Got a ton of people on the internet talking about the same thing for a day? Brands might rush in. Got a ton of people talking about the same thing for weeks on end? Brands will rush in.

That’s exactly what has happened over the last two months amid the third and final season of Amazon Prime Video’s The Summer I Turned Pretty, an adaptation of a book series by Jenny Han that nabbed 25 million viewers in the first seven days following its premiere, according to Amazon internal data shared with Marketing Brew. The coming-of-age romance drama following Isabel “Belly” Conklin and her relationship with two brothers has been the talk of the summer on social media, with fans speculating what will come next each week, making predictions, and dissecting episodes. And many, many brands and sports teams and leagues have made content chiming in.

Social media teams who spoke to Marketing Brew said the response to their show-related posts has largely been positive. So why not continue to build on the momentum? For some marketers, the show has a particular element making it ripe for conversation: there’s a team element to the show, with many fans rooting for either Conrad or Jeremiah Fisher to win over Belly’s heart and declaring themselves #TeamConrad or #TeamJeremiah.

“What really excites us in social is that fandom is a universal language, whether or not you are a fan of a baseball team or a TV show or a musician,” said Cameron Gidari, VP, social media and innovation for MLB, which has been posting about the show on its socials since August. “This show is having watch parties [where] you’re team Conrad or you’re team Jeremiah, so a lot of the instinct and the behavior is really similar to that of a sports fan.”

Continue reading here.—KM

While media giants like Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery gear up to spin off their cable businesses, ad-tech platform Tatari is emphasizing that there is still power in running linear TV ads.

At Tatari’s Forward 2025 event in New York last Thursday, marketers assembled to discuss the evolving TV advertising space. Execs from Reddit, mental health app Calm, and more got on stage to discuss how ad spend on TV can complement marketing efforts on other platforms.

Perfect pair? Reddit may be an online platform, but it has a “symbiotic” relationship with TV, company CEO and co-founder Steve Huffman said onstage. For one, 94% of Reddit users are TV service subscribers, he noted, and the platform has 50,000 communities dedicated to topics like TV and streaming, demonstrating that there is an appetite among users to discuss that type of content in online spaces.

“Entertainment is our No. 1 largest category on Reddit. It’s absolutely massive,” he said.

Huffman said he disagreed with the idea that mobile phone screens are the “second screen” to TV viewership, noting that they serve different purposes for TV viewers at different times.

“I think that’s nonsense,” he said. “I think what’s really important is not what’s the second screen, it’s the idea that there are two first screens.”

Read more here.—JS

If there’s one brand that’s come to define the “unhinged” social marketing era, it’s Duolingo.

Whether it’s bubble butt Super Bowl interruptions, mascot séances, or death stunts, the language-learning platform has figured out how to continuously shock its audience while somehow getting them to do their next lesson. The brand now has more than 20 million followers across TikTok and Instagram and, in its latest earnings report, reported a 41% increase in revenue and 47.7 million daily users, a 40% increase.

Manu Orssaud, CMO of Duolingo, spoke at yesterday’s Marketing Brew Summit, and ahead of the event, we caught up with him to hear how the brand is continuing to push the envelope online to drive growth and customer loyalty.

This year, Duolingo had its most successful marketing moment yet with the “Death of Duo” campaign. What did that stunt teach you about how to drive and sustain audience engagement? One of our team mantras is that the comments section is our brief. We pay close attention to what people say, and we aren’t afraid to experiment in response. Duo works because he’s not just a mascot, he’s an internet personality that people feel connected to. This campaign reminded us that sustained engagement comes from building a character people care about, then giving them a story they want to be part of. It also showed us how powerful these moments can be, and we’re excited to create more of them in the future.

As a chief marketer, how do you empower your team to take big swings and act quickly while minimizing risk? Part of my role is knowing how far we can push things. Our team has a great deal of autonomy, which means they can move quickly and make smart calls in the moment. Speed and trust are what enable us to stay current with culture and respond in ways that feel fresh. Of course, not every risk lands perfectly, but the goal isn’t to be safe; it’s to create work that sparks conversation and keeps people engaged with our brand.

Continue reading here.—KH

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Stories we’re jealous of.

• Healthcare Brew wrote about how Serena Williams x Ro could change pharma advertising.
• The Wall Street Journal looked into Jaguar’s less-than-beloved rebrand—and why those naysayers may not matter very much for the luxury carmaker.
• New York Magazine wrote about the hypercommercial world many children experience inside of Roblox.