Its all fun and games, until there are billions of dollars involved. But these Brands That Matter honorees manage to tap into our love for sports and entertainment in ways that only help boost that passion.
BritBox
Read about how BritBox’s first major brand campaign showcased the craftsmanship of British TV.
NBA
Read about how the NBA made its app a destination for fans by building a network of creators it equipped with editing tools and 25,000 hours of game footage.
State Farm
As crazy as it sounds, this is an insurance company steeped in culture. This past year, State Farm pushed its Super Bowl ad to March Madness, due to sensitivity around the L.A. wildfires, but it still landed a hit. Creator star Kai Cenat broke the news on Jimmy Fallons show, and the hilarious spot starred Jason Bateman attempting to save the day rather than Americas favorite Caped Crusader. It led to a total of 358 traditional and earned social media placements, resulting in 2.5B earned media impressions. The brand also continued its popular reality game show called The Gamerhood. These campaigns and others leveraged the pervasive pop culture power of Jake from State Farm, driving more than 1 million new policies in 2024, and raising preference among ages 26 to 39 (millennials) by 4.5 percentage points and ages 18 to 25 (Gen Z) by 6.8 percentage points compared to a 2022 baseline.
Togethxr
Read about how the media and merch brand’s Nike partnership and growing slate of podcasts and shows is manifesting its motto, Everyone Watches Women’s Sports
Uno
Read about how the card game used TikTok and pop-up Uno parlors to bring fresh interest to the 52-year-old brand.
Netflix
It was a massive year for Netflix hits, with highly anticipated seasons for homegrown hits like Squid Game, Wednesday, and Stranger Things. Each of these is a cultural phenomenon in its own right, boosted by Netflixs strategic brand partnerships strategy, elevating product collabs into fan moments themselves. From Duolingo for a Learn Korean or Else campaign, to Cheetos teaming with Wednesdays Thing, and Stranger Things infiltrating everything from Nike to Williams Sonoma to Eggos, Netflix managed to bring each show to life in unique ways. For the award-winning show Adolescence, Netflix worked with charities in various countries to develop educational materials to help advocate for the growing movement to make schools phone-free zones.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Whether talking about underwear brands hand-selecting the perfect models to break the internet or the endless wooing of Gen Z and its style sensibilities, there was no shortage of creativity among the fashion brands that set the trends over the past year.
Here are the 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the fashion space that innovated on how style showed up for consumers in the past year.
Bogg Bag
When the function of a tote bag meets the versatility and kitschy-cute style of Crocs, the possibilities are endless. So proves Bogg Bag, a brand thats constantly riffing to create collectors items and limited-time variants of its signature design by switching up the bags colors, their patterns, and even the shapes of their cutouts. In late 2024, one of the brands most popular variants launched: a Bogg Bag sold only at Target emblazoned with the stores bull’s-eye logo. The Target bag, which had 82% of its sales come from new Bogg shoppers, was just one of several retailer-exclusive designs launched in the past year. Boggs collaborations didnt stop there: The brand also partnered with Fanatics to launch a line of sports-inspired bags featuring the logos and colors of 33 popular NFL and college teams. Most recently, Bogg released a new version designed to make the tote more upscale.
Calvin Klein
Few brands have the power to break the internet like Calvin Klein does. The underwear brands choice of models certainly has something to do with itin the past year, celebrities like Jeremy Allen White and Bad Bunny in nothing but tighty-whities had fans flocking to take pictures with their billboardsbut its the Calvin Klein lens that creates viral moment after viral moment. It all translates to massive media impact value for the brand, which reports that Whites campaign generated more than $12 million in media value in its first 48 hours and drove upwards of 30% growth in Calvin Kleins underwear sales in the U.S. alone within its first week. That success was surpassed by Bad Bunny, whose underwear campaign earned $15 million in media impact value and drove a 25% increase in sales of the brand’s core styles.
Coach
Coach is courting Gen Z from every angle. The luxury fashion brand is proving that despite its high price tags, its not totally (or even remotely) out of touch. Through ethnographic research and in-person engagements, Coach has placed its finger firmly on the pulse: The brands collaboration with the WNBA demonstrates a savvy for whats hot in sports. Its Coachtopia sub-brand appeals to Gen Zs environmental concerns with a focus on circularity and upcycled materials, even putting consumers in the driver’s seat with the Coachtopia Beta Community, a network of Gen Zers who provide feedback and their own ideas for Coachtopia products. Next, the brand is also branching out into hospitality with the launch of Coach Coffee Shops, where Coach is less an aesthetic and more an experience. Already popular internationally, the brand has opened four of the coffee shops in the U.S., featuring bags with the coffee shop logo, an anthropomorphic coffee mug named Miss Jo.
Gap
Read about how Gap is using celeb partnerships to make its denim a go-to for Gen Zone viral dance at a time.
H&M
In 2024, Charli xcx was the zeitgeist incarnateand at her peak of popularity, she was wearing H&M. The fashion retailer understands how to make its target customer pay attention, with artists including Troye Sivan, Caroline Polachek, Arca, Offset, and Kaytranada all performing at H&M events in 2024 alone. Charli, meanwhile, was the campaign star of H&M’s AW2024 collection, which she capped off with a surprise concert in New York City’s Times Square. Her star power translated to her fans purchasing power, with a coat Charli wore in one of the campaign images selling out in most markets within days of launch. In 2025, H&M kept its music momentum going with its H&M&LA Festival, a celebration of the brands spring/summer 2025 collection featuring performances from still more of-the-moment artists like Doechii and PinkPantheress. Even after its major investments in brand-building initiatives and product offering, H&M achieved an increase in full-year profits in 2024music to any retailers ears.
Levi’s
Beyoncé. Need we say more? Probably not, but here goes nothing. Levis has maintained its place as the worlds leading denim brand, seizing every opportunity to remind the world that when they think jeans, theyre probably thinking Levis. That meant jumping at the chance to embrace Beyoncés re-spelling of its brand name as Leviis on Cowboy Carter, temporarily using the new spelling for its socials (and, naturally, going mega viral). It also meant developing a full campaign with Beyoncé that lasted into summer 2025 and was so successful that Levis dubbed its decade-high 8% holiday growth in 2024 the Beyoncé effect. Beyond all things Queen Bey, Levis also collaborated with the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, helping to costume the film and highlighting the brands place in the legacy of music history.
New Balance
From celebrity collabs to high fashion, New Balance can do it all. The sneaker brand has successfully positioned itself as a cultural catch-all, able to blend its aesthetic seamlessly with anyone and everyone: athletes like the 2025 Naismith College Player of the Year Cooper Flagg, artists like Jack Harlow, and fashion brands like Ganni, each bringing their own audiences to New Balance’s storefronts. The brands extensive collabs with tennis superstar Coco Gauff reached new heights when fashion house Miu Miu also entered the mix, creating a collection for Gauff to wear at several tournaments this summer. New Balances chameleon-like colaborations have enabled the brand to keep growing at a remarkable pace: 20% year over year for the past four years.
Nike
Nike knows womens sports arent the future, theyre the presentand its campaigns over the past year make that crystal clear. Its So Win anthem premiered during Super Bowl LIX, celebrating icons of womens sports who dominate in their field, like Sabrina Ionescu and Jordan Chiles. Its Breaking4 moonshot this summer ensured all eyes were on Faith Kipyegon during her historic attempt to become the first woman to run a sub-four-minute mile. Its AOne collection, a collaboration with Aja Wilson, encourages young athletes to see themselves in her journey and dream just as big. And beyond products and campaigns, Nike puts its money where its mouth is, supporting access to sports through global initiatives like Play Academy with Naomi Osaka, which aims to increase girls participation in sports in Japan, Haiti, and Los Angeles.
Savage x Fenty
Savage x Fenty not only taps into pop culture, it creates it, unconcerned with what the world has to say. Take the lingerie brands Valentines Day campaign for 2025, Love Your Way. Featuring Love Island winners Serena Page and Kordell Beckham, TikTok stars Hayley and Jules LeBlanc, and the founder and icon herself, Rihanna, the campaign was a must-watch for every internet native. But it also broke from the mold, redefining the kinds of love we ought to celebrate on Valentines, highlighting self-love, friendship, and sisterhood alongside romance, and all without any caveats about gender or orientation. The campaign got the world talking, sparking more than 100 editorial features and reaching over a billion unique monthly visitors. Just a month later, Savage x Fenty did it again, announcing Grammy-nominated artist GloRilla as the first-ever exclusive ambassador for all four of Rihannas Fenty brands. The announcement and accompanying campaign again set the internet ablaze, this time with more than 2 billion unique monthly visitors and nearly 60 digital stories.
Skims
Its impossible to deny the cultural staying power of Skims. Everywhere weve looked for the past year, there it was, on Team USA athletes at the Olympics, on Charli xcx at the height of Brat summer. . . Then there was the brands heartfelt campaign with Olivia Munn, who in fall 2024 shared her journey with breast cancer and recontextualized the purpose of Skimss controversial Ultimate Nipple Bra, whichthough designed to be a statement in reclamation of womens bodiesproved an unexpected source of comfort and confidence for women who had undergone mastectomies. In 2025, Skims also released the first collection from NikeSkims, a new stand-alone brand combining Nikes athletic expertise with Skimss shapewear sensibilities. Through it all, Skims maintains its commitment to inclusive sizing and shades, a testament to its slogan of providing solutions for every body.
@voguemagazine #KimKardashian gives us a fit check while telling us all the versatile ways we can style her latest workout drop, NikeSkims. Who will be the first to try them all? original sound – Vogue
True Religion
Twenty-three years after its founding, True Religion is back with a vengeance (and just in time for the Y2K renaissance). The iconic denim brand of the early aughts is now more profitable than everit generated more than $370 million in revenue in 2024, a massive jump from $280 million the year before. The key to its comeback? The right celebrity collaborations at just the right times. That includes a multiplatform campaign starring Anitta, performances from YG and Sexyy Red at Rolling Loud, and a set from Megan Thee Stallion at Coachella 2025, where she and all her dancers wore head-to-toe True Religion. Along the way, the brand launched its Own Your True campaign, encouraging consumers to boldly be themselves.
@coachella Goodies. @Megan Thee Stallion @Ciara More from the Coachella stage starting Friday at 4pm, on the @YouTube livestream. original sound – coachella
Urban Outfitters
To corner the market on Gen Z, you have to meet them where they are. In 2024, Urban Outfitters took that advice literally, transforming four of their stores in college towns during move-in to create one-of-a-kind concert experiences for students. These pop-up events, called UO Live On Campus, featured trending artists including Tinashe, Towa Bird, Quavo, and The Marías. The campaign also included the launch of 20 pop-up shops featuring curated college essentials, helping students make the transition from high school to college. Altogether, the campaign generated more than 1.2 billion PR impressions, 2.7 million social impressions, and over a thousand in-person attendees. Urban Outfitters has kept the college-themed campaigns coming: This spring, it launched UO Haul, an experience in New York City where participants competed to find Gen Z dorm rooms on glass-walled trucks around the city, with the chance to unlock them and win tickets to an exclusive Katseye concert. And this past summer, the retailer launched UO Haul: Special Delivery, sending surprise care packages to incoming college freshmen across America.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
In a crowded field like food and beverage, companies must do all they can to stay ahead of the pack. The 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the space used inventive campaigns, celebrity influence, and nostalgic throwbacks to stand apart. Corona brought its product to Olympian heights, and Sprite reinvigorated a classic slogan with a new generation of talent. Sometimes achieving brand relevance is as easy, as Heinz proved, as putting a little mustard on it.
Califia Farms
A recognizable presence in the plant-based dairy aisle, Califia Farms spent the past year recommitting itself to values of health and sustainability. In response to consumer demands for more organic options, the brand expanded its Simple & Organic line to include Organic Coconutmilk, Organic Vanilla Almondmilk, and a selection of Organic Almond Creamers. Califia also completed its transition from using virgin plastic in its signature curvy containers to 100% recycled plastic (rPET) bottles across the U.S. and Canada. The brands efforts to go green extend beyond environmentally friendly packaging. In February, Califia released The Green Album, a compilation of feel-good ambient tunes and meditations narrated by actor Chris ODowd. For every stream of the album on Spotify, Califia and the nonprofit One Tree Planted will plant a tree. The nondairy giant has found other avenues to engage with pop culture too. Upon releasing Creamy Refreshers, a line of beverages made with real fruit juice and coconut cream, Califia Farms partnered with Kendall Jenners 818 Tequila to serve an exclusive cocktail at Coachella.
California Pizza Kitchen
For California Pizza Kitchens 40th anniversary, the Beverly Hillsborn pizza chain teased a bold, fresh rebrand, replete with an all-black colorway and EDM soundtrack. Even CPKs CMO, Dawn Keller, touted the companys rebrand on LinkedIn. The attempt to appeal to a newer, younger crowd had an unfortunate stink of How Do You Do, Fellow Kids? about it. Luckily for skeptical CPK fans, the whole thing was a ruse. On CPKs birthday in March, the brand launched a funny, self-aware campaign titled Were 40 & Fine With It! Starring actress and former CPK hostess Busy Philipps, the mockumentary-style video shows the brand going through a faux midlife crisis. Ever since they turned 40, says Philipps, theyve been acting insane. She convinces a corporate rep to abandon the edgy disrupter facade and focus on why customers fell in love with CPK in the first place: the food. As part of the anniversary campaign, CPK rolled out a nostalgic limited-time menu with classics like Waldorf Chicken Salad and Tortilla Spring Rolls.
Cargill
As the largest agriculture company in the U.S., Cargill plays a central role in keeping people fed globally. On the heels of a total brand refresh, Cargill launched a yearlong brand campaign, “Food Secure World” in mid 2024. Through this summer, Cargill demystified its business for multiple audiencesfarmers, food manufacturers, retailers and foodservice companiestaking them behind the scenes of its innovation centers in the U.S., Brazil, and Singapore. The campaign earned Cargill more than 8 million engagements, with YouTube videos boasting a 60.4% view ratewell above the industry average. It also brought in higher click-through rates on job applications and drove a 6-point boost in the amount customers mentioned the brand in relation to food security. This year, the brand launched “Food Secure World 2.0” focusing on supply chain and the contributions of farmers, scientists, and Cargill employees.
Chilis
In an era increasingly defined by rising food costs, Chilis reiterated to customers that it is the go-to dining establishment for getting the best bang for your buck. For $10.99, diners can get bottomless chips and salsa, a drink with unlimited refills, and a Big Smashera burger with, notably, twice as much beef as a Big Mac. In April, Chilis clapped back at high fast food prices with a cheeky two-day pop-up in New York City. At the immersive Fast Food Financing Store, guests were approved for a gift card to offset the cost of a fast food combo meal before being escorted into a Chilis speakeasy. CEO Kevin Hochman and CMO George Felix recognize that Chilis deftly balances its cheeky branding and red-booth nostalgia. At the intersection of playful irreverence and the creature comforts of hospitality sits Chilis secret weapon: alcohol. Chilis has become a hub for margarita drinkers, selling over 24 million of the tequila libations in 2024more than any other restaurant brand. Chilis capitalized on its diners preferred drink by launching $10 Patrón-based margaritas in June. Despite being $4 more than the chains other margaritas, the drinks doubled sales projections in their first three months.
Coca-Cola
Since its humble beginnings in 1886, Coca-Cola has become a global phenomenon enjoyed in more than 200 countries and territories. This past year, the beloved beverage leaned into its status as an international icon with a number of regionally specific campaigns. In the Middle East, Ramadan Made by showed families connecting over a Coke during the monthlong holiday; Lunar New Year embraced festive packaging and scenes of celebration across Asia; and in Mexico, Shades of Red showcased tienditas and their signature red awnings as a cornerstone of community. Coca-Cola recognizes that its a personal brand as much as a global one. In March, the soda giant relaunched its Share a Coke campaign with personalized packaging and a digital rollout aimed at Gen Z, including a QR codepowered digital hub. Its part of an overall effort to reach younger consumers; in 2024, more than half of Coca-Colas global media strategy was spent on digital media, with emphasis shifted toward social platforms and influencers.
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Dr Pepper
Read about how the soda brand capitalized on buzz around “dirty soda” to release its most popular limited-edition flavor ever.
Corona
As big beer brands expand into the nonalcoholic beverage market, Corona went where no N/A beer has gone before: the Olympics. In 2024, Corona Cero was the leading brand at the Paris Olympics, thanks to savvy maneuvering by AB InBevs CMO Marcel Marcondes and his team. With alcoholic beverages verboten for regular ticket holders at the Paris games, Corona Cero was a rule-abiding workaround, and AB InBev served as the events first global beer sponsor. The sponsorship was accompanied by the For Every Golden Moment campaign, which highlighted the celebratory spirit of the gamesand will be revived for the Milano Cortina Olympic Winter Games in 2026. In 2025, Corona’s flagship beer has been the star as the brand celebrates its 100th birthday. As part of the festivities, the beer giant launched the Beach 100,” a curated list of the worlds most iconic beaches. By purchasing the special-edition 100th Anniversary pack and scanning the QR code, consumers could win a trip to one of the crowned oases.
Gozney
When Tom Gozney switched his business model from commercial pizza ovens to portable, cmpact ones in 2016, he leveraged the influence of celebrated chefs to bring his product to the masses. Its a business philosophy that Gozney has sustained into 2025. This past year, the brand tapped longtime partner Matty Mathesonchef, YouTube sensation, and producer and actor on The Bearto head up its Cook Different campaign. For the project, Matheson channeled old-school infomercial hosts, all while bringing his signature frenetic energy to the videos. The campaign teed up Matheson for a proper product release: The Matty Matheson Signature Tread. Released in June, the orange ovens are bold and whimsical, just like Matheson himself. Key to Gozneys cultural impact is its embrace of long-form YouTube contentits most recent series is Pizza With Frank, starring pizzaiola Frank Pinello of Vice fame. The brand has a booming YouTube presence. As of late November, Gozney had more than 383,000 YouTube followers and a subscriber growth rate in the top 10% of all YouTube channels.
Heinz
Super Bowl LIX proved to be a catalyzing cultural moment for Heinz to create brand buzzall without having its own big-game ad. The condiment company lent its fan-favorite brigade of wiener dogs to Instacarts Super Bowl commercial, catapulting them to being the second-most-mentioned brand on X during the game. But it was the half-time shows inclusion of MustardKendrick Lamars Not Like Us producerthat set the stage for Kraft Heinz global chief growth officer (and CMOs of the Year honoree) Diana Frost and her team. About two minutes into the track TV Off, Kendrick yells out a long and guttural Mustaaaaaard! The yawp became a meme unto itself, beloved by fans and even parodied by The Minions. Heinz jumped at the opportunity to be involved. In February, the same month as the Super Bowl, Heinz released a 30-second spot teasing a forthcoming collaboration with DJ Mustard (born Dijon Isaiah McFarlane). The limited-edition Heinz Mustaaaaaard, a piquant honey mustard with jalapeos and chipotle, dropped in June at Buffalo Wild Wings, followed by a retail rollout. The new condiment hit shelves on the heels of a banner 2024 for Heinz, when the 150-plus-year-old company generated more than 3.6 billion earned media impressions.
McDonalds
How does a brand as big as McDonalds stay relevant? By embracing nostalgia and emerging markets in equal measure. In summer 2024, McDonalds relaunched its collectible cups after 20 years. Spotlighting brands like Beanie Babies, Barbie, and Hot Wheels, the collection sold 15.8 million cups, with nearly all 33 markets sold out within 14 days and resale values spiking on eBay and Grailed. Another brand throwback, the cult favorite McRib, first introduced in 1981, found a spot back on the menu in time for the 2024 holiday season. Half-gallon jugs of the signature sauce were available online as well. The McDonalds marketing team, helmed by CMO Morgan Flatley, worked to attract younger consumers as well. For its Chicken Big Mac campaign, the chain hosted an unscripted Twitch livestream with superstar influencer Kai Cenat. Cenat invited a few famous friends, including John Cena and Fanum, to debate an age-old question: Is a Big Mac with chicken still a Big Mac? The campaignthe brands first on Twitchracked up 30 million streams and 500 million views, and generated 35 billion earned impressions for McDonalds.
Oatly
Alt-milk purveyor Oatly wanted would-be customers to know that its creamers are actually their ideal coffee companionthey just don’t know it yet. The brand conjured up a faux medical condition, DOMP (Dormant Oatmilk Preference), and an accompanying ad spoofing pharmaceutical commercials. You might already prefer the taste of Oatly over cow milk, but dont know it yet, says actor Chris Parnell in voice-over. As part of the broader Blind Love campaignand to diagnose DOMPOatly embarked on a sampling tour across the U.S., passing out thousands of cups of coffee to create an opportunity to try Oatly. For the Fanciest Parking Lot Coffee campaign, Oatly tapped into a similarly silly and provocative marketing strategy: To promote the packaging overhaul of its oat milk creamers, Oatly staged a low-brow meets high-brow mashup at different grocery store parking lots. There, shoppers were treated to white-glove coffee service, replete with gold-tinged carts, an Oatly Creamer ice sculpture, and live classical music.
Patrón Tequila
Patrón has leaned into its ethos of being an ideal companion for a good time by reinforcing its connection to live entertainmentand positioning concerts as the perfect environment to enjoy its newest offering, Patrón Cristalino. When it launched the tequila in fall 2024, the band partnered with acclaimed Latin artist Becky G for a Los Angeles showcase. It rolled into 2025 festival season with a Live Nation partnership that made Patrón’s products mainstays for music fans nationwide. The brand made its festival debut in April at the Tortuga Music Festival in Fort Lauderdale Beach Park, followed by stops at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, and EDC Orlando. At Raleighs Dreamville alone, Patrón poured more than 27,000 cocktails in two days. A fixture of the partnership is Hacienda Patróna music festival activation created by Live Nation’s experiential team, featuring immersive, multistory bars inspired by the companys Jalisco distillery.
Poppi
Poppi isnt like other sodas. Its part of what the brand calls the modern soda seta prebiotic, functional pop that earned its own dedicated retail destination. Stores like Walmart and Target have adopted the initiative, unveiling entire sections for the drink category. Poppi further elevated its partnership with Target by launching an exclusive Cream Soda flavor as well as a 20-piece limited-edition apparel collection. Efforts like these have helped Poppi break out beyond beverage to full-fledged lifestyle brand. It’s achieving that goal with the help of influencers: For its Soda Thoughts Super Bowl campaign, Poppi enlisted popular creators like Jake Shane, Alix Earle, and Love Islands Rob Rausch. In the ad, a bevy of young consumers are wracked with beverage indecision. Thenarrator asks, What if there were a better soda? before making the case for Poppi as a compelling low-sugar alternative. The Gen Zcentric approach helped keep its place as Amazon’s top-selling soft drink for the third year running. In 2024, Poppi netted more than 299 million TikTok views.
Sprite
This past year, Sprite climbed up the soda ranks, surpassing Pepsi as the #3 soft drink in the United States in April. It did that by embracing a tried and true strategytapping athletes as influential cultural ambassadorswith stars from a younger generation. Since Sprite first launched the Obey Your Thirst campaign in the 1990s, NBA athletes like Grant Hill and Kobe Bryant have lent their talents to the beverage behemoth. In 2024, the brand revived the iconic tagline with help from Minnesota Timberwolf Anthony Edwards and Olympic Gold Medalist ShaCarri RichardsonSprites first female athlete partner. The lead spot brings back Hillthe star of the original 94 campaignas the narrator. The revamped campaign also signed its first NFL player, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. Athletes made their marks across other Sprite campaigns. Edwards is the face of Anta Claus, which promotes Sprites seasonal Winter Spiced Cranberry flavor, and Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young riffs on his nickname Ice Trae in promos for the limited-edition Sprite Chill. The drinkoutfitted with a unique cooling sensationbecame a top seller in 2024, generating $40 million in a 13-week window.
Sweetgreen
Steak isn’t a food that screams salad chain. But the eatery proved that even indulgent options could get the Sweetgreen treatment. In response to growing consumer demands for more protein-rich choices, Sweetgreen introduced its first-ever steak option to be added to salads, grain bowls, and platescaramelized-garlic steak, with pasture-raised, grass-fed beef. Its a recipe befitting the chains focus on thoughtful sourcing and farm-fresh ingredients. In celebration of National Farmers Day, Sweetgreen partnered with digital fashion brand MNTGE on a work-wear jacket, with proceeds benefiting the National Young Farmers Coalition. Other farm-forward initiatives included a partnership with the nonprofit Food Access L.A. and The Faces of the Farm, a storytelling campaign to shine a light on Sweetgreens seasonal summer ingredients. In addition to farmers, Sweetgreen also celebrates the industry-shaking chefs that transform their products. This past year, the brand launched its first-ever Korean-inspired menu in collaboration with the Michelin-starred steakhouse Cote.
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Violife
Who better to beat your brands drum than Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker? In 2024, he teamed up with dairy-alternative purveyor Violife to promote its new cream cheese block. As part of the social media campaign, Barker called the lineup of cheesesfree of lactose, gluten, soy, and nutsthe last step in cutting cheese from my diet (and, to use his punk rock parlance, fucking awesome). The musicians Violife reel on Instagram garnered over 4 million views and 73,000 likes. In 2025, the company has gone wide with its lentil-based coffee creamers, which launched in January at Walmart, and got a nationwide campaign and retail expansion in March. The brand’s “Creamy Confessions” effort brought in reality stars and coffee influencers to get people who dabble in the dairy-free lifestyle to commit.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Health and wellness is a product category littered with broken promises and bad pitches. These Brands That Matter honorees have created work for products that aim to uplift, help, and encourage across a wide range of challenges and issues, big and small.
Bobbie
Many new mothers feel pressured to breastfeed their children but cannot for a variety of reasons. Bobbie has been working to change the narrative around using formula through advocacy and education efforts, while offering an organic product that still meets the FDA’s nutrition requirements. Its Ask for Help campaign with Meghan Trainor revealed that 86% of mothers felt frequent or constant negative emotions postpartum, and 63% of mothers experienced extreme or moderate stress over feeding choices in their babys first year. And 61% of mothers felt shame, anxiety, or discomfort in turning to their support systems about feeding choices. The brand encouraged new parents to ask for the help and support they need, sharing Trainors relatable and raw postpartum mental health struggles as inspiration.
Dame Products
Committed to fighting taboo and living up to its goals for creating products and awareness around sexual pleasure and wellness, Dame Products had a big year in both products and advocacy. It launched its most affordable vibrator to date, Zig, in over 1,000 Walmart stores. Though designed specifically for this retail partnership, Zig retains the same medical-grade silicone and thoughtful design as Dames premium productsunderscoring its belief that everyone deserves quality pleasure tools, regardless of income or geography. The Walmart launch marked a pivotal step in destigmatizing sexual wellness in mainstream spaces and bringing its mission to more communities. It’s not often you see a brand have a partnership with Planned Parenthood and appear on Fox News to talk about what tariffs mean for its business. At a time when companies are backing off from politics, Dame Products has found a way to effectively engage in the issues it cares about.
Eli Lilly
This past year, Eli Lilly and Company doubled down on its efforts to reach audiences through marketing campaigns crafted around breast cancer awareness and prevention, obesity, and Alzheimers. This work built maximum reach with thoughtful and unique media placements across culturally relevant moments like the womens NCAA tournament, the Grammys, and impactful partnerships, including with Team USA. The Olympics campaign made people think differently about Lilly, with an 81% increase in unaided brand awareness, a 30% boost in brand favorability, and a 30% lift in brand trust. The brand’s Grammys spotraising awareness about checking for early signs of breast cancerwas a highly visible moment that came amid a strong lineup of women performers.
Home Instead
Figuring out how to help aging relatives is a heavy topic, but it’s one that in-home elder care brand Home Instead has managed to demystify with its marketing. the brand’s “A Better What’s Next” campaign reframes the idea of hiring home aides around family empowerment rather than a loved one’s decline. With two spots, “A Better What’s Next” achieved 585.7 million impressions and 25.8 million full video views, which drove 1.9 million clicks to the Home Instead landing page. The campaign’s launch event, held in New York City with celebrity chef Joy Bauer received 7.5 million social impressions and more than 300 million media impressions. The Honor Technology brand’s latest ad stars Macauley Culkin reprising his character from Home Alone and grappling with how to help his aging mom.
Liquid I.V.
Following a brand refresh in 2024, hydration company Liquid I.V. made inroads at music festivals and F1 events, while centering social responsibility focused on bringing water to more people around the world. Its fall 2024 “Water Is Basic” campaign picked up more than 4.5 million TikTok views and become its highest-scoring commercial among consumers, helping fuel Unilever’s 6.5% growth in beauty and well-being sales. In 2025, it underscored its role as a recovery product and took over Times Square for a Liquid I.V. O’clock promotion, rolling out delivery robots full of its electrolyte mixes to the busy tourist hub. The brand also expanded its Confluence platform, investing $1.89 million across 10 organizations, accelerating sustainable clean water solutions.
Listerine
How does the worlds first mouthwash, and century-old brand, remain relevant in 2025? Start by kicking off the year. The brand sponsored CNN’s New Years Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen, with branded moments and the Listerine countdown clock getting viewers to midnight. Once 2025 kicked off, the brand expanded its Clinical Solutions linedeveloped with dental professionals to address specific oral health conditionswith a product for sensitive teeth. To promote it, Listerine partnered with Food Network star Esther Choi, who talked about tooth sensitivity. Its influencer strategy also delivered millionsof earned media impressions, with standout content from celebrities like Jessica Simpsonand creators such as Danielle CarolanandNoelle Simpson.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Increasingly, the media and entertainment brands that thrive are ones that can build on their core business in creative ways. Two of the 2025 Brands That Matter honorees in the media and entertainment worldEbony and Essenceare legacy Black publications that have grown their audiences and cultural cachet by building events around their flagship editorial product.
Overtime is partially a sport brand, but it’s also a company that knows how to engage with younger consumers around sportsthat’s how it’s gotten noticed by major brands and other sports leagues.
Those three examples of the six outlined below, are just some of the ways companies are rethinking what a media brand canand shouldbe.
Afropunk
In its 20 years of existence, Afropunk has expanded beyond just being a festival organizer. It’s a brand that engages with issues facing the Black community globally and bakes that into everything from its social media to its live programming. That global focus has helped it catch on in Brazil, where Afropunk reaches the largest Black audience outside of Africa. Meanwhile, Afropunk Bahia has become a key event for the brand, and a moment for bringing the global Black diaspora together in Salvador, Bahia. More than 60,000 people attended in 2024, and the 2025 edition, held in early November, also listed artists’ countries of origin on the lineup announcements. The two-day event was headlined by American singer Coco Jones on day 1 and Nigerian singer/songwriter Tems on day 2.
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Ebony
As the preeminent magazine for Black news, culture, and entertainment celebrates its 80th anniversary, Ebony is making clear that it has grown into a modern media brand. Its annual Power 100 list has grown in visibility, and its 2024 iteration was the brand’s most-covered installment, with coverage of its gala bringing in 7 billion media impressions. This year, the Power 100 Gala, held in early November, took on a new format, with honorees focused on past, present, and future, including Tracee Ellis Ross as this year’s Pathbreaker of the Year. As it builds out the gala, Ebony also keeps its journalism in focus, bringing on longtime Essence writer and former deputy editor Cori Murray as its executive vice president of editorial content, adding a veteran Black journalist onboard to grow its storytelling capabilities.
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Essence
With its editorial focus on lifestyle and culture for Black women, Essence has turned two of its flagship eventsthe Essence Festival of Culture and the Black Women in Hollywood Awardsinto cultural moments unto theselves. Though the 2025 Essence Festival of Culture saw lower ticket sales and fewer vendors than the record-breaking 30th anniversary edition in 2024, it remained a tentpole event for New Orleans over July 4th weekend. And this year’s 18th installment of the Black Women in Hollywood Awards honored the likes of Cynthia Erivo, Teyana Taylor, and Marla Gibbs.
Overtime
With four of its own sports leagues (men’s basketball, women’s basketball, 7v7 football, and boxing) and a TikTok following of more than 60 million across its accounts, sports media brand Overtime has provided brands, athletes, and leagues a major platform for reaching generations Z and Alpha. In 2024, the brand logged more than 115 million social media followers across platforms and over 3 billion engagements coming from 30 billion-plus views of its content. That was enough to get the National Women’s Soccer League on board for Overtime’s first partnership with a women’s league ahead of the football clubs’ 2025 season. Overtime got NWSL footage and behind-the-scenes access to players, and the league got the eyeballs of the 3 million people following OvertimeFC on TikTok, plus access to its broader audience. In 2025, major brands have continued to take notice of Overtime’s reach, with Therabody’s fall 2025 national ad-buy including Overtime alongside networks like NBC Sports, Peacock, and ESPN.
@overtimefc The AUDACITY to even try that @NWSL @Orlando Pride #marta #panenka #nwsl original sound – overtimefc
Revolt
When Revolt cofounder Sean “Diddy” Combs departed the television and media company in 2024, selling his majority stake, the brand knew exactly who its new owners should be: its employees. In its year-plus as an employee-owned company, Revolt has continued its focus on hip-hop and youth culture, including a record-breaking weekend for the 2024 edition of its flagship Revolt World festival. In 2025, it has worked to capitalize on youth interest in sports, launching its Revolt Sports vertical with a podcast hosted by former NFL player Brandon Marshall and cultural commentator Kayla Nicole. The brand has also grown its podcast network, launching more than 20 new shows in the past year, including The People’s Brief from social media personality Lynae Vanee, in which she explores news, culture, and history.
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USAFacts
In a golden age of misinformation, USAFacts has positioned itself as a brand that audiences can turn to for one thing reliably: the unvarnished truth. That resource was particularly needed as the 2024 election ramped up, which was why USAFacts worked with former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for its “Just the Facts” campaign. The series saw Ballmer breaking down topics like immigration, federal spending, and healthcare in explainer videos. The brand found an appetite for the content, racking up 40 million video engagements, which helped bring in 367,000 new subscribers to the USAFacts newsletter. The partnership has continued throughout 2025, with Ballmer explaining issues on everyone’s mind: tariffs, government assistance, and federal spending.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
Over the past year, these nine beauty and skincare brands on the list of 2025 Brands That Matter found innovative ways to make customers see their inner beauty.
Some pulled back the curtain on behind-the-scenes processes, offering masterclasses in makeup and lessons in cosmetic chemistry. Others embraced humor, leaning into viral moments with ad campaigns all about angry arachnids and dirty-talking grandmas (yes, really).
Here are the brands proving beauty is more than skin-deep in 2025.
Bubble Skincare
Though every brand would love to be a favorite among Gen Z (and, increasingly, Gen Alpha, as it ages into purchasing power), not many have the chops to pull it off. Bubble is among the rare few that understand their young audience both monetarilyevery product from moisturizer to lip balm to sunscreen retails for $20 or lessand culturally, as evidenced by its booming ambassador program. In 2024, its ambassador community nearly tripled, ballooning to more than 84,000 members. These Bubble lovers test new products and tout them across social media free of charge, driving more than 133 million social impressions last year. In the past months, Bubble has broken into the beauty space with products that fuse skincare with makeup, like its first-of-their-kind color-correcting balms, which combine clinical care and complexion without sacrificing quality or cost.
@bubble Dark spots? Redness? Mission accepted. Our new CC Balms instantly neutralize the look of imperfections for a flawless finish. In an independent consumer study: 93% of UNDER COVER Dark Spot Fix users said their skin tone looked more even 99% of SECRET AGENT Redness Fix users said it helped to reduce the look of redness Shop both on hellobubble.com and @Ulta Beauty Passion – Milky Chance
Dieux
Dieux does more than sell its customers skincare: It teaches them the science behind it. In 2024, the brands following on TikTok increased by 656%, thanks to its informative and entertaining content demystifying all things skincare that consumers are often in the dark about, from the methodology behind their packaging to intimidating skincare terms like comedogenicity (which is a measure of how likely a product is to clog your pores, FYI). That transparency has earned Dieux a loyal customer base with over 50% customer retention. Dieuxs launch at Sephora, its first-ever retail partnership, blew sales expectations out of the water, selling five times more than predicted. The brands collaborations in the fashion world reflect its ideals about beautyacting as the skincare sponsor for no-makeup makeup looks at New York and Paris Fashion Week for Collina Strada, supporting women over 40 at the Met Gala, and raising funds for Black trans-led advocacy group G.L.I.T.S. with a limited-edition eye mask.
EltaMD
For the second year of marking March 13 as National Dermatologist Day, in 2025 the skincare brand launched its Derm Difference campaign, calling on real dermatologists to share personal stories of the trade, including why dermatology matters to them. Its just one way that EltaMD, a brand renowned for its dermatologist-recommended sunscreens, celebrates the doctors that define its industry and earns itself credibility in the process. EltaMDs dermatologist-forward content strategy earned the brand 63% year-over-year follower growth on TikTok in 2024. Offline, the brands commitment to skincare extends beyond its products, delivering more than 4,000 skin cancer screenings in collaboration with the Skin Cancer Foundation and the Sun Bus. This year, its new all-mineral UV Skin Recovery sunscreen caught the beauty worlds attention, nabbing recognition from Allure and awards Cosmopolitan, Womens Health, and NewBeauty.
Eos Products
In the wrong hands, a brands social media being flooded with NSFW reviews from customers could be cause for alarmbut for Eos, it was an opportunity. The long-beloved lip balm brands expansion into body lotions in 2024 came with an unexpected side effect: consumers touting the new products as aphrodisiacs. This year, rather than avoiding the conversation and its potential controversies, Eos joined in the X-rated fun with its DirtyDMs and Obsessedimonials” campaignwhich featured real comments from customers raving about the new productsthe former featuring an elderly woman reading the titillating testimonials aloud. Hearing a granny say that Eoss Vanilla Cashmere Body Lotion can get you flipped like a pancake packs a punch of comedy thats too often missing from advertising, and for Eos, it worked like a charm. Its new product line quickly became the fastest-growing body lotion in mass retail and the top-selling body lotion on Amazon.
Glow Recipe
Pop stars arent the only ones who can go on world tours: As Glow Recipe proved in 2024, skincare brands can do it, too. In honor of the companys 10th anniversary, its founders set off across North America, South America, and Europe to share the Korean skincare philosophies that made their brand a hit. Glow Recipe continues to dominate the indie skincare space: Sales of its flagship products, including Dew Drops and Watermelon Toner, continue to grow year over year, while the launch of the brands Hue Drops, a tinted version of its signature serum, sold well following its fall 2024 launch. Additionally, the brands messaging helps break down stigmas around skin, avoiding all-too-common language like Perfect Skin and Anti-Aging and showcasing real skin in its advertising, thanks to a commitment not to retouch models photos.
Makeup by Mario
Makeup maven Mario Dedivanovic has two major claims to fame: his years-long trendsetting work with Kim Kardashian and popularizing the makeup masterclass. Now, as part of an excluive partnership with Sephora, his eponymous makeup brand is bringing his signature educational experience to social media. Makeup by Mario invited tastemakers like Paige DeSorbo, Suni Lee, Katie Fang, and Steph Hui to be part of mini masterclasses, reimagining Dedivanovics formula to massive success: The brand reported record-breaking engagement online, with 154% global EMV growth on TikTok. Meanwhile, the brands products are now stocked in nearly 2,100 Sephora stores worldwide, including a recent launch at Sephora Mexico. The brand retains a strong following on Instagram and TikTok, with nearly 16 million follower between the two.
Maybelline New York
Appearing on all three of Love Island, Saturday Night Live, and Hot Ones is a pop culture hat trick in the 2020s, and over the past year, Maybelline pulled it off. The classic makeup brand has kept up with the times: In 2024, its TikTok campaigns garnered more than 100 million impressions, and its interactive content on Pinterest (a platform itself undergoing a Gen Z renaissance) boosted Maybellines follower engagement there by 30%. In addition to its buzzy media appearances, Maybellines stayed true to its values. That includes doubling down on its commitment to mental health advocacy through both a $20 million partnership with the WHO Foundation and expansions to its Brave Talk program, developing the in-person peer support program into a digital experience.
Neutrogena
The brand in 2025 has worked with John Cena to recontextualize his iconic You cant see me! catchphrase from the wrestler/actor’s WWE days. Cena’s Neutrogena campaign applies it to the brand’s Ultra Sheer sunscreen while sharing how two skin cancer diagnoses made him realize the importance of UV protection. That personal level of storytelling has become a hallmark of Neutrogenas messaging, which makes use of celebrity spokespeople to reach new audiences. Take its collaboration with Gen Z pop star Tate McRae, who reintroduced Neutrogenas Hydro Boost products to a younger generation for the lines 10th anniversary, or its utilization of actor and singer Hailee Steinfeld to address young Millennials and recommend products to minimize collagen loss. No matter a consumers skincare needs, Neutrogena has a product to meet them (and, odds are, a celebrity to pair it with).
Sol de Janeiro
The Brazilian skincare brand turned the stuff of marketing nightmares into a win. When a review for Sol de Janeiros Delícia Drench Body Butter, claimed that it attracted wolf spiders, the rumor mill went to work, with other reviewers jokingly agreeing that the product was a spider magnet, while arachnophobes worried that the memes were based in truth. Sol de Janeiro took it all in stride, capitalizing on the viral moment in 2024 with a joke of its own: a fake product, Aranha Spider Salve, that the brand said actually did attract spiders, unlike the real lotion that started the social media frenzy. The meme was a hit, earning Sol de Janeiro 9.76 million views on TikTok and 2.3 million impressions on Instagram. It was a testament to the brands adaptability.
This story is part of Fast Companys 2025 Brands That Matter. Explore the full list of honorees that have demonstrated a commitment to their brands purpose and cultural relevance to their audience. Read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
For the past decade, quantum computing has struggled to balance promise and practicality. While the worlds most advanced systems remain engineering marvels, theyre bedeviled by the same flaw: the fragility of qubitsthe fundamental units of quantum dataand the delicate hardware required to control them. A single fluctuation, for example, can collapse a quantum state, invalidating a computation.
Most quantum systems also depend on large-scale refrigeration colder than deep space, with cryogenic racks that often occupy multiple rooms. Scaling quantum systems demands exponential increases in cost, energy, and environmental stability. So while the U.N. has designated 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, for all its scientific significance, quantums commercial trajectory remains narrow.
But Japanese conglomerate Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (NTT) is attempting to rewrite that equation. In partnership with Japan-based quantum technology developer OptQC, NTT is attempting to break current orthodoxy through what is known as optical quantum computing, which uses photons instead of electrical currents to perform calculations. Since photons generate less heat compared to electron-based systems and can travel without resistance, these systems consume far less power.
NTT argues that optical systems can be faster and more energy-efficient, forming the basis for greener, more sustainable computing. This combination not only accelerates computational capability but also reduces environmental impact, positioning quantum technology as a foundation for a sustainable digital future, says Shingo Kinoshita, SVP and head of R&D planning at NTT.
Rather than relying on cooling systems, NTTs design utilizes light sources and error-correction technologies developed under its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) initiative.
Japans broader industrial strategy sits just beneath the surface of this partnership. With the U.S. and China locked in geopolitical competition over quantum supremacy, Japans photonic-first model is being positioned as an alternative: one that favors energy efficiency and manufacturability over extreme-environment engineering.
Today, the energy footprint of AI is emerging as a global challenge. Optical quantum computing processes information with light, enabling dramatically lower power consumption and scalable qubit growth through optical multiplexing, Kinoshita says.
A million-qubit road map
The approach builds on a series of rapid scientific breakthroughs across Japans quantum ecosystem. Over the past year, NTTalongside RIKEN, Fixstars Amplify, the University of Tokyo, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technologydemonstrated the worlds first general-purpose optical quantum computing platform capable of running calculations without any external cooling.
The upcoming platform fits inside a single room, a feat that many leading quantum systems developers cant claim.
NTT and OptQC outlined a five-year plan leading to the 2030 milestone. During the first year, the companies will conduct technical studies and begin codesigning while identifying early use cases with external partners. In the second year, they plan to build complete development environments for hardware and software.
In year three, they expect to begin verifying enterprise use cases such as drug development, financial optimization, materials science, and climate modeling. The final phase will focus on scaling the system to reach millions of qubits and making it reliable enough to handle real-world use cases, thereby preparing the technology for adoption among companies, governments, and industries.
Qubits must scale into the thousands for quantum computing to surpass the current capabilities of AI. Unlike classical bits used in general-purpose computing systems, which exist as 0 or 1, qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, enabling exponentially faster processing of complex calculations.
The 2030 vision of 1 million qubits is not just about performance, its about redefining how we align advanced computing with planetary limits, Kinoshita says. In the near term, as we aim for 10,000 qubits by 2027, the first impact will be within NTTs own communications infrastructure.
Japans photonic bet to power AI
As AI models grow in size and complexity, the demand for simulation, optimization, and high-dimensional problem-solving has also increased exponentially. NTT asserts that photonic quantum systems will become essential accelerators for next-generation AI and telecom networks such as 6G.
In classical systems, electrical signals travel through semiconductor processors. Photonic systems replace those electrons with light, transmitting information through properties such as photon number, polarization, and amplitude.
However, practical commercial quantum computing requires a scale of 1 million logical qubits, along with reliable quantum error correction, a mechanism that detects and corrects the subtle errors qubits constantly make. Todays machineseven the most advanced systems by IBM, Google, and otherssit orders of magnitude below that mark and remain extremely sensitive to environmental disturbances.
NTT claims that photonics changes the math. Scaling to 1 million qubits by 2030 and then moving into mass deployment will demand a robust supply chain. Achieving high-performance quantum light sources and improving yield in precision fabrication will be critical steps, Kinoshita explains. In essence, this means NTT must be able to reliably manufacture the key components, such as high-quality light sources, and improve production yields so the hardware can be built at scale.
By 2030, with 1 million qubits, the scope expands beyond telecom,” he adds. “NTT plans to explore these opportunities through partnerships with leaders in chemistry, finance, and industrial sectors.
The global stakes of a photonic strategy
This is not the first attempt at room-temperature quantum hardware, as companies like Sydney-based Quantum Brilliance are also pursuing cryogenics-free architectures. Quantum Brilliance is targeting edge and data-center deployments with compact photonic-inspired diamond devices, while Atom Computing, headquartered in Berkeley, Calfornia, is building large-scale, room-temperature systems that use neutral atoms.
We truly believe that optically controllable neutral atom qubits allow a level of flexibility and practicality to the challenge of controlling millions of qubits with high-fidelity, low-crosstalk signals at room temperature, says Ben Bloom, founder and CEO of Atom Computing.
But NTT argues that photons, not electrons or atoms, offer an architecture capable of reaching true commercial scale. Its thesis is simple: Light is inherently more stable, generates less heat, and is ultimately more manufacturable than any matter-based system. This shift transforms quantum computing from a niche technology into a broadly available resource,” Kinoshita says.
Still, experts caution that the light-based computation path comes with its own unresolved challenges.
Photonics faces significant challenges that often get glossed over in the roomtemperature narrative, says Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at Boston-based QuEra Computing. You need near-perfect sources and detectors at scale, plus efficient photon-photon interactions, which don’t occur naturally and require complex optical elements. The engineering complexity of building a fault-tolerant photonic quantum computer with thousands of high-fidelity qubits is immense.
If NTT stays on track, the worlds first million-qubit system may come from a room-temperature optical platform in Tokyo, engineered for real-world use cases including molecular simulation for drug discovery and materials science, financial risk modeling, and manufacturing optimization.
Beyond technology, global coordination for specialized materials and resilience against geopolitical risks remains essential, Kinoshita says. When these systems can run in standard IT environments with ultra-low power consumption and rack-scale integration, enterprises will see cost-effective performance, governments will recognize strategic advantage, and the public will experience tangible benefits like greener networks and faster innovation. That moment will mark quantums shift from experimental to essential.
In case you havent been deluged with enough day-themed holiday shopping sales yet, the travel industry will try to tempt you with some seemingly tantalizing travel offers on December 2, aka Travel Tuesday, traditionally the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving.
But whether the travel deals are actually steals may require you to do some research in advance and read the fine print so you dont face some unexpected fees once youre on vacation. If you regularly book through a specific travel provider and have a sense of what you normally pay, that will help you to better suss out whether youre actually saving money.
Knowing what a specific trip or ticket would normally cost is important because travel providers may have artificially inflated the price just to offer a discount this week, Sally French, a travel expert at NerdWallet, cautioned to the Associated Press. Theres a sense of urgency with deals like these, she said, but its also important to make sure a trip that youre booking actually works for you and is something you genuinely want.
That said, there may be some discounts that are worth taking advantage of. Here are some highlights.
Blanket discounts with specific companies
For seasoned travelers, some of the most attractive offers this week will likely come from companies you already book with regularly. Even then, however, there are some asterisks to each of these deals. Perhaps they can be used only on select dates or for specific locations, for example, which may put a damper on your wanderlust.
Amtrak may not seem like the most exciting place to begin, but if you regularly travel by trainor have a trip in mindyou may be able score up to 25% off regularly priced fares if you book a ticket by December 3 for travel anytime from January 5 to March 15, 2026. That said, there are four blackout dates that coincide with holidays in January and February, while some routes arent eligible for the discount.
If you do have your eye on something a bit more exciting, then insiders (aka people who have supplied their information) could score up to 20% off a stay at one of the boutique hotels in the Proper Hotels collection, along with a $175 dining credit. And Marriott is offering discounts ranging from 15% to 25% off stays at participating locations for reservations made through December 2, depending on whether or not youre a Bonvoy member and book through its app.
Many major airlines are also advertising discounted fares for flights booked on Travel Tuesday; however, deals are primarily focused on specific routes.
Deals on booking sites
Aggregators in the travel world are also getting in on the action with some specials. Discounts range widely in terms of whats being discounted and the amount, but its worth checking the various sites if you have a trip in mind.
You may be able to score up to 40% off by booking accommodations through Booking.com, while Hotels.com is promising up to 50% off on reservations for eligible hotels and resorts. Not to be outdone, Priceline is offering up to 60% off select travel packages, and some people may even be able to score up to 75% off at a curated list of 24 hotels by booking through Expedia.
Some property owners are running their own promotions for bookings on Airbnb and VRBO, though youll have to have some dates and locations in mind to find those deals. More broadly, Airbnb is offering up to 50% off a single experience or service in Los Angeles, New York, or Paris if you book through Thursday, December 4.
Discounts for cruises, resorts
The most tantalizing, but trickiest, deals to navigate are often at resorts or for cruises. Thats because the discounts offered this week may not tell the full story of how much youll pay once you arrive, as fees and on-site activities can be quite expensive.
This is the area of Travel Tuesday where you may want to proceed with caution lest you sign up for a trip that turns out to be far more expensive than you realized. Its also fair to wonder why specific locations are so heavily discounted when others are not.
You can score up to 65% off reservations and potentially get some other money-saving perks at select Sandals Resorts locations for travel booked through December 2. And Club Med has extended a sale through December 2, offering up to 50% off at some of its all-inclusive resorts.
The major cruise operators are seemingly always running some sort of sale, but the discounts may be bigger this week. Princess is offering up to $800 off fares, while Royal Caribbean is advertising up to $1,000 off its fares. And you can save up to 75% off the booking for a second guest with Celebrity Cruises.
But if all these deals feel dizzying, travel experts say dont book just for the sake of booking. The decline in international visitors to the U.S. has seen many travel companies discount rates to ensure they are booked, and that trend will likely continue.
As French told the AP, rest assured: If you dont buy on Travel Tuesday, you havent missed your moment.
On November 14, hotel and short-term apartment rental chain Sonder Holdings filed for bankruptcy, just days after suddenly announcing it would be winding down operations immediately, abruptly kicking guests to the curb and sending employees scrambling for answers. The company had faced major, unforeseen costs from a deal signed in August 2024 to integrate reservation systems with Marriott International and promote Sonder listings through the hotel giant, according to a statement issued four days earlier.
Sonder had long been an outlier in the short-term rental space, which was a big part of its appeal to investors. Most of its competitorsshort-term rental companies like Kasa and AvantStay, the big hotel chains, and individual hotels and bed-and-breakfastseither own and operate their own properties or manage them on behalf of owners for a cut of revenue and profits. Sonder, by contrast, took out long-term leases on apartment units so it could rent them out for short-term stays, a business model similar to that of WeWork, the once high-flying chain of coworking spaces.
But that model wound up saddling Sonder with fixed costs from long-term leases, especially rent payments. That held true even when competition or low demand limited how much it could make from guests, or other unexpected costs from factors like post-pandemic inflation or the Marriott integration added up, analysts and others in the industry tell Fast Company.
We call it rental arbitrage, where you take out a long-term lease on an apartment building, and then you try to make more than that in short-term leases, says Jamie Lane, chief economist at short-term rental analytics firm AirDNA. Lane also raises the comparison to WeWork, which famously filed for bankruptcy protection in 2023, entering a court-approved restructuring plan the following year. (Sonder didnt reply to an inquiry from Fast Company.)
Experts say Sonder’s failure isn’t an indictment of the short-term rental model or the larger hospitality sector writ large, but rather the result of mixing high fixed costs with variable income in a competitive marketplace. Still, other companies applying that approach to hospitality largely failed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemicand Sonders abrupt shutdown suggests investors are unlikely to back such a model again anytime soon.
The broader story here is that the lease-arbitrage model has proven economically destructive across real estate cycles, says Roman Pedan, founder and CEO of hotel and apartment-rental operator Kasa, which runs more than 70 properties across the country. It’s sort of a weapona toxic weapon of financial destruction.
The rental-arbitrage model
In the heyday of coworking-space businesses like WeWork and before the pandemic disrupted the travel industry, the rental-arbitrage approach made sense to investors.
Sonder essentially applied the WeWork model to travel lodging, replacing the traditional front desk with a tech-forward approach to check-in and guest services (made popular through Airbnb and Vrbo). Other companies with a similar model, including Stay Alfred, Domio, and Lyric, shuttered in 2020 amid pandemic travel disruptions.
Many hospitality chains make money through management agreements in which they share revenue with building owners or other hotel and short-term rental operators that both own and operate their own real estate. Sonder, by contrast, leased the majority of its listings from building owners at a fixed rate, according to the companys annual report.
For a time, that model made Sonder into an investor darling. Just over six years ago, the company achieved unicorn status, raising a $225 million Series D round at a $1.1 billion valuation. In 2022, the company went public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger that valued the company at $2.2 billion.
Sonder closed out 2024 with more than 9,900 hotel rooms and furnished apartments available for rent across 41 cities in nine countries, according to its annual report to investors. And the contract with Marriott brought in an additional $15 million in startup key money payments to Sonder since its signing last year.
Sonder had gotten lucky,” Lane says. “They had raised money just before the onset of the pandemic, so they had a good war chest to sort of get them through it. And the company later got subsequent boosts from the SPAC deal (which included an additional $310 million in investments) and the Marriott arrangement.
Though the industry has long faced criticism for converting long-term rentals into vacation lodging, constraining the housing supply and at times introducing disruptive travelers into quiet neighborhoods and apartment buildings, occupancy is up overall from before the pandemic, Lane adds, though numbers havent yet recovered in some major cities where Sonder offered rentals.
In short, others in the industry say, the problem is with the lease-arbitrage model, not the concept of renting whole homes or apartments to tech-savvy travelers.
Significant capital commitment
Sonders business model may have also seemed like a boon to property developers, especially when the company would lease out entire buildings to effectively convert into apartment-style hotels, says Emir Dukic, founder and CEO of Rabbu, a real estate marketplace for short-term rental owners.
The practice, though often criticized by housing advocates for taking entire buildings off the traditional rental market, saved landlords the trouble of finding individual long-term tenants.
Something that usually, as a landlord, would take you a year to lease up in a building, Sonder came in and did it overnight, and made a significant capital commitment to get those leases, Dukic says. So it was a win-win situation at the time for both parties, and they were able to scale it quickly.
Those apartment-style units, often larger than traditional hotel rooms, were likely appealing to Marriott for effectively expanding the chains portfolio, Dukic explains. But they were also commonly clustered in competitive urban markets with other hotel and apartent rental options nearby. Even with self-check-in and other tech features, hospitality remains a labor-intensive business, he adds. Rooms still need to be cleaned, and someone still needs to be on call around the clock to help guests with lockouts, clogged toilets, or flaky Wi-Fi.
Most of Sonders inventory was subject to fixed leases, whereby we agree to a fixed periodic fee per unit that may be subject to negotiated rent escalations, according to the companys annual report. In other words, unless landlords were willing to renegotiate, those payments would remain due regardless of what room rates the company could demand, rising costs due to inflation, or the apparent failure of the Marriott agreement to significantly boost occupancy.
What about the landlords?
Lane and others emphasize that the short-term rental industry, which includes a mix of chain businesses and smaller operations renting houses and apartments to travelers, is still generally faring well.
But what Sonders bankruptcy will mean for building owners, essentially its landlords, remains unclear. The company had already exited some 3,300 units across 85 buildings as of June 30, 2025, according to the company report, and Pedan says Kasa has taken over management of more than a dozen former Sonder properties.
Kasa, which announced a $40 million investment round in August, citing more than $100 million in annual booking revenue, typically operates with a more standard hotel management contract. Kasa is responsible for day-to-day operations, including marketing, housekeeping, and pricing, while building owners are responsible for capital improvements, which can include things like HVAC and roofing upgrades. The companys agreements ensure both parties benefit when properties do well, keeping interests aligned, Pedan says.
When I say aligned, I mean we want to win when the owner wins and make less when the owner is making less, he says. So we make money as a percentage of their profit and their revenue. Another short-term rental management company, AvantStay, also issued a statement on November 10 urging landlords affected by the Sonder shutdown to consider adding their buildings to AvantStays portfolio of more than 2,500 properties. The company has already connected with a big fraction of affected property owners, says founder and CEO Sean Breuner, who like others remains optimistic about the industry as a whole.
I think the industry is very healthy, Breuner says. Its alive and well, and demand in aggregate is the highest its ever been since we started 10 years ago.
Sonders shutdown came shortly after Marriott announced the termination of the companies deal due to Sonders default. (Marriott didnt respond to an inquiry from Fast Company.)
But in a filing in the bankruptcy case, the company said it ended the agreement and reached out to guests after concerns that Sonder would abruptly lock paying customers out of their rooms. Guests who were occupying Sonder-managed properties might be prevented from retrieving their personal belongings, including medication, passports, personal effects, or other essentials, according to Marriott.
Just before the bankruptcy filing, Janice Sears, interim CEO of Sonder, declared in a statement that the company had reached a point where a liquidation is the only viable path forward, with guests and employees alike abruptly given notice that operations would shut down. At least two lawsuits have been filed by Sonder employees alleging the company violated federal and state laws requiring warning periods before mass layoffs.
Brian Nettle, an attorney who represents a Sonder employee seeking class-action status in one of the cases, says, It’s just an unfortunate situation for plaintiffs in the class to have just lost a job suddenly.
Panera Bread is spending millions to overhaul its menu in an attempt to lure back the customers its lost in recent years. In a downward fast-food spiral, Panera hasnt significantly increased its revenue since 2023. Now, the company says its putting money back into better ingredients, staff, and its cafés.
The St. Louis-based chain, known for its sandwiches, soups, and salads, hasnt been delivering on its signatures. Panera last year started using the cheaper iceberg lettuce in its salads, for example, and customers werent happy.
You know what guests told us? said Paul Carbone, CEO of Panera Brands, the parent company of Panera Bread, Einstein Bros. Bagels, and Caribou Coffee. No one likes iceberg, and no one gets that and says, Oh, my god, that white salad, it looks so appetizing.
Now, full romaine salads are making a comeback.
In 2023, Paneras sales reached $6.5 billion, which is still about the highest it has been. The company said today that its goal is to clinch $7 billion in annual sales by 2028 from the roughly $6 billion it brings in currently.
After surveying its customers, Panera found that they wanted better portions and improved cafés. The chain plans to increase portions and food variety.
Its introducing drinks like frescas (fruit drinks) and energy refreshers (lower-caffeine beverages), and increasing salad toppings to eight ingredients from the regular five. Guests will notice that avocado halves and cherry tomatoes will be sliced, not whole, starting early next year.
We make the guest chase the cherry tomato around the bowl, said Carbone, who assumed his role in March.
Panera is also vowing to update its cafés, an important effort as around 25% of meals are eaten within restaurant walls.
It had invested in kiosks for ordering, but it got to the point that customers couldnt find human employees, said Carbone. Now, the restaurant is pouring money back into labor and renovating the older café locations.
What does the café of the future look like? Carbone said. Were doing a lot of work around that, were going to test different things.
JAB Holding Company, the investment firm that owns Panera Brands, had planned to take the company public in 2021. The deal was broken the next year, and Carbone said its off the table until Paneras sales increase.
Ava Levinson
This article originally appeared on Fast Companys sister publication, Inc.
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