The Friday Brief
Your weekly dose of marketing news 4.17.25
Buckle up Briefers. This one's got range.
Google turned back button tricks into a spam violation, Meta pulled lawsuit ads off its own platforms, and X became a live trading terminal.
Brands, meanwhile, understood the assignment:
Dove installed a machine that proves the algorithm only has one face. IKEA made a meatball lollipop nobody asked for and everyone wants. And Heineken invented a wristband that finds you a friend at a festival.
And somewhere in the background: White Lotus landed in Cannes, the Lyrid meteor shower peaks on Wednesday, and Milan Design Week starts Monday.
Let’s get into it.
📱 5 Social Moves You Need to Know This Week
Reddit Just Added a "Remind Me" Button to Ads Tap it and you get two push notifications. One 24 hours before your launch, one when it goes live. For product drops, ticket sales, game releases. A passive scroll-by just became an opt-in. That's a different kind of interest.
Instagram Finally Let You Fire Your Algorithm New "Your Algorithm" tool lets you see exactly what Instagram thinks you're into and edit it on the spot. Type in what you want more of, kill what you don't. The feed updates in real time.
X Just Became a Trading Terminal X launched Cashtags in the US and Canada — tap a ticker symbol and get real-time financial data right in the feed. Billions already move based on what traders read on Timeline. Now the data lives there too.
Meta Just Made the Hard Bit Easy Meta Pixel now uses AI to automatically pull in product names, prices and availability, no manual coding, no dev needed. And the Conversions API just got a one-click setup. Advertisers using CAPI already see 17.8% lower cost per result. The only question now is why you haven't set it up yet.
Meta Pulls Lawsuit Ads Off Its Own Platforms Lawyers were using Facebook and Instagram to recruit plaintiffs for social media addiction cases. Meta shut them down. Using your own platform to fight the case against your own platform is something.
🔍 SEO: What’s Hot
Back Button Hijacking Is Now a Spam Violation Google made it official on April 13 —Trap users on your page by breaking the back button and you're now in malicious practices territory. Enforcement June 15. Two months to clean it up.
Google's Core Update Is Done. Substack Won. The March Core Update wrapped. Biggest winners: The Guardian, Money Saving Expert, Substack, New York Times. Quality editorial just got its moment. Don't waste it.
Sundar Just Redefined What Search Is On a podcast this week Pichai called Search an "agent manager" completing tasks, not returning links. That's not a product update. That's a philosophy change.
😎 Cool Campaigns
The Height Chart That Stops You in the Street Droga5 placed children's growth charts, the kind pencilled on family walls across public spaces in Sydney and Melbourne for youth homelessness charity We Are Mobilize. A symbol of home, in places where kids have none. Simple, sharp, impossible to walk past.
Liquid Death Made an Iced Tea That Tastes Like a Pop-Tart. Obviously.
Pop-Tarts Carnage, a Frosted Strawberry iced tea in a death metal can is the latest Liquid Death collab nobody saw coming but makes complete sense. The ad opens on a couple eating breakfast. “I think I’ll clean the gutters today and then file for divorce,” says the husband. Liquid Death doing Liquid Death things.
Dove Built a Machine That Proves the Algorithm Has One Face Dove and Ogilvy installed "The Beauty Machine" at Waterloo Station — it looks like it offers variety but spits out the same idealised face on repeat. A live demonstration of exactly what algorithms do to beauty standards. Uncomfortably good.
IKEA and Chupa Chups Made a Meatball Lollipop. On Purpose. They posted it as an April Fools' joke. The internet went feral for it. So they actually made it. A Swedish meatball. On a stick. In shops this June. Nobody asked for this. Everyone wants one.
Pinterest Just Told You to Get Off Pinterest Their new campaign line: "The best thing you can find online is a reason to go offline." A social platform selling you on using it less. It's bold, it's a bit cheeky, and it lands hardest against every other app trying to trap you in the feed.
The Brazilian Amazon Just Got Its First Ever Brand Built From Its Own Rivers FutureBrand São Paulo used satellite imagery of the Amazon's 25,000km of waterways to build the entire alphabet, every letter shaped from a real river. Nine states, one identity, zero generic stock photography. Design doesn't get more site-specific than this.
Modelo Is Going All In on the World Cup. Biggest Soccer Spend in Their History. "Best Seat in the House". A campaign built on the idea that the best way to watch football isn't a luxury box, it's your sofa with your people and a cold one. TV, OOH, social, a Kappa kit collab, a custom ball, five Latin players. The America's Cup is coming and every beer brand is making their move. This is Modelo's.
A Giant Red Stiletto Just Landed in Chicago Devil Wears Prada 2 dropped oversized red heel installations across US cities ahead of its May 1 release. Instant photo moment, zero media spend required. When your movie's icon is that recognisable, the OOH does the work for you.
Heineken Invented a Wristband That Finds You a Friend The Clinker wraps around your can, syncs your streaming data, lights up when you clink with someone who shares your music taste. 23 years as a Coachella sponsor and this is the first activation that actually does something.
🛸 Weird & Wonderful
A BBH Designer Spent Maternity Leave Making a Book About Mexican Magic Soaps Jabón documents 20 ritualistic soaps from the witchcraft markets of Mexico City photographed by Maisie Cousins in full maximalist glory, slugs and all. Each soap gets a fictional backstory, a spell, and a reason someone desperately needed it. One of those projects that makes you question what you did on your time off.
Netflix Is Gunning for $3 Billion in Ad Revenue This Year 190 million viewers on its ad-supported tier, interactive ads rolling out globally in Q2, and first-party data now accessible to advertisers. Netflix spent three years building the plumbing. Now it’s turning the taps on.
Milan Design Week Kicks Off Monday and It's a Big One Philippe Starck opens, then Carlo Ratti, Stefano Boeri and Ma Yansong take the stage. Designboom has taken over a Milan hotel with a Cinema of Dreams, immersive installations and a week of free talks. The design world's biggest week starts April 20. If you're going, you already know.
Coachella Was a Content Factory. And Then Creators Talked. Nearly a dozen creators went public after brands cancelled their festival invites at the last minute. When the curtain slips, the whole influencer model gets a little more honest.
White Lotus Season 4 Is Filming at Cannes. Actually at Cannes. Production started this week on the French Riviera Cannes, St. Tropez, Monaco. The cast will be on the ground during the actual film festival and are expected to walk the red carpet. Helena Bonham Carter, Vincent Cassel, Steve Coogan, Kumail Nanjiani. Privilege, dysfunction and a film festival. Mike White is going to have a field day.
818 Tequila Won Coachella. By a Mile. Kendall Jenner's 818 and Sprinter combined for more influencer performance than every other tracked brand at the festival. Together. 32 million video views.
The Lyrid Meteor Shower Has Started. Peak Is April 22. Debris from a comet that visits the solar system once every 415 years is currently burning up in Earth's atmosphere. Up to 18 shooting stars an hour at peak, with fireballs possible. Go outside before dawn on Wednesday. Look up.