#1 Do the Opposite: How Brands Are Winning Amid Social Media Chaos

The more "cursed" your campaigns are the better.

Hi friends,

Welcome to the Insights by your two and only -Mo & Joygill. We’re sure it has been a wild week for you and for tech in the U.S., with $500B flowing into AI advancements. While AI transforms marketing playbooks and content creation, social platforms are in turmoil – TikTok's U.S. ban rollercoaster has brands scrambling while users get increasingly selective about where and what they consume. But here's what's fascinating: the winners in this chaos aren't following the standard playbook. Instead of panicking about social platform instability, they're zigging while others zag – from Fetch's $1.2M Super Bowl giveaway shunning polished agency pitches to what we're calling "cursed collaborations" that somehow work. The real kicker? Smart brands are actually pulling back from social media dominance, building resilient communities through dark social channels like food / sports culture apps and IRL events.

In this week's newsletter, we're spotlighting these marketing rebels, unpacking their counterintuitive wins, and revealing why sometimes the best strategy in digital chaos is doing exactly what everyone else isn't.

Cursed Collaborations

From last week’s Chipotle X Strava Free Burrito Bowl Race, to this month’s Popeyes X Don Julio Collaboration, we’re preparing for a Spring & Summer of unexpected, eye-catching and potentially internet breaking co-branding partnerships. At Hybrid Rituals, we are going to keep an eye out for what we are calling in our studio - “Cursed Collaborations”.

What is a Cursed Collaboration? Well, it can take many forms but the key to a Cursed Collaboration is essentially that it looks like it’s a terrible idea on paper so much so that no person in their right mind would think to propose it. Whether “looking right” means being brand safe instead of cringe, or making a push into an industry that doesn’t provide the synergy that companies are normally looking for. For example, we don’t normally associate running clubs with burrito bowls. Chipotle’s decision to partner with Strava to capture running clubs across the globe by making them race for free fast food is an undeniably machiavellian 5D chess move.

Don’t misunderstand; brands have been executing collaborations for decades; that’s not the take here. However, in the world of chronically online Gen Z & Elder Millennial marketing, brands have consistently been pushed into working with unexpected partners, gaining engagement & interest from social commentators who can’t help but share their reactions of disbelief at these almost mind-melting partnerships.

With a now maturing Gen Alpha Audience that is finely attuning their screentime to BrainRot media and AI slop. Brands are starting to lean into these collaborations at an increased pace, just to get some eyeballs back. The cursed collabs are often a formula for viral UGC, media hype, and sold-out limited edition product. If brands are lucky, the cursed collaboration is a petri dish of experimentation paving the way to a one-of-a-kind long term partnership.

Let’s be clear, just because a collab is “cursed” doesn’t make it bad, it just means that we will be looking back at these campaigns years from like that one archived photo on your Instagram photo album. You know the one. The one with the shutter-shades and 4Loko?

If that doesn’t paint the picture for you then let me explain cursed collabs with two words. Fortnite Crocs.

Fetch's Super Bowl

Instead of running with agency pitches, Fetch CEO Schroll is leading a raw $1.2M Super Bowl giveaway that will send viewers straight to a live in-app stream. It's a clever twist on the traditional Big Game ad – turning real-time winners and authentic moments into new app downloads, while supercharging their already-profitable referral model at a time when inflation-squeezed consumers are hunting for deals. Smart move: they've been building brand recognition through TV sponsorships rather than just chasing social media metrics. Link

Cursed Collaborations

The Fast Food marketing maniacs at Popeyes shook the internet with a cryptic party post announcing a partnership with the liquor brand Don Julio launching on Jan 31. These two brands continue the trend of Cursed Brand Collaborations that set the internet on fire despite how insane or risky they may seem on paper. We don’t know what to expect yet but we’re sure it will keep us talking.

The “Not Like Us” Saga

It is smart for Apple Music to weave their product with one of the biggest drama in recent music culture. On Sunday night, we saw the release of two Superbowl ads. One being a TV only ad hyping the upcoming game with a New Orleans Jazz rendition of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and another digital ad announcing Grammy-award winning “SZA” as a special guest for the Apple Music Halftime show. Judging by the sleek style and subtle nods to culture, we’re guessing that these were both produced by Kendrick Lamar’s creative agency PgLang, because their fingerprints are all over it. Two things for sure: fans are invested and we’re watching a masterclass in Music and Sports Marketing Synergy.

AI Model Mayhem

OpenAI previews their Operator Tool to Pro Users. Operator is an AI agent “that can use its own browser to perform tasks for you.” Some X users have reported that companies like YouTube and Reddit have already blocked the tool. Meanwhile, China’s latest AI export Deepseek R1 is taking the internet by storm by being free, open-source and being produced for a fraction of the cost of OpenAi’s models. For tech marketers, this isn't just about AI tools – it's about how we communicate AI features to users and stakeholders. As platforms grow wary of AI automation and budget-friendly alternatives emerge, we're entering an era where the way we message AI capabilities matters as much as the technology itself. Time to rethink how we're positioning those 2025 AI features to both users and platforms.

TikTok is converting more sales online than ever, with TikTok’s tenuous return to U.S Servers, creators and audiences are rejoicing but what about advertisers? Some are still taking advantages of the traffic, while some brands have already paused their ad spend amidst the uncertainty. We’ll be keeping an eye on how brands adapt to this precarious digital landscape.

We break down the wins—and the misses—of top consumer tech brands.
Expect deep dives, cultural signals, and community-driven insights that go way beyond the usual GTM playbooks.

Reach out: mo@hybrid-rituals.com

Agency: www.hybrid-rituals.agency

Media Platform: www.hybrid-rituals.com