This week's Daily Dose highlights how major brands are adapting to new trends. Key strategies include Wendy's gamifying loyalty with a retro RPG, Amazon integrating AI shopping into text messages, and Dunkin' leveraging pop culture through a Marvel partnership. Other notable campaigns focus on visual disruption, authentic peer-to-peer trust, and health-conscious product upgrades.

This Week on Daily Dose is my weekly roundup from his free daily coaching system for marketing and growth teams. It covers seven brand examples and what marketers can learn from each:

1. Google Home: customisable seasonal doorbell sounds, a light-touch way to do organic marketing through personalisation.

2. Waitrose: a YouTube cooking channel that works because the content is simple and relatable and the chefs feel authentic, not like an ad.

3. Svedka: a user-generated Super Bowl spot, meant to rebuild trust and turn past criticism into a brand strategy that fits the culture.

4. Community sports sponsorship: a club swaps one big corporate backer for 1,000 micro sponsors, which spreads out the funding and builds community ties.

5. UK Christmas ads ranked: most campaigns rest on three pillars. They sell "emotional repair", they position the brand as the system that delivers Christmas, and they reuse familiar creative hooks to cut through.

6. Natural History Museum: a T-Rex in a festive jumper becomes a family event that combines storytelling, fundraising and sustainability.

7. Wendy's: Wendy Quest, a full-length RPG that rewards players with real food discounts, driving app engagement and store visits.

The common thread is that the strongest seasonal and brand marketing gives people real value, authenticity or a sense of community, instead of relying on traditional advertising.

My article goes behind the scenes interview with Matthew Barker, Head of Marketing & Communications at Portsmouth FC, we explore how a modern football club plans and delivers marketing, communications and digital across a season. we cover the realities of operating as a publisher, broadcaster, retailer and community organisation all at once, the emotional and tribal nature of fandom, and why results on the pitch shape everything. Barker explains how the club handles matchday content, live operations and unpredictable events, how they choose which player, staff and fan stories to tell, and the boundaries they set around privacy. He digs into channel strategy across social, email, CRM, web, app and the club’s own VOD platform Pompey+, including the move away from iFollow and what drives subscriptions. We also look at football specific KPIs, transfer announcement workflows, partner integrations that feel authentic, and how the team “reads the room” when results or controversy demand a different tone.

Key takeaways for marketers centre on long term focus, audience understanding, preparation for unpredictability, smart channel selection and protecting trust with loyal supporters.

I explain how AI‑driven inboxes have quietly rewritten the rules of email marketing. Instead of rewarding volume, providers like Gmail and Apple now score you on real engagement signals: how fast recipients open, how long they read, how often they delete without opening, whether they scroll, file or ignore you over time.

Old tactics such as “spray and pray” blasts, resending to non‑openers and cranking up send frequency now actively damage your sender reputation, even if short‑term metrics look fine.

Daily Dose is my (created by marketing coach and advisor Danny Denhard. free daily marketing coaching swipe file.

Each day you get a short, practical lesson built from real brand examples such as Puma, Charlie Bigham’s, Walmart, Netflix, Chanel and McDonald’s.

The format is simple: one case, one core principle, and one concrete action you can apply to your own brand, campaigns or AI projects.

Topics include product storytelling, brand principles, habit-forming experiences, responsible AI and dynamic pricing, content for kids and pets, and sponsorship strategy.

Daily Dose is available on-site or via live Google Slides, making it easy to share with your team and use in workshops, stand-ups or marketing reviews.