This week’s newsletter is sponsored by our friends at Tracksuit, who have a case study for marketers, one that’s meant to be forwarded to CEO-CFOs across the globe for brand investment.
Before you go further, Attention is like money–you can waste it or invest it. If you invest it in my paid newsletter, you'll get dividends for years.
How Brand Saved Airbnb, and Why It’ll Never Go Back
Before the pandemic, Airbnb’s marketing strategy focused heavily on performance. They were deeply committed to digital advertising as the primary driver of brand growth. But that marketing mix model had to go. When the pandemic hit, the company lost millions in brand revenue and visibility. They needed to stay present, maintain brand equity, and buy time to figure out a new direction.
These kinds of conversations usually involve a CFO hungry for hard evidence that brand marketing drives commercial gains. But Airbnb is an ideal case study for the power of brand, due to its outspoken advocacy for how brand strategy makes an impact on its profitability, showing us once and for all that brand growth = business growth.
In 2021, co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky declared that Airbnb would never again rely so heavily on performance marketing. They dialed down spend on search, PPC, and other conversion-led channels, while ramping up PR, investing in out-of-home, and nurturing past users to drive retention.
According to Tracksuit data, Airbnb now has 86% brand awareness in the U.S., on par with Hilton, a brand founded in 1919. That’s in a travel accommodation category with over 196 million people. And the brand-led efforts are paying off. Brand campaigns like the Icons series, “Airbnb It” slogan and social-first storytelling have driven strong results. From Jan '24 to Dec '24, awareness rose from 83% to 86%, and usage climbed from 38% to 44%.
Just last month, Airbnb launched Experiences, a product Chesky says gives people “the best of both worlds.” It’s the kind of business decision that likely wouldn’t exist without a brand-first approach. A reminder: marketing doesn’t just support the business, it can shape it.
The financial results speak for themselves. Airbnb CFO Dave Stephenson backs the move toward brand-centricity: “We made that shift, and it has proven to be the right one, not only in 2019 but also in 2020 and 2021.”
We’ve always known brand drives growth. Proving it was the problem. For years, measurement was slow and expensive. That’s changed. Tracksuit’s always-on dashboard tracks your brand’s awareness, consideration, and preference over time, so you can see exactly how you're converting down the funnel.
Adults in Great Britain now spending more time on mobiles than watching TV. Daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours, annual survey for IPA finds.
Trump Mobile quietly drops ‘Made in America’ smartphone promise.
Madison Avenue lands a bigger role in Hollywood — Marketers are pushing for their brands to appear in more movies and TV shows.
Spain becomes first country to ban petrol advertisements.
UK alcohol advertising restrictions could be "in line" with junk food. 65% of Brits support alcohol TV ad restrictions as government mulls complete ban.
‘We are the media now’: why Tesla’s robotaxis were dominated by Elon Musk superfans.
Amazon, Google, Meta, and Uber slapped with $2 billion retroactive tax bill as Trump suspends Canada trade talks.
Xiaomi received over 200,000 real orders for its Tesla killer in just 3 minutes.
HSBC upgrades Nike shares after earnings beat, says inflection is 'finally here'.
Florence Pugh and Melissa McCarthy support canceled Tiny Chef Show as creators launch fundraising campaign.
Microsoft says goodbye to the Windows blue screen of death.
RTL buys Sky Deutschland in deal to take on US streaming giants.
Stung by customer losses, Comcast says all its new plans have unlimited data.
Japan FTC hits Dentsu, others with 3.3 billion yen penalty over Tokyo Olympics bid-rigging.
Apple is revamping its app store in the EU to avoid more fines like the $585 million charge it was hit with in April.
Circana partners with TikTok for campaign performance measurement.
TikTok and System1’s research “The Long and Short (form) of it” shows Creator ads win attention, early branding maximises its impact and dull ads that leave consumers feeling nothing drive 27% fewer conversions.
For years, Marketers urged artists to post more on TikTok — Now, they’re turning to fans.
TikTok is rolling out the “Content Check” feature, allowing users to use it up to three times per day.
TikTok, Instagram plot TV apps following YouTube’s success.
Threads officially launches spoiler tags for text and multimedia posts.
Instagram adds Keyframes on Edits and new additions to the Ideas tab, voice enhancement and even more text effects.
Meta phases out Facebook and Instagram shops checkout by August 2025.
Threads is getting its own separate Hidden Words settings.
Instagram announces new colored backgrounds and emojis to Notes.
Instagram adds the ability to upload Reels up to 20 minutes long.
👺 Report Break: Just 10% of global television advertisements include accessibility features such as closed captions or audio descriptions, according to XR's 2025 “Global Accessibility Maturity Index & Trends Report.”
Meta reportedly recruits four former OpenAI researchers to its superintelligence lab.
Meta’s AI labelling ‘inconsistent’, internal oversight board finds.
Meta says EU antitrust regulators are discriminating against its business model.
The company may face daily fines over pay-or-consent model, EU warns.
Trump backs Meta in dispute over Canada’s Digital Services Tax.
X touts rise in usage after Elon splits with Trump. An increase to 45% suggests that X’s daily actives have increased to around 270 million.
Leak reveals Grok might soon edit your spreadsheets.
NFL and X launches NFL Top 100, a digitally reimagined version of the NFL Films countdown franchise.
🔌 Report Break: The vast majority of Americans (83%) say they have not paid for news in the past year, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March. Another 17% say they have directly paid or given money to a news source by subscribing, donating or becoming a member during that time.
New research from Snapchat, Publicis Media, and NRG reveal how the latest consumer trends are reshaping consumer electronics purchases in 2025.
83% agree that because online purchasing for electronics has become so easy, they are buying more. And 92% agree that being able to do everything in one place online makes them want to shop more frequently.
Snapchat shares Summer Guide 2025: When it comes to hot deals, Snapchat’s summer season (April to August) takes the crown. It's the lowest CPM period of the year, with 19% lower than the annual average.
🥦 Report Break: Twenty-six percent of consumers have added a free streaming service in the past 12 months, while 24% plan to add a free streaming service over the next 12 months. Further, 62% of CTV viewers say that recurring streaming subscription costs concern them
Microsoft Ads gets granular with new asset-level reviews.
LinkedIn adds Advanced AI-Assisted Search, an improved search experience that helps you find the right candidates faster.
OpenAI, Microsoft rift hinges on how smart AI can get.
Microsoft removed 1 billion ads for violations in 2024.
Microsoft surprises MS-DOS fans with remake of ancient text editor that works on Linux.
CareerBuilder + Monster enters into asset purchase agreements to transition ownership of its businesses.
UK Government earmarks £380m for creative industries.
iGlobal Radio is now offering targeted advertising opportunities
Appcast launches recruiting industry's first brand marketing solution with unprecedented ROI tracking.
Klaviyo unveils AI-powered enhancements for omnichannel marketing.
ASA dismisses ‘expletive’ claim against The Guardian ad.
Sitecoreannounces launch of Sitecore.ai, a bold new digital experience for marketers.
You Know What Break: Almost a third of parents whose children have social media believe they gave their child access to social media too young, and 22 percent feel similarly for smartphones.
For smartphones and for YouTube, they are midway between. Around a third of parents regret their existence, but most don’t. In contrast, a majority of parents wish that social media in general, and Facebook and Instagram in particular, had never been invented.
