Good morning. This year’s U.S. Open has brands doing a lot more than slapping a logo on a banner.

The old guard is handling the basics: Amex, Chase and Grey Goose cover charging stations, Wi-Fi and the Honey Deuce. Meanwhile, the new guard is stealing headlines. Oura strapped a ring on every Main Draw player. Vital Proteins is dangling a helicopter ride to the finals for anyone who survives a tiebreak sweepstakes. IHG built an actual bus - pizza, chargers, the works - to dodge the 11pm subway crush. Even brands with zero courtside presence want in: Chipotle is handing out BOGO codes every time Taylor Fritz wins, while Dunkin’, Lavazza and Pure Leaf ship their own tennis-themed drops for the couch-bound. Two weeks from now, we’ll know which of these bets paid off.

In today’s edition: LinkedIn’s personal-brand arms race has workers paying ghostwriters to sound authentic, and Gen Z’s new pen pals are virtual pigeons that take nine hours to deliver a text.

Campaigns

Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments

Also, Betty Crocker’s cake purses, Heinz’s couture bib for newlyweds and Stonyfield’s cow spa.

Culture

Snackable bites of consumer culture

Corporate

News impacting business & the workplace

Commerce

Shopper society snapshot

Connections

Feed intelligence & AI tips

Media Moves & Intel:

  • Ashley Gold, formerly senior tech policy reporter at Axios, is now senior tech correspondent at Semafor. She starts September 8.

  • John Simons, formerly partner at Brunswick Group, is now senior director, business and media at CNN, managing reporters and editors who cover business, technology and media for the network.

  • Erin Woo, formerly reporter at The Information covering Google and OpenAI, is now reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Google.

  • Havovi Cooper, formerly deputy executive producer at Business Insider, is now senior producer of Opinion Video at The New York Times Opinion.

  • Mariapaula Gonzalez, formerly intern at Inc., is now breaking news reporter at Barron’s.

  • Bryan Walsh, formerly senior editorial director at Vox, is now senior editor and writer at nonprofit Coefficient Giving.

  • Amir Ismael, formerly men’s style editor, Reviews at Business Insider, is now senior commerce editor at Fox News.

  • Stephanie Strauss, formerly video producer at Healthline Media, is now senior producer on the Digital Health and Wellness team at CNN.

  • Cortne Bonilla, formerly senior shopping writer at VOGUE, is now senior shopping editor at Marie Claire.

  • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is launching a weekly business newsletter called Georgianomics, which will post on Wednesdays and dive into the state of Georgia’s unique economy and the businesses, people and ideas shaping it.

Also... take a look at every solar eclipse, from 2000 BCE to 3000 CE, mapped.

Thanks for reading.

If you need help accessing the full text of any of these stories, drop your team a line and we'll send it right over.

—The Editors

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe to The Zeitgeist by Catamaran here.