The Journal

Raw advice, honest insights, real strategies.

We've launched the unlaunchable, fixed the broken, failed forward, and built brands that actually work. This is where we share what we've learned — so you can skip the fluff and get to the good stuff.

Pinterest's AI Shopping Pivot Hit 640 Million Users in Q2 2026 — What It Means for Hospitality and Wellness Brands
Social Media
9 min read

Pinterest's AI Shopping Pivot Hit 640 Million Users in Q2 2026 — What It Means for Hospitality and Wellness Brands

Pinterest hit 640M users and 18% revenue growth in Q2 2026 on an AI shopping pivot — what Performance+ means for hospitality and wellness marketing.

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pinterest-marketing-hospitality-wellness-brands-2026
Locked Into Wellness: What a 250,000-Student Campus Tour Teaches About Experiential Marketing for Wellness Brands
Experiential
9 min read

Locked Into Wellness: What a 250,000-Student Campus Tour Teaches About Experiential Marketing for Wellness Brands

Piping Rock is touring four wellness brands through six universities, including Miami, to reach 250,000 students, offering a real playbook for experiential marketing for wellness brands.

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experiential-marketing-wellness-brands-campus-tour
How a Mother-Daughter Founder Story Became Bebe Sweeny's Whole Brand
Lifestyle
7 min read

How a Mother-Daughter Founder Story Became Bebe Sweeny's Whole Brand

Bebe Sweeny's French-designed children's collections are built on a single narrative thread: a mother, a daughter, and two countries. Here's how that story became the brand.

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bebe-sweeny-founder-story-brand-case-study
Why Product Photography Is the Real Growth Channel for Miami Dessert Brands
Lifestyle
7 min read

Why Product Photography Is the Real Growth Channel for Miami Dessert Brands

For a dessert brand like MYKA, the product photo isn't supporting content, it's the ad. What makes a soft-serve or treat shot actually stop the scroll.

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myka-miami-dessert-brand-content-strategy
Inside Chlew Delishop Miami's Playful, Community-First Social Strategy
Hospitality
8 min read

Inside Chlew Delishop Miami's Playful, Community-First Social Strategy

How a French deli in Miami built a social presence around generous portions, staff-led storytelling, and a brand voice that refuses to be boring.

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chlew-delishop-miami-social-media-case-study
How We Turned The Backgammon Society's Homepage Into a Conversion Engine
Lifestyle
9 min read

How We Turned The Backgammon Society's Homepage Into a Conversion Engine

A case study in reframing a multi-city social club's homepage from an information page into a conversion engine, without losing the exclusivity that makes the brand work.

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backgammon-society-homepage-conversion-case-study
The Modern Hospitality Marketing Playbook: Instagram, AI Personalization, and Guest-Driven Growth
Hospitality
8 min read

The Modern Hospitality Marketing Playbook: Instagram, AI Personalization, and Guest-Driven Growth

A complete hospitality marketing guide covering Instagram strategy, brand partnerships, AI-driven personalization, and restaurant and hotel growth tactics.

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hospitality-marketing-playbook-instagram-ai-personalization
The Complete Wellness Brand Marketing Guide: Trust, Content, and SEO From Local Studios to Global Retreats
Wellness
8 min read

The Complete Wellness Brand Marketing Guide: Trust, Content, and SEO From Local Studios to Global Retreats

A complete guide to wellness brand marketing: building trust through content, mastering local and retreat SEO, using influencer partnerships, and turning visibility into community.

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wellness-brand-marketing-guide-trust-content-seo
Inside the Hikari x Kosher In Style Campaign: How Niche Beat Reach in Miami Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing
3 min read

Inside the Hikari x Kosher In Style Campaign: How Niche Beat Reach in Miami Influencer Marketing

One Media Society paired Surfside restaurant Hikari with Miami creator Kosher In Style. The result: 86K views, 1,000+ likes, and a reservation bump.

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hikari-kosher-in-style-miami-influencer-case-study
Why Just 25% of Marketers Use AI in Influencer Marketing, and Why That Gap Is a Good Sign
Influencer Marketing
4 min read

Why Just 25% of Marketers Use AI in Influencer Marketing, and Why That Gap Is a Good Sign

Only 25% of marketers use AI for influencer marketing, per Digiday+ Research. Beekman 1802 and Later show why the slow adoption might be the smarter bet.

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ai-influencer-marketing-adoption-gap-digiday-research
Inside The Ritz-Carlton and MERIT Beauty's First-Ever Hospitality Partnership
Hospitality
4 min read

Inside The Ritz-Carlton and MERIT Beauty's First-Ever Hospitality Partnership

The Ritz-Carlton's first-ever brand partnership brings MERIT Beauty into Club Lounges nationwide, offering a case study in co-branded hospitality marketing for 2026.

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ritz-carlton-merit-beauty-hospitality-partnership
TikTok Shop's AI Voice Ban Just Got Teeth: A New 1,000-Point Score Now Enforces It
Social Media
5 min read

TikTok Shop's AI Voice Ban Just Got Teeth: A New 1,000-Point Score Now Enforces It

TikTok Shop's ban on AI-generated voices in live shopping streams now feeds a 0-to-1,000 point Account Health Rating that replaced the old Violation Points system in July 2026. Here's what's banned, what's still allowed, and what it means for brands.

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tiktok-shop-ai-voice-ban-account-health-rating
OpenAI Opened Self-Serve ChatGPT Ads on July 22 — Here's What Changes for Brand Marketers
Advertising
5 min read

OpenAI Opened Self-Serve ChatGPT Ads on July 22 — Here's What Changes for Brand Marketers

OpenAI opened its self-serve ChatGPT Ads Manager on July 22, 2026, with Best Buy, Lowe's and VistaPrint among the first advertisers. Here's what's buyable, what's excluded, and what it means for brand budgets.

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openai-chatgpt-self-serve-ads-manager-2026
Instagram's Algorithm Controls Went Global on June 10 — Here's Why Your Feed Barely Changed
Social Media
4 min read

Instagram's Algorithm Controls Went Global on June 10 — Here's Why Your Feed Barely Changed

Instagram's "Your Algorithm" topic controls went global on June 10, 2026 — but scrolling behavior still outranks stated preferences. Here's what the update means for brand and creator reach.

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instagram-your-algorithm-controls-brand-reach
81% of UK Brands Are Raising Influencer Budgets in 2026 — Here's What They're Buying With It
Influencer Marketing
4 min read

81% of UK Brands Are Raising Influencer Budgets in 2026 — Here's What They're Buying With It

Marketing Week's 2026 outlook shows 81% of UK brands raising influencer budgets, with slower content, out-of-category creators, and synthetic testing leading the shift.

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uk-brands-influencer-budgets-2026-trends
Twenty-Two Creators, One Morning, Zero Paid Spend
Experiential
5 min read

Twenty-Two Creators, One Morning, Zero Paid Spend

What a single morning at the Fontainebleau taught us about designing events people actually want to post.

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beau-monde-stakt-fontainebleau-influencer-event
TikTok's Agentic Hub Puts 14 AI Vendors Inside Ads Manager — Here's What Changes for Marketers
Advertising
4 min read

TikTok's Agentic Hub Puts 14 AI Vendors Inside Ads Manager — Here's What Changes for Marketers

TikTok launched Agentic Hub on June 30, 2026, opening Ads Manager to 14 third-party AI vendors via its MCP server. Here's what it means for advertisers.

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tiktok-agentic-hub-ai-advertising-launch
BMW Just Used Facial Emotion Analytics to Prove Its Electric M3 Concept Still Feels Like a BMW
Experiential
4 min read

BMW Just Used Facial Emotion Analytics to Prove Its Electric M3 Concept Still Feels Like a BMW

BMW wired emotion analytics into a Goodwood activation — moving experiential's core metric from footfall to feeling.

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bmw-tro-goodwood-emotion-analytics-experiential-marketing
Influencer Marketing for Wellness and Hospitality Brands: What Drives Real ROI
Business
3 min read

Influencer Marketing for Wellness and Hospitality Brands: What Drives Real ROI

How wellness and hospitality brands are using creator partnerships to build trust and convert through content that feels human, not hyped.

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influencer-marketing-for-wellness-hospitality-brands-2025-strategies-that-drive-real-roi
Where We Use AI, and Where We Refuse To
Social Media
7 min read

Where We Use AI, and Where We Refuse To

An honest account of what AI does and doesn't do in our work — including the places we tried it and stopped.

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how-one-media-society-uses-ai-across-paid-ads-seo-and-content-strategy
Building a Cult Following: Essential Community Strategies for Modern Lifestyle Brands
Wellness
9 min read

Building a Cult Following: Essential Community Strategies for Modern Lifestyle Brands

Community strategies for lifestyle brands: how to build belonging, engagement, and loyalty through shared identity, real experiences, and storytelling.

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building-a-cult-following-essential-community-strategies-for-modern-lifestyle-brands
How to Market a Restaurant or Boutique Hotel
Hospitality
9 min read

How to Market a Restaurant or Boutique Hotel

Hospitality marketing is judged on covers and occupancy, not impressions. What actually moves a room — and where AI genuinely helps.

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hospitality-marketing-guide-hotels-restaurants
How to Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends in Your Industry
Tech
7 min read

How to Be the Brand ChatGPT Recommends in Your Industry

There is no paid placement in AI search. Here is what actually decides which brands get named — including the Bing dependency most guides leave out.

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how-to-be-the-first-brand-chatgpt-recommends-in-your-industry
The Founder's Story: How Authentic Storytelling Attracts Your Ideal Lifestyle Customers
Social Media
9 min read

The Founder's Story: How Authentic Storytelling Attracts Your Ideal Lifestyle Customers

Why founder story marketing is one of the most effective brand strategies for lifestyle and wellness brands, and how to turn your story into a real content system.

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the-founders-story-how-authentic-storytelling-attracts-your-ideal-lifestyle-customers
How to Market a Pilates or Wellness Studio
Wellness
9 min read

How to Market a Pilates or Wellness Studio

Studios convert on community and atmosphere, not discounting. What works, what doesn't, and the numbers from a wellness program we ran.

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wellness-studio-marketing-guide
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