Nike's new spot, Chanel sponsors Oxford-Cambridge boat race, Melanie Perkins talks Canva and General Catalyst's $8bn in fresh funds

Issue #30 | Weekly Exhale

Nike's new CEO started as an intern in 1988 and climbed the ladder on average every two years. Their latest spot, set to Love Hurts, is about painful steps—literal and figurative. Made by the team in Portland, the company is saying, "Hang in there, Nike," as much to itself as to the runners. Word has it that Nike is looking into the soul of its past and giving up chasing the next big thing. After all, the 21st century is just the 20th century—only with a smaller screen.

I'll be stepping into the world-famous Abbey Road Studios in a few weeks. A place etched in music history—and soon, my own. For the whole of my school life, I wrote music with a friend nobody liked. He was so arrogant that most people couldn't stand him, but we were tight. When the time came to choose a path, he went all in on music. I didn't have the guts.

Most figured he'd fail. But they were wrong. He went on to write for the biggest stars, selling over 50 million records.

Now, here we are—full circle. He's got a recording session and asked me to join, encouraging me to bring every piece of dream gear: "It will be such fun!" he messaged. We both know he doesn't need me in that room. This is something else—a gift—two kids who once dreamt of this walking into Abbey Road together.

It's easy to lose track of what makes you, you. Not every dream comes true. But stick around long enough, and some might. Especially if you can hang onto a friendship or two; that guy who was full of himself turned out to be one of the kindest people you'll meet.

Let’s rise together with every issue. ??

Market Movements

UK consumer and business confidence weaken ahead of Budget | The Guardian

At times of uncertainty, markets rely on logic | CNBC

Reeves confirms change to fiscal rules ahead of ￡20bn investment | Financial Times

Brand Beat

Nike's "Stairs" spot is about the company | YouTube

What we know about the McDonald's E.coli outbreak | BBC

Are brands trying to make smoking cool again? The Standard

Starbucks appoints ex-Chipotle exec as first global brand chief | Marketing Dive

Uber Eats launch hilarious Halloween spots | Little Black Book

Molly-Mae launches fashion brand | The Independent

Chanel dips oar into sports sponsorship with Oxford-Cambridge boat race tie-up | Yahoo!

Gen Alpha's 'coolest brands' and how marketers can join the list | AdAge

Exploiting the Zergarnik effect will make your ads more memorable | MarketingWeek

Ice cream tubs of tampons and sunscreen in a can: Welcome to 'chaos packaging': | WSJ

FTC takes on subscription traps with new 'click to cancel' rule | Reuters

Omnicom, Publicis, IPG, Havas and WPP deliver mixed results | Green Square

Unilever sales rise 4.5% thanks to 'power brands' | The Times

How TikTok is reshaping financial communication | Creative Review

'Craft beer' tag is ditched as corporations bamboozle drinkers | The Guardian

Trending: Counterpart makes a design-forward phone charger | Thingtesting

Why brands are missing the purpose mark in a crisis-driven world | Brandingmag

Starting Up

Pure Pet Food fetches ￡15m backing to support growth | The Grocer

UK legal AI firm raises ￡13.3m with backing from Google and Khosla Ventures | TFN

Leaders and brands need to 'be more founder' | Little Black Book

Founders, if your OKRs don't work, you just set them wrong | Sifted

More startups are being spun out of Klarna than any other fintech | CNBC

Tech Tidbits

Google, Microsoft and Perplexity are promoting scientific racism in search results | Wired

Canva CEO Melanie Perkins talks AI tools and competing with Adobe | Fast Company

Notion's email product is nearing launch | TechCrunch

News Corp sues Perplexity for ripping off WSJ and New York Post | The Verge

Venture Vibes

General Catalyst raises $8b in fresh funds to back startups globally | TechCrunch

Shein's IPO: Where it stands and what's next | Glossy

DMG announces fresh capital and backs drinks brands TRIP and Blue Stripes | Medium

Moneybox and GoCardless join Revolut and Monzo in secondary share sale surge | Tech EU

Design Driven

Kleenex reveals new branding and campaign | Creative Review

Chobani's new chief design officer teases the yoghurt company's future | Fast Company

Sirui Ma on capturing the characters that keep New York's subway running | It's Nice That

Tim Burton talks about his dread of AI as exhibition opens in London | ABC News

Hello, Happiness

What brands can learn from Gen Z's pursuit of happiness | AdAge

Why youth and happiness don't always coexist | iNews

Seven ways to get it together after a bad few days | plant based

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