Future Commerce

The in-house research team has hollowed out, and the LLMs picking up the slack are only delivering their best guesses. Merciv, the agentic brain behind Future Commerce’s Signal Reports, has set out to deliver auditable, defensible, and unified reporting solutions — and it’s redefining what brands are capable of achieving in-house in the process. Phillip and Alicia welcome Merciv co-founder and CEO Shaia Erlbaum to the show to talk about how brands can read signals in real time, and verify their relevancy. Shaia argues that data itself is commoditizing, but verification is not. The most honest consumer signal lives too deep for surveys to reach, which is why our Signal Reports are looking deeper than stated behaviors and are telling completely new kinds of retail and culture stories.The Toothpaste Doesn't Lie Key takeaways:Insights teams keep shrinking while the C-suite depends on them more than ever.Surveys capture posturing. Forums, reviews, and comment sections capture behavior.Data is commoditizing. Proprietary brand knowledge is the durable moat.The first Signal Report, a collaboration between Future Commerce and Merciv,  maps where GLP-1s removed cultural friction – and where friction migrated to."Almost everyone answering a survey question about how many times they brush their teeth in a day will say twice. But if you actually look at those sales figures, they simply don't sell enough toothpaste." — Shaia Erlbaum"These models aren't built to tell you, 'Hey, I don't know.'" — Shaia Erlbaum"There's a world where data's already becoming a commodity… a lot of the real advantage is less rooted in which model's more intelligent, but more so in to what degree can we actually verify the information we're coming across." — Shaia Erlbaum"The office of the CMO is becoming more of an individual contributor role." — Phillip JacksonIn-Show Mentions:Merciv: merciv.com"Frictionless Wellness: GLP-1s and What Comes After the Age of Autonomy" – the first Future Commerce Signal Report, powered by Merciv.LORE, our newest book on who really writes your brand's story. Get it in the Future Commerce shop.Associated Links:Read the first Signal Report, Frictionless Wellness: GLP-1s and What Comes After the Age of AutonomyInsiders 204: The Ozempic Effect: How GLP-1s Rewrote the Gospel of Self-LoveEpisode 435: Predictions 2026: Prepare for the Age of AutonomyEpisode 367: AI Agents Are Here. "Brands" Might Be In Danger.Episode 447: The Agent Has Left the BuildingCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Nikita Walia and Elliot Vredenburg of U.N.N.A.M.E.D. Studios took to the VISIONS stage at MoMA last year to enlighten a room of retail executives and brand marketers about the realities of worldbuilding. Their theory: a brand’s final form is decided by the public—and the strategist's job is to navigate that story, not control it. And they use Mercator, Buckminster Fuller, Guy Debord, free public Wi-Fi, and an acne sticker to back up their claims.Mapping Meaning Isn’t About Being RightKey takeaways:Branding isn't worldbuilding because worldbuilding just imposes another set of rulesA three-hundred-page brand book is obsolete the day it ships, and rebrands every five to ten years are theater for stakeholdersThe public decides a brand's final form, not the guidelines deckRegenerative brands are always rebranding[00:00:25] "Counter to what you've heard today, branding is not, in fact, worldbuilding." — Nikita Walia[00:04:34] "This is sameness being sold to us as a form of consistency." — Nikita Walia[00:15:45] "It's not about being right. It's about being useful, and useful in motion." — Elliot Vredenburg[00:17:09] "A regenerative brand doesn't need to rebrand every five to ten years because it's always rebranding." — Elliot VredenburgIn-Show Mentions:The Mercator projection (1569) and Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion MapSuperstudio, The Continuous MonumentGuy Debord and psychogeographyLinkNYCBurberry, Daniel Lee, Demna's Balenciaga, Pierpaolo PiccioliStarfaceAssociated Links:Read Alicia Esposito's companion essay, The New Meaning of Brand Building: Cartographies of MeaningWatch the original session at VISIONS Summit: Cartographies of MeaningHear Dami Lee's VISIONS session, The Stories Behind Our SpacesListen to Building Culturally Intelligent Brands with Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa GabrielRevisit The Anti-Blands, Existential Brands, and the New DadaismRead Surface Culture: When Brands Mistake Wallpaper for AuthenticityCheck out Future Commerce on YouTubeCheck out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and printSubscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce worldListen to our other episodes of Future CommerceHave any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can anyone tell the staged from the real anymore? On today’s After Dark: We’re growing increasingly certain that everything is fake now. Amazon drones delivering your package to the deep end of your backyard pool? Curiosity bait. A bunch of Kindergarten moms actually keeping up in a group thread? A Suno commercial. That behind-the-scenes footage? AI-generated – but you watched it, didn’t you? PLUS: The minds of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim have converged to craft what’s anticipated to be one of the most compelling documentaries we’ve ever seen.This episode is exclusive to Future Commerce Plus members. Subscribe to listen at www.futurecommerce.com/plus.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The next big advertising opportunity is here. The audio systems in Dollar General’s 21,000 stores connect shoppers with advertisers and drive loyalty. Austin Leonard, VP and GM of Dollar General Media Network (DGMN), sits down with Phillip and Alicia to explain why the retailer has doubled down on audio and the role that non-endemic advertisers play in his long-term vision. “The Cocktail Party Effect” Key takeaways: In-store audio is getting programmatic optimization so DG’s sponsors can serve ads at the best time of day and in the best-suited markets.  Non-endemic only works in-store if it clears the near-endemic bar: shopper relevance. Dollar General’s 21,000 stores across suburban, urban, and rural markets are often the only stores in town, making its ad inventory a community utility.  The Yellow Glasses Project pairs brand partners with the DG Literacy Foundation via iHeartRadio. [00:18:10] Phillip: "This is the power that I think audio has that nothing else has; it can catch your attention even when you're focused on something else." [00:32:40] Austin Leonard: "I call that the last mile of eCommerce for the last mile of America." [00:36:15] Austin Leonard: "The next era of retail media is really about accountability and also telling our story for our unique audiences." In-Show Mentions: Find Austin Leonard on LinkedIn More about DG Media Network Yellow Glasses Project iHeartMedia, DG Literacy Foundation partnership featuring Bobby Bones Listen to Future Commerce’s episode with Collin Colburn of IAB Associated Links: More retail media coverage on Future Commerce retail media hub Read: Insiders 237: “Vertical Dramas” and the New Era of Commerce Media Listen: LIVE from Shoptalk Spring: Retail Media Confessions, Hype Cycles, and the Creator Reckoning Read: Ad Infinitum: Retail Media is The Final Boss  VISIONS Summit at MoMA, New York City: Join us on November 3 Watch: Future Commerce on YouTube Join Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Phillip sits solo to unpack conflicting economic signals: Shopify's monster quarter against a Census report showing eCommerce eating share while retail overall slows. What does this mean for brick-and-mortar? Although stores still make up most retail sales, their mission and value have shifted. The good has become secondary to the experience of acquiring it. Plus, he breaks down why the monoculture returned in a summer of shared events, and what's on the FC docket through November 3rd. The Monoculture Isn’t Dead, It’s On Substack Key takeaways: Commerce is growing (online sales grew at nearly twice retail’s pace in 2025), but it’s growing by disappearing into everything else.  The product itself is secondary to the experience of purchasing it. The monoculture isn't dead; it’s been revived by sport, tours, and global events. "There is a monoculture now of people writing about the summer of the monoculture on their Substack." "You're not just communicating your vision anymore to the human capital within your business; you now have to communicate vision to machines and put it into machine language. Because increasingly, we are automating more and more of our vision, and it's going on autopilot." In-Show Mentions: See our Celebrity Brands Hub before the Signal Report launches Spotify Summer Trends Report Get your early bird ticket for VISIONS Summit: NYC Associated Links: Check out Future Commerce on YouTube Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.