Good morning. Coachella 2026 Weekend 1 kicks off today in Indio, and brands are turning the desert into a marketing playground, with the real action happening on the road there. While artists tease sets with towering billboards, brands are intercepting festivalgoers in transit. Maruchan Ramen set up a “MaruMart” at the Cabazon Outlets, riffing on last year’s viral payment plan joke, while Pacsun is leaning in with a stark freeway billboard and a Highway 111 roadside stand stocked with exclusive drops. Nearly half of consumers say out of home ads feel more trustworthy than social, per Alliance, making the road to Coachella prime marketing real estate.

In today’s edition: a corporate retreat gone wrong, and an explainer on NeeDohs.

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Svedka addresses Gen Z’s digital burnout with Y2K-inspired flip phone

Svedka leans into Gen Z’s urge to unplug with a bare-bones flip phone drop, pairing Y2K nostalgia with anti-screen messaging.

By Jessica Hammers | Marketing Dive

Nobody wants to seem ‘media trained’ anymore

Celebrity PR is shifting from polished control to “coached authenticity” and staged spontaneity.

By Laura Pitcher | Dazed

Also, LEGO’s SMART Play hotline with Mark Hamill, Chupa Chupa’s “No More Wrestling” OOO campaign, Liquid Death x Pit Viper’s “sunglasses for dead people,” Rhode x The Biebers’ launch mailer and Goldfish’s snack tax for Tax Day.

Culture

Snackable bites of consumer culture

‘Do You Have Any NeeDohs?’ The Squishy Shortage, Explained.

NeeDoh’s retro-styled squishy toys have surged into must-have status, and widespread sellouts have sparked a national shortage.

By Liza Corsillo | The Strategist

More restaurants, bars are banning phones

The phone-free dining push is gaining ground, with restaurants and bars in at least 11 states embracing digital detox rules.

By Dave Lozo | Morning Brew

Rave in Aisle 4! The Hottest New Club Is Your Grocery Store

A wave of DJ-led grocery and café parties is redefining nightlife around culture, community and daytime energy.

By Jessi Roti | Bon Appétit

Corporate

News impacting business & the workplace

Dr. Bronner’s Is Still Standing on a Soapbox—and Sales Are Booming

The soap company sees ~$250M in annual revenue while advocating for social, corporate and environmental causes.

By Hanna Krueger | The Wall Street Journal

Lowe’s is investing $250 million to train plumbers, carpenters, and electricians as its CEO says skilled trades are ‘critical to the future’

Lowe’s is quintupling its investment in the skilled trades for AI-resilient careers.

By Preston Fore | Fortune

The ‘Better-for-You’ CPG Playbook Is Breaking—and Founders Need a New One

CPG brands are moving beyond common “better-for-you,” shifting focus to identity, occasion and experience.

By Victoria Watters | Inc.

Inside a Corporate Retreat That Went Very Badly Wrong

In 2017, tech company Plex held a company retreat with “Survivor” themed teams and challenges that all went wrong.

By Ellen Gamerman | The Wall Street Journal

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

When men do the grocery shopping, households spend more, new data shows

Research shows that some shoppers often miss opportunities to save at the grocery store.

By Emily Stewart | Business Insider

The high price of everything, explained

What the cost of gas, coffee and milk tells us about why everything feels more expensive right now.

By Jonquilyn Hill | Vox

Retailers are bringing AI into stores in more ways

AI use cases for in-store shopping still vary as brands try to figure out what consumers want.

By Mitchell Parton | Modern Retail

The Home Depot just dropped giant Halloween decorations in April

Home Depot is capitalizing on Halloween by selling decorations six months early.

By David Hoffman | USA Today

Connections

Feed intelligence & AI tips

Does the New York Times Need a Magazine?

Hanya Yanagihara’s exit and a Sunday magazine redesign shift focus to the paper’s standalone titles.

By Charlotte Klein | Intelligencer

Going viral from space: NASA’s tech-savvy Artemis II crew

The first crewed lunar mission in 50+ years is also NASA’s most online, shot on iPhone and built for Instagram.

By Crystal Bell | Mashable

The top 5 AI marketing activations to know about right now

Meta’s new LLM, Amazon’s SMB video push and Google’s Coachella stunt blur the line between product demo and creative.

By Garrett Sloane | Ad Age

Media Moves & Intel:

Victor Swezey, formerly intern at Bloomberg News, is returning full-time as a rotational reporter, starting on the Management + Work team.
María José Gutiérrez Chávez, formerly editorial intern at Fast Company, is now junior trends news writer at the same publication.
Julia Love, technology reporter at Bloomberg News, has returned from maternity leave and resumes coverage of Google, AI and immigration.
Daniela Sirtori, reporter at Bloomberg News, has returned from maternity leave and resumes coverage of restaurant chains including McDonald’s, Starbucks and Chipotle.
Tony Muzyka, formerly producer at ABC News, is now senior broadcast producer for What You Need to Know at the same news station.
Nicole Forero, formerly senior video producer at Business Insider, is now managing producer at the same outlet, overseeing video across site and social.
Jasmine Sun, formerly reporter at MIT Technology Review, is now contributing writer at The Atlantic, covering AI culture and adoption.
Paige Gross, formerly national technology reporter at States Newsroom, is now reporter at CIO Dive, covering enterprise technology and AI.
Audrey Kemp, formerly agencies reporter at Adweek, is now New York political correspondent at COURIER.
CNN Business launched “The 1 on 1 with CNN,” a new series that brings together two business leaders for a conversation about their career journeys, their companies and the challenges shaping the business world.
Starr Bowenbank, formerly style and beauty editor at People, is now culture writer at ELLE.
Gigi Fong, formerly freelance sex and relationships editor, is now sex and wellness staff writer at VICE.
Ravenous, a new food media company founded by former Eater editors Courtney E. Smith, Jaya Saxena, Amy McCarthy, Ashok Selvam and Frances Dumlao, is launching in May.

Also... meet Domino, a pea-sized warty frogfish and the first of its kind raised in captivity, whose birth could help raise other fish species in the future.

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The Zeitgeist: Corporate Retreats and NeeDohs