In the marketing world, if one thing stays constant, it’s that the industry moves fast. This month was a testament to that, with new launches, collaborations and stunts popping up everywhere, all the time. Honestly, with the sheer volume of initiatives going on, no one would blame a marketer for missing out on some of it. Sounds like you? Well, you’re in luck: our monthly recap is finally here.
Whether you’re looking to be inspired, in the know or simply entertained, after this read, you’ll be caught up on it all.
We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get into it.
It’s an it-girl world – we’re just living in it
Olivia Jade launches o.piccola
If you’ve ever wandered onto the vast landscape of YouTube, then you’ve probably heard of Olivia Jade Giannulli. If not (doubtful), let us give you a refresher. Daughter of Full House’s Lori Loughlin and Massimo Giannulli, she’s most known for her girl-next-door vlogs, clean girl makeup looks, red carpet escapades with movie stars and… maybe a rowing incident.
Well, she’s just about to add a new venture to that expansive resume: the launch of her very own makeup brand, o.piccola. What does it consist of? So far, only a highlighter and bronzer stick, Olivia and her team having seemingly decided to go the safe route by testing out the saturated market’s reaction to their arrival with fewer products.
In her place, we wouldn’t be too worried: the business move makes sense for her. After all these years online, she’s garnered a loyal audience that not only trusts her recommendations, but aspires to her equal parts approachable and luxurious routines. Basically, we’d say she is very “Hailey Bieber coded”. She represents everyday glamour, repackaged as cool and doable for the average girl. Seeing how that worked wonders for Rhode, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the same amount of success for o.piccola. Time will tell, but we are excited to see.
Hailey Bieber’s busy summer
Speaking of, we would like to advance the theory that some people are way too blessed, and Hailey is one such case. Beauty, success in business, a marriage to her (supposedly) childhood crush, an adorable child… not only that, but the mogul also seems to have more hours in her days than anybody else. Honestly, how else can she find the time to not only run her empire, but be the face of not one, but two brands this summer?
That’s right: she’ll be lending her cool-girl aura to Mango and Victoria’s Secret during the warmer months, rejuvenating both brands’ essence and giving them a relaxed feel that they’ve previously been lacking. On Mango’s side, the move is sure to help the label break into a younger audience instead of its usual success with older, more corporate-leaning women. As for Victoria’s Secret, the famous lingerie house has been trying to distance itself from its previous very glam, overdone image (think glitter, padding, feathers and the such). A girl-next-door beauty known for her streetwear casual looks is a smart choice to tame out the diva-ness (that now reads as tacky for many Gen Z) of the iconic brand.
Who wouldn’t want to live like Dua Lipa
Another name that seems to have been dealt a better hand than most when it comes to their time: you guessed it, Dua Lipa. Superstar, book club leader, skincare brand owner, Sunny Hill Festival and foundation creator, face of YSL, Nespresso and Frame Fitness AND ambassador of Service95… I mean, is there anything she CAN’T do? If you are not familiar with the latter, let this be your introduction to what we deemed to be the coolest cultural concierge. Whether it’s on their website or socials, you’ll find the best recommendations when it comes to books, art, restaurants and other travelling musts.
With that in mind, it only makes sense for the venture to partner with Google Maps, transforming the singer-songwriter’s must-see spots into 12 shared lists. From London to Tokyo, you too can now travel like the queen of vacations.
This is unserious business
Heinz uses the Hockey Series rivalries to its advantage
We’ll say it: hockey’s great, but hockey food is even better. We’ll even go as far to say that for some of us, seeing a game is also just an excuse to treat yourself to one (or many) hot dogs. And if you also get voracious when you enjoy this delicacy, then chances are that, just like us, you get condiments, well, just about everywhere but in your mouth.
In one of the wittiest moves we’ve seen this year, Heinz combined this insight with the fact that everybody’s currently talking about the series. The result? The transformation of rivaling hockey teams’ jerseys into napkins to wipe off any stray mustard or ketchup drips. It’s funny, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it fits seamlessly into the cultural conversation. It’s exactly the kind of bold marketing that we would like to see more of. Hats (or helmets) off to the brand and its agency, Rethink, for the idea.
Garnier messes things up
Do you sometimes think about an obviously dumb mistake you made at work, and it keeps you up at night? If you said no, just know we know you are lying. And if you said yes, rest assured: even brands put their foot in it sometimes.
This is what the most recent campaign of Garnier hinged on: the misunderstanding of their newest “employee”, Love Island star TJ Palma, during the brief meant to reintroduce the cult classic Fructis Curl Construct Creation Mousse. This led to many chaotic stunts online and IRL where a moose ran rampant as an unofficial brand mascot. Was it in any way, shape or form linked to the product? No. Was it born from an office inside joke? Most probably. Did it get people talking? Absolutely. This is a great case study of the way modern audiences are interacting with brands online: the new demand is not to be informed, but entertained, and this latest campaign by Garnier did just that.
Going old school
McDonald’s prints your office lunch
For most people, a third of their meals are eaten at work. That’s a lot of meal prepping. So why not take a break from it and order some McDonald’s instead? This is what the new campaign of the fast food giant brings forward: their delivery service, entirely shot on an office staple, aka the trusty printer. With such a simple campaign message, going creative with the visual means makes for a campaign that stands out. We love it, and think it’s a great example of a concept being stronger when copy and visual work together.
Gymshark makes you sweat in style
This summer, working out will never have looked better thanks to the collaboration of Bratz and Gymshark on a new capsule fitwear collection. This marketing initiative hits quite a few strategic angles, and we can’t help but think it’s brilliant. Y2K nostalgia keeps being an ongoing trend, and you can’t get more 2000s than the Bratz. The dolls are also known for their fashion taste and sassy behavior, both key aspects that resonate with a Gen Z audience that isn’t afraid to express itself, vocally and through their style. In short, it’s a cute, culturally relevant campaign that’s sure to make waves with a younger crowd.
Platform switch-ups
This past month, brands haven’t been the only ones to level up their game. Two social platforms have also leveraged their tools and functionality to offer new services for their online audiences. Rapid-fire style, here’s what you need to know:
- Launch of Instants: move over BeReal, this is the new way to take spontaneous, unedited moments through your camera and share them with your followers.
- Multiple captions per carousels: this new functionality will enable you to have a specific description for each picture of your dump, making it perfect to keep the overall feel of your caption short, concise and punchy. This is a short attention span game changer.
- More specific insights: new metrics are now offered by the platform to help business and creator pages measure what content of theirs has a real impact, through skip rates, repost rates and views over time.
- Edits: the montage app by Instagram now enables you to make versions of the same video, perfect to A/B test a brand message and see under what format it works best.
- Promoting your events: the most recent addition to the platform’s toolkit enables brands to post and advertise their events.
The bottom line
This closes out the month of May 2026 neatly. Reviewing what this one had to offer, we would say that there is one single trend seeming to link everything together: not being afraid to approach things differently. So for the brands and marketers that have made it this far, this is our advice: be bold, have some audacity, switch things up with new ambassadors, and don’t hesitate to leverage up your offer. This is what is going to make you stand out in a sea of sameness.
We’ll catch up again at the end of June.