Good morning. SXSW 2026 is a wrap, and this year’s festival pressed reset on the playbook. No central convention hub, fewer flashy brand spectacles and a tighter, scrappier footprint across Austin. Music, film and innovation collided into one condensed schedule, trading mega-installations for smaller venues and a back-to-basics energy. The fanfare may have dialed down, but brands still showed up: think pop-ups, themed takeovers and Rivian literally moving mountains on Congress Ave. for its Electric Joyride. The EV maker built an off-road course in the middle of downtown, complete with dirt piles and 27 employee drivers chauffeuring attendees through every tilt and dip.
In today’s edition: rage rooms are the new office happy hour, and grandma-core lands in dining rooms.
Campaigns
Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments
Also, Hidden Valley’s “Ranch-bassadors”, McDonald’s UK trading cards, McDonald’s Spain hoodies with hidden deals, Dunkin’ x Vera Wang’s wedding merch collection for National Proposal Day (3/20) and Rare Beauty’s “Chief Shade Matcher.”
Culture
Snackable bites of consumer culture
Corporate
News impacting business & the workplace
Commerce
Shopper society snapshot
Connections
Feed intelligence & AI tips
Media Moves & Intel:
Joanna Stern, formerly personal tech columnist at The Wall Street Journal, announced her new consumer-tech media company, New Things, will launch in April on Beehiiv, and she’s teamed up with NBC News to bring exclusive reporting and analysis from New Things to its TV and digital channels.
Jessica Downey, formerly senior writer at TechRadar, is now buying guide editor at the same outlet.
Catherina Gioino, formerly politics and breaking news reporter at Rolling Stone, is now news editor at Fortune.
Moses Jeanfrancois, formerly reporter at BK Reader, is now news writer at Inc.
Mitchell Parton is moving to New York City, where he’ll continue his work at Modern Retail.
Beth Greenfield, formerly freelance, is now parenting editor at SheKnows.
Heather Lalley, formerly managing editor at Restaurant Business, CSP Daily News and Supermarket News, is now director of comms at IFMA The Food Away from Home Association.
Layoffs were announced this week at Axios.
Also... watch this video created by artist Seán Doran showcasing a journey across North America from the perspective of the International Space Station.
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