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The good news is that public pressure has forced several health systems to reverse course and forgive medical debt for certain patients. True relief will be felt when many more of the 100 million Americans who are saddled with medical debt see their balances significantly slashed if not removed altogether.

The insight: While the East and Gulf Coast port strike throws yet another wrench in retailers鈥� supply chains, companies on the whole feel good about their abilities to manage disruptions throughout their networks. The vast majority鈥�93%鈥攐f supply-chain leaders are confident about their supply chain鈥檚 ability to handle future disruptions, per a report by R.R. Donnelley & Sons (RRD).

That has a ripple effect on marketers, as consumers may spend less on other goods and services. But it could also open the door to new brand-influencer collaborations, such as more places to serve ads or affiliate links, or co-branded product launches. Creators are not a monolith.

There was a new study from Columbia Journalism Reviews Tow Center for Digital Journalism, and it found serious accuracy issues with gen AI models used for news searches. This is an article from Benj Edwards of Ars Technica.

Part of me thinks that it's going to be very hard to replicate, and University of Delaware senior Ryan Long who went viral for posting a Charli XCX and Harris mashup says, "Brat is one of the top albums in the world, and it's been huge online. Kamala does such a good job at embodying what people call Brat Summer.

That growth stems from rising quality of private-label goods; 80% of shoppers say store brands are 鈥渏ust as good or better than鈥� name brands, per an Ipsos survey. Our take: Trader Joe鈥檚 understands that its strong value proposition and unique product mix make it a staple in many shoppers鈥� routines. But the biggest determinant of where consumers buy their groceries is their proximity to a store.

鈥淎 good campaign probably has a little bit of risk,鈥� said 鈥淚t鈥檚 Always Sunny In Philadelphia鈥� star Charlie Day at this week鈥檚 OOH Media Con 25. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e much better off taking the risk and taking the swing on something that could be wildly successful.鈥�

And then you need some kick-ass product people who understand how to create platform product with good digital experience. It's very rare that you'll have people who can do both. People tend to either look in or out, and for me, pairing those people well would be fantastic.

While that may sound like good news for Apple, the challenges Google is facing in search would likely also impact Apple. (We don鈥檛 break out Apple鈥檚 search revenues in our forecast.). Retail media accounts for an increasing share of search ad spend in the US. That said, Google just announced it鈥檚 getting into retail media. TikTok also poses a rival to Google when it comes to search ads.

Nike Digital went from having over 30 promotional days last January and February in North America to zero, Hill said. That helped boost full-price sales, but not enough: Nike Digital鈥檚 North America sales fell 12% YoY during the quarter. It鈥檚 taking a similar approach with its wholesale partners.

As of 2024, 61% of the region鈥檚 population belonged to the consumer class (individuals who can afford nonessential goods and services), versus just 29% in Africa and 43% in Asia, per World Data Lab data cited by EBANX. That proportion will grow to 66% by 2034. Local fintechs have built success on underbanked consumers and an openness to digital financial services.

The goal is for Lord & Taylor to offer 鈥渕any different products鈥攚omenswear, special occasion dresses, suiting, small leather goods, footwear, and many other categories,鈥� Regal鈥檚 chief brand and strategy officer, Sina Yenel, told BoF.

Advertisers will keep investing in performance-oriented channels, which is good news for retail media search. At some point, retail media search ad spend will hit a ceiling. Amazon shoppers say the feed has already become cluttered with sponsored results. But banner ads and retail media advertising on connected TV and social media will rise above the noise, even after search is saturated.

If consumers change their mind about purchases once a higher sticker price is in front of them, companies are left with goods they can鈥檛 sell and could be forced to swallow the tariff entirely. 鈥淚f they don鈥檛 want to bear the taxes, we cannot ship the products,鈥� said an executive at an Asian memory chip manufacturer who asked to remain anonymous, per Reuters.

Tesco has already installed 500 digital screens outside of its stores, and other retailers will likely follow suit. In-store and digital signage will represent 30% to 35% of revenues for European RMNs over the next three years, per July 2022 McKinsey & Company data.

Retailers are moving from 鈥渏ust selling goods to services, which can yield higher margins,鈥� our analyst Sky Canaves said. 鈥淎nd Amazon鈥檚 clearly the best example.鈥�. Droesch said not to copy Amazon too closely. 鈥淚f companies can get creative and build flywheels that actually offer personalization that can expand beyond what Amazon offers, then I think that could be really valuable.鈥�.

Our US social ad spending forecast was issued in March 2025, before many of the Trump-imposed tariffs on foreign goods went into effect. The forecast reflects some economic disruption and assumes limited tariffs targeting only select trading partners.

Note: B2B digital advertising includes the advertising of products and services to businesses or other organizations for use in the production of goods, business operations, and resale. It does not include advertising efforts aimed toward individual consumers.

The budding rivalries: OpenAI鈥檚 latest shopping capability in ChatGPT is creating friction across the digital landscape. The tool lets users compare products and click directly to purchase, pitting ChatGPT against product review sites like Wirecutter, as well as search engines like Google and Bing鈥攁nd, for now, OpenAI isn鈥檛 taking affiliate fees, according to Bloomberg.

Patient reviews are only as good as the hospital's reaction to them. And I'll say hospitals because that's what reputation was rating when it was doing its study, but it applies to providers of any kind and health insurance companies. People can give good reviews. That's great.

They've really done a good job of testing and learning, and then optimizing it to the point where they can implement it on a larger scale without disrupting the customer experience. Sky Canaves (04:50):. Yes, I agree.

鈥淢usk envisioned X.com as a comprehensive platform,鈥� a proto-super app 鈥渃overing banking, digital purchases, credit cards, investments, loans, and more.鈥�. The problem: Rebranding a universally recognizable social media platform could upend years of brand equity built by Twitter. 90% of Twitter鈥檚 revenue came from advertising in 2022.

Trump has proposed imposing tariffs as high as 60% on foreign goods, deporting illegal immigrants, and cutting the corporate tax rate鈥攁ll policies that leading economists believe could send inflation soaring. However, an inflation spike could make retail media a more valuable ad channel.

So do you see Disney+'s 150 million subscribers at this point as glass half full, pretty good, lots of people, or glass half empty, because they're not that close to the goal they set out. Paul Verna:. I see it as about three quarters full and half. Marcus Johnson:. That's not a saying. It is now. That's a good one. Paul Verna:.