So, Get This

Toys “R” Us just came back from the dead, and it wasn’t kids who brought it back. The toy industry posted its strongest first half ever, with adult spending up 25% and driving nearly 60% of all dollar gains. 80% of American adults played this year for themselves. 51% would rather open a blind box than talk to a therapist. Based on new Harris Poll research, John and Libby unpack why grown-ups are turning play into self-care and what it means for the 77% of Americans who say brands still underestimate how much adults want to play.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

33% of Gen Z identifies as religious. Nearly double the rate of Boomers. New Harris Poll data just broke the secularization story everyone's been telling for thirty years. A hundred strangers showed up to pizza night before Mass in Greenwich Village. 150 women are praying the rosary on a hot girl walk through Central Park. Half a million people walked 500 miles across Spain this year, and a third of them were under 30. John and Libby unpack "The Faith Stack," why Gen Z is building a spiritual life as layered as the world they inherited, and what it means for brands still assuming this generation is secular.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Americans are protesting data centers on Saturday and naming their chatbots on Sunday. 80% say AI is becoming a surveillance tool. Half of Gen Z is open to a romantic relationship with one. A fake deodorant brand built in an hour landed on the AI shelf ahead of companies with actual clinical trials. Based on new research they just presented at the Forbes CMO Summit, John and Libby unpack why your customer is revolting against AI and falling for it at the same time, and what it means for every brand caught in between.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

40% of Americans would rather have a pet than a child. A quarter of young owners are skipping their own doctor to pay for their animal's care. John and Libby dig into how a generation priced out of traditional family life built a new one and why every industry from luxury fashion to real estate is reshaping around it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Half of young Americans say being able to bet on the news makes the news more interesting. Kalshi just outpaced DraftKings and FanDuel combined. John and Libby unpack how prediction markets escaped sports and started pricing every uncertainty in American life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laid-off tech workers are hiking their grief uphill, together. Strangers are covering each other's grocery bills. Young people are throwing parties to do their taxes. John and Libby unpack The Helper's High and the stat behind it: 91% of Americans say helping others is how they build their own hope, which flips everything we believe about asking. The ask was never a withdrawal. It was always a gift, for both people. So why are we so terrible at giving it?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Breaking up is not so hard to do, particularly with consumers and brands. Every relationship has a test: not how it looks when things are easy, but what happens when they're not. This year, that test is playing out between brands and their most loyal customers and quietly, a lot of them are failing it.  In a challenging economy consumers are thinking hard about what stays a must buy and where they can trade down or out.   One in four Gen Z is LGBTQ+, 71% will pay more for brands that show up for them, and 70% stay loyal even when budgets get tight. The catch? When the relationship breaks, there's no fight, no ultimatum — they just go quiet and move on. This episode unpacks why commitment, not perfection, is what actually earns loyalty for life, and why the breakup nobody sees coming is the one that costs the most.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Elon Musk closes in on becoming the world's first trillionaire, wealth has drifted so far out of reach that Americans can't fight it the normal way, so they've started to troll it. A mayor announced a tax from the sidewalk outside a billionaire's $238 million penthouse. A movie star walked the Met Gala in a gown titled "The One Percent." On May Day, three thousand protests marched under one banner: "Workers Over Billionaires." Trolling is what you do when the thing you resent feels too big to touch and too far to reach. 71% of Gen Z now want a legal cap on how rich a person can get. John and Libby unpack Billionaire Backlash and what it means for every brand still selling status.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fannie Mae just accepted its first crypto-collateralized mortgage. 75% of Americans say starter homes are priced like luxury homes. And most Americans say the housing market feels frozen, buyers and sellers waiting each other out. John and Libby unpack why nobody's moving and why an entire generation is rewriting the rules of who you buy a home with.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hundreds of Gen Z singles showed up to a Brooklyn warehouse to wrestle strangers for a first date.  Meanwhile, Bumble has lost 90% of its market value, and 77% of singles say dating apps feel more like a marketplace than a love story. So what actually replaces the swipe? In this episode, we unpack "Love Off Script" — the full-scale reinvention of how people meet, why the date itself costs more than the app subscription, and what every brand with a physical space needs to understand about being in the matchmaking business whether they signed up for it or not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.