Issue 198: Google's $150M Warby Parker Gamble

+ 8 unmissable marketing events for 2025

June 17, 2025

| THE INTRO

Remember:

| TWEET OF THE WEEK

Planning your 2025 event schedule? The Marketing Millennials narrowed it down to the 8 must-attend events for marketers who actually care about staying sharp.

From growth-focused summits to content creator bootcamps and brand storytelling showcases, this list cuts through the noise and spotlights the ones where real connections and real tactics happen.

Skip the fluff. Show up where it counts.

| YOUTUBE UNIVERSITY

A Conversation with Werner Vogels

| TOGETHER WITH HIGHBEAM

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| QUICK SHOTS

Fan Bi: DTC and CPG have moved through three knowledge waves:

Ryan McKenzie: "LTV is fake...You can't eat future sales."

Andrei Lunev: 🌶️ Why do we need volume to make Bid Caps actually work? (save this poster and print it out 📕)

Fraser Cottrell: Your hook isn't the problem; it's what happens after that that's killing your ROAS.

Dylan Whitman: It’s near impossible that a marketing leader who understands incrementality would roll out a points based loyalty program for a Direct to Consumer brand.

| HERE FOR THE MEMES

| AND IN OTHER NEWS…

The forgotten P? What marketers can bring to ‘place’ strategy

Out of all the 4Ps, marketers are least likely to have influence over place. But the marketing function can bring valuable contributions to discussions around distribution strategy.

Shein turns to Hong Kong after London IPO hits roadblock - Retail Gazette

Shein has set its sights on a listing in Hong Kong after its proposed initial public offering (IPO) in London failed to gain approval from Chinese regulators.

After its data was wiped, KiranaPro's co-founder cannot rule out an external hack | TechCrunch

Exclusive: The company's co-founder and CTO blame a former employee for a breach, but cannot rule out that it wasn't.

Shoe Carnival CEO: Shoe Station is the ‘future of our store base’

The company announced that its Shoe Station banner will represent over 80% of its store fleet by 2027.

Walmart and Amazon Chase Agentic AI, Robotic Warehouses and Customer Loyalty | PYMNTS.com

Retailers like Amazon and Walmart don’t just battle for consumer spend in brick-and-mortar or online. They battle everywhere, all the time. As shoppers

| GET LINKED

I've spent $100M+ on ads as a founder, and I just tried EVERY major AI… | Henry Shi | 60 comments

I've spent $100M+ on ads as a founder, and I just tried EVERY major AI Ad-Gen tool, so you don’t have to. Here’s the overall winner + my detailed recommendations for your specific use case (along with a market map of the key players) Best Overall: Icon Best for Image/Static Ads: AdCreative.ai Best for Agencies: Pencil ✏️ Best for Shopify/e-commerce: Creatify AI Best for Performance Marketers: Arcads AI 👉 Click through the carousel to read my detailed full analysis and recommendations. Side note, when I made this top AI Ad-Gen list, I didn’t expect 3 Lean AI Leaderboard companies to show up. But it makes sense—those Lean AI-Native founders are relentlessly focused on building for real demand. -------------- If you liked this or found it helpful, like and share with your network. Follow me Henry Shi for more deep insights on AI-Native startups, tools, and workflows. | 60 comments on LinkedIn

| RECOMMENDED SOFTWARE & SERVICES

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| STAT ATTACK

| THE OUTRO

We’re out! PEACE!

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