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- The Zeitgeist: September 19, 2025
The Zeitgeist: September 19, 2025
Today's Edition: Vette, Beli and Braces
Good morning. This week, journalist, author, podcaster and Substacker Derek Thompson dropped a banger of the 25 Most Interesting Ideas of 2025 (So Far) across culture, politics, AI, economics, health and science - basically a cheat sheet to how the world is shifting under our feet. The standout notes for comms and marketing folks: half of Americans don’t get news from actual news orgs anymore - it’s on social - and three-quarters of Americans under 30 interact with AI several times per week.
Meanwhile, The New York Times Magazine ran a love letter to… the em dash. Turns out, AI is bringing it back in style, sparking debates about not just how we write, but why we write at all.
Campaigns
Earned-friendly campaigns & clever moments
Also, AG1’s 1-855-TURN-OFF late-night hotline, Capri Sun x Christian Siriano’s NYFW Pouch Purse collab, Pop Secret’s new Chief of Butter and Bubly x Nelly LTO “Apple Bubly” jeans collab.
Culture
Snackable bites of consumer culture
Corporate
Trends at work and for good
Commerce
Shopper society snapshot
Connections
Feed intelligence & AI tips
Media Moves & Intel:
Deepa Seetharaman, formerly tech reporter at The Wall Street Journal, is now tech correspondent at Reuters covering AI and OpenAI.
Christina Wilkie, formerly senior editor of the politics and economy desk at CNBC Digital, is now senior editor of the business and economy unit at NBC News.
Agnee Ghosh, formerly a student, is now AI reporter at Bloomberg.
Marie Beaudette, formerly business, finance and economics coverage chief at The Wall Street Journal, is now VP of business and media at CNN, overseeing business and media coverage.
Adriana Lee, formerly freelance and tech reporter at WWD, is now travel tech and AI reporter at Skift.
Alex Carr, formerly editorial director of newsletters at The Skimm, is now editorial director at Morning Brew.
Alex Heath, formerly deputy editor at The Verge, is leaving to launch a podcast for Vox Media called Access. The weekly show will focus on the tech industry’s inside conversation, with a special focus on the rise of AI and how it’s reshaping products, companies and culture.
Tristan Werkmeister, social video reporter at Reuters, says his new role marks a shift from treating TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels as side channels to putting them at the center of storytelling.
Alexis Benveniste, freelancer and writer of Extra Credit Substack, is open to pitches about interesting women leaders across different industries.
Katie Fang, Gen-Z beauty creator, is crossing into traditional media with According to Katie, a new column for The Cut as newsrooms modernize with more influencer voices.
Also... watch this episode of Untold Earth, a series that explores our planet’s strangest, most unique natural wonders, about redwood trees.
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