Welcome to the first edition of On The Record 2026, thoughtful analysis on culture, entertainment, tech, fashion, music, sport, and brands. Here’s a round-up of key conversations and campaigns that caught my attention this week.
👀 TRIP turns a corner shop into a long-term brand moment
TRIP and Creatisan transformed an everyday newsagent into a full external brand takeover – not a pop-up or short-term stunt, but a months-long presence embedded into the street itself. From paint and vinyl to windows and fascia, the entire exterior became a lived-in brand canvas rather than rented media space.
The move shows how much impact sits in overlooked, real-world environments. Instead of chasing billboards or fleeting activations, TRIP chose permanence, locality and daily visibility – meeting people where they already are.
💡 Owning unexpected physical spaces can create more cultural value than buying the most obvious media placement – especially when the work feels part of the neighbourhood, not parachuted into it. ✨
🎶 Mumford & Sons turn album listening into a live fan moment
📌 Mumford & Sons partnered with Planet Fans to host secret album playbacks for select fans during their sold-out UK and European arena tour, offering backstage listening sessions of unreleased music ahead of their sixth album, Prizefighter. Using Planet Fans’ digital pass system, fans already inside venues were discreetly notified just hours before shows, then escorted backstage without knowing what they were about to experience. Members of the band later appeared unannounced to thank fans in person, turning album previews into intimate, high-trust community moments rather than traditional promo events.
Prizefighter, the band’s sixth album, is released on 20 February via Island Records
Between 50 and 120 fans took part at each show, coordinated across venues and security teams
Push notifications were sent just two hours before each playback to fans already in the building
💡This is fandom as infrastructure, not marketing, using data, timing and trust to turn album launches into emotionally resonant experiences. 🎧
👀 Unearth PR’s Campaigns That Cut Through This Year 🌟
📌 The Unearth PR team rounded up the PR and marketing campaigns from the past year that genuinely earned attention. From cultural timing and product storytelling to smart OOH and community-driven hype, these moments show what happens when brands tap into culture rather than chase it.
M&S’s strawberries & cream ‘sando’ blurred food categories during Wimbledon, turning a seasonal product into a national talking point.
Mattel launched its first-ever Type 1 Diabetes Barbie, fronted by Lila Moss, expanding representation through a global brand icon.
Rare Beauty introduced its new fragrance with scratch-and-sniff billboards across New York, Soho and Chelsea, bringing sensory marketing back into OOH.
SKIMS’ jawline-sculpting face wrap became an instant viral product moment, driven by curiosity and controversy.
Lime flipped TfL strike disruption into sharp OOH copy, remixing “Good Service on All Lines” across London.
Kylie Jenner revived her King Kylie era to mark 10 years of Kylie Cosmetics, leaning into nostalgia as brand equity.
The Ordinary launched The Periodic Fable, transforming industry buzzwords into a fake periodic table to question how brands manufacture trust.
Rhode’s Sephora UK launch turned London black cabs into branded beauty lounges, bringing product sampling into the street.
ELLE Magazine and Charlotte Tilbury’s £7.99 cover gift sold out nationwide after going viral, proving print still moves culture when the offer is right.
McDonald’s unleashed The Grinch across festive OOH, flipped signage and in-restaurant chaos, driving fans offline and into stores.
💡 The strongest campaigns this year didn’t shout louder, they showed up smarter, embedding themselves directly into culture, routine and conversation. 🧠✨
🎄💄 Charlotte Tilbury tops AI-powered Christmas beauty recommendations
📌 Charlotte Tilbury has emerged as the most recommended beauty brand by AI this Christmas, according to an ‘AI Christmas Nice List’ created by digital marketing and PR agency Tank. The ranking analysed how frequently and how early brands are suggested by AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT when users search for beauty gifting inspiration. Out of nearly 130 websites reviewed, the Puig-owned make-up brand achieved the highest mention score in the beauty category, outperforming established players including Estée Lauder, Clinique and MAC. The findings point to the growing influence of search visibility, content depth and long-term digital optimisation in shaping how AI surfaces brands during high-intent retail moments.
Mention score of 30, the highest in the beauty category
Ranked above Estée Lauder (18) and Clinique and Lookfantastic (9)
Study analysed nearly 130 websites across the beauty sector
💡 As AI becomes a new discovery layer, brands that invest in search, how-to content and authority are shaping recommendations before consumers even hit checkout. 🤖✨
The World’s Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2025 💰🏅
📌 Forbes’ 2025 ranking reveals a landmark year for women’s sport, with the world’s top 20 highest-paid female athletes generating a combined $293 million, a 13% increase on 2024. While prize money records were broken across tennis, golf and basketball, the list underscores a structural reality: most financial upside still sits off the field, through endorsements, media, fashion and licensing. Led by Coco Gauff’s $33 million haul, the ranking reflects how women athletes are increasingly valued as cultural operators, founders and platforms in their own right, even as pay gaps within leagues remain stark.
$293m total earnings across the top 20 athletes, up from $258m in 2024
72% of total income came from off-field activity such as endorsements and partnerships
The earnings cutoff rose to $8.1m, up from $6.3m last year
Tennis accounted for half of the list, but basketball, golf, skiing, track and rugby all featured
💡The money in women’s sport is growing fast, but the real acceleration is happening where performance meets platform, personality and brand power. 🚀
🏀 A’ja Wilson’s dominance has tipped into something bigger than sport
📌 Summary TIME’s decision to name A’ja Wilson its 2025 Athlete of the Year reflects more than an extraordinary season, it recognises a shift in cultural gravity. Wilson delivered one of the most complete campaigns in basketball history, pairing individual excellence with team success and leadership at scale. But her impact stretches further, as visibility, representation and long-term power in women’s sport increasingly sit with athletes who refuse to shrink their presence, soften their ambition or wait for permission.
Wilson’s season arrived at a pivotal moment for the WNBA, as viewership, attendance and commercial momentum continued to rise even amid league-wide tensions around pay, recognition and legacy. Her response was not performative or reactive, but rooted in consistency, accountability and belief in collective progress, both on the court and at the negotiating table. The result is an athlete operating at true icon level, influencing culture quietly and permanently by existing fully in her excellence.
First player in WNBA or NBA history to win a championship alongside the scoring title, league MVP, Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the same season
Fourth league MVP before age 30, placing her in a peer group with Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James
Led the Las Vegas Aces to their third WNBA championship in four years, after a mid-season turnaround that defined leadership under pressure
💡 The real inflection point in women’s sport isn’t visibility alone, it’s when greatness becomes normalised, expected and impossible to ignore 🏀
How Brands Can Compete in the 2026 Social Media Landscape 📱
📌 Future Social argues that the brands set to win in 2026 will not be chasing shiny innovation, but finally committing to the fundamentals they should already have nailed. Short-form vertical video is positioned as the default language of social, not an experiment, and success depends as much on internal trust as it does on creative output. The piece stresses that emotional insight, creator-led thinking, and sharper ideas will separate brands that perform from those that plateau.
Video is now the most consumed, most versatile and most viral content format across platforms
Brands limiting social teams with heavy approvals consistently underperform
Content rooted in emotional relevance outperforms trend-chasing alone
💡 Social is not changing in 2026, but the brands willing to take creative risk and respect the craft will finally pull ahead 🎥
🏀 WNBPA pushes back on WNBA revenue split talks
📌 With the next WNBA collective bargaining agreement deadline approaching, negotiations are stalling over revenue sharing. According to reporting from The Athletic, the WNBPA is asking for players to receive around 30 percent of total league revenue, while the WNBA has proposed less than 15 percent, a figure that would decline over the life of the deal. The gap highlights growing tension as the league expands commercially, while players argue compensation has not kept pace with growth.
Players’ proposal: ~30 percent of total league revenue
League proposal: under 15 percent
Current offer reportedly decreases over the CBA term
💡 As the WNBA’s cultural and commercial profile rises, revenue sharing is becoming the defining test of how growth is shared between league and labour. 🏀
🃏 Caitlin Clark maintains top billing in memorabilia space with Panini release
📌 Summary According to eBay’s annual search data, Caitlin Clark was the most searched WNBA athlete on the resale platform this year, underscoring her breakout impact beyond the court. Paige Bueckers, Cameron Brink, Sophie Cunningham and Sabrina Ionescu rounded out the top five, signalling a broader surge in demand for women’s basketball collectibles. Building on that momentum, Panini America released Caitlin Clark Chronicled, a dedicated trading card series, following its exclusive multi-year memorabilia deal with Clark.
Caitlin Clark ranked #1 among all WNBA athletes searched on eBay this year
Four of the top five most searched WNBA players are part of the league’s new generation of stars
Panini America holds an exclusive multi-year memorabilia partnership with Clark
💡Women’s basketball fandom is now fully transacting, with athlete-led IP driving real value in the collectibles economy 🃏
🎬 Oscars to Move Exclusively to YouTube from 2029
📌 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has signed a four-year global deal making YouTube the exclusive home of the Oscars from 2029 to 2033, ending a decades-long run on US broadcast television. The partnership covers not just the ceremony but red carpet, backstage access, nominations, Governors Awards and year-round Academy programming, signalling a decisive shift from broadcast to platform-led distribution. It reflects both YouTube’s growing dominance in live streaming and the Academy’s push to reach younger, more international audiences as linear TV continues to decline.
YouTube hosted its first live NFL game this year, attracting over 17m viewers
YouTube TV had 9.4m subscribers as of April and is forecast to become the largest US pay-TV service
ABC still drew 19.7m viewers for the 2025 Oscars, up slightly year-on-year
💡 One-liner insight: The Oscars moving to YouTube confirms that cultural prestige is no longer tied to broadcast, it now lives where attention already is 📺➡️📱
Why On Is Entering Football ⚽
Source: Daniel Yaw Miller’s latest SportsVerse newsletter
📌 On’s signing of 18-year-old FC Barcelona and Switzerland star Sydney Schertenleib marks the brand’s first move into football, but notably without launching boots or on-pitch product. Instead, she joins as a training and lifestyle ambassador, allowing On to introduce itself to football culture with minimal risk and existing product lines. The move reflects On’s wider ambition to scale beyond its running roots and establish itself as a full-spectrum sportswear brand as it passes $3bn in annual revenue. By backing a highly marketable Gen-Z athlete early, On is prioritising long-term cultural relevance, credibility and upside over immediate performance visibility.
On is expected to generate over $3bn in annual revenue this year
Schertenleib has amassed 460,000+ Instagram followers at age 18
This is On’s first football-related signing to date
💡On isn’t entering football through boots or sponsorships, but through lifestyle, using Gen-Z athlete credibility to open the category before committing to product ⚽
🎙️ Every Business Is Now Show Business: Why the Modern CMO Is a Showrunner
Hitmakers – Season 2, Episode 2
Hosts: Ana Andjelic and Lee Maschmeyer
📌 Why this episode matters right now This episode lands squarely in the middle of a visible cultural shift: brands like A24, Miu Miu, and AI-native companies are no longer acting like marketers - they’re behaving like entertainment studios and cultural operators. The hosts unpack why cafés, book clubs, membership programs, publishing arms, and physical spaces are not side projects, but core infrastructure for modern brand growth.
At a moment when attention is fragmented and traditional performance marketing is plateauing, Hitmakers frames a powerful thesis: the CMO has become a showrunner, orchestrating worlds, narratives, collaborators, and experiences - not just campaigns.
✅ Worth Your Time Because:
Introduces a clear operating model shift Explains why brands are building ecosystems (content, product, community, physical space) instead of relying on ads - and how this directly ties to margin, valuation, and long-term relevance.
Connects culture to commercial outcomes Makes the case that cultural capital now precedes financial capital - a critical insight for brand leaders navigating fashion, music, sport, and media-adjacent industries.
Sharp examples from the cultural frontier Uses A24, Miu Miu, and AI brands as proof points for how world-building beats awareness-building.
Reframes the CMO role for 2026+ Positions marketing leadership as closer to a creative producer or studio head than a traditional demand-gen function - highly relevant for senior marketers and strategists.
Bottom line: If you’re tracking how culture moves margins, multiples, and market cap, this episode is a strong signal of where elite brand strategy is heading - away from campaigns, toward continuous cultural production.
🖼️ Emily Kam Kngwarray – Tate Modern – through 11 Jan A landmark exhibition elevating Indigenous Australian modernism, resonating strongly across global art, fashion and cultural discourse.
🏛️ Mumbai + London: New Ancient Perspectives – British Museum – through 11 Jan A timely exploration of shared urban histories, aligning with diaspora storytelling, global cities narratives and cultural exchange.
📸 Blondie in Camera 1978 – Barbican Art Gallery – until 5 Jan A last-chance exhibition capturing punk, music and counterculture nostalgia with strong crossover appeal for fashion and music brands.
🖌️ Cecil Beaton’s Fashionable World – National Portrait Gallery – through 11 Jan A high-interest fashion and celebrity photography exhibition ideal for luxury, heritage and editorial-driven cultural moments.
🎨 Turner Prize 2025 Exhibition – Tate Britain – through January The UK’s most influential contemporary art platform continues to shape conversation around emerging talent and cultural relevance.
🎶 The Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble – Carnegie Hall – 12 Jan A refined classical performance bridging elite culture, philanthropy and winter arts season positioning.
🔮 Pinterest Predicts 2026 – The Aesthetics, Behaviours and Signals Shaping Next Year
📌 Pinterest’s annual Predicts report outlines 21 emerging trends for 2026, built from global search behaviour rather than hindsight. This year’s signals point to a decisive swing away from restraint and optimisation, and towards tactility, excess, ritual and self-authorship across fashion, beauty, food, travel and home.
📌 Across categories, Gen Z and Millennials drive hyper-expressive aesthetics, while Gen X and Boomers reassert influence through nostalgia, craft and ritual. The unifying thread is intention: people want to feel, collect, layer, write, style and experience with meaning.
📌 For brands, this is less about chasing micro-aesthetics and more about understanding the emotional drivers underneath them: escapism, identity signalling, sensory pleasure and cultural authorship.
Key signals from the report:
Niche perfume collection searches up +500%
80s luxury up +225%
Afrobohemian home decor up +220%
Lace nails up +215%
Scotland Highlands aesthetic up +465%
🧠 The Cultural Through-Lines to Watch
🖐 Sensory overload goes mainstream Trends like Gimme Gummy, Glitchy Glam and Laced Up point to a post-screen craving for texture, tactility and imperfection. Jelly blushes, rubberised nail art, lace phone cases and mismatched make-up all prioritise feel over polish.
🧵 Maximalism with memory From Glamoratti tailoring and Brooched menswear to Opera Aesthetic parties and Neo Deco interiors, excess is back, but it is referential rather than flashy. Vintage codes, heirlooms and theatricality replace novelty for novelty’s sake.
✍️ Rituals reclaim relevance Poetcore, Pen Pals and Scent Stacking reflect a wider return to slow, authored behaviours. Letter writing, fragrance layering and fountain pens all signal resistance to frictionless digital life, favouring personal process over efficiency.
🌍 Escapism gets emotional Mystic Outlands and Darecations show travel splitting in two directions: either high-adrenaline experiences or deeply atmospheric, almost spiritual destinations. Both offer narrative value over passive consumption.
🥬 Everyday culture, reimagined Even food trends like Cabbage Crush reflect the same impulse: taking the familiar and reworking it with craft, creativity and status. Utility becomes aesthetic.
💡 Pinterest Predicts 2026 shows culture moving from optimisation to ornamentation, where feeling something matters more than streamlining everything ✨
🔥 $293m was earned by the world’s top 20 highest-paid female athletes in 2025, up 13% year-on-year, with 72% coming from off-field income such as endorsements and media. (Forbes)
🤖 Charlotte Tilbury ranked #1 in AI-powered beauty gifting recommendations this Christmas, achieving the highest mention score across nearly 130 beauty brand websites analysed. (Tank)
📺 YouTube will become the exclusive global home of the Oscars from 2029–2033, marking the first time the ceremony fully exits US broadcast television. (The Guardian)
🏀 WNBA players are pushing for ~30% of league revenue in the next CBA, while the league’s current proposal sits below 15% and declines over time. (The Athletic)
🃏 Caitlin Clark was the most searched WNBA athlete on eBay in 2025, with four of the top five searches belonging to the league’s new generation of stars. (eBay)
🔮 Pinterest search data shows maximalist aesthetics surging, including +500% growth in niche perfume collection searches and +465% for Scotland Highlands-inspired travel. (Pinterest Predicts)