The 7 Shifts Top Brands Are Quietly Betting On for 2026

Summary

Sweat Equity: Forecasting the 7 Unexpected Marketing Shifts That Will Redefine 2026

Podcast: Sweat Equity
Hosts: Alex Garcia & Brian Blum
Episode Date: December 16, 2025
Theme: Strategic predictions for the future of marketing, focusing on seven macro shifts likely to redefine how brands operate and grow by 2026.
Purpose: Provide listeners with actionable insights and real-world examples so brands can adapt, stay nimble, and outpace the competition in a rapidly evolving marketing landscape.

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Episode Overview

Alex and Brian, drawing from their hands-on experience in performance, content, and growth marketing, forecast seven major shifts that will influence the marketing playbook in 2026. Through vibrant banter and accessible explanations, they deliver creative breakdowns, practical advice, and fresh perspectives on influencer collaborations, ad platforms, e-commerce, and brand building—no-fluff, just actionable value.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nano Influencers Will Dominate (00:35 – 06:19)

• Why the Shift?
  • Traditional macro-influencers aren’t moving the needle as they once did; costs are high and ROI is low.
  • Nano influencers (<10k followers) are content creators first—authentic, engaged, and manageable at scale.
• Benefits:
  • Less expensive, easier to train and organize (seen in Discord/TikTok Shop communities).
  • Lower risk with potential for multiple “home run” posts if you partner with hundreds of creators instead of betting on one.
• Notable Quote:
  • “If I can get these people who are skilled and I… get 100 pitches with the nano influencers, who do you think I’m going to take? I might have a grand slam.” – Brian [02:43]
• Practical Example:
  • Discord communities organizing 100+ nano creators to hit deadlines and content formats—a superpower for brands.

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2. Meta Partnership Ads – The Next Performance Frontier (06:19 – 10:25)

• What Changed:
  • Meta is encouraging brands to use partnership ads (formerly “whitelisting”), enabling brands to tap into creators’ audiences and pixel data for targeted ads.
• Why It Works:
  • More authentic; leverages real people’s endorsement within the brand’s ad ecosystem.
  • Brands are getting up to a 30% better CPA (cost per acquisition) via these ads.
• Notable Quote:
  • “For whatever reason, like whether it’s Vudu, blackmagic… Meta is saying that this is causing brands to get a 30% better CPA.” – Alex [07:04]
• Rollout:
  • Feature is largely available to everyone; check with Meta if you can’t find it.

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3. YouTube Ads – The Blue Ocean (10:36 – 15:58)

• Undervalued Channel:
  • Few brands currently excel with YouTube ads—mostly creators have mastered the space.
• Opportunity:
  • Intense targeting: by search intent, video watch habits, and keywords (e.g., target users watching “how to build a content calendar” if you’re a SaaS tool).
  • Use tailored hooks in ads, run highly relevant lead magnets.
• Notable Quote:
  • “YouTube has now flipped Netflix… for the number one place that people are spending their attention in the United States.” – Alex [13:11]
• Pro Tip:
  • Invest time and budget into YouTube ads early for disproportionate results before the channel gets crowded.

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4. High AOV TikTok Shop Products – A Platform Matures (16:02 – 21:53)

• Major Growth:
  • 8 brands topped $10M sales on TikTok Shop in November, breaking previous platform records—proving sales of higher-ticket SKUs ($150–$300+) can succeed.
• Key Strategies:
  • Consumers want deals, not just low prices—show exclusive discounts on TikTok compared to other retail platforms.
  • Replicate Shark Ninja’s playbook: list at a high price, show a discount, and let affiliates leverage the exclusivity angle.
• Consumer Behavior:
  • Growing trust in in-app purchases; seamless discovery-to-purchase is reducing friction and boosting conversions.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Customers are not necessarily looking for low AOVs, they’re looking for deals.” – Alex [18:10]

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5. Experiential Marketing – From “Presence” to “Ownership” (22:30 – 26:44)

• Beyond Booths & Farmer’s Markets:
  • Brands should engineer creative, fully owned, and integrated in-person experiences that address real consumer pain points.
• Memorable Example:
  • Good Wipes transformed event Porta Potties into a “first class” bathroom experience at music festivals—solving a problem while embedding the brand deeply.
  • Puresport’s hydration station at marathon events.
• Notable Quote:
  • “Part of having great content is doing things.” – Alex [24:52]
• Key Takeaway:
  • Experiential events should be noteworthy, not generic—give people a reason to be fans and to share content.

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6. From Performance to Brand Marketing (26:44 – 30:04)

• Macro Trend:
  • Brands have squeezed paid media to the limit. The future is building long-term loyalty and affinity through brand and organic investments.
• ROI Shift:
  • “Brand” will now be the engine behind everything—email, SMS, organic search, baseline conversion rates.
  • The benefits (open rates, direct traffic, retail lift) are clear but harder to measure than paid ROI.
• Notable Quotes:
  • “The shift from performance to brand marketing is the new performance marketing.” – Brian [28:12]
  • “Brand marketing is not having to convince someone to buy something.” – Brian [29:20]
• Practical Insight:
  • The most loved brands can sell easily at a premium—loyalty trumps promo codes.

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7. Live Shopping & the Rise of Always-On Experiences (30:04 – 33:52)

• Skims as a Tipping Point:
  • Kim Kardashian’s live shopping stream (with Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart!) signals the arrival of the trend in mainstream US retail.
• Why It’s Powerful:
  • Real-time engagement and direct purchasing make live shopping a high-converting format.
  • Expect more brands to invest in regular live shows, blending entertainment and commerce.
• Notable Examples:
  • BPN’s “Last Man Standing” running event—live coverage created viral connection and anticipation for upcoming doc-style content.
• Notable Quote:
  • “We’re done with recap content. Like it’s live. We’re going live.” – Brian [33:16]
• Content Leverage:
  • Live events generate more content before, during, and after—brands can create dozens of assets from one activation.

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Timestamps for Major Segment Shifts

• [00:35] Nano Influencers will dominate
• [06:19] Meta Partnership Ads
• [10:36] YouTube Ads—Undervalued Opportunity
• [16:02] High AOV TikTok Shop Products
• [22:30] Experiential Marketing
• [26:44] Shift to Brand Marketing
• [30:04] Live Shopping: The Next Frontier

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• Alex (on brand affinity): “If you invest in brand marketing… I’m probably going to want to open your email.” [28:28]
• Brian (on brand loyalty): “When I love a brand, bro, I don’t look at the price. I don’t read the copy. I don’t look at the details. I just buy.” [29:40]
• Alex (on TikTok Shop’s evolution): “This is so obvious that it’s where it’s going. People are only spending more time on there… this rejection of social media has not really happened yet.” [21:05]
• Brian (on live content): “You have to have something during, before, [and] after. If you don’t have before, during, after, then you’re literally just selling yourself so short.” [33:18]

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Key Takeaways for Listeners

• Think Volume and Authenticity: Spread budget and attention to a large pool of motivated nano-influencers.
• Experiment with Partnership Ads: Meta’s tools are evolving—get on board early for lower CPAs and more belief-driven conversions.
• Don’t Sleep on YouTube: Invest heavily now while the channel is not saturated and targeting remains robust.
• Rethink TikTok Shop: The window for high-value products and creative deal positioning is open, just as consumer trust hits a new high.
• Own Your IRL Experiences: Turn in-person brand interactions into Instagrammable, life-enhancing moments—not just sales opportunities.
• Invest in Branding: Build a tribe that buys out of loyalty, making every future campaign more efficient.
• Go Live: Create real-time, immersive customer experiences—capitalize on drama, energy, and the FOMO effect to convert and retain.

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What's Next

Alex and Brian will deep-dive into each of these trends in upcoming episodes, revealing playbooks and actionable steps for brands to lead, not follow, as the marketing world evolves in 2026.

Transcript

[A]

What's up, guys? Welcome back to another episode of Sweat Equity. We got a special venue today where Wander Falling leaves in Austin. And it's because a very special episode. So most brands are like a cruise ship. They can't steer even though they see the iceberg in front of them. Right. They're going into these different things and they're not doing the right initiatives to actually grow their brand. What we want to do for you is help you not be one of them. So we're going to break down the seven macro trends that are influencing performance at best big brands in 2026.

[B]

How long did you practice that intro and when did you think about the steering?

[A]

Did I. Could I nail that?

[B]

You nailed that.

[A]

Was that straight?

[B]

You nailed that.

[A]

All right, so without further ado, let's get into it. Number one, Nano influencers are going to take over.

[B]

Agreed.

[A]

This is something I've been talking about for the longest. We both work with a lot of brands that do big influencer partnerships. They do not move the needle, like, at all anymore. And what has happened is the cost equation, in my opinion, has switched. Right. So if you could pay $5,000 for a single in Feed Real post, we both charge similar numbers for our B2B content. I think that's a little bit different because one lead obviously equals a lot more in revenue.

[B]

One lead could be a six figure account.

[A]

Totally. And that's not the case if you're selling like a $25 electrolyte pack. Yeah. Right. And so if you're paying $5,000 for an influencer partnership, like know you're going to have to really get a lot of value out of that. And instead this nano influencer thing, which I would define as someone under 10,000 followers, is starting to emerge. Charles. Yeah, Charles got. Charles got the Nano.

[B]

Yeah, he's Nano.

[A]

He's got Nano. Many things.

[B]

Micro Nano.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, we'll leave it there. But no, and. And it is actually something that's. Charles is a great example of someone who shares fitness content online. And so if I'm a fitness brand, you know, he's been getting his weight in. Yeah, he's way down. Yeah. Physique looking good.

[B]

Great.

[A]

And so now if it's like if you're an apparel brand, if you're a footwear brand, like, you know, theoretically, if you sent him some PR and you know, that was really all you had to do to get the post, you don't got to pay him. He's just going to tag it on his story or maybe make A, you know, in feed, post and post about it. As long as you can get like 500 to a thousand of those a month. My bet for 2026 is that's going to outperform paying one singular influencer $5,000 for a single post.

[B]

Couldn't agree more. So there's a few ways I want to think about this. Number one, if you have a bunch of. When I say average nano influencers, what I mean is they're already, they are good at making content, but let's say they haven't been making content for as long as the macro influencer.

[A]

They're content creators, they're not influencers.

[B]

Yes, there's a difference. Right? Every influencer was a nano influencer at some point.

[A]

True.

[B]

You know what I mean? So remember that you could have the next quote unquote influencer. Now the other thing is so like when we look at that and then we say, hey, if I can get these people who are skilled and I, and I want to bet on who's going to hit a home run and I only get one pitch with the large influencer versus I get 100 pitches with the nano influencers, who do you think I'm going to take? I might hit multiple home runs here, 100%, you know what I'm saying? I might have a grand slam. Who, who, who knows what's going to happen here? Now one prediction I have from the macro influencer side is if you look at BPN as an example and you look at their brand page, their brand page actually has one of the highest engagements from like a, a brand side that I've seen. Why they're not just going and saying, hey, like, you know, Fonz, Lucy, we need one post from you. They're creating an ample amount of content on the back end of that influencer. And those creators, athletes are actual a large part of their strategy if they're a content creator first, yes, in their strategy. And so therefore I sign Fonz, I sign Lucy, I sign Jake, et cetera, based off their likeness, I'm able to garner millions and millions of impressions. I'm able to garner a ton of ad creative.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I'm able to really leverage the reason you sign them in the first place. Right, but from what exactly what you're talking about would I bet the 5k on or the 10k on one singular post that's probably going to get like, you know, let's say 100,000 impressions at Moser. How 100. Sorry, 100,000 views at most. No, I'M a better on the hundred people that if I got. If they each average 5,000 views and.

[A]

One of them will get a million.

[B]

Yes, one of them is going to get a million.

[A]

And it'll be like a crazy, authentic peer to peer video rather than, oh, they just paid an influencer for that. So, you know, on several different fronts. This is why I think it makes sense. Number one is obviously the investment. Yeah, it's going to be more cost effective. Number two is your ability to actually organize these people. When you're working with nano influencers, sometimes they're grateful to be there. Like, you know, a lot of the time you work with a real influencer. Like, they're going to be someone who wants to do the content their way. They're going to be difficult to get on a meeting. Like, there's a lot of different friction points in working with them. But if you have, like, I just think about these discord communities we've built for some of these brands on TikTok shop. Like, they show up to meetings, bro, like, like we'll have a zoom call and we'll have 115 people on there listening to the required content formats and then producing those on the day that we ask them to do it, which is an absolute superpower for people. So it's like, number one, you're able to organize them and also train them and guide them to get the output that you want, which is incredibly powerful because probably every brand listening to this podcast has had some sort of bad experience with an influencer video that came out not the way they wanted it, 100%. And so with a nano influencer thing, it's so much lower stakes that of course you're going to get some bad eggs. Right. There's plenty of videos that are not going to be great.

[B]

You're going to get that regardless if it's a nano influencer or a macro influencer, but which one's going to cost way less to have a mistake.

[A]

It's really twofold. It's like, number one, the investment thesis is kind of flipped. And then number two, I think the tools in the service businesses, you think about, you know, Vyro, Mr. Beast Clipping Agency. We've always obviously seen WAP concert rewards. There's other apps that are starting to emerge. I think all of these things are going to contribute to this being like a massive, massive earning potential situation for regular content creators and then also that brands are going to adopt it a lot.

[B]

Couldn't agree more. What's on your second list Number two.

[A]

Is Meta partnership ads. So this is going to get a little more in the weeds performance marketing style. But we work directly with the Meta Israel team. So on their key account side and some inside baseball for you guys is that Meta is like heavily pushing this partnership ads thing. So they've kind of opened up their entire new, like, you know, creator portal, if you will, where it's a lot easier now to. You used to whitelist, right? So it's like I would run an ad for, you know, C4 from Alex Garcia's page that is different than this partnership ad thing. And it's different because of the backend data that's being used. So when you do a partnership ad with Alex Garcia now, it's going to like tap into your pixel, your data, all these different things and use that to influence the targeting. And for whatever reason, like whether it's Vudu, blackmagic or whether it's, you know, just a better tool, Meta is saying that this is causing brands to get a 30% better CPA. So generally speaking.

[B]

And are you seeing that on the back end?

[A]

It's been super effective for us. I think we're running it with non like big influencers. So we're running it with a bunch of like an army of nano influencers. It's basically like we're running partnership ads with all the UGC creators that we're doing it with. And I think like whitelisting from UGC accounts has been around for a while. But what I'm saying is this is a separate ad unit for brands to start adopting heavily. And I think this is in part because we're seeing this macro trend of people believe mainstream things less. Whether that's the news, whether that's, you know, the, the data they're seeing, like everything's kind of being questioned at the, at the forefront. And that's why an ad from a brand doesn't hit the same as a TikTok shop affiliate video. Right. When you see an everyday person talking about a brand and a product that helped them solve a personal issue seems more believable. So I think partnership ads is like Meta's response to the TikTok shop revolution. And it's, it's going to be really interesting.

[B]

Does everyone have access to it or is it something that they're rolling out slowly to bigger accounts?

[A]

And then I think any ad account has access to it. If you don't let me know if you're sweat equity listener, I'll put you on, send me the ad account. But I Think it. I think it's been rolled out to everybody. Yeah.

[B]

I'm personally glad I don't have to be in Meta anymore.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I mean, just because, like, like on our end, we're not running any of the ads. Everything that works organically is then getting put in the ad account. I get to hand that off.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Just because, man, Meta is a monster of a headache. As you know.

[A]

I'm addicted to spending money in all aspects of life. I can't help myself. Same. So, I mean, dude, throwing, throwing, throwing.

[B]

You know, close is my weakness. I was trying to put all my clothes away. This was this week. And there's like three bun, like large bundles. I just don't know where it's gonna go.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm talking about like large, large bundles that are just like stacked that way. I have no idea where this is going to go right now.

[A]

Like, you're not ready to say bye bye?

[B]

I'm not saying bye because it's.

[A]

I wear actively, but it's by right now.

[B]

No, it's like I'm just going to keep it in this bundle and then like, I'm. When I'm getting dressed, I have to go put it in the dryer to get some wrinkles out because I'm like.

[A]

So you're saying you just don't got the space.

[B]

I don't have the space on the clothes side. That is.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

If you know me like, that is the one area I spend money totally is close.

[A]

For sure.

[B]

Clothes and shoes.

[A]

Yeah. No, I'm with you. I. Yeah, we had some expensive dinners out in Miami and that was. That was a guilty pleasure for sure. Led to.

[B]

You're a dinner guy. I. Charles was telling me. I didn't know that.

[A]

I. I'll.

[B]

If you'll. You'll spend a lot on a dinner.

[A]

I'll go three hours dinner with anybody.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. It's like that in golf. Like, I just. I find those to be golf. I understand the best places to go, like meet somebody, dine, share experience. I kind of like them bringing it out. Yeah. It's like the, you know, that part's interesting.

[B]

There's something about your family. There's something about your childhood.

[A]

Big dog. Yeah. Maybe we'll unpack that on a future episode.

[B]

But there's something I like about breathing, so.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Moving on. Number three. So number three. And this one I'm actually super bullish on because no one's doing it right. And I'll back this up with why I think it's important YouTube ads so literally never talked about like why does no one care about YouTube ads?

[B]

I feel there's two people that talk about it. So there's a head of growth from ironically BPN that that talks about it non stop but just I mean for them it makes so much sense, right? Like they all of their top athletes and now that I think like all their top athletes have large YouTube followings.

[A]

So good, right?

[B]

70 to 100 probably in the hundreds of thousands. You object Deer and Lucy fonts that.

[A]

I know 100 to a million. Yeah.

[B]

And like then you have nick who has 1.7. That's a big like that's an untapped channel that most don't crack.

[A]

No one cracks it because no one puts in everything is a product of the investment that you put into a channel. Like that is my biggest like central belief is like if you put money and time into something, you'll just crack it like 100%. It's just like anything 100%.

[B]

And then JRV like Jones Road beauty does, right?

[A]

They do.

[B]

They do a good job on I.

[A]

Had a call bro about TikTok shop with Cody.

[B]

Yeah, how'd that go?

[A]

Nice guy.

[B]

He's good. Yeah, he's a nice guy.

[A]

Good podcast shadow marketing operators. I'll give it to him. But so YouTube ads is going to be huge. And the reason why is because obviously what we just discussed, there's like two brands crushing it. Like you would never be like, oh, there's only two brands crushing Meta. There's only two brands crushing TikTok shop. Like there's hundreds, thousands of brands and a lot of people are doing a good job on YouTube but it's obviously not as widespread. So I think there's a lot of blue ocean opportunity to come in and.

[B]

Be elite because it's so creator dominant. It's not brand dominant.

[A]

Like I agree.

[B]

I can literally can on count on both hands like the brands that I think are actually doing a good job and it's like Canyon and these are more in like health wellness, but like Canyon. Solomon, BPN represent ish because they don't publish as much as they probably should.

[A]

But you're talking organic. I'm talking paid media.

[B]

No, I know but those brands like so Canyon does do a lot on YouTube. Solomon. I'm not sure if they do a lot on YouTube but like I know Canyon does because they have an organic piece of content that they do that's like dream bike builds and so it's like literally like a movie where they Put together a bike and that gets millions of views every time and then they retarget on the back end. But I don't think people know as well how good you can target on YouTube.

[A]

It's insane.

[B]

Like you could talk like if somebody searches, wander a house in Austin, you could target them with a video. Yes. Of this exact house as an example. Right. Like you can get so insanely targeted with that 100%.

[A]

So that was going to be kind of. My next point is that. No, no, no, it's perfect. It's perfect segue because YouTube via Google, obviously owned by Google and YouTube as a data source is like insane. They know everything about your watching preferences. Just think about how tailored your YouTube homepage is. There's always something on there that they know you're going to click on. But the other user behavior that's happening right now is YouTube has now flipped Netflix by a good amount for the number one place that people are spending their attention in the United States. Yes. The number one streaming source, if you will. And just think about if you had the ability to run pre roll on Netflix, which I'm sure you can. I think they like released an ad unit somehow. But like, oh, you have the ability to run pre roll, you just take the crazy hook, you know, format that exists in short form and apply it because obviously people can skip after five seconds. And so it's like you just need to apply those same hook principles, you know, tease, tension, conflict resolution and put it in there.

[B]

YouTube's also one of the interesting places where you can make the hook specific to what you target. Right. So like if the meat of the, of the video is similar. Right. But you're, you want to target a specific keyword, then you could include that keyword in the hook. And so it's one of those places where filming 10 hooks, 15 hooks could make sense because you could get so detailed in your targeting that you can make the first five seconds specific to the video that they're going to watch. Because that's another thing, you could target videos that people are watching. Right. Like I don't think you all understand how. So if somebody's watching a. How to build out my content calendar. And you're a content calendar software.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You can target the person that's watching.

[A]

That video or your notion.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Right. And you're saying, you know, we're going to target everyone that has because it's keyword based, just like Google. So you're going to target everyone that like searches for a keyword content calendar and Then you just advertise a lead magnet for that content calendar. And I mean some SaaS companies do this. Okay. I think.

[B]

But you know, not like the ad creative is terrible.

[A]

Right, right. Which is a huge opportunity to take like consumer level, you know, I. For ad.

[B]

You know who you all the ones you're talking about like on the SaaS side. Because I, you know, I would say I get hit with them the Monday, you know, the YouTube Premium.

[A]

I did.

[B]

I had my card switched.

[A]

Oh, okay.

[B]

Two months ago. And like it's what I'm still in. I haven't fully changed all my cards on everything. And so I've been experiencing my, you.

[A]

Know, my ad most us I've ever heard. It's like that's just you and me in a nutshell.

[B]

Yeah. It's just like I don't want to.

[A]

Dealing with it for no reason.

[B]

Yeah, exactly. It's like I can handle all that in 30 minutes. But it's like the, the annoying, minuscule things that you have to do for sure. All right, what's four?

[A]

Let's keep going.

[B]

I really like three, by the way.

[A]

High aov. Tick Tock Shop products.

[B]

Cool. This is all you.

[A]

Yeah. Tick Tock Shop just had an absolutely unbelievable November and I saw your tweet or something, man. The tweet did Nothing but the LinkedIn went crazy. It's weird.

[B]

I think the way you tweeted it. I think how YouTube has changed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think it needs to be like more so lazy, like bold. And how you would talk in person. You vanilla fied it a bit.

[A]

I'll get spicy on LinkedIn every now.

[B]

And then, but I think Twitter is where you. You'd move numbers.

[A]

I've been saying. Yeah. So high over TikTok shop products. So TikTok shop had eight brands do over 10 million in November, which is like unprecedented. Like the previous record for a month was 12 and they had QVC did 28.5. So that's a new record. Like it really just feels to me that this platform is maturing, which if you're a long term bull on social commerce, like that makes a lot of sense. Like similar to Amazon in the early days, like you were only getting trinkets, discounts, whatever. And then it turned into this platform that you know you were ordering based on how quickly you could get it. Just your general buying behavior as a consumer. You're used to buying on there. There's a lot of trust and I do think that that is starting to happen on TikTok shop and what we're going to see is that high AOV products. Shark Ninja is a perfect example. Like they have been selling their vacuum for like 150 bucks, 200 bucks. Like they're selling like a, you know, knife set for like 300. Like there's a lot of different things that are being sold right now at a higher AOV, which this is traditionally a lower AOV platform. Right. It's typically under 60 bucks. I do think this is category dependent. If you're the most expensive creatine gummy in the world, probably screwed. But what it told me is that customers are not necessarily looking for low AOVs, they're looking for deals. And so how do you show a deal that makes sense with your margin profile is probably how you get your high AOV TikTok shop product to move. Like Shark Ninja was like they had. Their product was on Walmart.com, target.com, Amazon, and on all three of those sites it was 2 29. What they did is they listed it on TikTok Shop for 300 and then they discounted it down to 200. So they showed a unique offer on TikTok which was $30 cheaper than it was anywhere else so that affiliates could use the language. It's a TikTok shop exclusive deal. But the offer was not actually as steep as described. Right. They were saying it was a hundred dollars off and actually it's 30. It's enough to, you know, trip your average Ruth in Ohio. You know, so shout out Ruth powering this US economy on her back. But so I think that's going to be a major trend we're going to see is a lot more brands are going to see Shark Ninja in QVC success and say, we need to pour some money into this channel.

[B]

Do you think consumer behavior is also changing on the channel massively? How?

[A]

Absolutely. I think people are trusting it more. When it first came out, it was all Chinese trinkets and now it's Ninja. Like obviously, if it's an official Ninja store with thousands of verified reviews. This stuff is so intuitive. Actually, when you start to just say it out loud, it's like, oh, I just saw an extremely compelling TikTok about a product that I want. I can just buy it in the platform with a deal. Like it's kind of crazy, right? Like versus, you know, where else are you combining discovery with the conversion endpoint? Like Amazon doesn't have discovery like that. You have to build awareness elsewhere. And then they have to go through the process of clicking into Amazon and then finding the product after searching it. But when they search it, they see Ninja's six competitors on a sponsored ad. And so there's like friction in that process versus if you just see the ninja product on TikTok shop with an offer, you can make that impulse by. Because the video was good. So I think this presents an insane opportunity for both content creators and brands because as long as you put together that cohesive strategy, then you know you can pretty much sell at any.

[B]

Back to the nano Influencers. We have your nano influencer style and it's all volume.

[A]

I mean, every single one of these brands had, you know, around like 30,000 videos posted in November. Wow.

[B]

How many, how many creators probably to do that?

[A]

Anywhere from like seven to 16 in the top 10.

[B]

Wait, seven to 16? What?

[A]

7,000 creators low end to 16,000 creators on the high end. Okay, so like seven.

[B]

You said seven in it. It's like it could have been 700, it could have been six. You get what I'm saying?

[A]

Yeah. 7,000. Yeah. Wow. 7,000 creators on the low end.

[B]

And mostly all on affiliate deals.

[A]

Yeah, I mean I, I would absolutely, yeah. Like, I, I mean maybe like maybe 200 on retainers or something. I, I doubt it.

[B]

I also think it's just part of how like the platform's gonna mature. Right. Like, you know, we've been buying on Instagram for a while now, but we didn't in the past.

[A]

I actually, I've gone through the peaks and the valleys with TikTok shop and I'm so back on. Just like this is so obvious that it's where it's going. It's it, it's. People are only spending more time on there. They're only spending more time on their phones. Like this rejection of social media has not really happened yet. I don't see it happening in 2026. Sora failed like that. SORA is not taking away any attention from TikTok. IG is not shipping better features to take attention away from TikTok. It's not getting banned. So like what is the counter to this not becoming an Amazon esque buying platform? Yep. And if so, what would you be able, what would you do to start on Amazon in 2015 to be early on Amazon before everyone made it so competitive? So that's kind of.

[B]

You just wrote your landing page copy for Nibble.

[A]

If you care for taste makers or hit factory, y', all, you need to.

[B]

Reply to the comments, bro.

[A]

I do. I think I owe people money. Right. I think I might have Promised some cash.

[B]

You promised 25 bucks a person.

[A]

Which I got you.

[B]

I'm.

[A]

I got you. If that's you, I got you.

[B]

So 50 times 25. So you. You owe a significant amount of money.

[A]

Is that. Is that a rack?

[B]

It's more.

[A]

It's more than 50. 25.

[B]

It's more than. Right?

[A]

It's like 1250. No.

[B]

50 times 20.

[A]

Yeah, it's 1250.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

All right. I got y'. All. I got y'. All. Okay. Number two or number five? Number five.

[B]

Number two.

[A]

I don't know, bro. I'm throwing off. I gotta. I got a shell at 1250 now. You know what I'm saying? I got sell this. So experiential marketing, like.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Gotta be something you're doing. Yes. You know, you simply cannot afford to not be in person. I think a lot of people are doing this in a sense of like, oh, we'll just show it to the farmer's market. Oh, we'll just be president at this event. We'll have a presence at this event. And it's like if your everyday dose, like, why do you not have a pop up coffee shop in Metis beach, right? Like own the actual experience rather than just having a street team. There's. And a couple of brands did this really well. Like Good Wipes. I remember was one that I talked about before.

[B]

What was their event? Bro, Bro, what was their event?

[A]

So, so good.

[B]

Put me on.

[A]

Let me tell you. Let me tell you, because this was actually od. So at a. At a concert, at some sort of music festival. What's everyone's worst nightmare? You gotta go drop a deuce at the concert, right? You gotta use that Porta Potty.

[B]

Yeah, use the Porta Potty, bro.

[A]

Right? No one wants to do it.

[B]

And then you're scared it might get tipped.

[A]

I've never done it. Praise the Lord. Okay. Never had to go through that experience.

[B]

Never use a Porta Potty.

[A]

I've never had to.

[B]

Never gone number two, you know?

[A]

Number two at a concert. Okay, okay, Quickly. Want to move on? Yeah, just, you know, I know we're in your ears right now, sweat equity listeners. So Good Wipes. They sponsored Porta Potties at a music festival. And when they sponsored the Porta Potties, they made them like super, super bougie. So they made it like an incredible first class experience. All presented by Good Wives. Right? And that's sick. They showed up in a way that was authentic and integrated into the event. But they solved a pain point while also inserting their brand and Their value props there. So that's one example. I think Puresport did this with their hydration station at you know, whatever, a.

[B]

Marathon, London marathon, I think it was.

[A]

Yeah. And so it's, it's, it's little things like that where you are finding a way to have a brand experience at an event where you're solving a tangible problem for people.

[B]

This is how I'm even thinking about like you can't have the best content and then no life for like that content to come to life. You know what I'm saying? Like no other moment.

[A]

Part of having great content is doing things. Yes, right.

[B]

It's like the content is now kind of like the bridge to then go experience the thing. Like Bandit put on like this amazing like futuristic campaign for like the Chicago Marathon and then they recreated like that feeling of the campaign at a pop up store, you know what I'm saying? Like had some sick thing where they were going through a wind tunnel. You have to do that.

[A]

And people are really desperate for these events. I do think that people want a reason to go do some things on the weekend that is not just go drink. And so brands, in the same way that we say like brands have an opportunity to become TV and run social shows and be an entertainment experience, you also have a opportunity to do something where you are now on someone's agenda, giving them a reason to get out the house and something to be excited about. Like an event to go to. But don't just show up and pass out products. Like make it an integrated experience, go that next direction. Like what if Everyday Dose or Rise Super Coffee or like all these different brands like you know, Manana on a Saturday morning has an insane line out the door on their Sea home location. What if they just did a pop up right next to Manana? They're like, don't wait in line, come here. Yeah. So number six is an overall shift from performance to brand marketing. So this is another investment thing that I think is going to drastically change. Because I can't tell you, every brand owner I talk about is like my medicac is shed, right. And it's very simple. You have a funnel, you have squeezed the bottom of the, you squeezed, you squeeze the bottom of the toothpaste bottle out as much as you can and there's nothing left in that bottle. Right. Naturally you would have to fill the top of it. That is brand marketing in a nutshell. And people are not directing dollars to it whatsoever. So I'm starting to.

[B]

And it's funny because you listen To Sean from Ridge saying, if the number one thing that you should invest in right now is organic and in brand market, I don't know if you saw that and then in it now. Yeah. And then the amount of brands that like I had a conversation today, $100 million brand, you would know them. Most everyone here would know them. They just have, they've scaled and survived off paid and they're like, paid is how you win fast. Organic and brand is how you win in the future.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

And like the people that do care and it was just like back then, you can win very easily and fast on, on. If you had a good product and you put out good ads, you could win, bro. You could scale very, very fast. And like, how do you not get around the fact of, look, we just went from 1 million to 5 million, 5 million, 10 million. It's like, of course you're going to do that.

[A]

100.

[B]

But now we're living in an era where people are buying the brands very specifically that they're very aligned with on a, from a brand side. Right. And that takes a heavy investment to be like, okay, we have to, we have to pour a lot of money into things that we can't measure all the time. You know, like you could be investing in organic with the hopes of driving retail and you don't really know it's working. But you know when it's working, you get what I'm saying. There is no very clear connection between this and that, even if that is performing a significantly better. Right. And so I'm there with you a million percent that the shift from performance to brand marketing is the new performance marketing.

[A]

Yeah, it is. Because what it's going to do is it's going to influence the overall performance of your, your emails, of your SMS campaigns. Like people are going to want to hear from you. It's that simple. Like I'm ignoring emails from brands that I don't want to hear from.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And then if you're going to invest in brand marketing and building that relationship with me, I'm probably going to want to open your email.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

And so, I mean, I think that is like a huge thing that people need to start grounding themselves in is, look, this isn't going to show up with a direct correlation between, you know, it's a 5x ROAS. If I invest in brand marketing, where is going to show up is what your baseline revenue metrics are, which is organic search, SMS signups, email signups, open rates of those two channels and from there it's like, what does that do? If you boost those things by 20%, if you get 20% more organic searches, if you get 15% better open rates on your SMS, just keep your conversion rate the same. That's got to make a huge, you know, difference in your business. But at the same time, you know, it's kind of scary because you're just putting money into the abyss, right? And so, like, that is, I feel like kind of the challenge it is.

[B]

And the way I described it, because it was the calls on say, he's like, how would you describe brand marketing? I was like, brand marketing is not having to convince someone to buy something.

[A]

Right.

[B]

It really is not. When I love a brand, it is. Thank you. When I love a brand, bro, I don't look at the price. I don't read the copy on the landing page. I don't look at the details. I just buy.

[A]

Right?

[B]

I. How much is in there?

[A]

Huh? How much does that have?

[B]

No idea.

[A]

No, no.

[B]

I can't tell you any of this. The ALD pants I got on, the jeans, I got no idea. Yeah, it doesn't matter, right? The brand loyalty and affinity has been built to a level where, like, cool, if I could afford the thing, I'm gonna buy the thing, and I'm not, and I don't care, like, and that's fine, but you need to get to that level. AOD has investing purely in brand before they start investing in paid.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And when I get hit with paid, I'm like, oh, bet. Like, I didn't know y' all dropped your winter collection. So nice.

[A]

Like, well, and they also do. They do the email, right? Where it's like, hey, our winter collection just dropped. And I've actually called out. I know.

[B]

You did. You did. On Twitter.

[A]

I called him out. I was like, y' all be sending too many emails because I think that's the private equity group being like, let's squeeze. Yeah, squeeze the tube. All right, last one is live shopping. So I'm sure you saw, but skims just did a massive live shopping experience. Skims miss. Yep. There's always a capstone moment. There's always a moment where someone who has immense visibility takes action in overall trend. I think Kim Kate doing this is honestly going to catapult the live shopping stuff forward a lot. Before, it was Jeffree star Kevin Hart, Whatever. But her being the brand, the face of the brand, her jumping on and doing a live show with Snoop Dogg. But like, Martha Stewart, I think, like, all this crazy stuff, I think we're going to see a huge investment in the live shopping experiences in 2026 and it's going to start converting a lot better.

[B]

I think we're just going to see a huge investment in live as a whole. Live shopping and brands just investing and going live.

[A]

Which is sick, honestly.

[B]

It's very sick. I mean, I don't know. Have you seen Justin Bieber's been going live for like five hours a day and stuff.

[A]

It's twitch or twitch.

[B]

And then when I was talking about BPN in a predictions episode with Tatum, you know, there was last. You don't probably follow BPM like that, but did you see the Last Man Standing race and like did you see all the buzz around and how crazy it was?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The reason that happens because it went live and it literally they went live for the start of every lap, at the end of every lap and it started at like a few hundred people watching. So then by the end of it there was 30, 40,000 people watching the.

[A]

Lives because buildup is crazy.

[B]

They got to see everything that unfolded in those like two days or like day and a half for that race, which was a crazy story. Which then was the perfect bridge to holy. I can't wait for the full documentary for all the things I didn't see to be able to see those things.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Right. In the documentary.

[A]

Right.

[B]

There's a brand that I won't name because we like them kind of where they then did an athletic competition like very, very similar after somewhat same race format. Crickets. Why there was no life component where like you could give a about the people performing.

[A]

Were they on the same playing field as bpn, would you say?

[B]

From a revenue perspective, yes, but not.

[A]

From a like influencer maybe or similar.

[B]

Similar.

[A]

Yeah. So they just execution was just not there.

[B]

No. You know, it's like you just didn't feel any really. I didn't know who these two kids were by that event. I'm like over here rooting like for one of them to win.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And I'm. And now I watch the doc and I'm like, I'm a fan, you know, not even because I care about ultra marathon running or marathon just because of the fact that I saw it happen live, which now like connects me to it and increases the interest level to a bar. That wouldn't happen via recap content, which is actually a video I filmed while I was here. I was like we're done with recap content. Like it's live. We're going live.

[A]

Yeah. The menu content comes from the live Right. Like the re. It's like you have to. You have to have something during, before, during, after. Yeah, if you don't have before, during, after, then you're literally just selling yourself so short. That's what drives me crazy is like brands will put all this money into this stuff and then just not take advantage of it. You know, you have an opportunity to put 30 pieces of content out there and you did six. Yeah. Why? Just because, you know that W2 marketer on your team just didn't really want to put in the time.

[B]

So agree more. Yeah, I gotta take this meeting that. That's on this chair.

[A]

All right, If y' all like that episode, we're gonna be breaking down every single one of those trends in a much more in depth way on a follow up series. So that was nano influencers, meta partnership ads, YouTube ads, high AOV, TikTok shop products, experiential marketing brand instead of performance marketing, and last live shopping. So the next few episodes that we'll be doing, deep dive into each one of those things and how you can take advantage of that trend in 2026. So if you like the video, please like subscribe, leave a comment. It helps us a lot to bring on more content like this and we'll see y' all next week. All right, peace.