Marketers love to “surprise and delight.” So do consumers.

People are increasingly purchasing items without knowing exactly what product, or which variation of a product, they’re going to get. This year, the phenomenon of blind boxes, or mystery boxes, which originated in Asian markets, took off with US consumers amid the growing popularity of keychain Labubu dolls and Sonny Angel figurines. Pop Mart, the brand behind Labubus and other blind-box brands, made 13.88 billion yuan ($1.93 billion) in the first half of this year alone.

MGA Entertainment sells blind-box items like LOL Surprise dolls, which first launched in 2016, and CMO Josh Hackbarth said the company is seeing a current “burst” in demand, which he credits in part to nostalgia and to the rise of the “kidult” consumer.

“A lot of the kids that grew up with our products and maybe some similar surprise unboxing ones now have adult money,” Hackbarth told us.

It’s not just toy brands getting in on the trend. Andy Rebhun, chief marketing and experience officer of fast-casual chain Cava, told us the brand decided to give out blind-box-style pita-chip plushies with the purchase of its Hot Harissa Meal earlier this month after seeing the social media fervor for Pop Mart items.

“The team decided to lean in and place a bet,” Rebhun said. “Sure enough, it was a really good bet for this moment in culture.”

For brands of all kinds, blind boxes can serve to encourage repeat purchases while presenting a marketing opportunity to reach customers of different ages and budgets. Beyond that, the excitement around unboxing mystery items is ripe for social, giving brands a chance to go viral and generate additional brand awareness online.

Continue reading here.—KH

Ed Beadle admits that the marketing team at American Honda Motor Co. Inc. is competitive.

So when the VP of digital services and marketing and his team found out that the organizers of the LA28 Olympics and Paralympics were making venue naming rights available for the first time in Olympic history, they were motivated to make sure that the Honda Center in Anaheim, California, retained its name for the Games.

“The idea of somebody else owning it and then having to cover up our signage, that was one of those things,” Beadle told Marketing Brew. “We were like, ‘Ah, I don’t like that.’”

Honda eventually locked in the naming rights, and last month, Honda Center was announced as one of the first named venues for the event. While the naming rights aren’t the entire reason Honda became a sponsor of LA28 (its official sponsorship was announced prior to the Honda Center news), they were a significant part of the conversation, Beadle said.

“I wouldn’t call it the cake, but it’s icing,” he said. “The fact they let us do it—it’s incredible.”

We spoke to Beadle about Honda’s broader approach to the Games, from its plans for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics next year through a Team USA partnership to the brand’s intentions to show up in LA during the 2028 Games beyond the Honda Center.

Read more here.—AM

When a Gen Zer or Gen Alpha kid plays a Roblox game or engages with an in-game activation, there’s a good chance that Gamefam had a hand in creating it.

The game developer is behind several popular Roblox games like Barbie DreamHouse Tycoon and RoBeats and is a key player in creating branded experiences on the platform. As time spent in the multiverse is only increasing, Gamefam Chief Business Officer Ricardo Briceno is keen on convincing brands looking to engage younger generations to get on Roblox.

Ahead of today’s Marketing Brew Summit, Briceno shared more about his tips for marketers aiming to go deeper with their audiences.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

What’s your favorite recent cultural tie-in that Gamefam has been in on? In Q4 2024, we worked with Warner Music Group to bring Coldplay to Roblox for the first time with a multi-game takeover timed to the launch of their 10th album, Moon Music. It was an interesting problem to solve: Coldplay has captivated the world for nearly three decades, their timeless music spanning generations. Yet today, their core audience skews toward millennials.

In just two weeks, we successfully introduced Coldplay to the next generation of fans and drove excitement for the band’s new album. In total, we recorded 26 million visits on Roblox and 295 million minutes of brand engagement, equivalent to listening to Moon Music 6.7 million times. Directly following the event, Moon Music soared to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking Coldplay’s first No. 1 album in over a decade and fifth No.1 album all time.

Continue reading here.—JN

Instagram helped build the link-in-bio industry, powering platforms like LTK and ShopMy—but new restrictions and rising alternatives are reshaping the space. Discover how these shifts are impacting affiliate marketing and creator revenue. Read the full story to see where the link-in-bio trend is headed.