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Data, culture, creativity. Here's your monthly guide to what's going on in the world of marketing.
Welcome to Trend Watch, your monthly source of trends and forecasting by the Amigo Strat team. Keeping our ears to the ground, every month we’ll compile our sharp take on what’s next and why it’s important.
Back to school and September has been replete with some pretty shocking news. The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the American right-wing political activist, has shocked the US and raised fears of endemic political violence. Geopolitically, a summit of global leaders and military parade in China strengthened fears of a new world order, with those such as Putin and Kim Jong Un walking alongside Xi Jinping, united against Trump’s wavering tariffs and isolationist policies.
British politics has been stormy, triggered by Angela Rayner, the Labour Deputy Leader and Housing Minister, stepping down after admitting to not paying Stamp Duty, prompting a subsequent cabinet reshuffle and Labour deputy leadership race. The more recent controversy around Peter Mandelson’s involvement with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein is another reputational nightmare for Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Amid the challenges this September, there are encouraging signs of meaningful progress happening quietly but powerfully around the world. For example, SolarTech Innovations, a Beijing-based company, has led a surge in solar panel installations that grew an astonishing 64% globally this year, sparking real momentum toward renewable energy adoption in China, India, and emerging markets in Africa. Additionally, a landmark study has shown that grades are better in schools with phone bans, putting hard evidence behind what many teachers and parents have long suspected.
Turning to marketing, Sydney Sweeney’s collaboration and campaign with American Eagle generated much controversy for the brand, not to mention unprecedented customer acquisition and sales. Shein faced a PR onslaught as the likeness of Luigi Mangione, accused of killing Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was used to model a t-shirt. From AI upsets to more sinister displays of tech might, Elon Musk’s newly unveiled AI chatbot Grok has had to apologise for its horrific behaviour, inciting extremist views and posting offensive content.
As the world feels fractured and technology reveals the flaws of its maker, the pursuit of perfection feels increasingly unattainable and misplaced. What people value most, from brands as well as individuals, is authenticity.
Le Parisien – U.S. rugby star Ilona Maher takes a selfie with fans, highlighting her growing influence both on and off the pitch.
Ilona Maher: Rugby’s Social Media Powerhouse
Ilona Maher has emerged as one of the most influential figures in rugby. As she told Rugby Union Weekly: “I’m amazing at rugby, but realistically I’m maybe not the best at it, which is fine.” Her impact on the sport instead comes from relatability, humour, and her powerful presence on social media, with more than 8 million combined followers across Instagram and TikTok and the most followed rugby union player in the world, male or female.
Foresight
Maher’s rise points to a bigger cultural shift: fans are no longer looking for polished perfection but are interested in the person beyond the sports player. More widely, the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup has had record-breaking attendance, with research showing these women sports players’ social media has had a significant impact. Personal and brand engagement are a real growth opportunity, especially for women sports players and the women’s teams.
Adweek – Matthew McConaughey leads a march for Team Earth in Salesforce’s campaign.
Boardroom Meets B2C: The Rise of B2B Influencers
B2B marketers have been borrowing marketing strategies from their B2C counterparts for a while. However, recent brand partnerships, spikes in short-form videos, and influencer marketing, suggests such strategies within the B2B industry are now the norm (see Matthew McConaughey with Salesforce). According to data from LinkedIn, 94% of B2B marketers say creator partnerships drive direct sales and 63% say they are integral to their ongoing strategy.
Foresight
As extensive research becomes the new norm for B2B buyers, marketers in this space are focusing more on differentiation and emotional connection. While the market has changed, there is also a noticeable shift in attitude post-covid: corporate jargon and fluffy descriptors are less tolerated, and squeezed budgets mean greater attentiveness to ROI. B2B marketers using B2C techniques demonstrate the need to communicate value through both emotion and measured results, and what’s a better way than a reliable user testimony.
Financial Times – Illustration of Elon Musk alongside the xAI Grok logo, referencing the chatbot’s recent controversies.
AI on Trial: When Chatbots Go Rogue
xAI, the Elon Musk-led company behind Grok, the AI chatbot, has had to apologise for what it admitted was ‘horrific behaviour’ and posts on X. This isn’t the first time a team behind an AI product has had to cover their tracks. Once again, the influence of the creator on an AI product, complete with their biases, prejudices and political ideologies, is made scarily clear with sinister repercussions.
Foresight
As B2B marketers we need to be vigilant when it comes to using these products, especially when AI is becoming commonplace in the workplace. We need to make sure we retain the critical thinking and reasoning to interrogate what these AI chatbots give us, refine our queries and prompts, and make sure they stay as our aide/helper rather than authoritative source of all knowledge. We must have faith in our abilities and our experience, rather than relying on products subject to the political winds of ‘tech bros’ like Musk.
So come say hello, amigo@amigopartnership.com