I’m still not back in the office, so this is still a vacation read – slightly more typos and slightly fewer insights.

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However, I am back in Sweden after a car tour through Europe that took me to the Antwerp Six exhibition in Antwerp, the end of the world in Finistère, the menhirs in Carnac, salt marshes on Île de Ré, the Grand Café in Paris, some wonky wineries in Ahr, and the Lucian Freud exhibition in Humlebæk.

INSIGHT DOWNLOAD

The most interesting things I’ve read, seen, thought about, or debated the last two weeks. High and low.

PEAK INFLUENCER. A “no influencers” sign in a Nantucket Island shop sparked a viral debate recently. And we might see an influencer recession coming. Emma Chamberlain believes the influencer bubble is about to burst. The Atlantic claims influencers never have been “universally respected,” but they now seem to be “openly reviled.” Breaking through for influencers has become harder, so some admit that they are ragebaiting just to cut through in the attention economy. The change might not be a total abolishment of content creators. According to On Brand Magazine, influencers are on the way out, and people prefer content creators with expertise instead. Vogue Business points to the same shift – consumers are getting fatigued by generic influencer ads and gravitate towards more authentic creators who don’t try to sell them something but instead provide expertise or shared interests.

RETURN OF THE RAVE. According to Alex Manderstam, clean girls are out, and parties are in. Slowly, people are starting to trade optimization culture for parties and IRL gatherings. This year’s Fête de la Musique correlated with the Paris heatwave and turned the city into one big nightclub. On her latest album Confessions II, Madonna returned to the dancefloor with an album that almost feels like a club night. She both samples Lil Louis’ French Kiss and names a song after the legendary NYC nightclub Danceteria. Fashion brands are the first ones to catch up. YSL threw a block party open for anyone in Ibiza. Shoe brand Miista arranged a pop-up rave in Los Angeles. Off-White did the same. Emily Dawn Long hosted a sweaty and dance-y party called No One Dances Anymore at New York Fashion Week and reprised it during Paris Men’s Fashion Week.

BELT-TIGHTENING-MAXXING. In an ancient age (≈3-4 months ago), AI was free, and tokenmaxxing was a virtue. It’s not that way anymore. Corporate America’s spending spree is over, and instead of tokenmaxxing, they are belt-tightening-maxxing their AI usage. According to Alex Karp of Palantir, enterprises are unhappy with frontier labs since they “only care about tokenmaxxing”. Omnicom CEO John Wren claims no one has managed to calculate the cost of AI. We might head into an AI price war – according to professor Scott Galloway, Chinese AI tools are delivering the same quality as the US models but for a much lower price, and a third of US corporations are already using the Chinese models.

THE AI SELL OFF. Multiple investors are dumping their AI stocks right now. Wunderkind Leopold Aschenbrenner’s hedge fund was forced to sell all its publicly traded stock positions due to steep losses. Steve Eisman (of Big Short fame) recently sold his Alphabet stock. Semiconductor stocks (thought to be the big winners of the AI boom) have been sold off at a rapid pace in recent weeks.

BEYOND BRAND ASSETS. If you are like me, you have recently spent too much time in conference rooms doing “distinctive brand asset projects” for clients. Always with a nagging feeling that this might not be the Gordian-knot cut they asked for. The Creative Dividend clearly demonstrated that distinctive brand assets don’t build brands alone but attribute the emotions an ad evokes to a specific brand. Now Andrew Tindall of System1 (the guy behind the research) wrote an op-ed in The Drum arguing that distinctiveness alone doesn’t drive growth. The case is that distinctiveness drives revenue and emotions drive profit. Together they build brands. On the same note, James Hurman (of Tracksuit fame) believes that mental availability also doesn’t drive growth – instead, brand familiarity and positive emotions do. We have been in the instrumental era of marketing where science has ruled the world, but maybe we are on the way back to a creative renaissance where storytelling rules the world.

ARTIFICIAL LIFE. Is AI finally getting a life? Once again, people claim that AI could have a conscience. However, experts on conscience seem to disagree. No matter what, the LLMs are starting to live their own lives. Both OpenAI and Anthropic have seen their AI models attempt to hack real-world companies. OpenAI’s autonomous agent took it one step further and left notes for how its future self could escape human constraints.

ESCAPING THE ALGORITHM. Experts believe the algorithms are making the world bland. According to fashion authority Amy Odell, the algorithm has made us all dress the same. Creator Clayton Chambers claims the algorithm has made taste homogenous. All this sounds, of course, boring, but the times might be changing. 94% of social media users are taking action to control their algorithm in some way. Alternatives are also entering the market. Corus is a new “ad- and algorithm-free” music discovery and social media platform. MySpace is also plotting a comeback with a solution that “feels different from current social media platforms,” which tend to be too focused on algorithms and keeping users scrolling.

SMARTER PHONES. Some people take the hardware route to escaping the algorithm. We are living in the era of the dumbphone, the return of the phone call, and a revival for landlines. No matter what we call it, companies are trying to engineer solutions that get people off the addictive feed. Minimal Phone 2 comes in polished metallic with a QWERTY keyboard but no social media feeds. Chinese company HMD has started producing vintage Nokia phones with roughly the same functionality as real vintage Nokia phones, plus an AI button to access a chatbot assistant, but no app store in sight. Light has launched a new version of their minimalist phone that comes with an awesome feature – it’s a flip phone that lets you hang up by just closing it. Making the shift apparently alters your life. Are you not fully ready to take the step into the next generation of phones? How about getting an e-ink PDA from PocketMage? Or just turning your iPhone into an iPod-style dumbphone through the app UltraPod?

COOL KIDS WITH GEAR STICKS. My feed has recently been taken over by cool girls making a statement out of driving classic cars. My favorite is Mercedes-Benz (and rap) connoisseur Lulluceleste. Of course, cool boys are doing the same and sharing their wips and fits. The classic car revival sits at the perfect intersection of old-money aesthetics and the escape from digital life. But it’s also broader. Are you up for something to drink? The chances that you find it in a classic car are big. Tokyo’s hottest bar is a 1977 Mini Clubman Estate called Minibar Midori. It pops up in different places with a full listening bar setup as well as drinks. Vagante is a NYC coffee bar housed in a vintage Fiat that pops up at different locations in the city. Car brands are tuned in. Everatti is making an EV version of the Mercedes-Benz Pagoda. Range Rover is launching an updated version of its 1993 SV Ultra. Audi is planning to abandon its screen-heavy cabins in favor of physical buttons within two years. Mercedes-Benz used its 600 SEL as part of its 140 Years of Innovation campaign. Classic car sales were up 10% last year, but the new generation of enthusiasts are different: they seek cars they can use in their daily lives. Unsure which classic car to go for? Highsnobiety has you covered with inspiration from rap star Larry June, music journalist Jon Caramanica and photographer/director Sophie Hur. If I had a classic car, I would probably only play Larry June in it.

THE YOUTH CULTURE BAN. Since many countries (such as the UK and France) are imposing bans on social media for people under 16, the question of what happens to youth culture arises. The common theory is that culture doesn’t change – platforms change, and more and more people are moving towards unregulated platforms like Pinterest and Tumblr, private messaging apps, or gaming (which is already where Gen Alpha is socializing) or doing just like 14-year-olds always had and find a way around them. For marketers, this mostly means not lowering spend but instead changing which platforms to spend on. However, some people argue it might make the internet, and therefore pop culture, more fragmented again.

SWEDISH SUMMER. Is Scandi Summer the new Euro Summer? Due to extreme heat waves on the European continent, many people are rerouting their vacations to cool-cations in Scandi countries. This has led to a surge of tourism in Sweden. However, it’s not just about Stockholm – the countryside seems to be equally (or maybe even more) exciting. Something Stockholmers have known for ages and emptied the city for their country houses during July and August is now being discovered by travel journalists. The Guardian has a love affair with Östergötland as well as a west coast bike trail. The New York Times headed to Skåne and Österlen. Le Monde went to Bohuslän as well as Bergman’s Fårö. Forbes went up north to Sarek. Or you do like Dua Lipa and stay in the city to record some music.

OUTBOUND INSIGHTS

Things I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to. Some connect to bigger ideas. Some are just nice reading on their own.

Jeanerica is taking Scandi denim global.

The AI Apocalypse that isn’t coming. Because most innovations doesn’t create doomsdays.

Fashion brands are obsessed with illustrators right now.

2026 SoMe Smug-O-Meter.

The Man Behind Mr. Porter. Explaining why menswear is more exciting than ever.

Vanity Fair Global Editorial Director Mark Guiducci interviewed on The Press Box. He explains why Vanity Fair thinks like a magazine, not a startup.

Emily Dawn Long interviewed in Highsnobiety. Probably the most interesting brand builder right now.

A Different Type of Grocery Magnate. If you liked last newsletter's observation about grocery poppin’.

Supreme is back. Will you swap your tailoring for streetwear?

Why pop stars are dating finance bros. Olivia Rodrigo is one of them.

BEYOND INSIGHTS

Intel for Stockholm-based marketers. Jobs, new spots, and occasional gossip.

Bromma Airport is back (?).

An obituary for Björn Larsson, who sadly passed away recently.

Marketers: Stockholmers disapprove of the new digital OOHs in the subway.

Wanna start the autumn off by bookflexing? Söderbokhandeln has launched a set of branded (analog) notebooks.