more likely to use AI for product research, with 65% having done so compared to 45% of women.

For more on the takeaways, including what it might all mean for this holiday shopping season, continue reading on Retail Brew.—Jeena

      

Sponsored By The Ibotta Performance Network

How are shoppers shopping? A new holiday shopping season is upon us and Ibotta’s recent report uncovers what you need to know about it. It’s got data on what strategies shoppers are using, how they’re feeling financially, and what’s influencing them most when it comes to what they’re buying. Check it out.

french press

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

r/planning: Reddit’s guide to 2027 moments on the platform.

Voice lessons: How to measure and grow share of voice.

Faster, faster: Inside AI’s impact on B2B content marketing, per the Content Marketing Institute’s annual report.

Siloed systems leave marketing chasing vanity metrics instead of revenue. Outreach joins Marketing Brew to show how AI agents sharing GTM context tie real-time deal movement to campaign sources, so teams can adjust in flight.

METRICS AND MEDIA

Stat: 83%. Of total daily listening time, that’s the percentage that goes to ad-supported radio and podcast listening, according to The Record, a report from Nielsen and Edison Research; just 15%, in contrast, is spent on music streaming services.

Quote: “Does it matter if a bee was generated? Probably not. Does it matter if you said it wasn’t? Very much. And if your brand DNA is forged from human creativity and hand-made, even more so.”—marketing expert Mark Ritson in an Adweek column about Dior’s recent AI scandal and the larger reality of AI usage in creative advertising

Read: “The Birkin of leather journals” (The Cut)