THANK YOU CROATIA!! 🎤🥹
Last week, I had the opportunity to speak on stage to 600+ people @kiosk_conf in Zagreb, Croatia 🇭🇷
I shared a brand new talk on the biggest brand social shifts in 2025… plus an exclusive look at my 2026 predictions (sorry Instagram, you’ll have to wait).
We explored the idea that community cannot exist without status. Status is the ‘dirty word’ that quietly explains why some brands become culturally relevant and others don’t.
An entire economy of Instagramable brands are winning because of it.
Full roundup is over on LinkedIn and the vlogs are TBC!
Thank you Zagreb, KIOSK, fellow speakers and everyone who has supported the journey so far!! 🤝
*puts international keynote speaker in bio!!*
“Because it’s iconic…”
Shot and edited interviews with the cast of All’s Fair @britishvogue !! 👨🏽💻✂️ what a night… ✨
#allsfair #kardashians #popculture #britishvogue #contentcreator
Spoke to @bbcnews about why social media users are reminiscing on 2016 a decade on. The year has been repackaged as an aesthetic, but why do you think it’s happening? 👇🏽 📰
The Gail’s effect is real. 🥐
You see one open near you. Suddenly, there’s a luxury dog groomer next door, an organic supermarket down the road and the everything has quietly gone up.
It doesn’t feel like a coincidence because it isn’t. Gail’s expansion is driven by AI algorithms predicting which neighbourhoods are about to blow up. By the time the red cups arrive, the data already knew you were moving in.
Is this genius brand strategy or just gentrification with better sourdough?
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Follow @coldestjoel - the weatherman of social strategy - for more insights on brands shaping culture, the ‘why’ behind viral content, and most importantly, what’s next.
Where are you watching this right now?
Bed, kitchen, the tube? Answer honestly.
The content you consume is almost always tied to something you’re already doing, and brands are finally building for that. It’s why episodic series from @alexisbittar and @adidas keep working.
The same psychology as your 3pm Diet Coke or the podcast you only play at the gym. Earn a slot in someone’s routine and you’ve earned their trust. I tell clients to study their own saves folder, because that’s the real KPI.
GAP is making a major comeback… and it’s proof that the right social strategy can drag a legacy brand out of irrelevance.
@gap hired a Chief Entertainment Officer straight out of Hollywood, and the move tells you everything about where fashion is heading.
Fashion brands need fandom the same way shows do. A great TV show pulls you into a world. A regular social ad just interrupts your day.
As a strategist working with global clients, I’m watching this play out in real time.
The American mall might genuinely be making a Gen Z comeback.
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Follow @coldestjoel - the weatherman of social strategy - for more insights on brands shaping culture, the ‘why’ behind viral content, and most importantly, what’s next.
Being chronically online can sap your creativity 🙇🏽♂️ Rejuvenate your mind, challenge yourself intellectually and creatively by joining us at SXSW London this coming June.
Link in the usual place ⬆️
Microdramas were once seen as ‘tacky’ and ‘brain rot’… but now luxury brands like @marcjacobs (and the OG @alexisbittar ) are making their own.
They’ve been huge in China for years, but as with every trend, luxury brands have found a way to ‘elevate’ it. Marc Jacob’s’ ‘The Scene’ follows Rachel Sennett running around NYC for a Met Gala invite.
It’s a familiar pattern:
A format gets labelled common, luxury hangs back, then steps in once the opportunity is too big. Loewe and Jacquemus did it with TikTok and rewrote what luxury looks like on socials.
@cannes_lions has a whole session on the micro-drama boom this summer and I’ll be on the ground there. You coming?
#CannesLionsPartner AD
The marketing strategy behind celebrities cosplaying employees… 💻🤔💼
@jlo launching a LinkedIn and posting as a fictional CEO feels bizarre on the surface but that is exactly why it works. It drops a celebrity into a space where you do not expect them and instantly pulls attention. It also gives brands and films a new way to build narrative before anything even launches.
We are seeing this everywhere. @gilliana showing up as an M&S executive. The job itself is almost irrelevant. What matters is the curiosity it creates and the conversation it sparks.
But there is a limit. Once everyone is doing it, the surprise fades and the whole marketing strategy loses its fun.
Have you clocked how fast this is spreading and how brands are using it?
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Follow @coldestjoel for more insights from Joel Marlinarson - the social strategist and creator analysing the ‘why’ behind viral brands, content and most importantly, what’s next in marketing.
Three of the worst mistakes brands CONTINUE to make on social media.
The truth is, posting “Coming soon” is NOT a launch strategy, not even if you have an engaged community.
Cramming every message into one account, and chasing every trend with no real point of view.
@sleepgym_ built a whole community before launch.
@alixearle had people solving puzzles over skincare.
Immi Ramen runs two pages speaking to two completely different people with the same product.
The brands doing it right all have one thing in common: they’ve thought about who they’re actually talking to and why anyone should even bother watching.
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Follow for more from Joel Marlinarson (@coldestjoel ) - the social strategist and creator the ‘why’ behind what’s happening in content and most importantly, what’s next in marketing.
“Opportunity does not find you sitting on the sofa”
Going to Cannes Lions last year literally changed my career. If there’s one place you want to go to level up your business and mindset as a creator/entrepreneur, it’s @cannes_lions .
Completely on a whim, a speaker from a global brand called me out from the stage mid-talk. He asked me what his team should be doing on socials (based on my content), and that conversation turned into a strategy client. It’s this spontaneity that sums up the whole Cannes Lions experience.
Creators are finally getting a seat at the table alongside the biggest brands and agencies in the world. This summer I’m going back. See you there! 🎯
#CannesLionsPartner
