Welcome to the next edition of On The Record, 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.
🔥 London’s Turn: Women’s Champions Cup Brings Global Spotlight to the Capital
📌 FIFA has announced that the inaugural Women’s Champions Cup will take place in London from 28 January to 1 February 2026 - a landmark moment underscoring how far women’s football has risen in global stature and commercial weight. The tournament will bring together continental champions from Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas in a Club World Cup-style format, with Arsenal representing Europe as reigning Women’s Champions League winners.
For London, it’s a symbolic statement that women’s sport now commands prime calendar space in world football. For brands and broadcasters, it’s an opportunity to align with one of the fastest-growing sports ecosystems in the world - driven by surging fan attendance, commercial partnerships, and cross-continental media visibility.
Yet fixture congestion remains a concern, with the Women’s African Cup of Nations overlapping domestic schedules. Still, the event’s arrival in a major global market like London cements women’s football as a year-round cultural and commercial force.
50,000+ fans attended the 2025 Women’s Champions League final at San Mamés - a new benchmark for continental attendance (UEFA).
The global women’s football market is projected to reach $1.3B by 2030, up from $660M in 2023 (FIFA Benchmarking Report).
England’s Women’s Super League attendance rose +34% YoY, with Arsenal averaging 25,000+ fans per match (FA, 2025).
💡A global women’s Club World Cup is a signal that women’s football has entered its commercial prime. ⚽
💚 From Ultras to Abuelos: Real Betis Turns Loyalty Into Legacy
📌 In an era when football clubs chase Gen Z engagement and TikTok reach, Real Betis looked the other way - toward its roots. During their La Liga clash with Osasuna on 28 September, the Andalusian side invited their 11 oldest club members to serve as team mascots. The gesture turned a routine fixture into a powerful display of emotional branding, bridging generations and reinforcing Betis’ identity as a “people’s club.” In a sport dominated by globalisation and commercial scale, Betis chose authenticity and community over spectacle.
60,000+ registered Socios make Betis one of Spain’s most loyal fanbases (Marca, 2025).
Clubs with high “heritage equity” show 20–25% higher season ticket retention (Deloitte Football Money League 2025).
Betis’ mascot post drew 1.2M+ engagements in 48 hours, outperforming match highlights (Blinkfire Analytics).
💡 In an era of algorithmic fandom, heritage is becoming football’s most undervalued currency. 💚
🔥 Spotify x ChatGPT: When Algorithms Start Acting Like Your Coolest Friend
📌 Spotify has teamed up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT to transform how users discover music and podcasts. The new conversational feature lets users ask for playlists or recommendations in natural language - for example, “make me a playlist with Latin artists from my heavy rotation” or “podcasts to go deeper into science and innovation.” Rolling out globally from 6 October 2025, it marks Spotify’s most ambitious AI integration yet.
Strategically, the move reframes AI as a taste enhancer rather than a threat - a bridge between data-driven personalisation and human-like curation. But it also raises questions about authenticity and cultural discovery if the experience feels too corporate or overly curated.
Spotify surpassed 615 million monthly active users in Q2 2025 (Statista).
81% of Gen Z listeners use recommendations to discover new music, but 58% say algorithmic playlists “miss their vibe” (Wasserman Collective, 2025).
AI music interactions are projected to grow 40% year-on-year through 2026 (MIDiA Research).
💡 AI’s next frontier isn’t creation - it’s conversation. The future of streaming lies in context, not content. 🎧
🔥 Ireland’s Basic Income for Artists: A World-First Blueprint for Cultural Sustainability
📌 Ireland has announced that its pioneering Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme will become a permanent national programme from 2026, supporting up to 2,200 artists and creative workers with €325 a week. First piloted in 2022, the initiative was designed to address chronic financial precarity in the arts - a sector long celebrated culturally but under-supported economically.
By embedding creative work into the country’s welfare and productivity framework, Ireland positions itself as a global leader in cultural policy. The move reframes creative labour as essential, not expendable - a recognition that cultural workers contribute to national well-being and identity in tangible economic and social terms.
Early results from the pilot phase show significant reductions in financial stress and increased creative output among participants. However, questions remain over sustainability: can the €325 weekly rate keep pace with inflation, and how will eligibility be managed in such a fluid sector? Still, Ireland’s decision marks a bold reimagining of how nations value creative work.
2,000 artists took part in the 2022-2025 pilot phase.
Participants reported major reductions in financial stress and higher creative productivity.
Ireland has seen an 84% decline in nightclubs since 2000, with just 83 venues remaining (Give Us The Night, 2025).
💡 Ireland’s move reframes creativity as infrastructure, not indulgence – setting a new global benchmark for cultural sustainability. 🎭
🔥 North London Industrialism: Arsenal x A-COLD-WALL*
📌 Arsenal’s latest collaboration with A-COLD-WALL* isn’t just merch - it’s a signal. The 27-piece capsule, released in October 2025, brings together two London powerhouses: the Premier League club with deep heritage, and Samuel Ross’ design label known for architectural minimalism and social commentary. Following their 2024 link-up with Aries, Arsenal are now defining what football–fashion partnerships can look like - culturally literate, design-led, and true to both worlds.
The football–fashion economy has exploded, with the global sportswear market projected to hit $358B by 2030 (Statista, 2025).
“Club-branded lifestyle drops” are seeing double-digit growth across Gen Z consumers...
...while 68% of fans aged 18-29 say they’re more likely to buy apparel from their club when it’s part of a fashion collaboration rather than a traditional kit release (WARC).
This drop cements Arsenal’s evolution from football club to lifestyle brand. It blends sport, design, and identity with local authenticity - referencing Avenell Road and fronted by both men’s and women’s players. It’s not clout-chasing, it’s cultural authorship. By partnering with Samuel Ross, a designer rooted in working-class Britain yet globally influential, Arsenal show how football and fashion can merge without losing integrity.
💡 Football clubs are no longer selling identity - they’re curating it through design. ⚽
🔥 The Match That Forgot Its Names: England x Alzheimer’s Society
📌 In a moving collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Society International, England’s men’s team played the second half of their Wembley friendly against Belgium with their names removed from their shirts - a powerful live metaphor for memory loss. The campaign, part of the FA’s purpose-led strategy, reframed football’s emotional power as a tool for empathy and awareness around dementia. It traded branding for symbolism, allowing silence to speak volumes.
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer, yet one in three people living with it in England and Wales remain undiagnosed (Alzheimer’s Society, 2025). The initiative also launched a national “checklist” to help fans recognise early signs and encourage diagnosis.
1 in 3 people with dementia in England and Wales are undiagnosed.
Memory loss remains the most recognised symptom, but stigma prevents early intervention.
The campaign’s creative concept - “The Nameless Shirts” - aims to turn matchday visibility into a human moment of recognition.
💡 When purpose is lived, not labelled, it connects. The FA’s “nameless shirts” prove that silence can sometimes be the loudest message in sport. ⚽
🔥 TikTok Sold: What It Means for Brands, Creators & Scrollers
📌 Under mounting U.S. regulatory pressure, ByteDance has agreed to spin off TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new, partially independent company backed by Oracle, Silver Lake and domestic investors. The $14 billion deal keeps the app live but shifts control and accountability onto U.S. soil. ByteDance retains under 20% ownership and licenses its algorithm, meaning the experience for users remains largely unchanged - for now.
For creators, this marks a “platform reset moment”: monetisation frameworks and compliance rules will tighten, while algorithmic behaviour may subtly evolve. For brands, the sale removes existential risk but underlines the fragility of over-reliance on single platforms. With U.S. oversight, TikTok’s tone may grow safer and more compliant, potentially diluting the chaotic cultural edge that made it magnetic in the first place.
Strategically, this is stability over subversion - reassurance for advertisers, but a test of authenticity for the culture that built the app’s power.
💡 Algorithmic governance is now cultural governance - and brands that understand that power shift will win. ⚖️
🔥 Velour Revival: NIVEA x Juicy Couture Brings Back the Y2K Touch
📌 NIVEA is tapping into Y2K nostalgia to reintroduce its Essentially Enriched Body Lotion through the #SkinLikeVelour campaign - a limited-edition collaboration with Juicy Couture that merges touchable skin with tactile fashion. The campaign features influencers like Gabby Windey and Delaney Rowe, blending sensorial marketing with nostalgic glamour. It’s a smart revival that connects skincare performance to emotional texture, appealing to a generation obsessed with the aesthetics of “feel.”
The U.S. body care market was valued at $15.3 billion in 2024 (Statista), while “nostalgia beauty” grew 37% year-on-year (WGSN).
Searches for Juicy Couture spiked 70% on resale platforms since 2023 (Depop), showing how cultural memory and material cues are driving brand reappraisal.
💡Nostalgia is the new luxury - brands that connect sensory experience with cultural memory win both hearts and feeds. ✨
🎮 Netflix Levels Up: Streaming Meets Gaming
📌 Netflix is officially expanding beyond streaming, making its video games playable on TVs for the first time. Subscribers can now access family-friendly titles like Lego Party, Pictionary: Game Night, Tetris Time Warp, and Boggle Party - using their phones as controllers via QR code. The shift transforms Netflix into a shared-screen gaming space, merging viewing and play in the same living room. With Americans spending over US$59 billion on video games in 2024 (Statista), Netflix’s move targets a niche largely untouched by streaming rivals. Backed by former Epic Games exec Alain Tascan, its focus spans four areas: kids’ games, party titles, major IPs like Grand Theft Auto, and adaptations from Netflix originals such as Stranger Things and Squid Game. This push redefines Netflix’s role from passive entertainment platform to interactive social hub.
US$59 billion: U.S. gaming market value in 2024 (Statista)
Netflix’s gaming unit now led by Alain Tascan, former Epic Games exec
Games currently free to all Netflix subscribers
💡 🎮 Netflix is evolving from “watch together” to “play together” - turning streaming time into screen time with purpose.
🔥 CeraVe x NBA: When Skincare Enters the Big Leagues
📌 CeraVe just made NBA history - becoming the league’s first-ever official skincare and haircare partner. The deal takes the brand far beyond pharmacy aisles, placing it courtside at marquee events like NBA All-Star, the Emirates NBA Cup, and NBA Summer League. It’s more than logo placement: CeraVe’s collaboration with 10-time All-Star Anthony Davis (“Head of CeraVe”) extends into NBA 2K26, retail activations, and a new youth programme, Care For All, bringing skincare education to Jr. NBA clinics across the U.S.
The U.S. skincare market is projected to hit $33.2 billion by 2028 (Statista, 2025). 47% of Gen Z men now use facial skincare regularly (NPD Group, 2024). The NBA’s digital platforms reach over 2.1 billion fans globally (NBA, 2025). CeraVe is positioning skincare as performance culture, merging health, sport, and style - a modern and inclusive take on self-care for athletes and fans alike.
💡 Skincare is entering the performance era – brands that treat self-care as part of athletic culture are redefining what “fit” looks like. 🏀
🔥 Swift’s One-Weekend Power Play: Album-Drop Film as Box Office Weapon
📌 Taylor Swift turned an album release into a theatrical event - and a market lesson. Announced just two weeks out, Taylor Swift | The Official Release Party of a Showgirl opened at $34m domestic ($50m+ global) across 3,700+ screens before vacating premium formats for Tron: Ares the following week. By contrast, Dwayne Johnson’s prestige drama The Smashing Machine opened to just $5.9m despite months of UFC tie-ins and festival acclaim. Swift’s move redefined the intersection of fan culture, scarcity, and theatrical marketing.
It’s a clean A/B test in cultural capital and conversion. Swift’s play: speed, scarcity, and control. No paid media blitz, no extended run – just three days of event pricing and participatory fandom that delivered both box office and album hype. The result reframes exhibition as a programmable cultural platform, where owned audiences and event behaviour can outperform traditional release cycles.
📊 Supporting Stats
$34m domestic / $50m+ global weekend; A+ CinemaScore; AMC-led distribution.
2.7m U.S. first-day album sales (Luminate/Billboard/AP) – one of the highest single-day totals in modern history.
Deadline calls it a “box office anomaly”, with unmatched social reach vs. concert-film norms (RelishMix).
💡 Swift compressed the entertainment funnel into 72 hours – proving that if you own the audience, you can monetise the moment. ⚡
🎙️ Things Get Weird in Blackpool | Coining It
📌 In this debut episode, journalist James Parker uncovers an unbelievable true story from Blackpool - a struggling seaside town where one man discovers a glitch in a Bitcoin trading platform that could make him rich overnight. What unfolds is a sharp, cinematic exploration of greed, friendship, and desperation in an age of digital get-rich-quick schemes.
✅ Worth Your Time Because:
It’s a gripping real-world parable about modern hustle culture and the illusion of instant wealth
Captures how hope, risk, and tech-fueled luck shape cultural narratives in post-industrial Britain - and how storytelling rooted in real human stakes cuts through digital noise.
Offers brand strategists a lesson in authentic, place-based storytelling - showing how local realities and cultural tension points can drive global resonance.
💡 Shout out to the brilliant Denize Belingy for surfacing this gem - it’s a masterclass in tone, pacing, and cultural commentary that blurs the line between true crime and social insight.
🎬 BFI London Film Festival – 8–19 Oct – Across London, London Final week of the UK’s premier film showcase, spotlighting global premieres and immersive works.
🎨 Frieze London – 15–19 Oct – Regent’s Park, London Flagship contemporary art fair attracting global collectors, curators, and creative industry eyes.
🏛️ Do Ho Suh: Walk the House – until 19 Oct – Tate Modern, London Immersive textile installation exploring home, memory, and belonging.
🖼️ Theatre Picasso – ongoing – Tate Modern, London Transforms Picasso’s work into an experimental performance-space experience.
🕺 Blitz: The Club That Shaped the 80s – ongoing – Design Museum, London Explores the New Romantic club scene that redefined London’s music and fashion identity.
🎭 Mary Page Marlowe starring Susan Sarandon – ongoing – The Old Vic, London Star-driven drama exploring fractured identity and modern womanhood.
🎤 Katy Perry – The Lifetimes Tour – 13 & 14 Oct – The O2 Arena, London Pop powerhouse brings a high-production, nostalgia-rich live show to the capital.
🎷 kwn (Live) – 13 Oct – Jazz Café, Camden, London Rising jazz-fusion artist known for soulful improvisation and intimate stage energy.
🎵 Abel Selaocoe Live – 13 Oct – KOKO, Camden, London Virtuoso cellist uniting African rhythm and classical power in a genre-defying performance.
🍸 London Cocktail Week – 10–20 Oct – Citywide venues, London Bars, mixologists, and spirits brands collaborate across the capital in the world’s largest cocktail festival.
🏃 Royal Parks Half Marathon – 13 Oct – Hyde Park & Westminster route, London Thousands take part in the city’s signature autumn charity run.
🏈 NFL London: Rams vs Jaguars – 19 Oct – Wembley Stadium, London American football spectacle bringing stateside energy and brand buzz to London.
🍴 London Restaurant Festival (Autumn Edition) – all month – Various venues, London Citywide culinary collaborations and tasting menus celebrating London’s dining scene.
🖤 Black History Month London – all month – Multiple venues, London Talks, screenings, and exhibitions spotlighting Black British culture and creativity.
🍺 Oktoberfest London – throughout October – Beer halls & pop-ups across London, London Seasonal celebration blending Bavarian tradition and London nightlife.
🧠 Royal Institution Lectures – 13, 15 & 20 Oct – The Royal Institution, Mayfair, London Public talks fusing science, storytelling, and innovation.
🎸 Grizzly Bear Residency – from 13 Oct – Brooklyn Steel, New York Indie rock veterans return with a residency launching their first U.S. tour in years.
🎤 Gold Star (Live) – 13 Oct – Bowery Ballroom, New York Alt-electronic act brings intimate, atmospheric performance to the Lower East Side.
🎸 Pete Yorn (Live) – 13 Oct – Le Poisson Rouge, Greenwich Village, New York Singer-songwriter blends melodic nostalgia with cinematic storytelling.
🎭 Turandot (Puccini) – 13 Oct – The Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center, New York Lavish opera staging merging rich visuals and classic performance.
🖼️ Jeffrey Gibson: The Animal That Therefore I Am – ongoing – The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Vivid multimedia works exploring identity, language, and Indigenous expression.
🖼️ Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers – ongoing – Guggenheim Museum, New York Emotive large-scale installations examining race, resilience, and structure.
🖼️ Claes Oldenburg: Drawn From Life – ongoing – Whitney Museum of American Art, New York Playful retrospective highlighting process, sketch, and sculptural imagination.
🎨 David Byrne: Ideas in Motion – ongoing – Pace Gallery, Chelsea, New York Cross-disciplinary work blending art, sound, and text from the Talking Heads visionary.
🌍 England vs Wales (International Friendly) – 9 Oct – Wembley Stadium, London High-profile friendly under the Wembley lights during the international break.
🌍 Latvia vs England (World Cup Qualifier) – 14 Oct – Daugavas Stadium, Riga, Latvia European qualifier continuing England’s 2026 World Cup campaign.
⚽ Portugal vs Ireland (World Cup Qualifier) – 11 Oct – Estádio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal Key Group A fixture between two European rivals.
⚽ Wales vs Belgium (World Cup Qualifier) – 13 Oct – Cardiff City Stadium, Wales Crucial European qualifying clash with strong UK interest.
Global Citizen Festival 2025: 4.3 Million Actions for People and Planet
Turning a Concert into a Catalyst
What began as a grassroots movement in 2008 to end extreme poverty has evolved into one of the most powerful coalitions for global action. Now in its 13th year, the Global Citizen Festival once again transformed New York’s Central Park into a rallying point for both policy and pop culture. Sixty thousand people filled the Great Lawn, with millions tuning in worldwide - proving that civic action, amplified through culture, still moves the needle.
This year’s campaign mobilised a record-breaking 4.3 million citizen actions, supporting three core goals:
Protecting the Amazon rainforest, with $280 million raised to safeguard 25 million hectares and a $60 million recommitment from Norway to the Amazon Fund.
Expanding renewable energy access, with pledges from the European Commission, Globeleq, Energea, and Pele Energy Group to power 4.6 million homes across Africa by 2030.
Advancing education and nutrition, including $140 million mobilised for children’s education and over $30 million for the FIFA Global Citizen Education Fund.
Global Stage, Local Impact
Hosted by Hugh Jackman and featuring performances by Shakira, Cardi B, Tyla, Ayra Starr, and Mariah the Scientist, the festival united artists, advocates, and heads of state in one purpose: tangible impact. It coincided with the UN General Assembly and Climate Week NYC, creating a direct bridge between cultural energy and political accountability.
Across 13 years, more than $49 billion in commitments have been deployed through Global Citizen platforms, improving the lives of 1.3 billion people worldwide. The 2025 edition also spotlighted sustainability at its core: the event was carbon-neutral, powered by Coldplay’s SmartGrid battery system, with zero-waste food and on-site reforestation initiatives.
Next on the Horizon
The work continues. Next month’s Global Citizen Festival: Amazônia will extend the movement’s reach to Latin America, aiming to hit a $1 billion goal to protect the rainforest, while November’s Global Citizen NOW: Johannesburg at the G20 Summit will press for new energy and finance commitments for Africa’s clean transition.
Why It Matters
Global Citizen’s model proves that advocacy can be scalable, measurable, and inspiring. By converting audiences into action-takers, it bridges the gap between awareness and accountability.
Global Citizen 2025 isn’t just a festival. It’s a framework - showing how music, technology, and activism can converge to build the blueprint for global change.
🔥 Taylor Swift’s one-weekend film-event delivered $34m domestic and $50m+ global with an A+ CinemaScore, released via AMC Theatres Distribution. (AMC)
🎧 Spotify ended Q2 2025 at 696m MAUs and 276m subscribers, underscoring the scale behind its new ChatGPT-powered discovery features. (Spotify newsroom)
🟣 ByteDance’s deal keeps TikTok live in the U.S. with ByteDance holding <20% of the new entity and U.S.-majority board control. (Reuters)
🏀 The 2025 NBA Finals generated 5 billion social video views globally, highlighting the audience CeraVe taps as the league’s first skincare partner. (AP; PR Newswire)
🎮 Netflix is rolling out party games on TVs where your phone pairs via QR as the controller, starting with LEGO Party!, Pictionary: Game Night, Boggle Party, Tetris Time Warp. (Netflix; The Verge)
⚽ The inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup final phase lands in London, 28 Jan–1 Feb 2026, bringing six continental champions to the capital. (FIFA; ESPN)