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Marketers are setting the cultural conversation with their successes as much as their missteps. But which campaigns are creating healthy tension? When is the right time to walk back a rebrand? Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder breaks down branding and marketing lessons from the most high-profile campaigns of 2025, giving her unvarnished opinion on everything from Sydney Sweeney to Cracker Barrel and more. This is an abridged transcript of an interview from Rapid Response, hosted by the former editor-in-chief of Fast Company Bob Safian and recorded live at the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco. From the team behind the Masters of Scale podcast, Rapid Response features candid conversations with todays top business leaders navigating real-time challenges. Subscribe to Rapid Response wherever you get your podcasts to ensure you never miss an episode. [Sydney Sweeneys American Eagle ad] sparked all kinds of controversy and discussion about jeans versus genes. You and I talked before about what is healthy tension and toxic tension. So was this healthy tension, toxic tension? What does the reaction mean about where we are? Healthy tension is tension that moves the brand and the business forward. Great work must always have tension. If it doesn’t have tension, it’s not great and it’s not causing conversation. Healthy tension, when it moves the brand and business forward, it goes beyond awareness to drive actual acquisition and business results. Sometimes you can have awareness and instead of acquisition, you end up with alienation. So that is where instead of it being healthy, it goes into the toxic space. I think that they checked the box on tension, they raised awareness, but was it healthy? There was a lot of alienation. You don’t need a focus group to know that in this very polarized world that we are living in, when you use the word genes, and by genes I mean, G-E-N-E-S, and then you show only one demographic, they’re going to be people with thoughts, right? And there’s going to be a lot of energy around that. You don’t need to do a focus group or spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on research to get to that point. So there were some people that felt alienated. Did the awareness overall drive acquisition? We don’t know yet. I think a good example of a brand that jumped into the conversation and drove awareness and acquisition is Gap. They had a counter ad with Katseye and that drove a lot of acquisition and Gap sales on TikTok are through the roof. So that’s an example of healthy tension. Of using the tension to help? Of using the tension in a healthy way to drive not just awareness, but acquisition. I think, gone are the days where all publicity is good publicity. There’s some publicity we just don’t need, you know what I mean? All right, let’s try. Let’s go to number two. When Cracker Barrel fans responded to the removal of this old timer from the logo, right? They walkedand we’ve seen other brands backtrack, like HBO walking back Max, right? So are there situations, do you know, in the situations where it’s like, this is a cultural conversation that I’m losing. I can’t drive this conversation versus like I just made a mistake. First of all, brands have a lot of power because when we have brands where we’re having commentary from everybody, from the President, to your hairdresser, you’ve touched a nerve. And what I will say is, as a brand, Cracker Barrel had been experiencing a decline in sales. That’s why they said, what can we do to ignite or spark the next wave of growth for the business? So we have to give them kudos for saying, “hey, we can’t just keep going down the path we’re going, we need to change something.” Now when you are evolving a brand, you have to either adapt or you die as a brand. You have to evolve. So they got, check, we need to evolve. Now there’s the heart of the brand or the soul of the brand because what is a brand at the end of the day? A brand is the sum of the promises we make and the experiences we deliver. That is what it is. It is the sum of the promises we make and the experiences we deliver. The soul of the heart of the brand is at the core of that. For Cracker Barrel, it’s around that southern hospitality and comfort. That is a non-negotiable. I think with the logo change, I mean you all can see the second logo. It’s not exactly screaming Southern hospitality. It’s not really screaming anything. It’s pretty sanitized. It’s not screaming. It could be Panera Bread, you know what I mean? And so, if you are someone who, immediately you see this, you go to, this is changing southern hospitality and comfort. So all of a sudden you start to question what is this brand going to deliver? And so it affects the trust with the customer because you’re evolving something that is too core. So I think Cracker Barrel learned, hey, this is too core. We can’t touch this. Let’s look at other things that we can evolve. So I’m going to give them kudos for actually saying, hey, we listened and we’re going to not touch the heart or the soul of the brand. We will evolve something else. I don’t actually think it’s capitulation, I think it’s smart. I think it’s good stewardship of the brand. We’re not in a perfect world. We’re all going to make mistakes. I give bravery and courage for saying, hey, we messed up this. We’re going to go back. All right, so this is an image of the UK street wear designer, Tega Akinola. It’s part of Autodesk’s, Let There Be Anything campaign. Partnerships are so important for brands right now. So how do brands associate and get the most authentic partnerships with creators, celebrities? How do we think about making sure you get the right choice so you get the right ROMI, the right return on marketing investment? Yes. Show me the ROMI. Everything has to start with business impact. First of all, you have to figure out, how is this going to advance my brand objective and ultimately drive the results that I’m going for? So there are three key things you look at. First of all, is this an add? It has to be an add and a build. It should not be a detraction. And honestly, if it’s going to be neutral, don’t even do it. Do something else with your resources. So that add and that build is really important. The second thing is you need to be pushing not just for reach, but also resonance because reach does not equal resonance and you cannot compromise resonance for reach because if you are not getting both resonance and reah, you’re ultimately not reaching that new target audience and you’re not expanding your demographic to get the needed business results. I think the third thing is you have to make sure that whatever partnership you’re doing, it fits into the bigger picture and is a force multiplier, not a force divider. So that’s a third thing you need to look at. I think when you check those three boxes, whether you’re working with a creator or it’s a brand partnership, that’s how you get to ROMI. And if you’re thinking, what should the math be? I like to use a 1:3 ratio. So if I’m spending a dollar, I want to make sure that I’m making at least $3. If I’m not going to make $3, there might be a better investment for those resources.
Category:
E-Commerce
Speaking multiple languages may protect both your brain and body by slowing down the biological aging process, increasing resilience as you get older, according to a new international study. Published in Nature Aging journal, the paper, titled Multilingualism protects against accelerated aging in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of 27 European countries, looked at data from 86,149 Europeans and found that those who spoke multiple languages experienced slower biobehavioral aging compared with those who only spoke one language. It concluded that speaking multiple languages may slow the biological processes of aging and protect against age-related decline. Researchers used what’s known as the biobehavioral aging clock framework to quantify biobehavioral age gaps (BBAGs), by using artificial intelligence (AI) models trained on thousands of health and behavioral profiles. These models can predict a persons biological age based on physical markers such as hypertension, diabetes, sleep problems, and sensory loss, as well as protective factors including education, cognition, functional ability, and physical activity. The difference between someone’s actual age and their “predicted” age indicates whether someone is aging in a healthier way and appears “younger,” or is aging in an accelerated way. The study found that in countries where people commonly spoke multiple languages, study participants who only spoke only one were twice as likely to show early aging patterns, while those who spoke multiple languages were 2.17 times less likely to experience accelerated aging. While it’s important to keep in mind that in many European countries, people speak more than one language (unlike in the United States), these effects remained significant even after adjusting for linguistic, social, physical, and sociopolitical factors, and were consistent longitudinally in predicting a lower risk of accelerated aging over the long run.
Category:
E-Commerce
A regional supermarket chain is offering to buy pennies in a two-for-one deal. Sound like pennies from heaven? Too good to be true? The news comes a day after the U.S. Mint pressed its final penny on November 12 in Philadelphia, following an order from President Donald Trump to stop making the one-cent coins back in February. Market 32 and Price Chopper grocery stores are inviting customers to double the value of their spare change by bringing in their pennies this Sunday, November 16, for Double Exchange Day. The only catch is that customers will receive a gift card instead of cold hard cash for their trouble, according to a statement on the company’s website. Market 32 is an updated, rebranded name for some Price Chopper stores. Dual-branded Market 32 and Price Chopper stores are located in the Northeast, in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. The reason for the two-for-one deal may be a bit less altruistic than it seems. Since pennies are going out of circulation, that means more businessesgrocery stores especiallywill need more of them in the short term. Customers can bring in their pennies either the old-fashioned wayrolled up in a sleeve (remember that, Gen Xers?)or as loose coins to the customer service desk at the supermarkets. They can bring in up to a total of $100, which gets you a $200 gift card, or a minimum of 50 cents for a $1 gift card. However, the offer is good for one day only. Cash transactions remain an important part of how we serve our customers, and for those who prefer to pay with cash, we want to make sure we can continue providing the same great checkout experienceright down to the penny, Blaine Bringhurst, president of Market 32 and Price Chopper, said in a statement. “We also know that a lot of families across our six-state footprint are facing hardships right now, and this is another unique way our team is working to provide support,” he noted.
Category:
E-Commerce
A grocery store is offering to buy pennies in a 2-for-1 deal. Sound like pennies from heaven? Too good to be true? The news comes a day after the U.S. Mint pressed its final penny on November 12 in Philadelphia, following an order from President Donald Trump to stop making the one-cent coins back in February. Market 32 and Price Chopper stores are inviting customers to double the value of their spare change by bringing in their pennies this Sunday, November 16 for Double Exchange Day. The only catch is that customers will receive a gift card instead of cold hard cash for their trouble, according to a statement on the company’s website. Market 32 is an updated, rebranded name for some Price Chopper stores. Dual-branded Market 32 and Price Chopper stores are located in the Northeast, in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire. The reason for the 2-for-1 deal may be a bit less altruistic than it seems. Since pennies are going out of circulation, that means more businessesgroceries especiallywill need more of them in the short term. Customers can bring in their pennies either the old-fashioned wayrolled up in a sleeve (remember that, Gen Xers?)or as loose coins to the customer service desk at the supermarkets. They can bring in up to a total of $100, which gets you a $200 gift card, or a minimum of 50 cents for a $1 gift card. However, the offer is good for one day only. Cash transactions remain an important part of how we serve our customers, and for those who prefer to pay with cash, we want to make sure we can continue providing the same great checkout experienceright down to the penny, Blaine Bringhurst, president of Market 32 and Price Chopper said in a statement. “We also know a lot of families across our six-state footprint are facing hardships right now, and this is another unique way our team is working to provide support.
Category:
E-Commerce
While a deal to make Grok available across the federal government is now in place, the agency facilitating the partnership with Elon Musk’s controversial chatbot has yet to incorporate it into its own flagship AI platform due to ongoing internal safety testing.Both lawmakers and advocacy groups have criticized the Trump administrations interest in Grok, over concerns about Musks deepening relationship with the US government and the chatbots antisemitic and otherwise offensive rants, from back in July. After the company said it fixed the apparent glitch causing the bot to call itself MechaHitler, the General Services Administration in September unveiled that Grok for Government,” an enterprise version of the xAI chatbot, would be available to federal agencies at a steep discount. But as of Wednesday, a GSA-managed repository for an app designed to expedite the Trump administrations plans to deploy AI across the government does not include Grok, though it does feature chatbots from Google, Meta, OpenAI, and Anthropic. The USAi platform, launched earlier this year, is supposed to be a testing ground for government to experiment with a wide range of large language models and how they might integrate them into government work. (In that vein, the GSA has also developed some suggested prompts for government workers now communicating with their new AI agents and looking to keep them in check. They suggest that government workers tell these chatbots: You are a helpful assistant that works for a government agency Never knowingly make false statements or deceive users Remain neutral, factual, and nonpartisan at all times. … You do not prefer or recommend specific political views, groups, religions, companies, products, or enterpriseRedirect users’ requests around potentially controversial or polarizing topics quickly. )The GSA says that while Grok is now available to government agencies, its up to their respective officials to evaluate the technology for themselves, since its own evaluation, which is supposed to include bias and safety testing, of Grok is ongoing. At GSA, Grok for Government and xAI are currently undergoing internal safety assessments a required step in the USAi review and authorization process prior to integration in USAi, a GSA spokesperson says. Agencies prepared to fully invest in their own AI solutions can now buy access to AI models directly through GSAs Multiple Award Schedule, many of which are currently offered at discounted rates via GSAs OneGov deals. In these situations, federal agencies are responsible for independently evaluating the AI models it intends to use. Grumbles on Grok Earlier this summer, government coders seemed primed to integrate Grok into USAi. After the chatbot started spewing antisemitic and other offensive content, the government initially defended its work with xAI. Still, a planned deal with the company was apparently put on pause, only to be relaunched following a push from the White House. Around that time, GSA said that tools involving USAi, the government-wide AI app, are supposed to undergo pre-launch bias and safety evaluations. Then, in September, Grok went on sale to federal agencies, through a deal facilitated through GSA.Late last month, the Trump administrations nominee to lead the GSA told the Senate hed be open to reviewing the deal with xAI and assessing whether there was incompleteness to the process. It remains unclear whether any federal agency has taken xAI up on using Grok, though xAI also has a major Defense Department deal.The confusion is a reminder that the government is still figuring out its relationship with major large language model firms. For now, the government seems to be moving ahead with helping federal workers interact with ChatGPT, Llama, Claude, and Gemini. This story was supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.
Category:
E-Commerce
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