Listen To The Show
Transcript
Welcome to The Brief by Kuro House, your daily marketing update designed to keep you sharp and inspired. Today, we’re digging into the stories that are shaping the future of customer experience, entertainment marketing, and the business side of the industry. Let’s jump right in.
First up, Pandora is making a bold bet on AI agents to scale both service and emotional selling during the peak holiday season, as reported by Glossy. Earlier this year, Pandora launched Clara, an AI-powered service agent, not to showcase flashy tech, but to navigate the holiday rush without compromising customer experience or profit margins. Since its February debut, Clara now resolves about 60% of customer service inquiries on Pandora’s website—up from 40% with their previous chatbot. This improvement has translated into a 10% increase in Pandora’s net promoter score, a key indicator of customer loyalty. CTO David Walmsley explained that training an AI agent is far more efficient than onboarding hundreds of seasonal staff, especially when 40% of Pandora’s annual revenue comes in the last quarter. But the real moonshot is Gemma, a sales AI quietly piloted in Australia. Gemma aims to replicate Pandora’s nuanced, emotionally driven in-store experience online, guiding shoppers through conversations about gifting, relationships, and memories. For example, if a customer is looking for a gift for someone who loves windsurfing, Gemma—like a skilled associate—will probe for deeper meaning, perhaps connecting the gift to a shared memory, and then recommend the most meaningful jewelry. While Gemma’s impact on conversion is still early, Pandora is confident that conversational AI will be the next frontier, capturing customer intent and sentiment in ways that traditional online shopping can’t. With 23% of sales already digital and rising, Pandora’s investment in AI isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about building a durable, memory-driven relationship with customers for the long haul.
Next, let’s talk about the Hollywood-meets-marketing spectacle that is A24 and Timothée Chalamet’s campaign for the film Marty Supreme, as covered by Adweek. Marty Supreme, loosely based on real-life table tennis legend Marty Reisman, has already broken records as the fastest-selling presale for an A24 movie and the biggest per-theater average for a limited release in 2025, grossing $875,000 from just six theaters in a single weekend. The film, set in 1950s New York and following a fictional ping-pong prodigy’s rise through the underground scene, has leveraged a marketing strategy that blurs the line between fiction and reality. Thanks to innovative campaigns, Marty Supreme is no longer just a character on screen—he’s become a star in the real world, driving buzz and anticipation ahead of its Christmas Day U.S. release. This campaign is a testament to how storytelling and celebrity partnerships can transform a film’s marketing from routine to remarkable.
Shifting gears to the business side, Adweek also reports on the coming wave of M&A activity expected in 2026. After a relatively quiet start, 2025 turned out to be a landmark year for mergers and acquisitions, highlighted by Omnicom’s $13.5 billion takeover of Interpublic Group, Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance, and ongoing battles for Warner Bros. Discovery. In total, M&A volumes across sectors reached a staggering $4.3 trillion, up 39% from 2024, according to JP Morgan. The adtech, martech, and digital content sectors saw a 13% increase in activity, per Pitchbook and Luma Partners. This surge is being driven by everything from multibillion-dollar AI deals to further consolidation among holding companies, signaling a rapidly evolving landscape where scale, technology, and strategic alliances are more important than ever.
That’s all for today’s edition of The Brief. From Pandora’s AI-powered push to emotionally intelligent selling, to A24’s cinematic marketing magic, and the seismic shifts in the M&A world, it’s clear that innovation and adaptability are the keys to thriving in today’s marketing landscape. Thanks for tuning in—stay curious, stay sharp, and we’ll see you next time.
