Andrew McLuhan—author, speaker, and steward of The McLuhan Institute—shares rich, mind-bending perspectives on the current state of culture, media, connection, and commerce. Drawing from a generations-deep intellectual legacy forged by media theorist and philosopher Marshall McLuhan, Andrew explores what it means to live in a world electrified by complete digital immersion.

• “I quickly discovered that it’s easy to overwhelm people with too much information. It’s almost the worst thing you can do, because you lose them, and it can be hard to get them back.” – Andrew McLuhan
• “It’s much easier to teach people one thing at a time than it is to teach them ten things at once.” – Andrew McLuhan
• “‘A poem can’t mean something that it doesn’t mean to you.’ Which is kind of deep, but it’s not the cop out that you think it is.” – Andrew McLuhan, quoting T.S. Eliot
• “Marshall McLuhan saw that through human history we’ve been influenced and steered by the structure and nature of our innovations more than by what we’ve done with them. A new medium is a new culture.” – Andrew McLuhan
• “We don’t like finding out how we’re being used.” – Andrew McLuhan
• “Commerce is a form of media. It is manipulating people in some way and people are being shaped by it.” – Phillip

• How People Are Really Using Gen AI in 2025 – Harvard Business Review
• Other Harvard Business Review pieces:
  • Personalization Done Right
  • The Consumer Psychology of Adopting AI
• Eric McLuhan’s Taking Up McLuhan’s Cause – re-released
• The McLuhan Institute

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Live from Optimove Connect, Brian sits down with Optimove CEO Pini Yakuel and Nikolas Badminton, Chief Futurist at Futurist.com, to unpack the philosophical and practical implications of 'positionless marketing'—a radical rethink of organizational roles in the AI era.

• Positionless is Power: The most innovative organizations won't be flatter—they'll be fluid. Roles dissolve; talent flows where it’s needed.
• AI Is the New Intern: It drafts, it preps, it gets you started—but the genius still has to come from you.
• Old Process ≠ New Potential: Layering AI on legacy workflows just speeds up your inefficiency.
• Control is a Creativity Killer: Let go of silos, turf wars, and micromanagement. The next gen of leaders will trust, not gatekeep.
• The Kids Are Alright—and in Charge: Within 10 years, new mindsets will lead. Curious, collaborative, and chaos-embracing.
• [00:04:48]: “Startups get stuff done because you're positionless. One day you're marketing, next day you're writing code. That’s how you beat the big guys—speed and fluidity.” – Pini Yakuel
• [00:08:03]: “We create the tools, and the tools create us.” – Nick Badminton
• [00:14:44]: “New tech + old process = expensive old process.” – Nick Badminton
• [00:11:50]: “Friction is what makes life life.” – Brian Lange

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Brian goes live from Optimove Connect in London to explore how the idea of “positionless marketing” is revolutionizing the way we think about team structure, agility, and creativity in marketing. He chats with endurance swimmer and environmental activist Lewis Pugh, as well as DAZN’s Ria Chin-You and Optimove’s Paul O’Shea, about marketing’s future and how AI is shaping it.

• [12:25] Lewis Pugh shares how emotional drive and preparation fuel extraordinary feats—like swimming across the North Pole—and what brands can learn from that level of purpose.
• [20:29] “Epic” vs. “great”: Pugh discusses how to distinguish good work from game-changing campaigns.
• [33:42] Environmental justice, consumer justice, and the universal value of doing what's right—and what this really means for global brands today.
• [46:05] DAZN’s Ria Chin-You discusses managing CRM across 200+ markets with a team of nine—and the challenges of scaling personalization with limited resources.
• [50:48] Integrating GenAI into real-world workflows is still a challenge, especially for resource-strapped teams—but the potential is there.
• [58:24] Paul O’Shea explains Optimove’s vision for creating “super workers” through native AI integration and simplifying marketers’ jobs.
• [1:01:08] Cultural nuance is key—global messaging isn’t just about translation, it’s about resonance.
• [1:07:49] In fast-moving industries like sports, being agile isn’t optional. AI could be the key to real-time, reactive marketing at scale.
• “Practice until you can’t get it wrong, not until you get it right.” — Lewis Pugh
• “We need tools that help us scale personalization without sacrificing cultural authenticity.” — Ria Chin-You
• “AI isn’t replacing you, it’s your new teammate.” — Brian

• Learn more about Optimove’s positionless marketing platform at Optimove.com/futurecommerce
• Discover Lewis Pugh’s environmental work at lewispughfoundation.org
• Find Ria Chin-You’s work via DAZN and LinkedIn

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Elizabeth Schmidt sits down with Kelly Cook, the new CEO of David’s Bridal, for a deep-dive into one of the most ambitious retail transformations happening today. Kelly is leading the iconic bridal company through its pivot from “aisle to algorithm,” turning tradition on its head while honoring the trust of over 100 million women they've dressed. Kelly shares how David’s is embracing inclusivity, rethinking what a wedding “should” look like, and creating magical moments for every kind of bride. Plus, we get personal stories, heartfelt leadership lessons, and a big-picture look at what the future of weddings might hold (hint: AR headsets and donut walls).

• From Dresses to Data: “Aisle to Algorithm” Is Here: David’s Bridal is now a full-stack media-tech-commerce company. With AI-driven personalization and financial tools like Pearl Pay, they’re reimagining how weddings are planned—and how brides are supported.
• Wildfang Collab Signals the Future of Weddingwear: Suits, sneakers, ballgowns, cowboy boots—brides today are expressing themselves in radically new ways. The Wildfang partnership reflects David’s commitment to inclusivity and non-traditional celebration.
• Intimacy, Trust, and a Whole Lot of Emotio: Kelly shares moving stories about the deeply personal nature of helping brides find their look. From stylists trained in body confidence to bell-ringing ceremonies, it’s not just commerce—it’s connection.
• Data is Power—But You Don’t Need All of It: Under Kelly’s leadership, David’s is cutting through data overwhelm. The new mantra? 65% of the data is enough to make a decision. Insight and action matter more than analysis paralysis.
• The Future of Weddings Might Be Augmented: Kelly envisions a not-so-distant future where AR and AI are part of the wedding experience—think immersive headsets, projection-mapped dresses, and hyper-personalized storytelling.
• “We’ve dressed 100 million women. That’s not just a legacy—it’s a privilege that allows us to pivot powerfully into the future.” — Kelly Cook
• “It’s women choosing to wear cowboy boots instead of a cushion Louboutin—and we love all of it.” — Kelly Cook
• “We serve anyone who’s in love, no matter who their partner is. If we don’t have what you need, we’ll go get it.” — Kelly Cook
• “You don’t need 90% of the data to make a decision. You need 65—and a little courage.” — Kelly Cook

• Read on The Senses: "The Auratic Economy"

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Feat. Daisy Alioto & Francis Zierer

Daisy Alioto and Francis Zierer of Tasteland join us to talk about what happens when two distinct media brands—Dirt and Creator Spotlight—collide. We explore how podcasting has become a creative extension of newsletters, how parasocial dynamics shape audience building, and what it means to build brand and community in a fractured media landscape.

• The “Anti-Scene” Scene: Today’s creative connections often form organically—through mutual respect and shared ideas, not cliquish gatekeeping—giving rise to an “asynchronous salon” of cultural thinkers.
• Design and Taste as Cultural Signals: Design choices and curation practices influence perception and build cultural credibility.
• Building Media That Builds Taste: Tasteland isn’t about telling people what to like—it’s about helping listeners cultivate their own sense of taste, with media that challenges, informs, and inspires.
• "You can notice the difference in the approach… and I do wonder if the pendulum will swing back to more structured storytelling, like Serial or S-Town. – Daisy
• "The biggest problem with culture plus business is it's easy for dishonesty to creep in. And that sucks. Who wants to listen to someone with no point of view?" – Daisy
• "It's like this asynchronous salon of independent figures… where the connections become more connections across them." – Francis
• "If your media diet becomes a closed loop… you’ve basically traded one algorithm for another. Our job is to help people develop their own taste." – Daisy
• "I read SIC Weekly like a poem… and just click on two links. It forces you to choose—and that’s what develops taste." – Francis

• Subscribe to Dirt
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• Subscribe to Tasteland

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Feat. Josh Friedman

Live from Shoptalk Spring in Las Vegas, Phillip and Brian sit down with Josh Friedman, VP of Digital & eCommerce at Ulta Beauty, for an insider look at how one of America’s leading beauty retailers is evolving its digital experience. From launching a curated, invitation-only marketplace to expanding into wellness and enhancing in-app experiences, Josh shares how Ulta is blending personalization, innovation, and culture to deepen customer relationships. If you're in ecommerce or retail, this episode is packed with insights on community, category expansion, and retail media.

• Curation Over Clutter: Ulta’s invitation-only marketplace prioritizes strategic brand extension over endless assortment, reinforcing its role as a tastemaker rather than a commodity platform.
• Wellness as a Growth Frontier: Ulta is capitalizing on consumer perception and search behavior to deepen its presence in wellness, positioning beauty and wellbeing as an integrated lifestyle category.
• Omnichannel Experience, Reinvented: The Ulta app serves as a central digital companion—bridging AR try-ons, real-time inventory, and event discovery to create a seamless, pre- and post-store journey.
• Community-Led Commerce: Ulta’s growing in-app community fosters peer-to-peer engagement and brand interaction, transforming customer relationships into participatory ecosystems.
• Tech-Enabled Personalization at Scale: Leveraging Adobe, Miracle, and Databricks, Ulta is advancing real-time personalization, AI-powered merchandising, and a retail media network that integrates seamlessly into its broader ecommerce infrastructure.
• “We're not going after an endless aisle. We're really just going after an extender.” – Josh Friedman
• “We want the app to be the destination to have beauty and wellness.” – Josh Friedman
• “We owe it to our customers to requite them with a personalized experience that’s relevant to them.” – Josh Friedman
• “Marketplace should be a gateway into experimenting, growing a bit of a business, and becoming a candidate for our physical shelves.” – Josh Friedman
• “We all have to understand AI-driven commerce as a totally new mode of shopping—it’s not just a new channel.” – Phillip Jackson

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Live from the buzzing floor of ShopTalk Spring, Phillip, Brian, and marketing expert Elizabeth Schmidt unpack everything from nostalgic branding and Gen Z marketing to luxury retail and AI in education. We digest key themes we heard during ShopTalk in real-time and share a compelling look at how relationships and storytelling are driving the next chapter in retail.

• [02:30] CEO Richard Dixon emphasized Gap’s legacy as a canvas for American culture and its pivot toward digital-first experiences while embracing nostalgia.
• [08:30] Kevin O'Leary argues that if you're spending $50K/month and not investing in TV (linear and streaming), you're missing out. His brands spend 40% of ad dollars there.
• [18:00] Accenture outlined 7 dimensions of luxury today—adding experience, innovation, and social value to the classic trio of heritage, exclusivity, and craftsmanship.
• [30:30] Zadig & Voltaire targets Gen Z—but it's Gen X parents doing the buying. Smart multi-generational strategy in play.
• [15:20] Thoughtful, non-promotional SMS messages (like a GIF with no CTA) outperformed sales-driven texts in some cases—surprising and powerful.
• [24:30] The LORE Activation – Future Commerce’s “Book of Lore” pop-up at ShopTalk captured personal brand confessions and created physical artifacts of digital culture.
• "Gap is a canvas... a portfolio of American brands that shape culture." – Elizabeth quoting Richard Dixon
• "Any brand spending $50K/month on ads not doing TV is doing it wrong." – Elizabeth quoting Kevin O'Leary
• “Brighten your customers’ day—don’t just sell. Some of our best SMS responses came from a simple, feel-good GIF.” – Elizabeth
• "40% of their customer base is Gen Z, but they're actually winning Gen X because the parents are the ones that are buying... To have a brand that can appeal to two completely separate demographics is incredible." – Elizabeth
• “You have an always-on advertising channel that's just playing ambiently all the time… and that is extraordinarily powerful.” – Phillip
• "Myths are made when relationships are formed... and this year, ShopTalk feels like a place where those stories begin." – Brian

• @Art_lust on TikTok

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