What's Hot
A curated feed of the most compelling stories in marketing, tech, and culture — handpicked by the Hot Sauce editorial team.
🔥 Trending Now
2020 Killed the "Gadget Apocalypse"
Pre-2020, gadgets were essentially over — smartphones had absorbed cameras, music players, GPS units, and fitness trackers. But months of lockdown sparked a wave of "spontaneous mass hobbyism," reviving demand for standalone gadgets.
Why It's Hot: The pandemic reversed a decade-long trend, proving that dedicated devices still have cultural pull when people have time to explore new hobbies.
PayPal to Allow Customers to Buy and Sell Cryptocurrencies
PayPal announced it would let users buy, hold, and sell Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies directly from their accounts, with plans to enable crypto as a funding source for purchases at 26 million merchants.
Why It's Hot: A mainstream payments giant embracing crypto signals a major shift toward everyday adoption — and opens new doors for brand commerce.
Singapore Airlines Turns A380s Into Pop-Up Restaurants
With international travel grounded, Singapore Airlines converted its double-decker A380 planes into temporary dining experiences at Changi Airport, offering in-flight meal service on a stationary aircraft.
Why It's Hot: A creative pivot that transforms an idle asset into a brand experience — and a masterclass in staying culturally relevant during a crisis.
Hormel's Bacon-Scented Face Mask
Hormel Black Label created a bacon-scented face mask to encourage mask-wearing, tapping into the cultural moment with a playful, sensory twist on a public-health message.
Why It's Hot: A bold, conversation-starting stunt that blends product identity with social purpose — and earned widespread media coverage.
📬 Brand Campaigns & Creative
Did You Register? Brands Push Voter Turnout via Email
Ahead of the 2020 US election, brands used email campaigns to encourage voter registration — reflecting growing consumer expectations that companies take a stand on civic issues.
Why It's Hot: Email became a channel for values-driven marketing, showing how brands can leverage their platforms beyond product promotion.
British Airways' "Sound Bite" Menu
British Airways matched in-flight meals to curated music playlists, pairing dishes with tracks scientifically shown to enhance specific flavors — a multisensory brand experiment at 35,000 feet.
Why It's Hot: An early example of brands using sensory science to deepen customer experience, long before "experiential" became a buzzword.
🛒 Retail & Experience Innovation
B8ta: Store-as-a-Service
B8ta pioneered a retail-as-a-service model, letting brands subscribe to physical shelf space and gather real-time analytics on how customers interact with products. Lowe's and Macy's both partnered with the platform for in-store and pop-up formats.
Why It's Hot: A software-style subscription approach to physical retail that blurs the line between online agility and offline presence.
There's Now a Chain Store Dedicated to Covid-19 Essentials
A new retail chain emerged focused entirely on pandemic essentials — masks, sanitizers, and home-safety gear — reflecting how quickly consumer demand can spawn entirely new store concepts.
Why It's Hot: A real-time case study in retail agility: identifying a sudden need and building a physical footprint around it.
📱 Social Media & Platforms
Twitter Expands Ad Targeting to Non-Users
Twitter began serving targeted ads to logged-out visitors and people who had never signed up, dramatically expanding its addressable audience beyond registered users.
Why It's Hot: A pivotal moment in social advertising — platforms started treating the entire open web as their inventory.
Instagram Launches Boomerang
Instagram released Boomerang, a standalone app that creates looping micro-videos — turning everyday moments into shareable, GIF-like content.
Why It's Hot: Boomerang became a defining visual format of the mid-2010s social web and showed how simple tools can shape creative behavior at scale.
🗣 Voice, AI & Emerging Tech
Amazon Gives Alexa Oprah's Voice for the Holidays
Amazon partnered with Oprah Winfrey's magazine to bring her voice to Alexa devices, letting users hear holiday gift recommendations delivered in Oprah's signature style.
Why It's Hot: Celebrity voice integrations hinted at a future where brand personas live inside voice assistants — a new frontier for influencer marketing.
Working Den: Free Wellness Tools for Remote Workers
Working Den launched as a free service offering exercise guides, nature videos, and mental health resources to help remote workers combat burnout during the pandemic.
Why It's Hot: A timely digital-wellness product that addressed a real, widespread need — and a signal that compassionate tech was becoming a category.
Browse by Category
Looking for something specific? Explore our full archive by topic:
- Email Marketing — brand email strategies and campaign breakdowns
- Case Studies — real-world brand and campaign deep dives
- Emerging Tools & Tech — new platforms, gadgets, and digital innovations
- Retail & Experience — the evolving intersection of physical and digital commerce
- Social Media & Platforms — platform shifts and advertising developments