exploring the Powerful Partnerships Shaping Culture Vol. 20
2016 is trending, but we are not about to include photos of what the MYTHOS team looked like a decade ago… some seriously questionable clothing choices.
Even as a micro-trend, ‘2016 posts’ signal a broader shift in Brand Marketing and Culture - away from hyper tech focussed, AI driven content, and towards craft, IRL, humanity and nostalgia. Read on for a few notable events, brand moments and collabs that have stood out to us at the beginning of 2026. Enjoy!
2016 hun!
Mercedes Benz City x Binghatti Event, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
WHAT:
Mercedes-Benz unveiled Mercedes-Benz Places | Binghatti City at Meydan’s grandstand in a spectacle designed to signal scale, legacy, and ambition. With more than 25,000 guests in attendance, the event marked Binghatti’s, the real estate developer behind it, first master-planned city and introduced VISION ICONIC, a concept that extends Mercedes-Benz beyond mobility and into lifestyle and real estate.
HOW WE SEE IT:
Signals a shift in how legacy luxury brands are thinking about growth. This wasn’t just a large-scale launch- it was a declaration that Mercedes-Benz is extending its identity beyond vehicles and into the built environment itself through the prism of our screens, and the statements of influencers that we feel no affiliation with.
e.l.f. and Liquid Death launch the new limited-edition Lip Embalms
Nina Dobrev ‘Staged Date’
WHAT:
Nina Dobrev was spotted in LA last week on what appeared to be a low-key date - except it wasn’t accidental. Tapping into ongoing curiosity around Nina’s dating life, e.l.f. Cosmetics staged a paparazzi-style moment featuring Glothar, the black metal frontman from the brand’s Liquid Death collaboration.
The twist? Nina was photographed wearing - and casually holding - the latest lip launch from the drop. The result was a perfectly timed PR stunt that blurred the lines between celebrity culture and beauty marketing, keeping the e.l.f. x Liquid Death collaboration firmly in the cultural conversation.
HOW WE SEE IT:
Use shock-value, culture-first creative to break through saturated categories. Everyone loves tea ( we see you Brooklyn ) so why not capitalise on that by activating your brand through gossip? Smart, simple and effective.
WHAT:
Alex Cooper’s Unwell is leaning all the way into sitcom energy. The brand just launched Unwell Office, a mockumentary-style series offering a satirical look at life inside HQ. Inspired by mockumentary classics and modern workplace content, Unwell Office turns internal team culture into entertainment.
HOW WE SEE IT:
It’s another example of brands using their own people as storytelling engines - bringing their brand world to life while keeping audiences genuinely engaged. Longer form content is on the rise, and has been heralded as a clear marker away from brain rot 7 second scrolls. Unwell have tapped into this, bringing nostalgia, wit and humour into the series. A strategy that doesn’t leave us feeling deep in the doom scroll.
WHAT:
Salt and Stone activates in Aspen with editorial-style storytelling that blends place and product. Set against a snow-covered alpine backdrop, the brand transformed its everyday essentials into larger-than-life moments - literally - spotlighting its cult-favorite formulas through sculptural, snow-built installations.
HOW WE SEE IT:
From immersive visuals to subtly branded details, the activation felt organic, photogenic, and perfectly tuned to Aspen’s winter crowd - proof that when a brand commits to its world-building, even deodorant can become destination-worthy.
WHAT:
Rare Beauty partnered with creator Tezza Barton to bring its latest bronzer launch to life in a way that felt native to social - not staged for it. Instead of focusing solely on traditional product content, the collaboration extended into how people actually create and share online, with a custom Rare filter launched on the Tezza app. The filter mirrored the bronzer’s warm, glowy effect, giving users a digital version of the product they could layer directly into their everyday posts.
HOW WE SEE IT:
Filters, casual stories, and low-lift content formats met audiences where they already were, rather than asking them to engage with overly polished ads. - another example of the turn away from mass campaigns and towards curation. By blending beauty with creator tools and everyday content creation, Rare Beauty made the launch feel like part of the social ecosystem - not an interruption to it.
BÉIS takes on the men’s market with The Pro Collection
WHAT:
BÉIS has expanded its reach into the men’s market with The Pro Collection, a high-performance travel line. The collection is built around the idea that great performance doesn’t call attention to itself but simply shows up when it’s needed. By tailoring a collection specifically for men, BÉIS broadened its cultural footprint beyond its core audience while staying true to its roots in functional, thoughtful design.
HOW WE SEE IT:
Casting Tyriq Withers anchors the campaign in personality, providing an aspirational yet relatable face that translates seamlessly across social and editorial channels. Super Bowl-weekend events create IRL touchpoints that extend awareness beyond digital media, turning product into experience and fans into advocates. We want to FEEL and TOUCH in 2026, not just engage.
ONE FUN ONE FOR THE WEEK:
HEINZ transforms the fry container
We always want more ketchup, and let's be real dipping is messy. A solution that needs no explanation - the sauce holder. Heinz doesn’t just accompany fries, it completes them. This incredibly simple design reinforces a long-standing cultural association Heinz already owns, instead of trying to create a new one.
TEAM TALKS:
1Billion Follower Summit - The World’s largest summit about the creator economy
WHAT
Our Founder, George Nikolaou attended The 1 Billion Followers Summit in Dubai, held January 9 to 11, 2026. The official theme this year was “Content for Good,” and it brought the creator economy’s full cast into one place - creators, platforms, brands, and the people building the tools.
HOW GEORGE SAW IT:
AI was in every single conversation. No surprise there. Not “how do we use AI.” Everyone will. The real question underneath everything was this:
How do we build trust when content becomes infinitely producible?
Not by avoiding AI. That’s not realistic. Trust will be built through standards, and through making reality legible again.
Creators and brands that win will show more process, not just more output. They will be clearer about what is synthetic, stylised, reconstructed, or lived. They will choose coherence over volume, because coherence compounds and randomness decays. They will treat AI as leverage for better work, not a factory for more work.
AI raises the floor fast. It makes “decent” easy. It also raises the ceiling for people who already know how to tell a story, because it gives them leverage. Novelty will fade. The slop will flood the feed. And audiences will judge one thing, with brutal simplicity. Is it any good?
In 2026, trust might be the most premium product left. The creators and brands who understand that now will still be standing when the AI noise becomes background radiation.
OLIVIA’S OPINION:
General Turn Away from Slop - Humanness is prized
Online exhaustion has resulted in a craving for authenticity and an appetite for less as opposed to more AI driven content. A strong analog sentiment is felt within the creative community, with artists, creators, musicians and designers focussing on quality of unique output as opposed to quantity. Human crafted products are becoming the most valuable, echoed by the anti-AI sentiment. Craftsmanship in its purest form enables the consumer to feel validated in their consumption, not tricked, fearful of brainrot and its slippery slope.
AI slop x
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