Turns out people are still the strategy

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Hot off the Ink Drop

This week, marketers skipped the hard sell.

Instead, they leaned into the things people were already talking about, cheering for, and laughing at.

Here's what landed in our inspiration folder.

Reddit is celebrating the internet doing what it does best. Instead of polished influencers or perfectly produced ads, its new People Are the Best campaign highlights the platform's greatest strength: millions of people obsessing over skincare routines, fixing appliances, identifying birds, and answering questions no search engine quite can.

⚡ Get inspired: The best experiences don't show everyone the same thing. Macy's is using AI to continuously match shoppers with the creative they're most likely to engage with, helping the retailer achieve 13% higher conversions while giving its best content more opportunities to perform.

Taco Bell looked at World Cup stress and diagnosed everyone with taco deficiency. Its "Loss Or Celebration Outcome Support" campaign promises free tacos whether your team wins or loses because, honestly, either outcome calls for one.

⚡ Get inspired: Big moments don't wait for marketers. During the Winter Olympics, NBC Sports used live content that automatically updated schedules, medal counts, and breaking news inside email, cutting manual production work by 80% while keeping every send current.

More from the week

e.l.f. Beauty isn't just sponsoring women's soccer. It's joining the fan section. Around the NWSL Challenge Cup and Women's World Cup, the brand is creating match-day experiences, pop-ups, beauty touchups, player meet-and-greets, and fan activations designed to make supporters feel like they're part of something bigger than the game itself.

⚡ Get inspired: Great customer experiences shouldn't feel disconnected across channels. See how Intuit TurboTax is creating connected journeys at every touchpoint so every interaction feels like part of the same experience, not a separate campaign.

Somersby would like everyone to log off for a minute. The cider brand's latest campaign pokes fun at AI gurus, wellness buzzwords, and the endless stream of advice telling us how to optimize our lives. Its alternative? Go outside. Have a cider. Stop overthinking it.

⚡ Get inspired: AI is changing how customers discover and revisit email, but not always in the ways marketers expected. Our latest iOS 27 blog breaks down Apple's newest Mail updates, what they mean for search, and why content now needs to stay relevant long after an email is sent.