Sonia, Amanda, and guest Kushaan Shah break down how Shopify and Stripe owned Black Friday/Cyber Monday 2025—not through traditional ads, but by spotlighting merchants, building miniature cities by hand, and proving B2B doesn't have to be boring. They unpack record-breaking consumer spending ($1 trillion+ for the first time), the dark side of buy-now-pay-later debt, mobile shopping's takeover of desktop, and why craft beats AI when you're trying to stand out.

The episode dives deep into Shopify's multi-channel BFCM strategy: Harvey Finkelstein's Twitter thread crowdsourcing merchant recs, a TBPN-sponsored broadcast featuring brand founders live, and projecting their real-time sales dashboard onto the Las Vegas Sphere. Then they dissect Stripe's hand-built miniature city live stream—15 buildings, motorized trains, 100+ customer Easter eggs, zero AI—and why unscalable activations create more buzz than Super Bowl ads.

They also tackle Target's flat Stranger Things partnership (retro Doritos vs. Aldo's exclusive heels), the shift from desktop to mobile shopping enabling impulse buys, why 67% of BNPL users don't plan to pay on time, U.S. credit scores dropping for the first time in a decade, and what all of this means for marketers trying to win attention in 2024.

key topics:

• Shopify's Black Friday strategy: Harvey Finkelstein Twitter thread, TBPN broadcast with founders, Las Vegas Sphere activation

• Stripe's hand-built miniature city live stream (craft vs. AI, customer Easter eggs, model makers)

• Black Friday 2024 breaks records: $14.2B spending (up 6%), first-ever $1 trillion holiday season

• Buy-now-pay-later explosion: $1B+ in BNPL volume, 67% don't plan to pay within terms, worst kind of debt

• U.S. credit scores dropping: largest decline since Great Recession, high interest rates + inflation + student loans

• Mobile overtakes desktop for shopping: impulse buys, Instagram ads, always-on commerce

• Target's Stranger Things partnership falls flat: retro Doritos, generic merch, missed experiential opportunity

• Aldo's Stranger Things heels as a better brand collab example (exclusivity, task-oriented shopping)

• Why unscalable = memorable: Stripe, Ramp, Anthropic pop-ups vs. traditional B2B ads

• Craft as brand positioning: Stripe Press, Apple's glass logo, Barbour's Wallace & Gromit vs. Coca-Cola AI

• Making customers your marketers: organic reach, spotlight merchants, extend activation shelf life

guest: Kushaan Shah - Lifestyle Marketing at Superhuman (formerly Grammarly), writer on Substack (@kushaanshah on Twitter/X)

guest perspective: Kushaan brings a B2B SaaS lens—talks about TBPN as the new TechCrunch, brand halo effects, task-oriented behavior vs. high-traffic browsing, and why happy customers extend marketing ROI. He's bullish on experiential unscalable activations and skeptical of partnerships that don't create unique value (Target/Stranger Things). Also shares insights on Superhuman's rebrand from Grammarly and building an end-to-end productivity suite.

marketing takeaways:

1. Spotlight your customers—they'll extend your reach organically (Shopify merchants, Stripe's customer Easter eggs)

2. Unscalable beats scalable when everything looks like AI slop (hand-built city vs digital renders)

3. Craft = brand positioning in the AI era (Stripe Press, Apple glass, live-streamed model making)

4. Brand partnerships need unique value, not just co-branding (Aldo exclusive heels vs Target retro Doritos)

5. B2B can be experiential and cultural (Ramp's Kevin stunt, Stripe City, TBBPN as status symbol)

6. Mobile-first = impulse-first; design for task vs. browse behavior

7. YOLO/FOMO marketing: create experiences people can't miss, not just products they can buy later

(00:00:00) Welcome and Introducing Kushan Shah from Superhuman (00:02:19) Shopify's Black Friday Takeover on TBPN (00:07:03) Shopify's Las Vegas Sphere Activation (00:11:22) Black Friday Shopping Records and Economic Trends (00:12:27) The Rise of Buy Now Pay Later and Consumer Debt (00:17:00) Mobile Shopping Revolution (00:21:45) Amazon vs Shopify: The Battle for E-commerce (00:25:39) Stripe's Miniature City Campaign (00:34:55) The Value of Craft in Marketing (00:39:29) B2B Marketing Doesn't Have to Be Boring (00:41:06) Stranger Things x Target Partnership Analysis (00:48:08) What Makes Effective Brand Partnerships (00:59:05) Key Takeaways for Marketers

• 00:00-02:51 — Intro + Kushan on Superhuman rebrand (Grammarly → productivity suite)

• 02:51-14:25 — Shopify's BFCM blitz: TBBPN broadcast, Harvey's Twitter thread, Las Vegas Sphere

• 14:25-23:38 — Black Friday spending records, buy-now-pay-later explosion, credit score collapse

• 23:38-42:01 — Stripe's hand-built miniature city: craft vs. AI, live stream, customer Easter eggs, B2B experiential marketing

• 42:01-end — Target's Stranger Things partnership critique, Aldo heels as better example, key takeaways + where to find Kushan