Brand Trends This Week: Gen Z, Starbucks, Super Mario & What's Shaping Consumer Culture
On Brand with Donny DeutschShow Notes
This week on On Brand, we're diving into the biggest brand trends, pop culture moments, and marketing news that prove — once again — that everything is a brand. From Trump social media controversy to Gen Z financial trends showing young people moving back in with mom and dad, we unpack what it all means for how we connect, consume, and believe.
We explore why Gen Z and religion are becoming inseparable as young people turn to faith for meaning, how economic uncertainty is making radio contests cool again, and why seniors on social media are one of the fastest-growing digital demographics. Plus: did you know the average age of U.S. homes is 44 years — and what that means for real estate branding?
We also get into antisemitism in modern art, Starbucks tipping culture and what it means for the future of retail customer experience, and why the Super Mario Brothers movie is the brand marketing success story of the decade.
If you're into branding strategy, consumer behavior, marketing trends, and cultural commentary, this is your episode.
🎙️ Subscribe, rate & review On Brand wherever you listen to podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from On Brand with Donny Deutsch
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt returns to talk about where things stand six months after his last visit, and his answer is that the alarm hasn't subsided. He and Donny dig into the ADL's new State of the Arts report, which looked at 40 of America's top museums, including the Met, MoMA and LACMA. None of them included Jewish identity in their diversity commitments. Only six formally recognized Jewish American Heritage Month, and five of those dropped it after October 7th. Greenblatt calls it a "quiet erasure" of Jewish and Israeli artists.
Billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein (Carlyle Group co-founder, Baltimore Orioles owner, and host of Bloomberg's The David Rubenstein Show) talks about Trump's future, the war with Iran, AI, and his new book, Speaking of America: Great Conversations at the Library of Congress.
Bestselling thriller author Harlan Coben reveals his writing process, how to beat writer's block, and the heartbreaking story behind his father's last words.
This week Donny Deutsch and Lou Pellegrino run through who's up and who's down in American culture. They start with a CDC report finding that most U.S. adults are running on empty, then compare notes on five o'clock naps and why sleep has become a $100 billion industry. From there it's senior TikTok creators talking openly about sex and intimacy, the University of Chicago banning AI and laptops from its core courses, and the dictionary's newest additions, including "parasocial," "cuffing season," and "Sunday scaries."
Anthony Scaramucci joins Donny Deutsch to break down his new book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, a sharp and surprisingly self-critical look at how America got here. The SkyBridge founder and co-host of The Rest Is Politics: US walks through the three turning points he believes set the stage for MAGA: letting China into the WTO without checking its rise, the post-9/11 wars funded by tax cuts that blew up the deficit, and a 2008 bailout that rescued the banks but left Main Street behind. As Scaramucci puts it, Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party "had a baby, and they named it baby MAGA."