Your ATTN Please | Monday, 1 September

If your run’s not in Strava, did it even happen?

If you don’t share your Spotify Wrapped, how will people know how cultured you are? And if you don’t reshare that Reel, no one will understand that you think on a deeper level than they do. We all know our own behaviour online isn’t spontaneous—it’s performed. And underneath it is a complicated web of hidden motivations. So why, as marketers, do we still take consumers’ swipes, likes, and shares as truth, rather than behaviour that, on some level, is performance, too?

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

PRESENTED BY PLANABLE

Getting your content approved shouldn’t be this hard.

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➡️ Your clients don’t want another tool to log into
➡️ Feedback is scattered across DMs, emails & calls
➡️ Stakeholders keep asking for endless screenshots & slides

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Now, you can:

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Forget the login headaches & delayed approvals. Share your content live instead 👇

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

BuzzBalls take over social media, Cadillac jumps into F1 & Spotify introduces DMs

BuzzBalls are NOT CHIC! So why are they the “undisputed” drink of the summer?

The fishbowl-esque-premade-cocktails are bright, round, and honestly, kind of gaudy. Not exactly the minimalist or stylish aesthetic you’d associate with a cult product. But alas, the globular grog has become the fastest growing ready to drink brand in the UK. And it's mostly due to word of mouth on social media, especially among Gen Z-ers.

“People my age are either buying a home and getting married,” says Freya McCann, 29, who works in sales in Edinburgh, “or they’re saying: ‘Let’s get some BuzzBallz and have a good time.’” I myself, fear I am in the latter category. Now pass me one of them snow globes.

Cadillac joins F1.

This is the first time a new team will join the F1 grid since 2016, and the first time there will be 22 cars racing. Valterri Bottas and Sergio Perez are set to be Cadillac's drivers in the first season of 2026, both returning after being let go at the end of the 2024 season. With Keanu Reeves also set to be at the forefront of the campaign and a documentary about the team's arrival to Formula 1, it seems we have an exciting season ahead!

Huge news for performative males: Spotify now has DM’s??

I’m calling it now, if you’re talking to someone through Spotify – that’s a body. I don’t care what y’all say. Last week, the music platform announced it will begin to roll out Messages to free and Premium users aged 16+ years “in select markets on mobile devices.” Because sharing playlists, and recommending songs are at the “heart of the Spotify experience.”

So why not keep users in-app while they do so while also keeping track of recommendations? Genius. This could also be a huge opportunity for artists and brands alike, giving users the ability to spread the word about a track, podcast, or campaign, helping drive discovery and engagement. Peep the deets here.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

DEEP DIVE

Don't take your customers’ swipe at face value (here's why)

They say actions speak louder than words. And in marketing, that sure as hell rings true.

But, as always in the wild west of marketing, my dear friends, there is a twist: what people do isn’t always as real as it looks. It’s no secret that old-school marketing obsessed over identity: Gen Z, millennials, “yoga moms” and “skater sons.” That era is dead. The real currency now, and has been for a while, is behaviour: swipes, clicks, saves, adds-to-cart.

Marketers like to think this is raw truth. My humble critique?

Most of these so-called authentic behaviours are nudged, gamified, and performed under the invisible hand of the platforms themselves.

(How ironically meta, and I don’t mean the company).

Every swipe on TikTok trains the algorithm. Every save on Instagram isn’t just for later… it’s social performance. Spotify Wrapped is so much more than data. It’s a flex, showcasing who you are (or, who you want people to think you are.)

Strava isn’t there to log your run; it makes you perform your athletic life to your network (because if you didn’t upload your 5k, did you even run? You lazy sack of sh*t).

Behaviour is never neutral. 

It’s shaped, pushed, rewarded. And then brands market back to it as if it’s organic. That’s what makes the jukebox play, baby. Except it’s not playing, it’s skipping. That’s the loop we’re currently stuck it.

Micro-moments > macro labels

Forget “millennial women who drive their $100,000 SUV to Pilates.” Behavioural marketing is about the 11pm micro-moment where someone adds the Pilates grippy socks to cart after a doomscroll. Or the bored lunch-break scroll that leads to a lipstick impulse buy (we’ve all been there). These micro-signals are gold. But they’re also stripped of context. The algorithm knows what you did… but not really why.

This is both the power and the danger. Behaviour tells us exactly when to speak to someone, but not what that action really means. If emotion is the lens that explains how they’ll receive a message, behaviour is the lens that explains when they’re most primed for it.

So, here’s the contrarian “behaviour palette.”

This palette maps the actions that define digital life. So, here’s how marketers can play with them:

• Scrolling / grazing. Low-focus browsing. Think TikTok zombie scroll. Attention is shallow, but constant. Brands should slip in snackable, frictionless content that doesn’t demand too much.

• Saving / bookmarking. Pinterest boards, IG saves, wishlists. A mark of curiosity or aspiration. Brands should meet it with richer, “come back later” content—or better yet, reminders that re-surface when the moment is right.

• Liking / reacting. The lowest-effort affirmation, but not meaningless. Likes signal identity and belonging. People aren’t just liking, they’re saying this is me. Brands can lean into memes, inside jokes, and cultural signals that reward the quick tap.

• Sharing / forwarding. High-intensity behaviour, pure social signalling. People share to flex, to align, to connect. (Think: BeReal dumps, chaotic TikToks, “you have to watch this” Reels.) Brands should design for shareability, so content that makes the sharer look funny, smart, or in-the-know.

• Lurking / watching. The silent majority. They don’t click, but they watch everything. Lurkers are your real audience. Brands should start valuing time spent and quiet attention, not just noisy engagement.

• Carting / wishlisting. The aspiration zone. A half-step toward purchase, but also a digital moodboard. (Who among us hasn’t used ASOS carts as fantasy shopping therapy?) Perfect for nudges, urgency, or reassurance.

• Purchasing / subscribing. The conversion climax. But it’s never the starting point. It’s the accumulation of all the behaviours before it. Stop treating it like the only KPI that matters.

• Repeating / streaking. Behaviours that become rituals. Strava runs, Wordle streaks, Duolingo dings, Spotify Wrapped. The act itself becomes identity. Brands that create rituals don’t sell products… instead, they build freaking cults.

Emotion is the oldest lever. Behaviour is the most visible one.

But marketers need to stop confusing visibility with truth. Much of what we call “behavioural data” is choreographed, nudged into existence by algorithms, gamified by platforms, and performed for networks.

We are not just watching consumers. Consumers are watching themselves, and adjusting their behaviour because they know they’re being watched. Behaviour has become branding. And that’s showbiz, baby!

The challenge isn’t to collect more behaviour. It’s to interpret it honestly.

To ask, is this real desire, or the algorithm’s puppet show? And more importantly, how can we design marketing that respects the difference?

Because in the end, behaviour-driven marketing isn’t about selling to what people say they are. It’s about selling to what they do. And in a culture where every action is tracked, rewarded, and looped back, that’s both the sharpest tool, and the sharpest trap advertising has ever had.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

Na-na-na-na-na

This viral sound is all about rubbing it in.

This sound started when a TikTok creator filmed herself teasing her friend with the caption “when only one of us has school tomorrow.” She sings “na-na-na-na” to rub it in, while her friend, who’s clearly annoyed, claps back with “b*tch, na-na-na-na”. The video quickly went viral, creating the perfect audio for playful gloating and highlighting unfair situations where one person gets off easy while the other doesn't.

People are using this trend to showcase those playful, petty and relatable situations that happen when teasing someone. Like when one of your friends has work the next day and you don't, or when your coworker has to stay behind at work and you get to leave early.

How you can jump on this trend:

Use the original audio. Think of a scenario where one person gets stuck with something nobody wants to do. This could be chores, work, errands etc. Have the “lucky” person lipsync the first line, while the other does the second mocking them while reacting annoyed.

A few ideas to get you started:

• When your coworker has to lead the meeting

• When you get to film but your colleague has to edit the whole thing

• When one coworker gets stuck on cleaning whilst the other gets to sit back and watch

- Bella Vlasich, Intern

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: So, who wants takeout?
❤How wholesome: Does she count as a carry-on?
😊Soooo satisfying: wait what
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: 5 ingredient dinner

ASK THE EDITOR

How should a local small business think about getting more leads? -Erika

Hey Erika,

Our founder, Stanley Henry, talks about this concept called the 5 stages of attention. The idea is that, depending on where you are in your business journey, you will be doing different things to build brand awareness. Sounds like you're a small business, so according to this framework, you should work on building your network in person as much as possible. Go to industry events, networking groups, and get your business in front of people. It's only when you have absolutely exhausted all of these avenues that you should worry about building a social media presence.

Especially since you're looking for local leads, your network is the ideal place to build awareness about your business. If you have the budget, you could also look at running some paid ads to bring in leads. But these shouldn't be your only strategy! You need to do other brand-building activities like I mentioned above so when people see your ads, they already are aware of who you are and what you do!

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

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